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Estates-General Convenes
The Estates-General was a representative assembly that brought together representatives from the clergy, nobility, and common people. It was called to address France's financial crisis but eventually led to the formation of the National Assembly, signaling the beginning of revolutionary change. It marked the start of the French Revolution.(https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/key-dates/summoning-estates-general-1789) -
Tennis Court Oath
After being locked out of their meeting place, members of the National Assembly gathered in a nearby tennis court and took an oath not to disband until they had given France a constitution, asserting the sovereignty of the people and challenging the authority of the monarchy. It set off the French Revolution.(https://study.com/learn/lesson/tennis-court-oath-history-significance.html) -
Fall of the Bastille
The storming and capture of the Bastille prison by a revolutionary mob symbolized the people's defiance against tyranny and marked the beginning of a violent phase in the revolution. The storming of the Bastille symbolically marked the beginning of the French Revolution.(https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106472.html) -
Abolition of Feudalism
The National Assembly abolished feudal privileges, manorial dues, and serfdom, marking the end of the feudal system in France and ensuring a more egalitarian society. The abolition of feudalism was crucial to the evolution of a modern, contractual notion of property and to the development of an unimpeded market in land.(https://www.britannica.com/place/France/The-abolition-of-feudalism) -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
This declaration proclaimed the universal rights of individual liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression, serving as a foundational document for human rights and democracy. The Declaration defined a single set of individual and collective rights for all men.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_Man_and_of_the_Citizen) -
Women's March to Versailles
Thousands of Parisian women marched to Versailles to demand bread and justice, forcing King Louis XVI and the National Assembly to relocate to Paris and respond to popular demands. it was a turning point in the revolution.(https://editions.covecollective.org/place/versaillesthe-womens-march-versailles) -
Execution of Louis XVI
King Louis XVI was executed by guillotine, signifying the end of the monarchy and the radicalization of the revolution. It marking a point of no return for the French revolutionaries.(https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2085/trial-and-execution-of-louis-xvi/) -
Reign of Terror
Led by Maximilien Robespierre, the Committee of Public Safety conducted mass executions of perceived enemies of the revolution, resulting in a period of extreme political violence and instability. the Reign of Terror demonstrated more brutal punishments for counter revolutionaries and foreign enemies, in the hunt for freedom and liberty by French revolutionaries.(https://www.cram.com/essay/The-Importance-Of-The-Reign-Of-Terror/PKDJ5HP2MXZQ) -
Thermidorian Reaction
The fall of Robespierre and the end of the Reign of Terror led to a more moderate phase in the revolution, as the power of the Jacobins waned. It resulted in the fall of Maximilien Robespierre and the collapse of revolutionary fervour and the Reign of Terror in France.(https://www.britannica.com/event/Thermidorian-Reaction) -
The Directory Established
The Directory was a five-member executive committee that replaced the Committee of Public Safety, marking a shift towards a more conservative and stable phase in the revolution. The Directory stopped the mass executions of the Reign of Terror and took measures to relax some of the more radical views of the time.(https://www.historycrunch.com/the-directory-of-the-french-revolution.html)