The Cataclysm of Revolution

1789–1799

When the Estates General convened at Versailles in May 1789, no one could have foreseen what lay ahead: ten years of upheaval that established the model of modern revolution and set the course of modern politics. The following documents illuminate the French Revolution in the making, from the politically charged months preceding the convocation of the Estates General to the formation of a republic and a government of terror designed to destroy enemies of the Revolution both within and without. At each stage, the revolutionaries remained committed to the Enlightenment principle of using reason to reshape society and government. The second document, a political cartoon of the Old Regime, visually brings to life why so many people clamored for change. Even so, they were not always in control of events either in France or beyond, as peasants, working-class city folk, women, and even slaves from the French colony of St. Domingue (modern-day Haiti) rose up with their own demands, taking the Revolution in even more radical directions.