Short French Revolution Essay

Long ago in france lived a monarch named King louis xvi. He was having trouble with finances for his kingdom. He sought help and called the estates general. The estate general was the meeting of representatives from each social class. One from the first estate, the church; the second estate, the nobles; the third estate, the commoners.

The meeting didn't do any good. The third estate was very angry that their vote didn't do any good. They decided to write a constitution. So they locked themselves in a tennis court until they made it. They made the tennis court oath. They wrote the declaration of rights and man.

The third estate was angered at the kings power so they went to a prison called the bastille and freed all the prisoners. Most prisoners were locked up for no reason at all. In the prison were guns and weapons that the third estate could use to overthrow the higher classes and promote equality.

Another problem for the third estate was the lack of food. The women of paris were very mad because the children were starving. The women marched to Versailles. Versailles was the kings palace. When they got there they kidnapped the king and his family.

After overthrowing the king a man named max Robespierre decided to destroy anyone who opposed the revolution. He killed enemies of the revolution with the guillotine. He killed over 40,000 people. This was called the reign of terror. The reign of terror ended when Robespierre was killed on the guillotine.

Napoleon Bonaparte came to power after Robespierre. Napoleon was a great general. He conquered much of Europe. He called himself first consul which is like a president. Later when napoleon was older he became greedier and called himself emperor.