Today we began our study of the French Revolution. Although modeled on the American Revolution, it was vastly different than the earlier events in America. France was in rough shape in 1789. King Louis XVI desperately needed money. After the storming of the Bastille on July 14, the Assembly got its constitution with a limited monarchy. The revolution entered a radical phase, which was marked by the declaration of France as a republic, the execution of Louis XVI, radical secularism, and the Reign of Terror led by the Committee of Public Safety, including Maximilien de Robespierre and Georges Danton. Thousands of people fell to the guillotine.