OFF WITH THEIR HEADS! THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The French Revolution, one of the bloodiest in history, began after years of injustice by the French royals and nobles who were in power. The vast majority of the population lived in poverty but had to pay incredibly high taxes, while the rich lived in enormous houses, swanned about in luxury but didn’t have to pay any taxes at all. Here’s the short version of what happened.

1789 VIVE LA REVOLUTION! The peasants (the majority of France) are starving, and fed up with the unfair way their country is being governed. With the price of bread at an all-time high, they attack the Bastille prison in Paris, where weapons and ammunition are stored. This marks the beginning of the French Revolution. The revolutionaries take control of the government and pass new laws to make things fairer. Violence erupts against rich landowners all over France.

1791 ZUT ALORS! The French King Louis XVI is caught trying to escape revolutionary France.

1792 VIVE LA REPUBLIQUE! France is declared a republic. France is now at war with Austria, and soon lots of other countries too, including Britain, Spain and the Netherlands. They want to make sure revolutions don’t happen in their own countries (at least, the rich people do).

1793 LE TERROIR! King Louis XVI is executed by guillotine. Queen Marie Antoinette is executed the same way later that year. ‘The Terror’ begins, led by a revolutionary called Robespierre, in which about 18,000 people who don’t support the revolution are sent to the guillotine in one year.

1794 SACRE BLEU! The French people become fed up with Robespierre’s passion for chopping off heads. Robespierre himself is arrested and guillotined and ‘The Terror’ ends – or at least becomes a bit less terrible.

1795 LE DIRECTOIRE! Revolutionary France is now ruled by five directors, known as ‘the Directory’.

1799 ZUT ALORS ENCORE! Napoleon overthrows the Directory and puts himself in charge.

1804 VIVE NAPOLEON! Napoleon becomes Emperor of France, despite an emperor being rather similar to a king, and the French people having beheaded their last king just over a decade earlier.

1815 FIN! Napoleon is defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and sent into exile. The victorious countries can’t wait to get everything back to normal and put a king back on the throne. The brother of the beheaded King Louis is crowned king, and France lives under the reign of various kings and emperors for another 55 years.