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Louis XVI calls the Estates General
The Estates-General of 1789 was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm summoned by Louis XVI to propose solutions to France's financial problems. It ended when the Third Estate formed into a National Assembly, signaling the outbreak of the French Revolution. -
March on Versailles
The Women's March on Versailles, also known as the October March, the October Days or simply the March on Versailles, was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. The march began among women in the marketplaces of Paris who, on the morning of 5 October 1789, were nearly rioting over the high price of bread. The unrest quickly became intertwined with the activities of revolutionaries seeking liberal political reforms and a constitutional monarchy for France. -
Tennis Court Oath
Tennis Court Oath, 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. -
Parisians storming 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. -
Writing of the Declaration of the Rights of Men
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, one of the basic charters of human liberties, containing the principles that inspired the French Revolution. Its 17 articles, adopted between August 20 and August 26, 1789, by France’s National Assembly, served as the preamble to the Constitution of 1791. -
Establishment of the New French Constitution
Constitution of 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
Louis was condemned to death by 380 votes to 310. He was guillotined in the Place de la Révolution in Paris on January 21, 1793. Nine months later his wife met the same fate. -
Reign of Terror
With civil war spreading from the Vendée and hostile armies surrounding France on all sides, the Revolutionary government decided to make “Terror” the order of the day (September 5 decree) and to take harsh measures against those suspected of being enemies of the Revolution (nobles, priests, and hoarders). -
Napoleon Builds an Empire
Napoleon built his empire through conquest of territories belonging to his enemies. Napoleon greatly assisted in defeating the First Coalition in 1792–1797, in which the newly formed French republic annexed a part of the Rhine and also the formerly Austrian Netherlands, in addition to client states. -
Napoleon Overthrows the Directory
Coup of 18–19 Brumaire, November 9–10, 1799, coup d’état 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. -
Napoleon Invades Russia
French invasion of Russia, June 24–December 5, 1812, invasion of the Russian Empire by Napoleon I’s Grande Armée. The Russians adopted a Fabian strategy, executing a prolonged withdrawal that largely denied Napoleon a conclusive battle. -
6th Coalition Occupies Paris
The War of the Sixth Coalition (1813-1814), known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, was the penultimate conflict of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). The Sixth Coalition, which included Russia, Austria, Prussia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, and several German states, defeated the First French Empire and drove Napoleon into exile on the island of Elba. -
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. -
Napoleon Defeated at Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo, (June 18, 1815), Napoleon’s final defeat, ending 23 years of recurrent warfare between France and the other powers of Europe. It was fought between Napoleon’s 72,000 troops and the combined forces of the duke of Wellington’s allied army of 68,000 (with British, Dutch, Belgian, and German units) and about 45,000 Prussians, the main force of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher’s command. -
King Louis XVIII Begins His Reign
Louis XVIII , known as the Desired, 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.