The French Revolution

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• French intellectuals and the bourgeoisie supported the Enlightment ideas.

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• The Estates General brought together representatives of the three estates,bothe the clergy and the nobility had 300 representatives, in contrast the third state had 600 representatives, and each state have 1 vote.

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• The French state was bankrupt as a result of its participation in military conflicts, to improve the country's  finances the king ministers suggested to increase the taxes.

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• The nobility and the clergy wanted to protect their traditional economic privileges, so the defused to pay the taxes. The third state was also discontented,they where suffering of economic problems caused by wars and higher taxes.

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• the third estate proposed that each representative would have an individual vote,the king refused and the third estate members declared themselves as the true representative of the nation. So they formed a National assembly and declared a constitution.

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• A new constituent assembly was elected to  write a constitution.Protesters began to riot in the streets of Paris.

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• After the constitution had been adopted, a new legislative assembly was elected to implement the necessary legal changes.

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• Louis XVI was accused of treason and then executed.Under the leadership of Robespierrre, the Jacobins took control of the goverment and imposed a dictatorship.

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• The directory was a more conservative goverment which was composed of five members. Napoleon Bonaparte organised a military coup and established a new form of goverment called the Consulate.