Date | 5 May 1789 – 9 November 1799 (10 years, 6 months and 4 days) |
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Location | Kingdom of France |
Outcome |
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The French Revolution was a revolution in France from 1789 to 1799. It ended the French monarchy. The revolution began with a meeting of the Estates General in Versailles, and ended when Napoleon Bonaparte took power in November 1799.
Before 1789, France was ruled by the nobles and the Catholic Church. The ideas of the Enlightenment were beginning to make the ordinary people want more power. They could see that the American Revolution had created a country in which the people had power, instead of a king. The government before the revolution was called the "Ancien Régime".