french revolution timeline

  • Louis XVI calls the estates general

    Louis XVI calls the estates general
    ended with the Third Estate breaking from royal authority and forming a National Assembly. the Estates General renamed itself the National Assembly and abolished feudalism in France by ending the privileges of the clergy and the nobility.
  • Tennis Court Oath

    Tennis Court Oath
    representatives of the non-clergy and non-nobles of France swore they would not disperse until a constitution was established for France. Political reversals and financial difficulties
  • parisians storming the bastille

    parisians storming the bastille
    seizing 250 barrels of gunpowder and freeing its prisoners. a mixture of solemn military parades and easygoing dancing and fireworks.
  • Writing of the declaration of the rights of men

    Writing of the declaration of the rights of men
    The Declaration was initially drafted by Marquis de Lafayette, with assistance from Thomas Jefferson, but the majority of the final draft came from Abbé Sieyès.
  • March on Versailles

    March on Versailles
    women from the marketplaces of Paris led the March on Versailles on October 5, 1789. The royal family left the Palace of Versailles on 6 October 1789 for the Tuileries Palace in Paris, but many expected they would swiftly return.
  • Establishment of the new french constitution

    Establishment of the new french constitution
    reluctantly accepted by Louis XVI in September 1791. French constitution created by the National Assembly during the French Revolution. It retained the monarchy, but sovereignty effectively resided in the Legislative Assembly, which was elected by a system of indirect voting.
  • execution of the king and queen

    execution of the king and queen
    On January 21, he walked steadfastly to the guillotine and was executed. Louis XVI, now simply named Citoyen Louis Capet (Citizen Louis Capet), was executed by guillotine.
  • Reign of terror

    Reign of terror
    a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason by the Committee of Public Safety.
  • Napoleon Overthrows the Directory

    Napoleon Overthrows the Directory
    overthrew the system of government under the Directory in France and substituted the Consulate The Directory was replaced with a three-member Consulate, and 5'7" Napoleon became first consul, making him France's leading political figure.
  • napoleon invades russia

    napoleon invades russia
    On June 24, 1812, the Grande Armée, led by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, crossed the Neman River, invading Russia from present-day Poland. The result was a disaster for the French. The Russian army refused to engage with Napoleon's Grande Armée of more than 500,000 European troops.
  • Napoleon Builds an empire

    Napoleon Builds an empire
    conquest of territories belonging to his enemies Napoleon's armies conquered the Iberian and Italian peninsulas, occupied lands, and he forced Austria, Prussia, and Russia to ally with him and respect French hegemony in Europe.
  • 6th coalition occupies paris

    6th coalition occupies paris
    Following Napoleon's retreat from Russia and the subsequent defeat of his army by the Sixth Coalition at Leipzig (1813), the armies of the Sixth Coalition invaded France and advanced toward Paris, which capitulated on March 31, 1814.
  • king louis xviii begins his reign

    king louis xviii begins his reign
    Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (French: le Désiré),[1][2] was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent 23 years in exile from 1791: during the French Revolution and the First French Empire (1804–1814), and during the Hundred Days.
  • the congress of vienna meets

    the congress of vienna meets
    Congress of Vienna, assembly in 1814–15 that reorganized Europe after the Napoleonic Wars. It began in September 1814, five months after Napoleon I’s first abdication and completed its “Final Act” in June 1815, shortly before the Waterloo campaign and the final defeat of Napoleon. The settlement was the most-comprehensive treaty that Europe had ever seen.
  • napoleon defeated at waterloo

    napoleon defeated at waterloo
    The Battle of Waterloo was fought on 18 June 1815 between Napoleon's French Army and a coalition led by the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blücher. The decisive battle of its age, it concluded a war that had raged for 23 years, ended French attempts to dominate Europe, and destroyed Napoleon's imperial power forever.