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'''The French Revolution''' was a 1789 revolution which began the modern era.  In a sequence of upheavals, it saw the downfall of King [[Louis XVI]], rise of [[Robespierre]] and the [[Reign of Terror]], a chaos wherein thousands were [[guillotine|guillotined]] for political leanings and moderatism.  

'''The French Revolution''' was a 1789 revolution which began the modern era.  In a sequence of upheavals, it saw the downfall of King [[Louis XVI]], rise of [[Robespierre]] and the [[Reign of Terror]], a chaos wherein thousands were [[guillotine|guillotined]] for political leanings and moderatism.  

Radicals saw the Catholic Church as the enemy and promoted in its place a [[Cult of Reason]].  The Revolution emerged in part from the [[rationalism]] of the[[Enlightenment]] which distrusted all established institutions.  It inspired fear into European monarchs and aristocrats as well as conservative intellectuals like [[Edmund Burke]] in Britain, who mobilized to fight the Revolution, and finally succeeded in 1815.  

Radicals saw the Catholic Church as the enemy and promoted in its place a [[Cult of Reason]].  The Revolution emerged in part from the [[rationalism]] of the [[Enlightenment]] which distrusted all established institutions.  It inspired fear into European monarchs and aristocrats as well as conservative intellectuals like [[Edmund Burke]] in Britain, who mobilized to fight the Revolution, and finally succeeded in 1815.  

==Social structure of Old Regime==

==Social structure of Old Regime==

Before the Revolution, France had three levels in its social system: The First, Second, and Third Estates.  The [[First Estate]] was about 1% of the population, but it controlled 10% of the land.  [[Image:3estates.jpg|thumb|320px|left]] The First Estate consisted of the clergy, and they did not pay any taxes.  The [[Second Estate]] was about 2% of the population and they controlled 20% of the land.  These were the nobility, and they too paid very little taxes.  The [[Third Estate]] was everyone else, and they were badly overtaxed by the monarch.  This overtaxing was a major cause of the [[French]] Revolution.   

Before the Revolution, France had three levels in its social system: The First, Second, and Third Estates.  The [[First Estate]] was about 1% of the population, but it controlled 10% of the land.  [[Image:3estates.jpg|thumb|320px|left]] The First Estate consisted of the clergy, and they did not pay any taxes.  The [[Second Estate]] was about 2% of the population and they controlled 20% of the land.  These were the nobility, and they too paid very little taxes.  The [[Third Estate]] was everyone else, and they were badly overtaxed by the monarch.  This overtaxing was a major cause of the [[French]] Revolution.