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Louis XVI calls Estates General
facing a severe financial crisis and growing political unrest, summoned the Estates General, a representative assembly of the three estates to address the issues, marking the beginning of the French Revolution. -
Tennis Court Oath
A pivotal event in the French Revolution where the Third Estate (commoners) vowed not to disband until they had established a written constitution -
Storming of the Bastille
Parisian revolutionaries stormed the Bastille, a medieval fortress and prison, symbolizing royal authority and the beginning of the French Revolution, which led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man & the Citizen
The last article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen was adopted, first step toward writing a constitution for France. -
Louis XVI brought to Paris
Louis XVI and his family were forced to return to Paris from Versailles, where they had been living, and were effectively placed under house arrest in the Tuileries Palace. -
Execution of Louis XVI
the last king of France, was publicly executed by guillotine -
Committee of Public Safety created
France was beset by foreign and civil wa -
Period: to
Fall of Girondins
was overthrown by the more radical Montagnards, leading to their persecution and the rise of the Jacobins and the Reign of Terror -
Death of Marat
Charlotte Corday, a royalist sympathizer, traveled to Paris and obtained an audience with Marat, stabbing him fatally while he was in his bath -
Period: to
Reign of Terror Begins
a period of violence during the French Revolution incited by conflict between two rival political factions -
Execution of Marie Antoinette
in Paris, after being convicted of treason by the Revolutionary Tribunal during the French Revolution. -
Execution of Dantonists
executed after his increasing moderation and opposition to the Reign of Terror led to his trial and conviction -
Period: to
Thermidorian Reaction
marking the end of the Reign of Terror and a shift towards more conservative policies -
Robiespierre executed
was arrested and executed by guillotine on July 28, 1794, marking the end of the Reign of Terror and the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction -
Constitution of the Year III
established the French Directory, a bicameral legislature, and a five-member executive -
Napoleon saves the Directory
replacing it with the French Consulate -
Fall of the Directory
French Directory was brought down by a combination of political corruption, economic instability, and a lack of public support -
Napoleon becomes First Consul
Napoleon engineered the Coup of 18 Brumaire against the French Directory and became First Consul of the Republic. -
Napoleonic Code established
to reform the French legal system, unifying laws and promoting principles like equality before the law and property rights. -
Napoleon crowns himself Emperor
a symbolic act that marked the birth of the First French Empire and established the imperial Bonaparte Dynasty -
Napoleon invades Russia
a campaign that ended in a disastrous defeat for France, largely due to the harsh Russian winter and the scorched-earth tactics employed by the retreating Russian army -
Napoleon defeated in Russia
resulted in the near-total destruction of his Grande Armée due to a combination of Russian resistance -
Napoleon exiled to Elba
where he ruled for about a year before escaping and returning to France for his "Hundred Days". -
Napoleon escapes Elba
initiating the Hundred Days, a period of his brief return to power before his final defeat at Waterloo -
Monarchy restored
the Bourbon monarchy was restored in France, with Louis XVIII, brother of the executed Louis XVI, ascending to the throne in 1814, initially establishing a constitutional monarchy