On June 20th, 1791, fearful of the future and acting on his exiled brother’s advice, King Louis XVI, together with Queen Marie Antoinette, managed to escape their Parisian palace. Disguised as servants, the royal couple made a frantic journey through the surrounding countryside, but just when it seemed that their freedom was imminent, they were spotted and captured by militia outside the city of Varennes. At first, the National Constituent Assembly tried to cover up the King’s near escape, but it proved impossible to conceal such a dramatically ruinous occurrence from the ever-suspicious French people. As the nation erupted in anti-monarchy fervor, the Assembly came to a portentous conclusion: now that the King had proven himself to be untrustworthy, it was no longer conceivable for the nation to function as a constitutional monarchy. The Assembly would have to abandon this plan and implement another governmental structure.

The Girondists were one of the most influential political groups in the era of the French Revolution. Originally part of the Jacobins, the Girondists separated from their former allies in 1791 over a difference in goals and tactics. While the Jacobins were primarily focused on mustering support for and creating a new republican government, the Girondists were almost exclusively concerned with defending the Revolution from any and all opponents. The Girondists considered anyone who expressed doubt, criticism, or outright opposition to the Revolution to be an immediately dangerous threat, whether the critic was a French citizen or a foreign head of state. These opponents, so the Girondists believed, should be dealt with harshly, using whatever means were necessary – unsurprisingly, these methods were often violent. It was the Girondists who convinced the Legislative Assembly to declare war on Austria on April 20th, 1792. (The Austrian Emperor was Queen Marie Antoinette’s older brother and he had hardly been quiet about his hatred for France’s revolutionary zeal.)

On April 20th, 1792, the French Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria and its ally, Prussia. This was the perfect definition of a high-stakes gamble: after all, France was already embroiled in the beginnings of its own internal revolution. So why would the nation want to further jeopardize its already precarious existence by starting an external war with its European neighbors? The decision to go to war was primarily encouraged by two factions within French society: the Girondists and King Louis XVI and his fellow loyalists. The Girondists favored war as the best possible defense of the Revolution; by defeating France’s external foes, they imagined the Revolution would become unstoppable, as the citizenry united in joy over their martial victory. As for the King, he and all those loyal to him viewed war as their last hope of retaining monarchical power. Without external rescue, the King feared his reign, and possibly his very life, were utterly doomed.

During the opening week of September 1792, the city of Paris was convulsed by a series of violent executions. Known as the September Massacres, these executions were carried out by the Paris Commune, with mass popular support from the city’s working-class population. These murders specifically targeted prisoners who were then being kept in the city’s jails, whom the Commune and its supporters wrongfully assumed were anti-revolutionaries. In truth, the vast majority of these inmates were simply common criminals, jailed for everyday offenses, with no counter-Revolutionary alliances. In total, over one thousand prisoners were executed, before the Commune was apprised of its mistake.

Under the strong influence of the Paris Commune, the French Legislative Assembly created a new government body, the Convention (named after the earlier American Constitutional Convention). Although the Convention was specifically created to write a new Constitution, instead the Convention’s members, as their very first act of governorship, officially declared France to now be a republic. This declaration, issued on September 21st, 1792, permanently ended France’s tenure as a constitutional monarchy and put King Louis XVI out of a job.

The French Revolution began in 1789 with the storming of the Bastille and the dissolution of the Estates General. The Estates General was replaced with the National Assembly. The National Assembly was itself replaced by the Committee of Public Safety, which enacted the year-long Reign of Terror (in which thousands of French people were publically executed as enemies of the revolution). The establishment of the Directory followed the abolition of the Committee of Public Safety. The Directory presided over a series of successful foreign conquests, but was unpopular with the Parisian public due to its repressive policies. The Directory was overthrown in 1799 and replaced by the French Consulate under the control of Napoleon, thus ending the French Revolution.

The summer of 1789 was a deeply tumultuous time in France. Major cities like Paris witnessed mass riots and public protests (epitomized by the storming of the Bastille), as King Louis XVI and the National Constituent Assembly watched (rather helplessly) from the sidelines. A similar state of unrest pervaded the countryside as well, where it took the form of destructive and violent assaults carried out by peasants. Known as the “Great Fear,” this prolonged period of violence was first sparked by the rumored arrival of royal troops. For many peasants, this potential deployment was the final insult on a long list of injuries, which included food shortages, land confiscations, wage reductions, and hunting restrictions. In response, mobs of peasants joined together to launch attacks on local legal and clerical institutions and the homes of both wealthy landowners and aristocrats. Legal documents relating to land ownership, feudal dues, and taxes were especially targeted for destruction. Many members of the nobility fled their countryside chateaux in terror, leaving their homes and elegant possessions behind to fall prey to the peasant mobs and looters.

On August 4th, 1789, the aristocratic and clerical members of the French National Constituent Assembly passed what came to be known as the August Fourth Decree. Motivated by the spreading chaos and insistent demands then being revealed by the “Great Fear,” these legislators were determined to take a bold and decisive stand on the side of prevailing public opinion. The Decree officially revoked dozens of feudal rights, taxes, and privileges which the nobility, wealthy landowners, and high-ranking clergy members had traditionally enjoyed for centuries. These renunciations included territorial hunting rights, legal immunity from prosecution and imprisonment, and judicial dominance in court proceedings involving peasant-tenants. Furthermore, the Decree abolished the practice of giving out government positions based on bribery, financial exchanges, and social nepotism; from then on, all administrative jobs were to be awarded based on merit, hard work, and talent, regardless of the social class or economic status of the applicant. Most crucially, the Decree established universal civic equality throughout the entire nation – every citizen, regardless of social or financial rank, was to be held subject to the exact same set of legal rules, standards, and laws. No longer would exceptions be made for members of nobility, royal, clerical, and/or wealthiest social classes.

Beginning in 1787 and continuing on through the winter of 1789, urban and rural communities all across France endured frequent outbreaks of widespread rioting. These mass public protests (which almost always occurred spontaneously) were triggered by several national misfortunes, including abnormally cold winter temperatures and two consecutive annually deplorable food harvests. These two calamities, in turn, led to chronic food shortages – especially a severe scarcity of bread – thereby causing food prices to rapidly increase. Wage levels couldn’t keep up; in many cases, workers actually had their earnings decreased, which only exacerbated the overall economic downturn and civil unrest.

On August 27th, 1789, the French National Constituent Assembly passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. This document, which outlined the Assembly’s vision for France’s future, drew heavily on both general Enlightenment ideals and the principles expressed in the American Declaration of Independence (authored thirteen years before). The Declaration established and protected many rights, including freedom of religion, the protection of private property, liberty, security, fair taxation, and universal civic equality. It also upheld the notion of popular sovereignty: the belief that citizens should to be allowed to decide their own policies. However, in spite of its many progressive statements, the Declaration outright denied any of its rights and protections to women. According to prevailing wisdom, at the time, women were believed to be inherently unfit for political life and should concern themselves only with the goings-on in their own homes and domestic lives. Nevertheless, many French women hoped that the Declaration’s promises would one day, soon, be extended to them.