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May 5, 1789 meeting with 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. -
Tennis Court Oath
Tennis Court Oath, French Serment du Jeu de Paume, (June 20, 1789), dramatic act of defiance by representatives of the non-privileged classes of the French nation, during the meeting of the Estates-General, at the beginning of the French Revolution. -
Storming of the Bastille
Intro. On 14 July 1789, a state prison on the east side of Paris, known as the Bastille, was attacked by an angry and aggressive mob. The prison had become a symbol of the monarchy's dictatorial rule, and the event became one of the defining moments in the Revolution that followed. -
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Declaration of the Rights of Man
Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on considerations of the common good. The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of Man. These rights are Liberty, Property, Safety and Resistance to Oppression. -
Women's March on Versailles
The Women's March on Versailles was a riot that took place during this first stage of the French Revolution. It was spontaneously organized by women in the marketplaces of Paris, on the morning of October 5, 1789. They complained over the high price and scant availability of bread, marching from Paris to Versailles. -
Execution of King Louis XVI
Arrested in Varennes, he was brought back to Paris. In 1792 he was tried by the revolutionaries. The monarchy was formally abolished, and “Year I” of the French Republic was declared. Louis XVI died at the guillotine on 21 January 1793. -
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Reign of Terror
A reign of terror is a period during which there is a lot of violence and killing, especially by people who are in a position of power. The commanders accused him of carrying out a reign of terror. Synonyms: tyranny, dictatorship, oppression, despotism More Synonyms of Reign of Terror. -
Maximillian Robespierre's execution
On July 27, 1794, Robespierre and a number of his followers were arrested at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. The next day Robespierre and 21 of his followers were taken to the Place de la Révolution, where they were executed by guillotine before a cheering crowd. -
Napoleonic Code is established
After four years of debate and planning, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte enacts a new legal framework for France, known as the “Napoleonic Code.” The civil code gave post-revolutionary France its first coherent set of laws concerning property, colonial affairs, the family and individual rights. -
Napoleon Crowns himself emperor
On the 2nd of December 1804 Napoleon crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I at Notre Dame de Paris. According to legend, during the coronation he snatched the crown from the hands of Pope Pius VII and crowned himself, thus displaying his rejection of the authority of the Pontiff. -
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Peninsular War
Peninsular War, Spanish Guerra de la Independencia “War of Independence” (1808–14), that part of the Napoleonic Wars fought in the Iberian Peninsula, where the French were opposed by British, Spanish, and Portuguese forces. -
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Napoleon and his men march on Russia
Through a series of long forced marches, Napoleon pushed his army of almost half a million people rapidly through Western Russia, now Belarus, in an attempt to destroy the separated Russian armies of Barclay de Tolly and Pyotr Bagration who amounted to around 180,000–220,000 at that time. -
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Napoleon is exiled to Elba
After Napoleon Bonaparte's disastrous campaign in Russia ended in defeat, he was forced into exile on Elba. He retained the title of emperor but of the Mediterranean island's 12,000 inhabitants, not the 70 million Europeans over whom he'd once had dominion. -
Napoleon dies
Stomach ulcer Napoleon Bonaparte / Cause of death
How Napoleon's death in exile became a controversial mystery ... The physicians who conducted Napoleon's autopsy, on May 6, 1821, concluded that his death was from stomach cancer, exacerbated by bleeding gastric ulcers, after a huge dose of calomel – a compound containing mercury that was used as a medicine – was administered to him on the day before he died.