Show THE WORLDS GREAT GREAT EVENTS I 1 ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE t 0 by doda ud a cominey Comin my the french revolution tt HE people pe ople are in revolt revolta I 1 asked the amazed king louis XVI and ana count mirabeau ww than hla his royal mister master replied sire this Is no revolt it la is acevo a revolution I 1 after the full fall of the bastile the notion nation abad awaited urther further developments politicians wrangled finances became more and more entangled queen marie antoinette continued to meddie with affairs of ot state which she did not understand famine and misery stalked abroad and the news of the bastides Bast Ba StIles lles destruction spread through france everywhere stirring up the masses to courage and fury at this juncture the king advised by his wife made one of his costly blunders although hs his people were starving and although more titan than ever be fore he needed the loyalty of hla his native sold soldiers lers he gave a great and e expensive x banquet at versailles to his foreign troops this was the last straw the national guard led by lafayette and prece preceded deda by a mighty mob of angry women marched from paris to versailles I 1 on on october B 5 1789 attacked the Ver versailles guilles palace and dragged the ying king and his wife and son back to paris with them again a writ wrangle of politicians louis had a chance to save his throne if he would consent to become a constitutional monarch but marle marie antoinette and the advisers with which she surrounded him would not hear of such a thing thine so go the foolish king by once more yielding to his athes demands hastened on to the doom that awaited him and ills his national guard regiments were formed all over the country in the name of the people tin in he rural dia districts bands of peasants settled old scores against the masters who had oppressed them by butchering whole families of aristocrats and burning and looting their castle noblemen NoW emen from royalty down began fleeing fiebing from france by the dundr hundreds in fear for their lives meantime in paris a body known 0 wn as the asser assembly ably drew up i declaration of the rights right of man based partly on our own declaration of independence its keynote was equality it proclaimed the freedom of all men the sovereignty of the notion nation religious tolerance fair lawit slid the abolition of aristocracy and privilege to this declaration louis would not subscribe sub maric antoinette regarded tta claims as an insane louis secretly appealed to his fellow sovereigns of europe and a 11 foreign alliance was formed to invade france Fra and reinstate the king the royal family sought to escape over the frontier on june 29 1791 but were caught and brought back after this louis consented to swear to the constitution and was reinstated but ho he continued to plot with foreign powers the allies marched against france and famines famine 1 a gaan swept the land this double grievance maddened the people and wi they took matters in their own hands X mob sacked the tull tuil erles eries tile the kings kibies residence in paris massacred the swiss guard who sought to defend their muster master and the royal family louis was suspended from office and in november 1702 1792 was brought to trial by a vote of to he was condemned to death all titles had been abolished so under tile the name of citizen louis capet the unfortunate monarch was be headed january 21 1793 1791 in a the same year the reign ot of terror set in aristocrats were gull guil by scores and hundreds marle marie antoinette was be headed and her son secretly put to death in prison while the allies were preparing to invade france civil war by massacres and other atrocities broke out and weakened the already demoralized country another drawback to military success was that heretofore all officers of the french army lad had been noblemen these had bad fled or been be headed leaving the army the republics officers were men promoted from the ranks solely by merit when they proved incompetent their soldiers eold lers refused fused to obey them and often even shot abbt them thea realizing that frances welfare and very existence in this crisis depended on her soldiers the republic granted the army oil all sorts of privileges and made it an object i of adoration the newly reorganized french army in the revolution turned on its al lied foes and in battle after battle whipped the best dl disciplined scip lined troops of europe finally splitting tile the alliance against france marat danton and were the three prime movers in the reign of terror elich ech of the trio used the other two for his own ends enda and each sought to be dictator of the stricken country marat merciless lesa and bestial was ni murdered by charlotte corday whose lover he had bad executed daviton Da lDa titon kindest and most human of the three was routed by bates pierre and behead be headed ef dandy bloodless Itt incorruptible corruptible deadly and yet visionary became practically dictator of frence but in 1791 he aj 1 n turn wh ana a and swo tined 1 and now amid the chaos concu confusion no n of wild schemes and conflicting experiments X peri ments in self government arose a man anan perhaps the greatest thA tb world had blid ever seen been napoleon bonaparte |