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French and Indian War
The French and Indian War began over the specific issue of whether the upper Ohio River valley was a part of the British Empire and therefore open for trade and settlement by Virginians and Pennsylvanians or part of the French Empire. -
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Louis XVI
was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as Citizen Louis Capet during the final weeks of his life. Louis XVI became the heir to the throne and the last Bourbon king of France upon his father's death in 1765. -
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Marie Antoinette
Marie 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. -
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Maximilien Robespierre
It was a French lawyer and politician, one of the best known and most influential figures associated with the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. From 1765 he attended the college of the Oratorios at Arras, and in 1769 he was awarded a scholarship to the famous college. -
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Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution. -
The End of the Revolution
As is often the habit of wars, it had gone on far longer than its architects of either side had foreseen in 1775. More than 100,000 American men had borne arms in the Continental army, countless thousands more had seen active service in militia units. Some for only a few days, some for a few weeks, some repeatedly, if their outfit was called to duty time and again. -
Storming of the Bastille
A state prison on the east side of Paris, known as the Bastille, was attacked by an angry and aggressive mob. The prison had become a symbol of the monarchy’s dictatorial rule, and the event became one of the defining moments in the Revolution that followed. -
Women's March on Versailles
A crowd of women demanding bread for their families gathered other discontented Parisians, including some men, and marched toward Versailles, arriving soaking wet from the rain. The King agreed to meet with some of the women and promised to distribute all the bread in Versailles to the crowd. -
Tennis Court Oath
In Versailles, France, the deputies of the Third Estate, which represent commoners and the lower clergy, meet on the Jeu de Paume, an indoor tennis court, in defiance of King Louis XVI’s order to disperse. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens
Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a document of the French Revolution and in the history of human civil rights -
Reign of Terror
In Paris a wave of executions followed. In the provinces, representatives on mission and surveillance committees instituted local terrors. The Terror had an economic side embodied in the Maximum, a price-control measure demanded by the lower classes of Paris, and a religious side that was embodied in the program of de-Christianization pursued. -
Battle of Austerlitz
The allies decided to fight Napoleon west of Austerlitz and occupied the Pratzen Plateau, which Napoleon had deliberately evacuated to create a trap. The allies then launched their main attack, with 40,000 men, against the French right (south) to cut them off from Vienna. -
Battle of Trafalgar
Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar ensured that Napoleon would never invade Britain. Nelson, hailed as the savior of his nation, was given a magnificent funeral in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. -
Invasion of Russia
The 1809 Austrian war treaty had a clause removing Western Galicia from Austria and annexing it to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Russia saw this as against its interests and as a launching point for an invasion of Russia. -
Napoleon Bonaparte's exile to Elba
In 1814, Napoleon’s broken forces gave up and Napoleon offered to step down in favor of his son. When this offer was rejected, he abdicated and was sent to Elba. In March 1815, he escaped his island exile and returned to Paris, where he regained supporters and reclaimed his emperor title. -
Napoleon Bonaparte's exile to St.Helena
The European powers exiled him to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean, within eleven months Napoleon was back on the European continent at the head of a hastily-raised army intent on restoring Napoleon to the throne of France. Napoleon's defeat came in June 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. -
Waterloo
Although Napoleon’s troops mounted a strong attack against the British, the arrival of the Prussians turned the tide against the French. The French emperor’s outnumbered army retreated in chaos.