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Louis XVI Calls the Estates General
This assembly put together by King Louis XVI 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. This was the start of the French Revolution and it was to deal with financial and societal crises. The third estate broke away from the royal authority forming a National Assembly. -
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Louis XVI Calls the Estates General
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Tennis Court Oath
King Louis locked them out of their meeting hall so they gathered on a tennis court by the Versailles Palace saying that they will not separate and meet wherever until a constitution is established. This oath represented the power of the people and the challenge to the authority to King Louis asserting that political authority derived from the people and their representatives rather than the monarchy. -
Parisians Storming the Bastille
A mob of angry French citizens and rebellious soldiers feared King Louis was about to arrest newly constituted National Assembly led a crowd and successfully besiege the Bastille, an old fortress state prison. The revolutionaries saw the Bastille as a symbol of the monarchy's abuse of power and its fall was the flash point of the French Revolution. -
Writing of the Declaration of the Rights of Men
The Declaration of Rights was the basic principle of men are born and remain free and equal in rights, which are rights of liberty, private property, inviolability of the person, and resistance of opposition. It recognizes equality before the law and justice system and affirms the principle of separation of powers. It helped form the foundation of the French Revolution to end the monarchy and to establish a democracy in France -
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Writing of the Declaration of the Rights of Men
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March on Versailles
Women from the marketplaces of Paris led a riot because they were concerned over the high price and scarcity of bread. This is one of the most important events of the French Revolution because it forced royals to return to Paris. -
Establishment of the New French Constitution
Created a new structure for the Government of France. It limited the powers of the monarchy of France, delegated legislative powers to an elected National Assembly, and created an elected judiciary. -
Execution of King and Queen
Some republicans called for the king's deposition, others for his trial for alleged treason and intended defection to the enemies of the French nation. Nine months later, Marie Antoinette was also convicted of treason and beheaded on October 16. Louis' execution would profoundly affect the course of European history, marking a point of no return for the French revolutionaries. -
Reign of Terror
It was a climactic period of state-sanctioned violence during the French Revolution which saw the public executions and mass killings of thousands of counter-revolutionary suspects. The purpose of the Terror was to maintain French unity. The country was fracturing due to religious, social, and political pressures. -
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Reign of Terror
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Napoleon Builds an Empire
Napoleon built his empire through conquest of territories belonging to his enemies. He wanted to control the rest of Europe and to reassert French power in the Americas. Napoleon's conquests cemented the spread of French revolutionary legislation to much of western Europe. The powers of the Roman Catholic church, guilds, and manorial aristocracy came under the gun -
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Napoleon Builds an Empire
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Napoleon Overthrows the Directory
Coup d'etat that overthrew the system of government under the Directory in France and substituted the Consulate, making way for the despotism of Napoleon Bonaparte. The event is often viewed as the effective end of the French Revolution. -
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Napoleon Overthrows the directory
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Napoleon Invades Russia
The Grande Armee, led by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, crossed the Neman River, invading Russia from present-day Poland. The result was a disaster for the French. Served as a major turning point in European history as the defeat led to the fall of Napoleon and his French empire in the nineteenth century. -
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Napoleon Invades Russia
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The Congress of Vienna Meets
Was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The first of a series of international meetings that came to be known as the Concert of Europe, an attempt to forge a peaceful balance of power in Europe. It served as a model for later organizations such as the League of Nations in 1919 and the United Nations in 1945. -
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The Congress of Vienna Meets
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6th Coalition Occupies Paris
Consisting of Russia, Austria, and Prussia—and the French Empire. After a day of fighting in the suburbs of Paris, the French surrendered on March 31. Ending the War of the Sixth Coalition and forcing Emperor Napoleon to abdicate and go into exile. -
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6th Coalition Occupies Paris
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King Louis Begins His Reign
He became king with the Bourbon Restoration of the monarchy after the overthrow of Napoleon I. He ruled a constitutional monarchy, meaning he was not the main leader of his government. However, unlike some constitutional monarchs, he did have some influence in politics. Saw France's first experiment in parliamentary government since the Revolution. The King was invested with executive powers and had legislative initiative. -
Napoleon Defeated at Waterloo
It concluded a war that had raged for 23 years, ended French attempts to dominate Europe, and destroyed Napoleon's imperial power forever. Napoleon's defeat meant the victory of the nation state over other concepts such as Napoleon's French Revolutionary Empire and Holy Roman Empire before it.