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Louis XVI calls the Estates General
They called it because France, both government and people were broke. -
Tennis Court Oath
Representatives of the non-clergy and non-nobles of France swore they would not disperse until a constitution was established for France -
Wrong of the Declaration of the Rights of Men
The Marquis de Lafayette, with the help of Thomas Jefferson, composed a draft of the Declaration of the Rights of Man -
Parisians storming the Bastille
when revolutionary insurgents attempted to storm and seize control of the medieval armoury, fortress and political prison known as the Bastille -
March on Versailles
Concerned over the high price and scarcity of bread, women from the marketplaces of Paris led the march. -
Establishment of the New French Constitution
the French Constitution of 1791 created a new structure for the Government of France. Specifically, it limited the powers of the monarchy of France -
Napoleon Overthrows the Directory
brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of France. In the view of most historians, it ended the French Revolution and led to the coronation of Napoleon as emperor. This bloodless coup d'état overthrew the Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate. -
Napoleon Builds an Empire
through the conquest of territories belonging to his enemies. -
Napoleon Defeated at Waterloo
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. -
The Congress of Vienna Meets
a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. -
Napoleon Invades Russia
ed by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, crossed the Neman River, invading Russia from present-day Poland. The result was a disaster for the French. The Russian army refused to engage with Napoleon's Grande Armée of more than 500,000 European troops. -
6th Coalition Occupies Paris
Napoleon's retreat from Russia and the subsequent defeat of his army by the Sixth Coalition at Leipzig (1813), the armies of the Sixth Coalition invaded France and advanced toward Paris -
King Louis XVIII Begins His Reign
The grandson of Louis XV and brother of Louis XVI, Louis Stanislas Xavier declared himself King of France in 1795, before officially becoming King Louis XVIII in 1814 at the fall of the Empire. -
Execution of the King and Queen
Louis was convicted and condemned to death by a narrow majority. On January 21, he walked steadfastly to the guillotine and was executed. Nine months later, Marie Antoinette was convicted of treason by a tribunal, and on October 16 she followed her husband to the guillotine. -
Reign of Terror
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