[Music] on the morning of 14th July 1789 the City of Paris was gripped with fear and panic the streets were AB bus with the alarm rumors spread like wildfire rumor that the Army was soon to open fire on the citizens in response around 7,000 men and women get gathered in front of the Town Hall determined to protect themsel they decided to form a people's militia they broke into several government buildings in search of arms finally a group of several hundred people marched towards the eastern part of the city they target The besttile Fortress prison where they believed holded ammunition were stored in the armed confrontation that followed the commander of the besttile was killed and the prisoners were released though there were only seven of them yet the besttile was hated by all for it stood as a symbol of King's despotic power the people demolished the fort and its Stone fragments were sold in the market as souvenir in the days that followed riots broke out across the Paris and the countryside most people protested against the unbearable high price es for the brid years later historians would look back at this moment as the beginning of a chain of events that led to eventually the execution of the king but on that day most people couldn't have imagined the magnitude of what they had set into motion artists soon immortalized the storming of besti creating Vivid prints and paintings commemorating this momentous event in the history [Music] in 1774 Louie the 16th of the borbon family ascended the Throne of France at the age of just 20 he was married to the Austrian Princess Mary Antoinette however he inherited a nation in crisis with an empty Treasury and mounting debt years of war has drained France resources adding to this was the cost of maintaining the extravagant CT of versales under the Louis 16 France even supported the 13 American colonies in the War of Independence against Britain which added over a billion levers to the already massive debt of more than 2 billion lever lenders now charged the state at 10% interest on the loans the French government had to spend a significant portion of its budget just on interest payments leaving little for the essential expenses like the Army universities and the government offices to cope the taxes were increased but even this was not enough French society in the 18th century was divided into three states the first state was the clery the second was the nobility and the third state consisted of everyone else including peasants workers and the middle class only the third state paid the [Music] taxes the clergy and the nobility enjoyed privileges by birth they were Exempted from paying taxes and enjoy feudal privileges Nobles collected feudal dues from The Peasants who were also obligated to provide services such as working on the Lord's land or serving in his army the church too extracted taxes from the peasants in the form of diets on top of that the Third Estate paid direct taxes like tiles and the numerous indirect taxes on every items like salt and tobacco [Music] peasants made up to 90% of the population but most of them did not own the land they cultivated about 60% of the land was owned by The Nobles and the church and the wealthiest member of the third state the entire burden of financing the state fell on the third state they paid taxes to the state tits to the church and the feudal dues to the Nobles this unjust system was part of the old regime dated back to the Middle Ages the term old regime refers to the society and institutions of France before 1789 this feudal structure along with the immense financial burden on the third state sold the seed of discontent that would later ignite the French Revolution between 1715 and 1789 the population of France Rose from 23 million to 28 million this rapid population growth created a surge in the demand for food grains however the grain production could not keep up leading to a sharp increase in the price of bread the staple died for the majority of population most workers were employed as laborers in workshops where wages were fixed by the the owners however wages did not rise to match the increased price this gap between the rich and the poor widened further leaving the workers and the peasants in extreme distress whenever droughts or hail storms reduced the Harvest things became even worse the people faced crisis which occurred frequently during the old regime