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Palace of Versailles Built
A large royal residence built in the seventeenth century by King Louis XIV of France in Versailles, near Paris. The palace, with its lavish gardens and fountains, is a spectacular example of French classical architecture -
When King Louis moved the capital of France from Paris to Versailles
Coming to the throne at a tender age, tutored by Cardinal Mazarin, the Sun King embodied the principles of absolutism. In 1682 he moved the royal Court to the Palace of Versailles, the defining symbol of his power and influence in Europe. -
When King Louis XVI married Marie Antoinette
A marriage between the two royal houses had been planned since the early 1760s, but only came about in 1770. On 19 April the wedding took place by proxy in Vienna, marrying the Dauphin and future Louis XVI, the grandson of Louis XV, to Marie-Antoinette, the youngest daughter of Maria-Theresa of Habsburg. -
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French Revolution
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Tennis Court Oath
The founding act of French democracy took place at the very beginning of the Revolution, just a stone's throw from the monarchic seat of power. On 20 June 1789, in the Real Tennis Room, not far from the Palace of Versailles, the deputies swore never to separate until they had given France a Constitution. -
Bastille is Stormed
The Storming of the Bastille was when a mob of angry French citizens and rebellious soldiers attacked the Bastille on 14 July 1789. The fortress capitulated after the revolutionaries aimed cannons at its gate. -
When The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was written
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, one of the basic charters of human liberties, containing the principles that inspired the French Revolution. Its 17 articles, adopted between August 20 and August 26, 1789, by France's National Assembly, served as the preamble to the Constitution of 1791. -
Women’s March on Versailles
On 5 October 1789, crowds of Parisian market women marched on Versailles, demanding reforms. They besieged the palace and forced King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774-1792) to return with them to Paris. -
King Louis XVI is executed
In 1792 he was tried by the revolutionaries. The monarchy was formally abolished, and “Year I” of the French Republic was declared. Louis XVI died at the guillotine on 21 January 1793. He was the last king to live at the Palace of Versailles, and the revolutionaries duly gave him the nickname “Louis the Last”. -
The Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror (September 5, 1793 – July 28, 1794), also known as The Terror, was a period of violence during the French Revolution incited by conflict between two rival political factions, the Girondins (moderate republicans) and the Jacobins -
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. -
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Napoleon as Emperor
In May 1804, he became Emperor of the French under the name of Napoleon I, and was the architect of France's recovery following the Revolution before setting out to conquer Europe, which led to his downfall. -
Creation of the Napoleonic Code
The Napoleonic Code is also called the Civil Code of 1804. Published on March 21, 1804, the Napoleonic Code (or the Code Napoleon, as it would later be called) replaced the archaic practices developed under the Roman and feudal rule with modern laws that reflected the socio-political changes in France. -
Napoleon crowns himself emperor.
The Coronation of Napoleon I as Emperor of the French took place on Sunday 2 December 1804, in the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. A sacred ceremony held to legitimize Napoleon's reign, the coronation signaled the birth of the First French Empire (1804-1814; 1815) and established the imperial Bonaparte Dynasty. -
Defeat in Russian Campaign
The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (French: Campagne de Russie) and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 -
When he was exiled
On April 11, 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France and one of the greatest military leaders in history, abdicates the throne, and, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, is banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba. The future emperor was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on August 15, 1769 -
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.