 In the 1600s and 1700s, French kings still ruled by “divine right” with absolute power.  And they lived more luxuriously than perhaps anyone, anywhere in the history of the world.

Louis XIV, King of France

Palace of Versailles

Hall of Mirrors

 Society was divided into 3 social classes called ESTATES: 1 st 2 nd 3 rd Clergy Nobles Commoners The first 2 estates had special privileges that that 3 rd did not.

The problem was that the 3 rd Estate made up 98.5% of the population.

Commoners crushed by the Clergy and Nobility

 In the 1600s, French commoners looked on while the Brits executed Charles I and chased off James II.  In the 1700s, they watched the Americans break away from England under King George III.

 By the late-1780s, France was in deep financial trouble.  At the same time, a terrible harvest created bread shortages.  King Louis XVI was unsure about how to deal with the crisis.

 Louis XVI decided to call a meeting of the Estates-General.  Similar to Parliament, but with 3 houses, one for the reps of each estate.  Each estate got one vote, as a result, the king always won!

 E-G met at Versailles in  3 rd Estate demanded some rule changes be made.  They wanted each rep to get one vote instead of each house.  Commoners would then have the advantage,

 Louis XVI refused and locked the 3 rd Estate reps out of their meeting hall.  The Commoners took over one of his tennis courts and took the “Tennis Court Oath.”  They now called themselves the “National Assembly.”

The Tennis Court Meeting

 Louis XVI paid lip service to the National Assembly.  In the meantime, he called for troops to surround Paris.  The people in Paris feared the king was planning to crush the budding revolution.

 The commoners decided to strike a blow against the “Old Regime.”  On July 14, 1789, they stormed the Bastille.  This was their “declaration of independence” from absolute monarchy.

Storming the Bastille

Bastille commander’s head on a pike