The French revolution explained simply in the form of a summary in order to get the main points of the revolution in less time.
Louis the XIV French King decided to build a grand palace to engrave on the hearts of the Europeans the French name.
He ordered a grand palace, which was built with seven hundred rooms, lots of fountains, and plants.
To add elegance to this charm, Greek art was used. Which was famous during that time. Sculptures and paintings were adding more to the beauty of the palace.
The walls were full of gold and silver made paintings and sculptures.
The ceiling was also covered with such decorations.
All depicting Greek gods and goddesses, French royals, and some historical events. The palace was spacious, accommodating ten thousand people in its belly.
And it was a wonder to attract people. Different countries tried to copy it, but none could equal the original.
An emblem of grandeur, the palace was built as wanted.
King Louis and his courtiers started living inside this emblem of beauty. Living a luxurious life and spending the money from royal treasures.
More than half of French treasures got emptied due to the luxurious lifestyle of the king and courtiers.
Life continued the same way even after his successor, his great-grandson, came to the throne.
The son and grandson of Louis the XIV passed away, and Louis the XV became the next king.
The solution to the emptied treasures was found by courtiers. Because the king was just five years old when he succeeded to the throne. The solution found was to sell half of the horses in the royal stable to accommodate the deficit.
But this solution was not enough, as the ongoing luxurious lifestyle was a hurdle to saving the royal treasures.
People were taxed. But this solution was an injustice to people, so it just engraved anger in the hearts of the public.
Louis instilled more hatred in the hearts of people by his decision to aid Austria in war, and they faced defeat by Britain.
Britain forced France to hand over its colonies to Britain.
This war brought France almost to the verge of bankruptcy. All this hatred was not even taken care of by the king, and he still indulged in his habit of living a luxurious life.
One more decision by the king, though it was without any bad intention, proved to be disastrous in the sense of public hatred.
The decision to get his grandson Louis Cape married to Marie Antoinette, and this decision of his, added fuel to the fire.
Mary Antoinette was from Austria, and people faced seven years of war due to the king’s taking part in the Austrian war. So, the king’s decision to take a bride from the same country as Louis Cape acted as a bomb on their heads.
This was the time of change in Europe; the Age of Reason was taking place, and the Renaissance was about to end. People who used to consider kings as representatives of god at that time were now coming under the influence of the writers, who were in favor of people as free souls, not slaves.
King was engraving hatred in the hearts of people by doing actions that were not in favor of them, like imposing a tax on them.
Moreover, the king and courtiers continued their luxurious lives, and the queen was also extravagant, spending a lot of money. where people were getting poorer day by day. Because they were being taxed, inflation added more to their difficulties.
The pangs of hunger made people stand for their rights to demand more representation in parliament and to reduce taxes.
which were draining their energy and depriving them of their rights.
People were taxed even for being well dressed, due to which people used to wear shabby clothes, so they should not be taxed. Instead of compensating, the king continued with his blunders. His courtiers taxed just the third state and freed themselves (the second state) from tax. At that time, France had a parliamentary monarchy, a parliament with three states and assemblies in different cities. The first estate consists of the clergy.
Second, the courtiers and third estate were commoners.
French economist Turgot was appointed as Controller-General of Finance, but courtiers and the queen were not in his favor, due to which he was discharged. And this ignited people’s hatred, as people were satisfied with him. One more blunder on the king’s part was his war with Britain for American independence.
The war incurred a lot of expenses. People thought that if they wanted to remove taxes and get more representation in parliament, then they should work for it. And they did it in the form of local assemblies denying paying tax, which was demanded by the king after the war to refill royal treasures.
The palace, an emblem of grandeur, was draining the country’s wealth.
Depriving people of their basic rights, raising the price of bread, imposing a tax on their being well-dressed, and other things made them decide to stand up for their rights.
The third estate used to come to the parliament, but the courtiers and clerics abandoned attending the parliament sessions on the king’s directions.
Because the king was afraid of the third estate and that it might end the monarchy, And without these two estates, the third estate could not pass the bill, as the law said that all three estates should be there in parliament to pass bills.
But the third state, after calling the first and second estates many times, called them for the last time and warned them. If they didn’t attend the assembly, the first estate would declare themselves as an assembly, and so was done.
They went to the assembly, but it was locked, so they went to the nearby tennis court and took an oath there.
This is called the tennis court oath. Though the king wasn’t in favor of seeing the power of the public, he stayed quiet.
The king called the army, and now there are two governments in the country. The third estate and public, on the other hand, are the clerics, courtiers, king, and army.
The military was encircling France on the order of the king, as the king wasn’t happy with the large number of representatives from the third estate.
People started preparing for war and also started collecting weapons.
The first estate needed weapons, so they bought weapons from thieves. As weapons were not enough, they decided to attack the Bastille fortress and get the weapons from there.
They went to attack; they were just nine hundred in number, but the spectators were in large numbers.
It wasn’t easy to attack Bastille, as it was strongly made. But the governor of the fortress surrendered after some time. And they said they should abstain from the massacre. They not only plundered the weapons but also destroyed the Bastille and killed the governor of the fortress.
The power was now theirs’.The king agreed that he would accept and pass any bills from the public.
But when the human rights charter was passed, he refused to pass it.
King tried to flee from the country with his family, leaving a letter behind. He says that there is a threat to his life and that he won’t come to Paris until the situation improves.
But he was caught before leaving the country and was sentenced to imprisonment.
Monarchy was ended, martial law was imposed, and only twelve individuals were in control of martial law.
Moreover, they had the rights of a dictator; they had the authority to call for war and could punish people.
Maximilien Robespierre became the de facto leader of martial law. Many people were killed during this period.
Maximilien Robespierre was a key advocate for radical measures and played a significant part in the execution of King Louis XVI. However, his influence eventually led to his downfall, and he was executed.
People consider the French Revolution to be a failure; even after five years of the revolutionary government, the parliament could not take care of the public.
They needed a mentor during the period, and the mentor came in the form of Napoleon Bonaparte, who became the king of France.
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