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Summery of the History Channel Documentary of the French Revolution

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Summery of the History Channel Documentary of the French Revolution
Overview: This essay is a summary of the 2005 History Channel documentary of the French Revolution. The closing paragraph is my personal opinion on the movie. All information came from the Documentary.

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Directed by Writing credits

Doug Shultz Thomas Emil

Doug Shultz

Produced by Hilary Sio

Doug Shultz/Producer

Sandya Viswanathan/Co-producer

In 1770 the French Revolution began to form, at Fifteen Louis the sixteenth, marries Marie Antoinette the fourteen year old Austrian Princess, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa, to strengthen the France-Austria alliance. The French people dislike the Austrian Antoinette almost immediately. When Louis the sixteenth becomes King France is in deep debt. Heavy taxation left many of the French in poverty, resulting in anger against the government. King Louis and Marie Antoinette become a joke because of the kings "all around impotents". Even with Frances heavy debt the king supports America's fight for independence from Great Britain with several thousand troops and dozens of ships and vessels. The queen helps deplete France's money too with extreme over extravagance.

On July 11, 1789 King Louis XVI fired his director general of finances, Jacques Necker, because he believed Necker was too sympathetic to the cause of the Third Estate. The firing of the popular Necker caused tens of thousands of people to gather in the street around Paris and began rioting in protest. When the Crowd storms the Bastille prison it is the signal for the start of the French Revolution. The National Constituent Assembly formally adopts their charter of basic liberties, the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Thousands of women march to Versailles to force King Louis XVI back to Paris to ensure the liberties appear within the Declaration of the Rights of Man. King Louis XVI was captured and held in Paris. King Louis XVI and his family try to escape but are arrested the next day. On September 3,

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