-
Estates General Called
King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estate Generals, even though their last meeting was in 1614. He called them to figure out the best way to handle their debt from supporting the United States against the British during the American Revolution. The serious debt had to be paid off which meant an increase in taxes, but the King still wanted the approval of his people. -
National Assembly Formed
When the Third Estate discovered the royal decree, granting double representation upheld the traditional voting by orders, they refused to accept the imposed rules. When King Louis XVI failed to reconcile the three estates, they declared themselves as the National Assembly. Then the Estate-General ceased to exist, being the National Assembly, which renamed itself to the National Constituent Assembly on July 9. -
Tennis Court Oath
The members of the National Assembly took the Tennis Court Oath, vowing "not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established". This was done when they feared and worried about a royal attack by King Louis XVI, causing them to congregate in a ´eu de paume court´ (Tennis Court) in the Saint-Louis district. -
The Storming of the Bastille
A state prison on the east side of Paris, known as Bastille, was attacked by an angry and aggressive mob. The mob wasn´t after the inmates inside the prison, but the huge ammunition supply within its walls. When the prison governor refused, the mob charged and, after a violent battle, eventually took hold of the building. This was the beginning of the French Revolution, in which the monarchy was overthrown and a republic set up based on the ideas liberty, equality and brotherhood. -
Constitutional Monarchy
The National Assembly completed the draft of the constitution in 1791 with the objective of reducing the powers of the monarch. Powers were separated and assigned to different institutions like the legislative, executive, and judiciary. The National Assembly was the legislative body, the king and royal ministers made up the executive branch, and the judiciary was independent of the other two branches. -
France a Republic
The National Convention was the first government of the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. The National Convention met in September 1792 and voted to abolish the monarchy immediately and establish a republic. It was the first French government organized as a republic, abandoning the monarchy altogether. -
King Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette Beheaded
In November, evidence of King Louis XVI’s counterrevolutionary intrigues with Austria and other foreign nations was discovered, and he was put on trial for treason by the National Convention. The next January, 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 Begins
Period of violence during the French Revolution emanating from conflicts between the Girondins and the Jacobins. During this period, people perceived to be against the Revolution were publicly executed by guillotine. In the course nine months, around 16,000 people were guillotined, but executions of those labeled "internal enemies" of France took place throughout the country. -
The Reign of Terror End
Maximilien Robespierre, the architect of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, is overthrown and arrested by the National Convention. As the leading member of the Committee of Public Safety from 1793, Robespierre encouraged the execution, mostly by guillotine, of the enemies of the Revolution. -
Napoleon Bonaparte & French Nationalism
Napoleon Bonaparte promoted French nationalism based upon the ideals of the French Revolution such as the idea of "liberty, equality, fraternity" and justified French expansionism and French military campaigns on the claim that France had the right to spread the enlightened ideals of the French Revolution across Europe, and also to expand France into its so-called "natural borders." Napoleon's invasions of other nations had the effect of spreading the concept of nationalism outside France.
