Tennis Court Oath Tennis Court Oath On 20 June 1789, the members of the French Third Estate, who had begun to call themselves the National Assembly, took the Tennis Court Oath (), vowing "not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established". It was a pivotal event in the French Revolution. The Estates-General had been called to address the country's fiscal and agricultural crisis, but immediately after convening in May 1789, they had become bogged down in issues of representation—particularly, whether they would vote by head (which would increase the power of the Third Estate,
Battle of the Tennis Court The forward trenches ran out of ammunition on several occasions but were repeatedly resupplied by Sergeant Williams who was awarded a Military Medal for his bravery. The decision was made on April 12 to relieve the defenders of the Tennis Court with B Company of the 4th Royal West Kents commanded by Major John Winstanley. During B Company's first night defending the Tennis Court, the Japanese forces attacked silently wearing plimsoll shoes instead of boots. They nearly overran the British forward positions with one of the platoon commanders, Lieutenant Tom Hogg, surviving a bayonet attack before firing all 25 rounds