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Palace of Versailles built
Louis XIII built a hunting lodge at Versailles in 1623. His successor, Louis XIV, expanded the château into a palace that went through several expansions in phases from 1661 to 1715. -
When King Louis moved the capital of France from Paris to Versailles
The court was officially established there on 6 May 1682. By moving his court and government to Versailles, Louis XIV hoped to extract more control of the government from the nobility and to distance himself from the population of Paris. -
When King Louis XVI married Marie Antoinette
The wedding of Louis XVI to Marie Antoinette was arranged by the French and Austrian monarchs in an effort to forge a political alliance. However, the marriage has been reported not to have been consummated for at least three years, while over eight years passed before the birth of their first child. -
The Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror, or simply the Terror (la Terreur), was a climactic period of state-sanctioned violence during the French Revolution (1789-99), which saw the public executions and mass killings of thousands of counter-revolutionary 'suspects' between September 1793 and July 1794. -
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French Revolution
The French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval that lasted from 1789 to 1799. It was a response to economic hardship, corruption, and inequality in France. The revolution ended the monarchy, feudalism, and established a republic. -
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Napoleon as Emperor
In December 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French, further expanding his power. The breakdown of the Treaty of Amiens led to the War of the Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered the coalition with a decisive victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. -
Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath was a pivotal moment in the French Revolution that took place on June 20, 1789. It was a vow made by representatives of the Third Estate to not separate until a constitution was established for France. The oath was taken in the Real Tennis Room in Versailles, France. -
Bastille is Stormed
storming of the Bastille, iconic conflict of the French Revolution. On July 14, 1789, fears that King Louis XVI was about to arrest France's newly constituted National Assembly led a crowd of Parisians to successfully besiege the Bastille, an old fortress that had been used since 1659 as a state prison -
When The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was written
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen came into existence in the summer of 1789, born of an idea of the Constituent Assembly, which was formed by the assembly of the Estates General to draft a new Constitution, and precede it with a declaration of principles. -
Women’s March on Versailles
The crowd besieged the palace and, in a dramatic and violent confrontation, they successfully pressed their demands upon King Louis XVI. The next day, the crowd forced the king and his family to return with them to Paris. -
King Louis XVI is executed
Ultimately unwilling to cede his royal power to the Revolutionary government, Louis XVI was found guilty of treason and condemned to death. He was guillotined on January 21, 1793. -
Napoleon launches a Coup d’Etat on the weak & corrupt Directory.
Coup of 18–19 Brumaire, (November 9–10, 1799), coup d'état that overthrew the system of government under the Directory in France and substituted the Consulate, making way for the despotism of Napoleon Bonaparte. The event is often viewed as the effective end of the French Revolution. -
Creation of the Napoleonic Code
Enacted on March 21, 1804, the resulting Civil Code of France marked the first major revision and reorganization of laws since the Roman era. The Civil Code (renamed the Code Napoleon in 1807) addressed mainly matters relating to property and families. -
Napoleon crowns himself emperor.
On 2 December, 1804, the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris was the stage on which the coronation of Napoleon I was played out, in the presence of Pope Pius VII. The new emperor broke with tradition by crowning himself and pronouncing an oath guaranteeing the preservation of the gains of the Revolution. -
Defeat in Russian Campaign
The only major battle of the campaign, at Borodino on 7 September 1812, ended with a territorial gain for Napoleon but at a very high cost. Napoleon's army eventually reached a Moscow abandoned and destroyed by the Russian army based on the scorched-earth policy. -
When he was exiled
Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of Elba in April 1814 after abdicating the French throne following his defeat in the Napoleonic Wars; he was later exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic after his defeat at Waterloo in 1815 -
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on 18 June 1815 between Napoleon's French Army and a coalition led by the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blücher. The decisive battle of its age, it concluded a war that had raged for 23 years, ended French attempts to dominate Europe, and destroyed Napoleon's imperial power forever.