Explanation: During the ancien regime of the French Monarchy, the population was split into three groups for ‘representation’ - the first estate, consisting of the Catholic clergy who were not only tax-exempt, but ALSO empowered to tax the peasantry on their lands; the second estate, consisting of the nobility, also largely tax exempt; and the third estate, consisting of literally everyone else.
After a financial crisis caused by runaway spending on military adventures and luxuries for the royal family, the three estates were called together to approve new taxes to be levied on the French people - obviously, still exempting the priesthood and nobility!
The representatives of the Third Estate were not happy about this, and after some quarreling over representation (as the First and Second Estates could outvote the far-more-numerous Third Estate), they declared themselves the representative of the French people - the first step of the French Revolution which would eventually lead to the (literal) decapitation of the monarchy and its replacement by the First French Republic. Vive la France!
I seem to recall there was a tennis court involved somehow?
There was cake. But they had to be given permission to eat it.
An oath was sworn and then the French endured ~30 years of unrest between the terrors, wars, and Napoleon.
I was confused for a second when I saw estates (“When did they reestablish estates in France”), because AFAIK current-day France has a debt problem too.
IDK. Maybe the powerful guy is the one that should be falling out of the window.
Or maybe it should be everybody.
Come on France you got Elon, now squeeze
