The French Revolution

In 1992, France declared war on Austria, with whom Prussia joined forces with against France. This first part of the revolution, known as the Revolutionary Wars lasted until 1797. By September 1792, the LA had hardly any powers and by the 7th September the revolution had killed 1,400 people.

The king was suspected as plotting with Austria and Prussia, and in Jan 1793 was found guilty of conspiracy and publicly executed, using a guillotine, by October Marie Antoinette had also been beheaded.

The Jacobins started to think that if people feared, then the revolution would be more successful, and Maximilien De Robespierre began what is known as ‘The Terror’. This lasted until July 1794, when Robespierre was imprisoned and executed. During this time, according to historical records, 16,594 were executed, and upto 40,000 died either in prison or were killed during the terror. Another constitution was set up on the 27th September.

The Directory were set up, and became the first government of France to be split into two houses, the Parliament, and Senate, much like our House of Commons and House of Lords. Things now became much more stable than they had been before, but the people disliked the Directory. They ignored elections that did not go their way, and ignored the constitution so that they could control the people.

In 1799 there was a riot against the Directory, and they fell from power. The army had gained a general in Napoleon Bonaparte, which made them much more powerful, and Napoleon took over power from the Directory. This was known as the event 18 Brumaire, and a very important historical point in French History, as it marks the end of the revolution. In 1804 Bonaparte became the emperor of France. If you would like to know more about Napoleon, consider researching the Napoleonic Wars, or comment here and if the demand is great enough I will write an article about it.