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Estates General
Consultative assembly, gathering representatives of the three orders of society: the First Estate (the nobility), the Second Estate (the clergy) and the Third Estate (the commoners, including both peasants and bourgeois).
Summoned for the first time since 1614 by king Louis XVI, seeking advice regarding the various crisis (namely agricultural and economical) happening in France. In anticipation, he collected the "Cahiers de doléances" of each estate, their lists of grievances. -
Establishment of the National Assembly
Unhappy with the vote by estate (instead of vote by head) system of the Estates General, the deputies of the Third Estate (representing the commoners, including both peasants and bourgeois), as well as a very few deputies from the nobility and the clergy, formed a National Assembly. -
Tennis Court Oath
The members of the National Assembly swore to stay together until the adoption of a constitution. This oath was pronounced on a "jeu de paume" (an ancestor of tennis) court, since the king, unhappy with the assembly, had closed the Estates General hall. -
Establishment of the National Constituent Assembly
King Louis XVI finally conceded and officially recognized the National Assembly, which in turn became the National Constituent Assembly, emphasizing their fight for a constitution. Slowly, more and more members of the Estates General joined the assembly.
The king participated to the discussions of the assembly and had the right to veto its decisions. -
Storming of the Bastille
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, used as a prison and as a storehouse for arms and ammunition. It was considered a symbol of the royal arbitrariness and was deemed impossible to seize, which made its storming all the more symbolic. It was stormed by the Parisian people in part due to concern regarding the movement of troops near Paris.
This triggered the Great Fear, mass panic in rural areas caused by fear of retaliation from the nobility. It led to attacks on various castles. -
Abolition of privileges
The Constituent National Assembly took the decision to abolish feudal privileges (such as serfdom or tithes), thus completely putting an end to french feudal society. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
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Nationalisation of the Church's goods
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Civil Constitution of the Clergy
After some dispute, it was finally adopted. One of the measures imposed by it was that priests and other members of the clergy had to oath their loyalty to the State before the Pope. This caused commotion between the clergy, who got divided between the refractory clergy (those who did not abide by the constitution) and the juring clergy (those who did abide by the constitution). -
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen
Published by women's rights activist Olympe de Gouges in an effort to give women, often ignored and treated as invisible, a place in society. -
Flight to Varennes
Unhappy with recent events, king Louis XVI attempted to flee Paris with his family, in order to star a counter-revolution. However, they were found and arrested in Varennes on the same day. -
Constitution
After a couple years of turmoil, a constitution was finally adopted -
Declaration of war on Austria and Prussia
Due to the many French defeats during the war, the king was suspected of treason. This was confirmed when general Brunswick (a German duke) stated his support for the king and threatened the French people. -
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Reign of Terror
Series of massacres and public executions, results of an extremely strict and authoritarian pro-revolution, anti-royalist rule, imposed mainly by Maximilien Robespierre. -
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Trial of Louis XVI
From December to January, former king Louis XVI and now citizen Louis Capet was trialed for treason, among other crimes. -
Persecution of the Girondins
From May 31 to June 2, the Girondins (republican political faction, hostile to the sans-culottes and not necessarily anti-monarchist) were massively persecuted and executed by the Montagnards (ultra-revolutionary republican political faction, from which Robespierre was a part of). -
Storming of the Tuileries Palace
The king's residence, stormed by revolutionaries (namely sans-culottes and federates) due to rising conflicts between the Constituent National Assembly and Louis XVI, who vetoed almost every decision made by it. He and his family took shelter in the assembly, who decided to finally abolish the monarchy. -
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First Republic
From the election of the National Convention, up until the rise of Napoleon I. -
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National Convention
Elected Assembly ruling over the French Republic. -
Execution of Louis XVI
Executed publicly by means of the guillotine, a device he helped refine. -
Abolition of slavery
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Fall of Robespierre (9 Thermidor)
The National Convention took the decision to end the Terror and arrested Robespierre. He was executed the next day, guillotined. -
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Directory
Regime ruling over France, comprised of five directors. It was extremely unstable. -
Coup of 18 Brumaire
Marked the end of the Directory and the start of the Consulate, with general Napoleon Bonaparte, the main responsible of the coup, as First Consul. -
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Consulate
Regime ruling over France, with Napoleon Bonaparte at its head, along two other Consuls. It mostly sticked to the revolutionary ideals, albeit more moderately. -
Concordat
Sort of peace treaty with the Church. This helped appease the people. The same year, peace with Austria and its allies was signed. -
Re-establishment of slavery
Seeing was it was beneficial for the economy (cheaper workforce, trade, etc), Napoleon I re-established slavery. -
Enactment of the Civil Code
Civil Code still in force (although amended many times). It re-organized society, very precisely clarifying relationships between individuals, granting them of civil rights. It also helped unify society, as it was imposed to every citizen of the Empire and recommended to vassal states.
It later became the Napoleonic Code, in 1807. -
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Empire
Established by Napoleon Bonaparte, surnamed Napoleon I. The Empire progressively became more and more authoritarian, the press was strictly surveilled and anyone going against the regime was heavily censored. -
Procalamation of the Empire
Napoleon Bonaparte was given the title of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, by the means of the "sénatus-consulte".
Before this, Napoleon was named Consul for life in 1802. -
Coronation of Napoleon I
Bonaparte crowned himself and was enthroned by the Pope in Notre-Dame of Paris. -
Creation of the modern Baccalaureat
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Take over of Louis XVIII and granting of the Constitutional Charter
Brother of Louis XVI, he was summoned to reign over France after the downfall of Napoleon I. -
Abdication of Napoleon I
Due to strenuous conflict with the vassal-states of the French Empire, Napoleon I had to abdicate and was exiled to the island of Elba, near Corsica. -
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Restoration
Restoration of the French monarchy, briefly interrupted by Napoleon's comeback in 1815. -
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Congress of Vienna
The Western European powers, reunited in a Congress organized by Metternich, ambassador of Austria in Paris, in order to restore the power of old dynasties, going back to the political order of Europe before the Napoleonic Empire. -
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Hundred Days
Napoleon came back from exile and took over France for a short period of time, before being defeated in the battle of Waterloo and abdicating once again, this time definitively. -
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Greek War of Independance
After an almost decade-long war, Greece finally and officially became independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1830. This helped spark revolutionary resolve throughout Europe. -
Death of Napoleon I
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Chios massacre
In April, an Ottoman raid against Greek insurgents in the island of Chios resulted in the killing of 23 000 Greeks and the enslavement of 10 000 others. This caused international outrage and sparked military support from other nations (such as France, Russia and the United Kingdom) to Greek revolutionaries. -
Death of Louis XVIII and take over of Charles X
Due to health complications, Louis XVIII started rotting alive until he finally died in September 1824. His brother, Charles X, then took over the throne and started an ultra-royalist, authoritarian and reactionary regime. -
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July Monarchy
Result of the July Revolution, the authoritarian Charles X was dethroned and replaced by Louis-Philippe I, under the title "king of the French", instead of "king of France". He was less authoritarian and gave more power to the Parliament compared to his predecessors. -
Second French Revolution
Known as the "Trois Glorieuses" (due to it unfolding over three days: 27, 28 and 29 July) in French, it was triggered due to king Charles X publishing five ordinances that hinted at his will to come back to the ways of the Ancien Régime. -
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Victorian era
Reign of the queen Victoria of England. During this period, the British Empire knew its biggest expansion. She became Empress of India in 1876 and held the wars on opium in China during the first half of the XIX century. -
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Second Republic
It only lasted four years and had only one president. -
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Springtime of the Peoples
Revolutionary wave washing over Europe. -
Male universal suffrage
The first elections since 1792 held to the male universal suffrage. Almost every single man went out to vote. -
Abolition of slavery
The bill that finally abolished slavery in France and its colonies was signed by Alphonse de Lamartine, Minister of Foreign Affairs. -
Presidential election
Won by Louis-Napoleon, Napoleon I's nephew, with 74% of the votes. He was the first ever president of France. -
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Industrialisation
From mid XIX century to early XX century, Europe and North America underwent a period of rapid economic growth and technological developments. This was due to increased use of coal instead of steam, as well as the development of Fordism (standardization of products and higher salaries for workers) and Taylorism (production lines). However, it was also an era of exploitation, of men, women and children, with very long working hours, very poor working conditions and very low salaries. -
Restrictions to male universal suffrage
Louis-Napoleon restricted male universal suffrage, so that only those having lived for at least 3 years in the same commune could vote. This reduced the electorate by about 1/3, as workers who constantly moved to find jobs could no longer vote. -
Coup d'État by Loui-Napoleon
After failing to change the Constitution in an effort to be able to get reelected, Louis-Napoleon performed a coup. -
Plebiscite
Organized by Louis-Napoleon, in order to see whether or not the people wanted him to maintain his rule. -
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Second Empire
The establishment of the Second Empire was agreed upon by the people of France, through a plebiscite taking place shortly before it. A new Constitution was written for this period, giving Napoleon III all of the power. -
Louis-Napoleon, now Napoleon III
After a plebiscite in November, the Second Republic was abolished and Louis-Napoleon became Emperor Napoleon III, on the same day Napoleon I was crowned. -
Battle of Puebla
The Second French intervention of Mexico (1861-1867) was an attempt by Napoleon III to establish an empire favorable to French interests in Mexico. Many battles were fought during this period, notably the battle of Puebla, which was, against all odds, lost by the French army. -
Franco-German war
This led to the loss of the Alsace-Lorraine (now Alsace-Moselle) region to the German Empire. -
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Third Republic
It lasted until the Nazi German occupation of 1940, when the Vichy regime was established. -
Election of Adolphe Thiers
First president of the Third Republic. He played a key role in the July Revolution and helped establish the July Monarchy -
Jules Ferry laws
It made school free, secular and mandatory for all children, which diminished their exploitation. -
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Scramble for Africa
Period of colonization of Africa by the Western European powers (France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Italy and a few others). -
Fashoda crisis
The British had occupied Fashoda (now Kodok) a region in current South Sudan and established a military base, then left it abandoned for about a decade. Seeing this, the French arrived and occupied it. Shortly thereafter, the British wished to reclaim the area, leading to a bloody conflict. In the end, the British got to keep Fashoda, and the conflict was resolved in 1904, leading the Anglo-French Entente. -
Assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand
Heir of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he was assassinated with his wife in Sarajevo (Bosnia) by Serbian nationalist Gravilo Princip. This event kick-started World War I, when Austria-Hungary gave Serbia an ultimatum after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, who asked Russia, its main ally, for help. -
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World War I
Surnamed "The Suicide of Europe".
After Serbia asked for help from Russia, Germany declared war on Russia, as well as on France and the United Kingdom, who declared war on Austria-Hungary. Later, Italy joined the conflict, as well as the United States of America and all the colonies of the belligerent countries.
There were two main sides: the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and the Triple Entente (France, UK, the Russian Empire, eventually the USA and Italy).