The aims of the revolutionaries were summed up in the slogan ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’: • Liberty: all men are free • Equality: all men are equal • Fraternity: all men should treat each other as brothers
The revolutionaries also adopted a new flag for France. It was a tricolour with blue and red (the colours of Paris) on either side of the white of the royal family, to symbolise that the people were now dominant over royalty.
COLLABORATE: Find out about the origins of the flags of the following countries and report your findings to the rest of your class: Ireland; the United Kingdom; the United States; Germany; China.
The flight to Varennes
Emblem of the French Revolution. It reads: ‘Unity and indivisibility of the Republic. Liberty, equality, fraternity – or death’.
The flight to Varennes
Many people in Paris feared that the king and queen, Louis and Marie Antoinette, were opposed to the revolution and would try to reverse it. In October 1789, thousands of the ordinary working women of Paris armed themselves and marched the six hours to Versailles. They forced the royal family to return to Paris, where they were confined to the Tuileries Palace.
Louis wanted the support of other European monarchs to crush the revolution; no monarch wanted these revolutionary ideas to spread to their countries. In particular, Louis looked to his brother-in-law, the Emperor Leopold of Austria, for help. He planned to escape to the Austrian-controlled Netherlands (modern Belgium) with his family. In June 1791, disguised as servants, Louis and Marie Antoinette slipped out of Paris. They were caught near the border, at the town of Varennes. Many people were convinced the king was conspiring with foreign powers against his own people and he was stripped of most of his powers.
