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Events during the French Revolution
The Revolution that began in 1789, overthrew the absolute monarchy of the Bourbons and the system of aristocratic privileges, and ended with Napoleon's overthrow of the Directory and seizure of power in 1799. -
Creation of Directory
As revolutionary France recovered from the Terror, it was decided that a new constitution was necessary. The result was a system which saw the creation of two councils and a five man ‘Directory’ at the apex of government. Initial public opposition by the Paris mob was overcome, and a group of Directors emerged to lead over the next four years, although they needed to rely on vote rigging and bloodless coups to do so. -
Tennis Court oath
Tennis Court Oath, French Serment du Jeu de Paume, , dramatic act of defiance by representatives of the nonprivileged classes of the French nation during the meeting of the Estates-General at the beginning of the French Revolution. -
Fall of Bastille
Medieval fortress in Paris that became a symbol of despotism. In the 17th – 18th centuries, the Bastille was used as a French state prison and a place of detention for important persons. On July 14, 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution, an armed mob of Parisians captured the fortress and released its prisoners, a dramatic action that came to symbolize the end of the ancien régime. -
Great fear
In the French Revolution, a period of panic and riot by peasants and others amid rumors of an “aristocratic conspiracy” by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate. The gathering of troops around Paris provoked insurrection, and on July 14 the Parisian rabble seized the Bastille. In the provinces the peasants rose against their lords, attacking châteaux and destroying feudal documents. -
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
The last article of Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen was adopted 26 August 1789, During the period of the French Revolution, as the first step toward writing a constitution for France. -
Women march on Versailles
women demanding bread for their families gathered other discontented Parisians, including some men, and marched toward Versailles, arriving soaking wet from the rain. They demanded to see "the Baker," "the Baker's wife," and "the Baker's boy". -
Civil Constitution of Clergy
passed by the National Assembly during the French Revolution, that subordinated the Roman Catholic church in France to the state. Under its provisions, enfranchised citizens would elect bishops and parish priests and the state would pay the clergy's wages. The act soon provoked opposition, and when the National Assembly ordered the clergy to take an oath supporting the Civil Constitution, many refused. -
execution of a monarch
The problem of what to do with Louis XVI rested on the question of whether the King of France can be tried. There wasn't a right answer. The Constitution of 1791 protected the monarch from any penalty worse than dethronement, and no court in the land had legitimate jurisdiction over him. -
Constitution of 1791
French constitution created by the National Assembly during the French Revolution. It retained the monarchy, but sovereignty effectively resided in the Legislative Assembly, which was elected by a system of indirect voting. The franchise was restricted to “active” citizens who paid a minimal sum in taxes; about two-thirds of adult men had the right to vote for electors and to choose certain local officials directly. The constitution lasted less than a year. -
The Royal escape
They tried to escape without letting the people know about it and that let to their death. -
Declaration of a monarch
a declaration signed on Aug. 27, 1791, during the French Revolution, in the castle of Pillnitz in Saxony. The signers were the Holy Roman emperor Leopold II and the Prussian king Frederick William II. -
Creation of National Convection
the longest-lasting of the revolutionary assemblies, lasting from Sept 1792 to Oct 1795, when it was replaced by the Directory -
Reigh of terror Begins
period of the French Revolution characterized by a wave of executions of presumed enemies of the state. Directed by the Committee of Public Safety, the Revolutionary government's Terror was essentially a war dictatorship, instituted to rule the country in a national emergency. -
Death of Robespierre and end the terror
French revolutionary. Leader of the Jacobins and architect of the Reign of Terror, he was known as an austere and incorruptible man. His laws permitting the confiscation of property and arrest of suspected traitors, many of whom were guillotined, led to his own arrest and execution without trial. -
Constitution of 1795
French constitution established during the Thermidorian Reaction in the French Revolution. Known as the Constitution of Year III in the French republican calendar, it was prepared by the Thermidorian Convention. It was more conservative than the abortive democratic Constitution of 1793. -
Napolion becomes Consulate
As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the Napoleonic Code, has been a major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best remembered for his role in the wars led against France by a series of coalitions, the so-called Napoleonic Wars.Due to his success in these wars, often against numerically superior enemies, he is generally regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time. -
Coronation of an emperor
The crowning and the coronation took place at Notre-Dame de Paris, a way for Napoleon to make it clear that he was a son of the Revolution. -
Battle of Trafalgar
was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars -
Battle of Austerlitz
the French under Napoleon defeated the Russian armies of Czar Alexander I and the Austrian armies of Emperor Francis II -
invasion of Spain
The war began when French troops occupied Portugal in 1807 and Spain in 1808. It was the first large-scale guerilla war, from which the English language borrowed the word. It was a war of contrasts; a war fought in the icy passes of the high Pyrenees and on the burning wastes of the Sierra Morena. It was a war of infinite cruelty. -
invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia of 1812 was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe. -
Exile to Elba
Napolion was exiled to the island of Elba where he received an annual allowance from France. Napoleon's repose on Elba was pleasant, and though the full staff which accompanied him to the island was only thirty-five, it still made up an imperial court. However, Napoleon was only a "play emperor" and he knew it. -
Battle of Waterloo
In this battle, the forces of the French Empire under the leadership of Michael Ney and Napoleon Bonaparte were defeated by the Seventh Coalition and a Prussian Army, which was commanded by Gebhard Von Blucher. The forces were also defeated by an Anglo-Allied Army commanded by the Duke of Wellington. -
Hundred Days
name given to the period after the return of the deposed French emperor, Napoleon I Napoleon I , 1769–1821, -
Congress of vienna
After the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte, this international conference was called to create a balance among the European powers in such a way so as to prevent future wars and maintain peace and stability on the European continent. The means of achieving this goal would be through a major reshaping of European interior borders.
