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Excessive spending and poor harvests lead to a financial crisis in France
For years, France has been at the whim of the French nobility and their schemes for more opulence and glory. During the reign of Louis XVI, French commoners were victims of Old Regime tyranny, high inflation, exorbitant bread prices, and bad harvest. The French government at this time was heavily taxing the poor in order to keep up their global military campaigns and their own lavish lifestyles. By 1787, the socioeconomic tensions were dividing France to the point of dire political intervention. -
King Louis XVI calls the Estates General
Next and last meeting of the Estates General, called by King Louis XVI because the parlements (appellate courts) refused to register new taxes until he did so. The voting procedure (one vote per Estate) angered the Third Estate (representing 97% of France's population with the general public) which was routinely outvoted by the First and Second Estates (representing the remaining 3% with nobility). This led to the creation of the National Assembly by the Third Estate. -
The Tennis Court Oath
After the National Assembly found their meeting hall to be locked, they met at an indoor tennis court and took the Tennis Court Oath, vowing to never separate until a written constitution had been established for France. King Louis XVI eventually relented and ordered the clergy and nobility to join the Third Estate in the National Assembly. -
First and Second Estates join the Third Estate in the newly formed National Assembly
The National Assembly (which lasted from June 4 to July 9, 1789, was a revolutionary assembly formed by the representatives of the Third Estate. Representatives of the First and Second Estates were later ordered by King Louis XVI to join the National Assembly after the Tennis Court Oath. -
The Storming of the Bastille
Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress and prison. The crowd had advanced on the Bastille with the intention of asking the prison governor to release the arms kept there. Angered by his evasiveness, they seize the prison and its weapons. Although they're unsuccessful, the ordeal is considered a turning point and the start of the French Revolution. -
The Great Fear in the countryside
The Great Fear were peasant rebellions that occurred during the Summer of 1789 throughout the French countryside. These revolts were sparked by the National Assembly and the nobility's inability to compromise, unsteady bread prices and age-old repression of the serf class. The Great Fear will heighten the intensity and violence of the French Revolution. -
The National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
The National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, which defined individual and collective rights at the time of the French Revolution. The Declaration was similar to many aspects of the Magna Carta, such as subordinating the monarch to the rule of law and ensuring that taxation could only be raised by common consent. -
The Women's March on Versailles
The Women's March on Versailles came about when Parisian women became outraged over the spike in bread price and its potential shortage. Hundreds of women marched to Versailles, armed and ready to display their fury against the tyrannical Versailles royals. The women were very upset that they and their families were starving while the French nobles live carefree lives of luxury at the expense of labor classes. -
The Constitution of 1791 sets up a constitutional monarchy in France
The Constitution of 1791 was the French constitution created by the National Assembly. It retained the monarchy, but sovereignty effectively resided in the Legislative Assembly (which was elected by a system of indirect voting). The constitution lasted less than a year. -
The Legislative Assembly Declares War on Austria
The Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria because of Austria's military presence in Northern France and its inability to validate the new republican government of France. Austria aligned itself with Prussia in order to take down France, but the Legislative Assembly's war proved to be a failure, which ended up wrecking their already fragile resources. The demise of the Legislative Assembly quickly followed, and France dissented into a bloody, unstable period known as the Reign of Terror. -
Louis XVI is Executed at the Guillotine
Louis XVI was executed after being found guilty of 33 charges that were all related to inciting tyranny and limiting the liberties of the French people. After Louis' execution, France went into a spiral of political instability and upheaval which culminated in Maximilien Robespierre taking power ---> Reign of Terror. -
Robespierre's Reign of Terror
After King Louis XVI's execution, the French lawyer/revolutionary leader, Maximilien de Robespierre, became a predominant leader of Revolutionary France. Robespierre started a campaign to rid France of anybody who was not true to the Revolution and who supported the Old Regime. Thousands of French were tried and executed for not complying with Robespierre's revolutionary ideas and many restrictions were placed on commoners. This period of the Revolution left France despondent and unstable. -
The Directory is Installed
The Directory was a body of five directors that held executive power in France; lasted from November 1795 to November 1799; unpopular in France because it seemed as though it would end the Revolution but didn't solve many of the present issues. The Directory was eventually overthrown by Napoleon in a coup d'etat. -
Napoleon's coup d'etat, overthrowing the Directory
The government had been bankrupt, while inflation, taxation, and unemployment were soaring. There were fears of both a Jacobin resurgence and a royalist restoration. The Coup of 18 Brumaire was a bloodless coup d'etat that overthrew the Directory and replaced it with the First Consulate, led by Napoleon Bonaparte. -
Napoleon's coup d'etat, overthrowing the Directory
Napoleon became “first consul” for ten years, and appointed two consuls who had consultative voices only. His power was confirmed by the new Constitution of 1799, which preserved the appearance of a republic but in reality established a dictatorship.
