The Outbreak of the Revolution

                                

 The monarch did not have the power to impose taxes according to his will alone. Rather he had to call a meeting of the Estates General which would then pass his proposals for new taxes .The last time it was done was in 1614

•    On 5 May 1789, Louis XVI called together an assembly of the Estates General to pass proposals for new taxes .

•   The first and second estates sent 300 representatives

•  600 members of the third estate had to stand at the back

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 The third estate was represented by its more prosperous and educated members

•   On 20 June they declare themselves a National Assembly

•   crowds of angry women stormed into the shops. At the same time, the king ordered troops to move into Paris.

•   On 14 July, the agitated crowd stormed and destroyed the Bastille

•   Louis XVI finally accorded recognition to the National Assembly and accepted the principle that his powers would  from now on be checked by a constitution.

•   On the night of 4 August 1789, the Assembly passed a decree abolishing the feudal system of obligations and taxes.

•   Members of the clergy too were forced to give up their privileges.  As a result, the government acquired assets worth at least 2 billion livres