Remember about France being broke? Yeah... that was kind of a pickle. France was in financial ruin even before helping the America so the king was kinda dumb helping the USA.
So the people started questioning the king and the monarchy and the age of ENLIGHTENMENT where people basically just questioned the king.
America refused to help France even though they'd helped them before. France was in serious ruins and their only solution was to tax the already struggling poor while they partied every night in their mansions.
And the tax was inconsistent. The nobility and clergy didn't have to pay as much tax as the poor were paying.
The poor were already angry and a series of harsh natural disasters caused their anger to explode. Their crops were all done for due to the weather so the price of bread skyrocketed. Of course, the higher classes still had tons of bread so they were pretty unaffected by this. But the jealous and angry peasants started to riot. Bakeries were stripped of bread by hungry, starving peasants and bakers who were suspected of keeping bread for themselves were even hanged.
Meanwhile in the palace the king summoned the Estates General (which hadn't been summoned for over a hundred years) because he thought this was the right time.
Good news, the Estates General not only included the Clergy and the Nobility but also the common people. Bad news, the Clergy got one vote, the Nobility got one vote, and the common people who made up 98% of the population also got... one vote.
This meant any attempt to lower taxes and stuff would be outvoted by the other two crowds so they thought if they were 98% of the population, they could make their own laws and government and try to take over the country.
So the "National Assembly" was born, ruled by what's called the Third Estate, aka the common people, and there was nothing the Clergy and Nobility could do.
The king actually tried to lock them out of there building but they just found another building, an indoor tennis court. So that's where the 'Tennis Court Oath' came from huh.
The Jacobin club quickly took over. Most people just wanted equality but some members of this club wanted something more. The removal of the king.
So this was where fear started to take over. In such a volatile situation, everyone feared something. The king feared he would be overthrown by the people so he summoned the military. The National Assembly heard of the gathering military force and feared they would attack.
The people of France, fearing the reform would be crushed too soon started to rise up against the king and they made something even bigger. A revolution. (just like the American one lmao)
Fearing they were going to be attacked, the National Assembly created the National Guard, and immediately many trained and experienced soldiers from the French army defected to the National Guard.
The people stormed the Bastille, a fortress with tons of gunpowder. And they stole the gunpowder.
The National Assembly heard wind of the Bastille attack and decided to support it instead of coming to a peaceful solution with the king.
The leaders of the National Assembly, along with their good pal Thomas Jefferson from the US, wrote an official document about men and women's rights which included liberty and equality.
One day a group of people, seven thousand big, decided to do something unprecedented. They marched to the king's palace, gaining three thousand people on the way and when they reached there the angry mob broke in with the intention of killing the queen. The queen barely escaped through a secret passage in her bedroom but a lot of soldiers were killed and their heads were raised on pikes.
The King was sent back to Paris and forced to agree to a few demands.
Tune in to the next chapter to find out what happens next.
