Following years of economic stagnation and the cessation of colonial surplus, the French state faced impending bankruptcy in 1790. The Noble Council's decision to levy new taxes on the peasantry in March of that year ignited widespread civil unrest. This tension culminated in the "Bloody 13th" of August, when soldiers opened fire on a crowd in Tours, killing twenty-three civilians. The massacre radicalized the populace, leading to the rise of the "Republicans," who launched a violent campaign across the countryside, burning aristocratic estates and forcing the nobility to retreat into Paris, effectively turning the capital into a fortress by early 1791.

King Henri V attempted to quell the insurrection with a decree in February, but his characterization of the rebels as "rotten insurrectionists" only intensified the conflict. Republican militias subsequently laid siege to Paris, squeezing the city's supplies by the summer. Facing starvation, the Royalist army executed a breakout in July, aiming to flee to the loyalist stronghold of Savoy via the port of Le Havre. Although the professional soldiers initially cut through the inexperienced rebel lines, the retreat turned disastrous near their destination when Republican forces ambushed the convoy.

While Queen Amalia Ludovica and the bulk of the Royalist forces managed to evacuate by sea to Savoy, King Henri V was captured during the ambush and separated from his court. With the monarch in custody and the aristocracy exiled, the Republicans seized total control of the capital. On September 1st, the newly convened "People’s Assembly" voted to abolish the monarchy, officially proclaiming the birth of the French Republic and marking the definitive end of the old regime.