The Start Of The French Revolution Essays - French Revolution

The Start Of The French Revolution The disappointed reactions of the enraged Third Estate members who stood knocking violently at the door of the Hotel des Menus when they were locked out on June 20, 1789. The reason the Estates General was going to meet on this day was because of a recent voting conflict between the Estates General that had put the estates in deadlock for days. The Third Estate desired a change in the voting in the Estates-General, from voting by order, which the First and Second Estates wanted, to voting by head. As the Third Estate stood outside the meeting hall talking about what they would do next, after they had found out that the king had canceled the royal session because his son died and he found out about the formation of the National Assembly, which put him in great mourning, the sky began to rain. Once the rain was poring and drenching the Third Estate members, they sleeked shelter across the street in a nearby indoor tennis court. Inside the tennis court, Bailly, one of the main leaders o f the Third Estate, stood on a table and voiced the ideas of Mounier, another leader. This proposal voiced by Bailly was that the Third Estate would not leave Versailles until there was a constitution which they agreed upon. This idea of Mounier's was taken in favor of a more radical reform plan proposed by Sieyes. Of the 577 members, all but one accepted this oath. This oath, which would change Mother France forever, was known as the Tennis Court Oath. Another key player in the Tennis Court Oath was Mirabeau. On June 23, 1789 he reminded King Louis XVI of the oath the Third Estate had taken on the 20th and also said that the Third Estate would not leave the meeting hall till the Estates General could vote by head or were forced out by bayonets. The King said to let them sit, but was bluffing, and finally gave way to their proposal, and said that the Estates General would vote by head. Later, on June 27, the King ordered his loyal clergy and nobility to join the National Assembly. I t seemed as if the Third Estate had won, and everyone at Versailles was yelling Vive Le Roi, as if the Revolution was over. But what they didn't know was that the King had sent troops to regulate in Paris. These troops would soon, even though they didn't know it, be part of the storming of the Bastille where several soldiers and Parisians would be killed and help promote the French Revolution.*BR* The Storming of the Bastille On July 14, 1789. A huge, bloodthirsty mob marched to the Bastille, searching for gun powder and prisoners that had been taken by the unpopular and detested King, Louis XVI. Even elements of the newly formed National Guard were present at the assault. The flying rumors of attacks from the government and the biting truth of starvation were just too much for the angry crowds. The Bastille had been prepared for over a week, anticipating about a hundred angry subjects. But nothing could have prepared the defenders for what they met that now famous day. Along the thick rock walls of the gargantuan fortress and between the towers were twelve more guns that were capable of launching 24-ounce case shots at any who dared to attack. However, the enraged Paris Commune was too defiant and too livid to submit to the starvation and seeming injustice of their government. The Bastille was governed by a man named de Launay. On July 7th, thirty-two Swiss soldiers led by Lieutenant Deflue, came to aid de Launay, helping him to prepare for a small mob. Rumors were flying everywhere. De Launay was *I*expecting*/I* a mob attack, but certainly not a siege! The entire workforce of the Bastille had stealthily and furiously been repairing the Bastille and reinforcing it, all to prepare for a minor attack from a hundred or so angry citizens. At three o'clock that afternoon, however, a huge group of French guards and angry citizens tried to break into the fortress. There were over three hundred people ready to give their lives to put