“ Liberty, equality, fraternity,” is a phrase that when spoken the French Revolution should come to mind. The Revolution did not just come from mid air; it was a process that took time. History book usually begin with the time when the Louis XVI, the Sun King died in 1715. It was the beginning of the end of the monarchy in France. The main reason was because after the king’s death it was difficult for any other successor to properly govern the nation. At that time the nation was split into three sections known as estates. The first estate consisted of the clergy and priests both rich and poor. Nobles were known to be part of the second estate. Apart form being only approximately two percent of the entire population, nobles were lucky enough to be exempt from taxes. The third estate was of course, the “commoners”. They were at the bottom of the chain forced not only to pay high taxes with low income, but also the tithe. In 1715 the population was approximately 18 million and by 1789 it had grown to 25 million. The increase was not only in population, but also in the economy. Then in the early 1700’s the economy started to slow down. One of the reasons was because of a poor harvest one year and tolls that made it difficult for people to start up their own small business. Suddenly in the 1770’s and ‘80’s France faced bigger problems with their banks. The reason was because Louis XV and Louis XVI had spending too much money on the war, supporting the American Revolution and to support the court of Versailles. With all the problems in the nation it was thought that the new king, Louis XVI, many things were going to change. It was a rude awakening when they didn’t because the king only had time for puzzles and hunting rather than the current economic problem. One person that did help was, Robert Turgot, which was Louis’ first finance minister. Turgot helped out by reducing expenses at Versailles and controlling government spending. He also tried taxing the nobles, but that did not work out and somehow taken out of office in 1776.
The French Revolution had what people may call a moderate start. By 1786 the national debt had reached a peak, so the king called an estate meeting. Each estate was allowed to "deputies" to attend the meeting. The whole technique did not favor the third estate, so they held a meeting on their own in May 1789 and changed named themselves the National Assembly. The group meets on a tennis court and made an oath called of course the Tennis Court Oath. Soon after the two other estates joined the National Assembly. As time went by they created the Constitution of 1791, which limited the monarchy and created separate branches of the government. The constitution though was not enough to keep the people happy. So, on July 14, 1789 crowds stormed the Bastille to protest against the old regime. Also during that summer the "Great Fear" came upon farmers, who kept on getting robbed.
The first country France took on in war was Austria in 1792. The same year in August Austria and Prussia planned on advancing to Paris. Duke of Brunswick, the Prussia commander, issued a declaration called the Brunswick Manifesto. It said that Paris would be burned and their rulers killed if they did not “peacefully surrender” to Prussia and Austria. But, people did not fear him or his declaration. People everywhere were cheering “Liberty, equality, fraternity,” and soldiers were sings “Marseillaise”, which is now the France national anthem. Soon September at Valmy the French were able to defeat the Duke of Brunswick.
