The French Revolution

The French Revolution, which began on July 14, 1789 with the storming of the Bastille, marked a radical change in the social and political structure of France. The population, divided into three classes (clergy, nobility and the rest, the Third Estate), rose up against oppression and inequality.

The National Constituent Assembly emerged as an attempt to draft a new constitution to limit the power of the monarch and establish principles of equality and freedom. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted in 1789, proclaimed equality before the law, liberty and property.

However, the Revolution also brought with it internal tensions, such as the fights between Girondists and Jacobins. Maximilian Robespierre, a leading figure in the Terror period, led the Commission of Public Safety and executed numerous opponents.

The end of the French Revolution was marked by Napoleon Bonaparte's coup d'état in 1799, which established the Consulate.  Despite his authoritarianism, Napoleon carried with him many of the revolutionary ideas in his conquests, such as the Napoleonic Code.

The French Revolution was a complex period of radical change, with ideals of freedom and equality influencing not only France but also later revolutionary movements around the world.