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The French Revolution

The French Revolution (1789-1799) was a pivotal period in the history of France, Europe and Western civilization. During this time, republicanism replaced the absolute monarchy in France, and the country's Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo a radical restructuring. While France would oscillate among republic, empire, and monarchy for 75 years after the First Republic fell to a coup d'état, the Revolution is widely seen as a major turning point in the history of Western democracy—from the age of absolutism and aristocracy, to the age of the citizenry as the dominant political force.

Contents [hide]
1 Causes
2 Proto-revolutionary activity
3 History
3.1 The Estates-General of 1789
3.2 Assembly
3.3 The National Constituent Assembly
3.3.1 The Storming of the Bastille
3.3.2 The Abolition of Feudalism
3.3.3 Dechristianisation
3.3.4 The Appearance of Factions
3.3.5 Toward a Constitution
3.3.6 Toward the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
3.3.7 From the Anniversary of the Bastille to the Death of Mirabeau
3.3.8 The Flight to Varennes
3.3.9 The Last Days of the National Constituent Assembly
3.4 The Legislative Assembly and the fall of the Monarchy
3.4.1 The Legislative Assembly
3.4.2 War
3.4.3 Constitutional Crisis
3.5 The Convention
3.6 The Directory
4 See also
4.1 Other revolutions in French history
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links


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Causes
Many interrelated political and socioeconomic factors contributed to the French Revolution. To some extent, the old order succumbed to its own rigidity in the face of a changing world. It fell to the ambitions of a rising bourgeoisie, allied with aggrieved peasants, wage-earners, and individuals of all classes who had come under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment. As the revolution proceeded, and as power devolved from the monarchy to legislative bodies, the conflicting interests of these two once-allied groups would become the source...