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The Estates general had not been convoked since 1614, and Louis XVI was basically forced to convoke them again in June 1789. The Estates general were an assembly of different classes (1st estate was the Clergy, 2nd was the nobility and the 3rd was the bourgeoisie). They had no power of their own, they were convoked and dismissed by the King as he pleased.

But in 1789, when a revolution was on hand, the 3rd estate of this Estate General started meeting on their own, without the other two estates. King Louis XVI tried to resist to this, and he shut down the Salle des États (the place where they met). This did not stop them and the 3rd estate moved to a nearby tennis court. Here they swore the Tennis Court Oath, stating they would never disband until there was a proper constitution written for France. They also had a new name for themselves: The National Assembly. Soon the 1st and 2nd estate joined them in their revolutionary ideas, and this event was (together with the storming of the Bastille 1 month later) the start of the French Revolution.

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15y ago

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