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Versailles
King Louis XIV constructed Versailles to distance himself from the common people. Doing so began to cause the people to support the King less. It also assed to the debts of France and started times of lavish spending -
King Loius XVI
King Louis XVI was crowned king in 1774. He marked the last king before the revolution. Due to the high spending's of his lifestyle and weak leadership, France faced many hardships during his reign. The were also previous debts and economic problems he was faced with. This all lead to the fall of the monarchy. -
Napoleon Graduates
After attending the elite military school of Ecole Militaire, Napoleon graduated in 1785. His attendance of such an elite school gave him a good foundation for his future endeavors with France. With his military based tactics in the take over of France possibly working out due to this. -
Tennis Court Oath
The Third Estate, also know as the National Assembly, was locked out of their meeting room. They vowed to meet in a tennis court and continue until change happened. They wanted to equalize the estates and have shared responsibility of the taxes. They also believed in limiting the power of the monarchy. -
Storming of Bastille
Commoners had armed themselves after fear of what may happen. In search of gunpowder they attacked the prison of Bastille, they got in and took it over. After retrieving what they wanted they began to destroy the building. This marked a strong point of the Revolutions beginning stages. -
Fleeing
After the violent start to the revolution King Louis XVI began to fear his and his family's safety. People were unhappy with his ruling and were starting the revolution. He decided to flee from France to his wife's home country of Austria but were caught before they made it. After being captured they were put under house arrest. -
National Convention
The National Convention was formed to work on establishing the first republic. This helped abandon the monarchy that had been running France. They were assigned the task of making a constitution for the newly freed republic. -
Execution
After he had fled, King Louis XVI was tried for treason. He was found guilty for working with other countries to counter revolutionary acts. This lead to him being executed via guillotine, many people were happy that the King was finally gone and that they were free. -
Comander in Cheif
Napoleon worked in the French Army with excellence. He showed the capability and military strength to be promoted to commander in chief, which gave him fame and riches he did not have before. This also showed how well Napoleon was on the battle field. -
Coup D'etat
With the support of the people an his strong military forces Napoleon took over or seized the government control. He did so with ease and wanted to change how things were being run. He also took advantage of the weakened government from the executed King as leverage to gain control. -
Emperor Napoleon
After the Coup D'etat Napoleon crowned himself emperor. This showed that he had a high level of power, even over the church. He had many enlightenment views and was popular among the people of France. He would go on to write the Napoleonic Codes and concur much European land. -
Exile
After Napoleon had concurred much of Europe, the surrounding European nations decided to put an end to Napoleons reign. He finally surrenders the throne and is sent to Elba. It is on that island where he is supposed to spend the rest of his days. -
Louis XVIII
After Napoleons exile King Louis XVI's brother XVIII takes over the throne. The people are unhappy with the restoration of the monarch and preferred the republic. As was his brother, King Lois XVIII was a weak leader and did not help contain the thoughts of revolution from the people. -
Hundred Days
During the weak leadership of King Louis XVIII Napoleon saw a chance to regain control of France. He escaped from Elba and succeeded in over throwing the King. The people still supported him and he was in control from March to July. This time he was less successful than he was at leading before. -
Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo marks Napoleons last fight, and defeat. Altough he was a strong leader, he could not keep enough trained troops to continue attacking and defending. After his defeat he was exiled for the last time to a further island, Saint Helena, where he stayed until death.