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Representatives from the three Estates meet at Versailles
A meeting of the representatives of the three estates
This assembly was composed of three estates – the clergy, nobility and commoners – who had the power to decide on the levying of new taxes and to undertake reforms in the country. The opening of the Estates General, on 5 May 1789 in Versailles, also marked the start of the French Revolution. -
Louis XVI calls for the Estates General to meet may 5 1789
The political and financial situation in France had grown rather bleak, forcing Louis XVI to summon the Estates General. This assembly was composed of three estates – the clergy, nobility and commoners – who had the power to decide on the levying of new taxes and to undertake reforms in the country. The opening of the Estates General, on 5 May 1789 in Versailles, also marked the start of the French Revolution. -
Louis XVI calls for the National Assembly to meet to create a constitution
Following the storming of the Bastille on July 14, the National Assembly became the effective government and constitution drafter that ruled until passing the 1791 Constitution, which turned France into a constitutional monarchy. -
Louis XVI has the Third Estate locked out of the Estates General
The National Assembly was formed when the 3rd estate was locked out of of the Estates-General meeting by King Louis. King Louis locked the third estate out of the meeting because they were demanding more power in the government because they made up 97% of the population in France. -
Third Estate takes the Tennis Court Oath
Tennis Court Oath, French Serment du Jeu de Paume, (June 20, 1789), dramatic act of defiance by representatives of the nonprivileged classes of the French nation (the Third Estate) during the meeting of the Estates-General (traditional assembly) at the beginning of the French Revolution. -
The people of Paris storm the Bastille
storming of the Bastille, iconic conflict of the French Revolution. On July 14, 1789, fears that King Louis XVI was about to arrest France’s newly constituted National Assembly led a crowd of Parisians to successfully besiege the Bastille, an old fortress that had been used since 1659 as a state prison. -
monarch was overthrown
In 1792 he was tried by the revolutionaries. The monarchy was formally abolished, and “Year I” of the French Republic was declared. -
French cannons drive back Prussians at Valmy
The Battle of Valmy, also known as the Cannonade of Valmy, was the first major victory by the army of France during the Revolutionary Wars that followed the French Revolution. The battle took place on 20 September 1792 as Prussian troops commanded by the Duke of Brunswick attempted to march on Paris. -
French republic proclaimed
Following the aftermaths of the Revolution of 1789 and the abolishment of the monarchy, the First Republic of France is established on September 22 of 1792. -
Louis XVI executed
He was brought to trail for treason and executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. His wife, Mary Antoinette, was executed in the same way nine months later.