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The Spirit of the Laws
A philosopher by the name of Baron de Montesquieu looks at all the governments at the time and comes up with what he thinks is the perfect government. He rights a book entitled The Spirit of the Laws that includes his ideas, partially drawn from John Locke, that encompass a form a government composed of three branches that would balance and check the power of each other. -
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The Encyclopedia
A philosopher, Denis Diderot and his co-editor publish the first edition of the Encyclopedia. The leading philosophers all contributed to this, giving their opinions and criticisms of society, church, and government. Although French authorities weren't happy about this, many Frenchmen read and gained knowledge on these topics. -
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The French and Indian War
The two world powers of France and Great Britain had been in conflict in Europe for decades. This struggles also carried over in North America in what was known as the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years War) in which both sides counted on assistance from Native Americans. The war ended was ended by the Treaty of Paris with Britain as the victor. However the war had also put Britain in tremendous debt. -
The Social Contract
Written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, this book depicts Rousseau's beliefs that people are born good, but that society corrupts them and that freedom and goodness can only be preserved if you live under a government were the people have control. This became his most famous writings and enshrined many people to change the way they're governments worked. -
The Stamp Act
As a result of being in tremendous debt, Great Britain, under the rule of King George III, passed the Stamp Act on their American colonies. This required a direct tax on all of the printed materials used at the time. As a result, many colonists were extremely angered, especially the higher end of society that had been most affected by this since they used paper for a lot of the things they did. Colonists then decided to come together in opposition to the Stamp Act. -
The Boston "Massacre"
What might be regarded as the "deadliest snowball fight in history" started on the evening of March 5, 1770 in the port of Boston. That night, in the British occupied port, a mob of angry colonist begin to yell at and ridicule British soldiers. The soldiers soon begin to fear for their lives as things escalate. The colonies soon start to get physical and through snowballs, so put of fright, the soldiers fire their muskets, killing several colonist. -
The American Revolution Begins
As 700 British troops arrive at Concord to destroy the colonists' weapons, the Minutemen stand waiting and ready to stop them. After the two meet, there is an unordered shot that is regarded as the "shot heard around the world". No one knows for sure who fired but, once that happened, the battle began; but more importantly, the war began. The meager 13 colonies of America has now begun it's face off with arguable the worlds greatest power at the time. -
Bi-vocals
When the incredibly intelligent Benjamin Franklin began to get older, he had trouble with seeing things up close and at distance. He would have to switch between to different types of glasses to see, which became annoying to him. To solve this, he devised a way to have both types of lenses fit into the same frame by putting the distance lens on top and the up-close lens on the bottom. -
The Guillotine
This guillotine was meant to be a quick and painless death from the severing of the head on the chopping block. It was not invented, but lobbied by Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotine to end the public spectacle and torture of the usual capital punishment. However it grew to become a dark symbol of the French Revolution as many people (not always guilty) fell victim to it. -
The National Assembly
France was now suffering from inflation and financial crisis, so king Louis XVI called a meeting of the estates general. However the third estate, made mostly of the poor did not get what they thought they deserved out of the meeting, so they decided they would created their own assembly. When the king heard of this, he locked them out of the meeting place. However they then gathered in a tennis court and on that day, the pledged to meet until an adopted constitution of France was written. -
Bastille Day
On this day, and angry and revolting group of Parisians storm the Bastille. This was a fortress and a prison in France were prisoners of influence were held. They're intentions were to get arms and ammunition and they succeeded. As a result of the rioting, King Louis XVI and his wife flee to Versailles. This is now regarded as a national holiday in France, much like Independence Day in America. -
The first Ambulance
The very first official army medical corp was created in France by a man named Baron Dominique Larrey. Trained medical attendance would move out from hospitals to help the wounded on the battlefield or nursed them back to field hospitals on stretchers, hand carts, and wagons. But it wasn't until later, in the beginning of the 20th century that motorized vehicles were used for this purpose. -
The Reign of Terror
After King Louis XVI is beheaded, The Committee of Public Safety, lead by Maximilian Robespierre, begins what is regarded as the Reign of Terror in France. Many people are accused of being enemies of the revolution and therefore enemies of the republic. Once accused, they are tried and guillotined, a process were you're head is removed on a chopping block. This however, began to get out of control and was stopped, concluded by the beheading of Robespierre himself. -
Emperor Napoleon
On this day Napoleon is now supposed to be crowned Emperor of France by the Pope at the Notre Dame Cathedral. However Napoleon does not want this power of handed of the crown to belong to the church. So doing his correlation, instead of letting the Pope do it, Napoleon places the crown on his own head. In this one act, he symbolizes that this power is no longer in the church, but in his own hands. -
The Star-Spangled Banner
On this day, to celebrate a crucial win against the British in the war of 1812 at Baltimore Fort McHenry, American soldiers raised a big flag in the air. The sight of the Stars and Stripes waving through the air inspired and man by the name of Francis Scott Key to right a song named The Star-Spangled Banner. The song , encompassing the spirit of the United States became the national anthem and is still sung in many different events today to commemorate this country.
