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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. the start of the French Revolution. -
Storming of the Bastille
the Bastille was a large medieval fortress that functioned as a prison in Paris in 1789.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. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
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. -
Women's March on Versailles
a riot that took place during this first stage of the French Revolution. It was spontaneously organized by women in the marketplaces of Paris -
Execution of King Louis XVI
Ultimately unwilling to cede his royal power to the Revolutionary government, Louis XVI was found guilty of treason and condemned to death. He was guillotined -
Tennis Court Oath
the men of the National Assembly swore an oath never to stop meeting until a constitution had been established. -
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Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, 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 -
Maximillian Robespierre's execution
Robespierre, having been branded a failed dictator by the right and a moderate by the left, saw his popular support collapse. Ultimately, he was unable to kill his rivals faster than they could unite against him. The Thermidorian Reaction toppled and executed Robespierre, and the Reign of Terror died with him. -
Napoleonic Code is established
was the main influence on the 19th-century civil codes of most countries of continental Europe and Latin America. -
Napoleon Crowns himself emperor
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
The Peninsular War was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, it is considered to overlap with the Spanish War of Independence -
Napoleon and his men march on Russia
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 is exiled to Elba
The coalition invaded France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. They exiled him to the Mediterranean island of Elba and restored the Bourbons to power. In February 1815, Napoleon escaped from Elba and again took control of France in what became known as the "Hundred Days. -
Napoleon dies
After the defeat at the battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte was sent into exile to the Island of St. Helena where he died 6 years later on