World history personal narrative

The Lonny Breaux Collection

Dear Diary,
In 1789 the old ancien regime has put me in the third estate, which is where they put most bourgeoisies in. This is below the first estate and made up of the clergy. Also below the second which is made up of nobility.

Dear Diary,
The estates general meeting was a huge opportunity for the poorest people of the third estate to be heard by the king. The double representation was seen as a huge victory and a hope for a change was growing. On the first days of the meeting, they brought cahiers, the King and his delegates announced the principles of the meeting and the Third Estate discovered that the double representation was in fact a sham. It was decided that the votes will be hold by orders, 1 vote for each estate and not by head. The double representation was a fallacy. Louis XVI and his advisors focused on a complete overhaul of the French tax system. They exposed their view while the only preoccupation of the Third Estate was to talk about their representation. The only solution to the financial crisis was to make all us people of France pay the taxes because of the deficit spending, no matter what estate they were from. At the time, only us the third estate was subject to the taxes. The Nobility was taking care of the lands and the Clergy was responsible of the people's education. Their argument was that their action was a huge benefit to society and should therefore be exempt from paying taxes. But obviously, the King's decision was heavily rejected by the Nobility. Louis XVI faced a huge resistance from his own group who wouldn't accept any loss of wealth or power. He was heavily criticized by the Nobility who pictured him as a stupid, nerdy man with a way of governing the country that was full of nonsense.

Dear Diary,
A couple of me and my rebel friends joined the national assembly. I gave them warning that the town was talking about how the king was getting suspicious about their meetings and discussions of the constitution. So we moved are meetings into a tennis court. We stayed there until we finished writing the constitution of 1791. I felt that this was the first step to the French revolution.

Dear Diary,
Today on the 14th of July 1789 we visited the bastille which is a prison for bad people in Paris who don’t agree with the king. The revolution began when a large group of people stormed to the bastille to rebel against the king. It lasted for 10 years. Now there is a holiday for storming the bastille, it is called bastille day. It’s sort of like the American’s Independence Day. We shoot gun powder in the air to celebrate.

Dear Diary,
Today the Paris communes government was created. There was a fight in the in the French countryside. There were rumors that the lord hired robbers to kill peasants. Although it wasn’t true it scared the people, this lead to the peasants uprising against the local lords. The poor broke until many houses, killed nobles and stole from them. This violence was called the great fear.

Dear Diary,
Today the fighting continued throughout the countryside. We the third estate wanted to be equal to all people of France. The motto we went by was “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity”. The greedy first and second estate didn’t want to give up what they had for so long. We forced the first and second estate to give up some land because of violent acts. National assembly created a bill of rights. We copied some of it from America. This was the declaration of rights which is in the constitution.

Dear Diary,
The march on Versailles on October 5 thousands of women streamed down the road screaming “bread “they shouted demanding to see the king. Much of the crowd was against the queen because in early revolution, the press spread the answer the cries on hungry people for bread to "let them eat cake." it helping inflame feelings against the queen. The women refused to leave Versailles until the king met their most important demand—to return to Paris. Not too happily, the king agreed. They told people they were bring them back to Paris. In Paris, the royal family moved into the Tuiletries palace. For the next three years, Louis was a virtual prisoner. Louis's failed Marie Antoinette and others had been urging the king to escape their humiliating situation. Louis finally gave in. One night in June 1791, a coach rolled north from Paris toward the border. Inside sat the king disguised as a servant, the queen dressed as a governess, and the royal children. The attempted escape failed. In a town along the way, Louis's disguise was uncovered by someone who held up a piece of currency with the king's face on it. A company of soldiers escorted the royal family back to Paris, as on looking crowd’s hurled insults at the king. To many, Louis's dash to the border showed that he was a traitor to the revolution.

Dear Diary,
The new constitution set up a limited monarchy. They created Legislative assembly who decided how to run France. We got a part in there where farmers can protect their land. So the monarchy wouldn’t have too much power.

Dear Diary,
Debates started happening over Europe. Supporters of the enlightment appealed the reform. The coward émigrés, who left France, were punished by the republic. A new book called Reflections on the revolution was written by Edmund Burke it was about the revolutions and working class Sans Culottes and how they were treated different.

Dear Diary,
The political party The Jacobins would crush anyone against their new nation, so they started a neighborhood watch team to find anyone who isn’t loyal to them. The king was found guilty and sent to be executed by the guillotine for being traitors and treason. Suffrage was being extended so that all male citizens could vote now. The king son was uncrowned and died young. Also France was preparing for war with all the countries around it. The convention created the Committee of Public Safety to help out with the war. And the leader of it was Maximilen Robespierre.

Dear Diary,
A little man named Napoleon became Emperor of France. He created a number of reforms; they brought peace and stability to France. He rewrote the old French feudal laws which were confusing, creating a new Napoleonic code. He annexed new areas to France including Italy and Germany by 1812 he controlled most of Europe. The British blockaded France. He held a plebiscite for the voters to vote. The army scorched earth and killed innocent people. Napoleon abdicated and left from power and the victors sent him to a lonely island called Elba. But the little man returned to power from his loyal alliances. On the 18th of June 1815 he brought the army to Waterloo and the British crushed them, after they sent him to St. Helena, another lonely island.

Dear Diary,
The Congress of Vienna met for 10 months to talk about restoring the stability of Europe after war. Prince Clemens von Metternich wanted to restore the status que of Europe. They created the balance of power. To end the revolution they signed the Quadruple Alliance with legitimacy.