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Old Regime
The social and political system in place in France during the 1770's. It was made up of 3 "estates", and it was like power pyramid where the top two estates were made up of the rich and wealthy and the third/bottom estate made up most of France's citizens. Due to this system, the majority of French citizens suffered due to the abuse of power from the top two estates. This is important because it fuelled French citizens to revolt against a corrupt government that gave them little freedoms. -
Estates-General
This was an assembly of the three estates of France. This meeting was called to address the countries major debt that the King and Queen put them into. The first two wealthy estates outvoted the third estate; the first two estates took advantage of this and imposed taxes onto the third estates. This poor leadership led to angering the third estate with new taxes. The result of this meeting was the idea of the National Assembly which was the first deliberate move of the the Revolution. -
Storming of Bastille Prison
French citizens of the third estate stormed Bastille Prison in search of arms and gunpowder. They were successful and this was a major scene of rebellion which was a contributor to the beginning of the French Revolution. The attack was a very brutal attack on the French government and it's prison. This act of rebellion/independence for France is now a National holiday. -
King Louis XVI tries to escape France
As rebellion and reform grew around France, the government grew unsteady along with the monarchy. As this grew, the countries confidence in the monarchy was nearly lost so Louis tried escaping the country before reform overpowered the monarchy. Louis was caught and escorted back to Paris. This showed that even the King knew that the monarchy was falling and he was attempting to escaping before he lost his power in the government. -
Insurrection of August 10
French thousands of revolutionaries stormed the palace of the French Monarchy. This resulted in the monarchy being imprisoned and many of their guards brutally murdered. As a result the Constitution of 1791 was "set aside" and King Louis XVI was deposed. This all came from pressures of the radical revolutionaries in France. A new governing body also came from this which became known as the National Convention which declared France a republic. -
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Reign of Terror
Maximilien Robespierre took control of the governing body of France after Louis XVI was deposed and ruled France as a Dictator. He was a revolutionary with radical ideas of getting all loyalist and their ideas out of France. He closed Churches across France and ensued terror into French citizens everyday lives through the threat of death. I feel that these actions of Robespierre lost what the Revolution was originally fighting for and it just caused many problems and solved nothing for France. -
Death of King Louis XVI
After the former French monarch, Louis XVI was deposed he had little social standing and was tried for treason by the revolutionaries. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was the last monarch of the old regime and his death marked the end of an era and the possibility of the old regime ever coming back. This enthused revolutionaries and made loyalist to the old French monarchy lose their spirits. -
Napoleon becomes France's Dictator
After Napoleon had established his popularity on the battlefield, he also began to build political power. In 1799 Napoleon seized the national legislature and dissolved the Directory which was formerly leading France. Napoleon established a new government for France with three consuls where he was the head/dictator. The fact that Napoleon was so easily able to take power of France with little difficulty showed the instability that the country was in during the Revolutionary war. -
Napoleon Crowns himself Emperor
By 1804 Napoleon had created a strong central government in France while also addressing radical ideas and creating new reforms. Among this reforms, he brought back the connection between State and Church in France. But in 1804 himself and a popular vote among the French public declared him the Emperor of France. I think it was a good thing that he was able to establish peace and stabilize the government of France but by crowning himself, he showed he had full power as dictator. -
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Napoleon's French European Empire
Napoleon had conquered most parts of Europe and held some sort of power in every area that he had conquered. Since the amount of land that he had conquered was so vast, he held very loose control and unstable control over it. Due to the instability, he was forced to surrender everything he had. This brought about a new King for France as Napoleon was dethroned. This new king was Louis XVIII which brought another change in government for France.