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Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man. -
The Beginning of the French Revolution
A meeting of the Estates-General is called by Louis XVI in Versailles to discuss and approve a new tax plan. -
The Storming of the Bastille
occurred in Paris, France, on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. -
Flight to Varennes
June 1791 was a significant episode in the French Revolution in which King Louis XVI of France, his queen Marie Antoinette, and their immediate family attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution at the head of loyal troops under royalist officers concentrated at Montmédy near the frontier. -
French Constitution of 1791
French Constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution in France, created after the collapse of the Absolute Monarchy of the Ancien Régime. One of the basic precepts of the revolution was adopting constitutionality and establishing popular sovereignty. -
10 August
The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 was one of the defining events in the history of the French Revolution. The day of 10 August resulted in the fall of the French monarchy after storming the Tuileries Palace by the National Guard of the Insurrectional Paris Commune and revolutionary fédérés from Marseilles and Brittany. -
King Louis XVI executed
One day after being convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by the French National Convention, King Louis XVI is executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris. -
The Law of Suspects
The Law of Suspects (French: Loi des suspects) was a decree passed by the Committee of Public Safety on 17 September 1793, during the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution. -
The Queen's Defense
Seven months after the execution of the King, shortly after the declaration of "Revolutionary Government," the Convention turned to the rest of the royal family. Fearing that Marie Antoinette and her son, the nominal King, would provide rallying points for royalists within France and abroad, a Revolutionary Tribunal indicted Marie Antoinette and her children for treason. Two attorneys were assigned to prepare her defense, and one describes the situation here. -
Robespierre overthrown in France
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 more than 17,000 enemies of the Revolution. The day after his arrest, Robespierre and 21 of his followers were guillotined before a cheering mob in the Place de la Revolution in Paris. -
13 Vendémiaire
13 Vendémiaire Year 4 (5 October 1795 in the French Republican Calendar) is the name given to a battle between the French Revolutionary troops and Royalist forces in the streets of Paris. The battle was largely responsible for the rapid advancement of Republican General Napoleon Bonaparte's career. -
National Convention
The National Convention (French: Convention nationale) was a single-chamber assembly in France from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 (4 Brumaire IV under the Convention's adopted calendar) during the French Revolution.