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Estates-General
An assembly of representatives from all three of the estates, or social classes, in France. -
National Assembly
A French congress established by representatives of the Third Estate on June 17, 178, to enact laws and reforms in the name of the French people. -
Storming of the Bastille in Paris
A medieval prison in Paris were political dissidents were kept prisoner. Rumor of gunpowder and canons in the Bastille combined with a great fear of soldiers occupying the city led Parisians to storm it on July 14, 1789. They seized the Bastille and freed prisoners but, found no weapons or gunpowder. This event begun the French Revolution. -
Abolition of feudalism
France's National Assembly held a meeting in which the nobles and clergy, driven partly by fear and partly by an outburst of idealism, relinquished their manorial rights within the course of a few hours. Shortly afterward, the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, a manifesto comprised of the principles that inspired the French Revolution. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
A fundamental document of the French Revolution and in the history of human rights, defining the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. Influenced by the doctrine of "natural right", the rights of man are held to be universally: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself. -
French Revolution started
A period of radical social and political upheaval in France that had a fundamental impact on French history and on modern history worldwide. -
The revolution reaches Versailles
The Parisians rose again and on October 5 marched to Versailles. The next day they brought the royal family back to Paris. The National Constituent Assembly followed the court, and in Paris it continued to work on the new constitution. -
The Flight to Varennes
A significant episode in the French Revolution during which King Louis XVI of France, his wife Marie Antoinette, and their immediate family attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution. They desired to hide in Austria due to Marie's heritage, and hoped they would find safety in their newly found French Austrian agreement. -
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Louis Accepts the Constitution
The King’s brothers—the Counts of Provence and of Artois—continued to plot from exile for a military strike that would dispel the National Assembly before it could adopt the new constitution. Louis, however, feared civil war more than he did the prospect of becoming a constitutional monarch. He thus accepted the new constitution, swearing an oath before the National Assembly. Ten days later, Louis wrote this letter to his brothers explaining his decision and asking them to cease their efforts t -
French Revolutionary Wars Beginning
a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states. Marked by French revolutionary fervour and military innovations, the campaigns saw the French Revolutionary Armies defeat a number of opposing coalitions. They resulted in expanded French control to the Low Countries, Italy, and the Rhineland. The wars depended on extremely high numbers of soldiers, recruited by modern mass conscription. -
Monarchy abolished in France
The Legislative Assembly votes to abolish the monarchy and establish the First Republic. The measure came one year after King Louis XVI reluctantly approved a new constitution that stripped him of much of his power.
