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The French Revolution

The French Revolution was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France from 1789 to 1799 that had a profound effect on French history and on modern history worldwide. Popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy, aristocracy and the King's court at Versailles combined with an economic crisis following the expenses of the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War and years of bad harvests. Demands for change were couched in terms of Enlightenment ideals and led to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789. The first year of the Revolution saw members of the Third Estate proclaiming the Tennis Court Oath in June, the assault on the Bastille in July, the passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in August, and an epic march on Versailles that forced the royal court back to Paris in October. The next few years were dominated by struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the monarchy intent on thwarting major reforms. A republic was proclaimed in September 1792 and King Louis XVI was executed the next year. (from wikipedia.org)

This film tells a history of the French Revolution from when Louis XVI came to the throne around the mid 1770s to the death of Maximillien Robespierre in 1794. The film presents the background of the revolution by showing ordinary people's lives in France under Louis XVI's control, and chronicles what happened during the period of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1794, featuring influential figures of the period.