Revolution Ignites: 1789 and the Collapse of the Old Order

Setting the Scene: Why 1789 Matters

In the previous module, you explored the Ancien Régime—France’s old order with three estates, heavy debts, and social tensions.

Now we zoom in on 1789, a single year in which that old system began to collapse.

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• Summarize why Louis XVI called the Estates-General and how it turned into the National Assembly.
• Explain the symbolic and practical importance of the Storming of the Bastille (14 July 1789).
• Describe what happened on the night of 4 August 1789 (the abolition of feudalism) and how it changed noble and clerical privileges.

Think of 1789 as a chain reaction:

1. Political crisis → Estates-General → National Assembly
2. Popular anger → Storming of the Bastille
3. Panic and pressure → August Decrees (end of feudalism)

You’ll work through these events step by step, with short activities to help you connect causes and consequences.

Step 1 – Why Was the Estates-General Called?

Background: A Kingdom in Financial Crisis

By 1789 (237 years ago), France was deeply in debt. Key reasons:

• Costly wars (including support for the American War of Independence, 1775–1783)
• An unfair tax system where the Third Estate (commoners) paid most taxes
• Several bad harvests in the late 1780s → rising bread prices and hunger

Louis XVI’s Problem

King Louis XVI needed new taxes and reforms, but:

• The Parlements (high courts dominated by nobles) blocked his tax changes.
• Many elites insisted that only the Estates-General (a representative assembly that had not met since 1614) could approve major new taxes.

Calling the Estates-General (May 1789)

Louis XVI agreed to summon the Estates-General, which met at Versailles in May 1789. It was divided into three estates:

1. First Estate – Clergy
2. Second Estate – Nobility
3. Third Estate – Everyone else (from rich bourgeoisie to peasants)

The big issue: How should votes be counted?

• Traditional method: by estate (each estate gets 1 vote → 2 vs 1 against the Third Estate)
• Reformers demanded: by head (each deputy gets 1 vote → Third Estate, with more deputies, has more influence)

This argument over procedure quickly turned into a struggle over power: Who truly represented the French nation?

Step 2 – Thought Exercise: Who Represents the Nation?

Imagine you are a deputy of the Third Estate in May 1789.

You represent a district where:

• Peasants are angry about feudal dues.
• Urban workers are struggling with high bread prices.
• Middle-class professionals complain they pay taxes without political power.

Prompt:

1. In 2–3 bullet points, write what you would argue in a speech about how voting should be organized in the Estates-General.
2. Then add 1 bullet point explaining why the Third Estate should have a stronger voice than the other two estates.

Use this structure in your notes:

• Voting should be organized by… because…
• The Third Estate should have a stronger voice because…

After you think it through, compare your reasoning to this key idea:

> The Third Estate claimed it represented the nation, because it included the vast majority of the population and produced most of the kingdom’s wealth.

Step 3 – From Estates-General to National Assembly

Deadlock and Defiance

In June 1789, the Estates-General was deadlocked over voting rules. The Third Estate grew impatient.

Key turning points:

• 17 June 1789 – The Third Estate, joined by some reform-minded clergy and nobles, declared itself the National Assembly. They claimed to represent the French nation, not just one estate.
• 20 June 1789 – Tennis Court Oath: Locked out of their usual meeting hall, deputies gathered in an indoor tennis court at Versailles and swore not to separate until they had given France a constitution.

This was revolutionary because:

• Authority was now claimed to come from the nation, not just the king.
• A body that had been called by the king was now acting independently of him.

Louis XVI hesitated, but by late June he ordered the other estates to join the National Assembly. The political center of gravity had shifted: the Ancien Régime’s traditional institutions were being challenged from within.

Step 4 – Quick Check: National Assembly

Answer this question to check your understanding of how the National Assembly emerged.

Step 5 – The Storming of the Bastille: What Happened?

Rising Tension in Paris

While political conflict unfolded at Versailles, Paris was tense:

• Bread prices were very high and unemployment was rising.
• Rumors spread that the king was preparing to use troops to dissolve the National Assembly.
• In early July 1789, Louis XVI moved royal troops around Paris and Versailles, which many saw as a threat.

14 July 1789 – Storming the Bastille

The Bastille was a medieval fortress-prison in eastern Paris.

On 14 July 1789:

1. Crowds seized weapons from the Hôtel des Invalides (an armory/hospital).
2. They marched to the Bastille to get gunpowder and ammunition.
3. After hours of fighting, the fortress surrendered. The governor, the Marquis de Launay, was killed and his head paraded on a pike.

Why the Bastille Mattered

• Symbolic significance: The Bastille was seen as a symbol of royal despotism and arbitrary imprisonment (even though it held few prisoners by 1789).
• Practical impact:
• The fall of the Bastille showed that royal troops would not easily crush the people of Paris.
• It encouraged the formation of a National Guard (a citizens’ militia) under Lafayette.
• Louis XVI was forced to recognize the new situation: he visited Paris, wore the tricolour cockade (blue, white, red), and effectively accepted that he could not simply rule by force.

Today, 14 July is celebrated in France as Fête Nationale (often called Bastille Day in English), marking this moment when popular violence shifted the balance of power.

Step 6 – Visualizing the Bastille’s Symbolism

Picture this scene as if you were creating a storyboard for a short film about 14 July 1789.

In your notes, sketch (or describe in words) three frames:

1. Frame 1 – Before the attack: What does the Bastille look like from the outside? How do the crowds appear? (Think: tall stone walls, cannons, nervous but determined Parisians.)
2. Frame 2 – The assault: Show the chaos—gunfire, smoke, people scaling walls or attacking the gates.
3. Frame 3 – After the fall: The fortress being dismantled, people cheering, maybe a head on a pike, and the tricolour cockade.

Then answer in 1–2 sentences in your own words:

> Why did the fall of the Bastille frighten the king and nobles?

Compare your answer to this idea:

> It showed that ordinary people could use force to influence politics, and that royal authority in the capital was no longer secure.

Step 7 – The Great Fear and the Night of 4 August

The Great Fear (Summer 1789)

News of the Bastille’s fall spread into the countryside. In July–August 1789, many rural areas experienced the Great Fear:

• Rumors claimed that nobles were sending bands of brigands to destroy peasants’ crops.
• In response, peasants attacked manor houses, burned feudal records, and sometimes refused to pay dues.

This alarmed the National Assembly, which now faced pressure from below (peasants and urban crowds) as well as from above (the king and nobles).

Night of 4 August 1789 – Abolition of Feudalism

On the night of 4 August 1789, deputies of the National Assembly met and, in a dramatic session, a series of nobles and clergy voluntarily gave up their feudal privileges. The Assembly then passed decrees (often called the August Decrees):

They abolished or began to abolish:

• Feudal dues and obligations peasants owed to lords (for example, payments for using the lord’s mill or oven)
• The tithe (a tax paid to the Church, usually about one-tenth of agricultural produce)
• Exclusive hunting rights of nobles
• Many seigneurial courts and special legal privileges

This was a major blow to the social and legal foundations of the Ancien Régime.

Note: In practice, some dues had to be bought out by peasants and were not instantly removed, but the principle was clear: legal inequality based on estate was being dismantled.

Step 8 – Quick Check: August Decrees

Test your understanding of the August 4 decisions.

Step 9 – Key Term Review

Flip these cards (mentally or on paper) to review the core concepts from 1789.

Step 10 – Putting It All Together: Cause and Effect Chain

To consolidate your understanding, build a cause-and-effect chain for 1789.

In your notes, create a numbered list like this and fill it in:

1. Financial crisis and social tensions → (explain briefly)
2. Calling of the Estates-General (May 1789) → (what problem was this meant to solve?)
3. Deadlock and creation of the National Assembly (June 1789) → (how did this change who claimed power?)
4. Storming of the Bastille (14 July 1789) → (what did this show about the people’s role?)
5. Great Fear (summer 1789) → (how did rural unrest affect the Assembly?)
6. Night of 4 August 1789 – August Decrees → (how did this attack the old order?)

Then, in 3–4 sentences, write a short summary answering:

> How did events in 1789 begin to collapse the Ancien Régime and create a new political and social order?

Use at least three of these terms in your answer: Estates-General, National Assembly, Bastille, Great Fear, August Decrees, feudalism.