Third, there was a great economic depression in France, and upwards of 50% of people were unemployed. There were many food shortages that led to many riots. Another reason the French Revolution occurred was the people of the lower classes were fed up with their small role in the Estates General. The clergy and nobles stepped on the people of the Third State, and the Third State had enough. With the great unrest in France and in the government, King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General, the first time since 1614. Also during this time, people were afraid of the jail house Bastille. The French government used Bastille to torture and kill people, which gave fear to the French commoners. The French people wanted to stop this, and this was another reason for the revolution. There were many phases of the revolution that changed France. The first Phase started to occur at the meeting of the Estates General. The Third Estate wanted power in the Estates General, and when they didn't get it, the Third State seceded from the Estates General. The newly seceded Third Estate started calling themselves the "French National Assembly". Their first meeting was at a tennis court where they wrote a new constitution for the Nation. This meeting was eventually called the "Tennis Court Oath" and was very important to French History. With the new secession, the other two Estates decided to try and overthrow the National Assembly. When troops were sent around Paris, mobs broke out and commoners stormed the Bastille, killing troops and freeing prisoners. This event was one of the biggest events that led up to the French Revolution.
The New National Assembly continued to reform, getting rid of serfdom and pleasing peasants. This also led to the Assembly creating the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen", one of the most important documents of the French Revolution.