FRENCH+REVOLUTION

The french revolution 1789-1799 was a time of radical political and social upheveal in french and European history. he [|absolute monarchy] that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French [|society] underwent an epic transformation as [|feudal], [|aristocratic], and [|religious] privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from [|liberal political groups] and the [|masses on the streets]. Old ideas about hierarchy and tradition succumbed to new [|Enlightenment] principles of [|citizenship] and [|inalienable rights]. The French Revolution began in 1789 with the convocation of the [|Estates-General] in May. The first year of the Revolution witnessed members of the [|Third Estate] proclaiming the [|Tennis Court Oath] in June, the [|assault on the Bastille] in July, the passage of the [|Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen] in August, and an [|epic march] on [|Versailles] that forced the royal court back to [|Paris] in October. The next few years were dominated by tensions between a liberal legislature and a [|conservative] monarchy intent on thwarting major reforms. A [|republic] was proclaimed in September 1792 and [|King Louis XVI] was executed the next year. External threats also played a dominant role in the development of the Revolution. The [|French Revolutionary Wars] started in 1792 and ultimately featured spectacular French victories that facilitated the conquest of the [|Italian peninsula], the [|Low Countries], and most territories west of the [|Rhine]—achievements that had defied previous French governments for centuries. Internally, popular sentiments radicalized the Revolution significantly, culminating in the brutal [|Reign of Terror] from 1793 until 1794. After the fall of [|Robespierre] and the [|Jacobins], the [|Directory] assumed control of the French state in 1795 and held power until 1799, when it was replaced by the [|Consulate] under [|Napoleon Bonaparte]. The [|modern era] has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution. The growth of republics and [|liberal democracies], the spread of [|secularism], the development of modern [|ideologies], and the invention of [|total war] all mark their birth during the Revolution. Subsequent events that can be traced to the Revolution include the [|Napoleonic Wars], two separate [|restorations of the monarchy], and two additional revolutions as [|modern France] took shape. In the following century, France would be governed at one point or another as a [|republic], [|constitutional monarchy], and two different [|empires].

information found at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution