"Liberty, equality, fraternity! Those were the cries of the French Revolution. France had been a powder keg for decades as wealthy aristocrats grew richer and the poor grew hungry and more desperate. The match was struck when the French king Louis XVI and his hated Austrian wife, Marie Antoinette, refused to address—or perhaps could not address—the problems of the people. The revolution began on July 14, 1789, when commoners and soldiers alike attacked the Bastille, a hated prison and symbol of the regime. It was a pivotal moment in European history as the French deposed and executed their monarch. A bold experiment, the principles of the Revolution later went awry during the Reign of Terror and left the way open for Napoleon Bonaparte to sweep into power." (http://www.enotes.com/topics/french-revolution)
Now, one interesting fact about the revolution is Marie Antoinette. When King Luis XVI and his family were captured at Varennes, Marie Antoniette was the one who held her family together. When she was accused of treason, the people who captured her took away her children, and killed her husband (Luis XVI). On her last days she spent in prison, her best friends head being paraded just outside Marie Antoniette's jail window. While she was going thrugh all that suffering, on her las confession, the Priest advised her to be have courage; and she respoded "Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are to end?” It is very interesting how, even though she was hated by the french, she still showed courage in her darkest hours.
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