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Louis XVI
Louis XVI approved French military support for the American colonies in their successful struggle against the British, but the expense nearly bankrupted the country. -
Marie Antoinette
Who Was Marie Antoinette? Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna, better known as Marie Antoinette, was the last queen of France who helped provoke the popular unrest that led to the French Revolution and to the overthrow of the monarchy in August 1792. -
Marquis de Lafayette
Frenchman Marquis de Lafayette fought in the American Revolutionary War and helped shape France's political structure before and after the French Revolution. -
Calling of the Estates-General
the Estates-General. The Estates-General of 1789 was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm summoned by Louis XVI to propose solutions to France's financial problems. -
Tennis Court Oath
the members of the French Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath (French: Serment du Jeu de Paume), vowing "not to separate and to reassemble wherever necessary, until the Constitution of the kingdom -
Attack on the Bastille
The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris, France, on the afternoon of 14 July 1789. The medieval armory, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris -
Women’s March to Versailles
Concerned over the high price and scarcity of bread, women from the marketplaces of Paris led the March on Versailles on October 5, 1789. This became one of the most significant events of the French Revolution, eventually forcing the royals to return to Paris. -
National Convention is formed
The National Convention was a parliament of the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the great insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic, abandoning the monarchy altogether -
Execution of Louis XVI
One day after being convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by the French National Convention, King Louis XVI is executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris. -
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror, commonly The Terror, was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First French Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place -
Olympe de Gouges
Olympe de Gouges was a French playwright and political activist whose writings on women's rights and abolitionism reached a large audience in various countries. She began her career as a playwright in the early 1780s. As political tension rose in France, Olympe de Gouges became increasingly politically engaged -
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was a French lawyer and statesman who was one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. -
The Directory is formed
Directory, French Directoire, the French Revolutionary government set up by the Constitution of the Year III, which lasted four years, from November 1795 to November 1799. It included a bicameral legislature known as the Corps Législatif -
Jacques Necker
what did he do in The French financier and statesman Jacques Necker served King Louis XVI as director general of finances. His efforts to reform French institutions prior to 1789 and to compromise with the Estates General after the start of the Revolution failed. -
Emmanuel-Josephy Sieyes
Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, usually known as the abbé Sieyès, was a French Roman Catholic abbé, clergyman, and political writer who was a chief political theorist of the French Revolution; he also held offices in the governments of the French Consulate and the First French Empire
