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Galileo discovers moons in our solar system
On January 7, 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered, using a homemade telescope, four moons orbiting the planet Jupiter. Looking at what he thought was a group of stars, he realized the objects appeared to move in a regular pattern. -
Francis Bacon publishes "Novum Organum"(A New Method)
In Novum Organum, Bacon details a new system of logic he believes to be superior to the old ways of syllogism. This is now known as the Baconian method. -
Louis XIV takes rule of France
Louis XIV succeeded his father as king of France on May 14, 1643, at the age of four years and eight months. According to the laws of the kingdom, he became not only the master but the owner of the bodies and property of 19 million subjects. -
John Locke publishes "Two Treatises Of Government"
Two Treatises of Government, a significant statement of the political philosophy of the English philosopher John Locke, was published in 1689 but substantially composed some years before then. -
Montesquieu publishes "Spirit of The Laws"
It is a comparative study of three types of government: republic, monarchy, and despotism. Montesquieu held that governmental powers should be separated and balanced to guarantee individual rights and freedom. -
Rousseau publishes "The Social Contract" in France
Rousseau's The Social Contract (1762) constructs a civil society in which the separate wills of individuals are combined to govern as the “general will” of the collective that overrides individual wills, “forcing a man to be free.” -
King Louis XVI approves military aid to American colonies
King Louis XVI permitted secret aid to the American cause beginning in May 1776. The two most powerful men in court finally decided to make their support public in 1778 for opposing reasons. -
The Bastille is stormed by citizens of Paris
The Storming of the Bastille happened in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, when revolutionary insurgents stormed and seized control of the medieval armory, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille. -
Estates System (feudalism) abolished
The National Assembly abolishes the feudal system entirely. They declare that among feudal and taxable rights and duties, the ones concerned with real or personal succession rights and personal servitude and the ones that represent them are abolished with no compensation. -
¨Declaration of the Rights of Man¨ presented by National Assembly
A fundamental document of the French Revolution and in the history of human and civil rights passed by France's National Constituent Assembly in August 1789. -
The ¨Women´s March¨; King and Queen ¨kidnapped¨ back to Paris
The crowd besieged the palace and in a dramatic and violent confrontation, they successfully pressed their demands upon King Louis XVI. The next day, the crowd forced the king, his family, and most of the French Assembly to return with them to Paris. -
Haitian Revolution begins in French colony of Saint-Domingue
The Haitian Revolution was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. -
France declares war on Austria
France declares war. On April 20, 1792, the Girondin ministry's proposal to declare war on Austria was ratified by the Assembly. A month later it likewise undertook war against Sardinia, which had responded affirmatively to the Austro-Prussian circular of April 12, as did Russia. -
First use of the guillotine
The first execution by guillotine was performed on highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier on 25 April 1792 in front of what is now the city hall of Paris. -
Louis the XVI executed
When a final decision on the question of a respite was taken on January 19, 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. -
Marie Antoinette executed
Her husband, King Louis XVI, had been executed for crimes against France, and she too had been issued the death penalty after a swift trial. -
Committee on Public Safety established; starts the Reign of Terror
The Committee of Public Safety was set up on April 6, 1793, during one of the crises of the Revolution, when France was beset by foreign and civil war. The new committee was to provide for the defense of the nation against its enemies, foreign and domestic, and to oversee the already existing organs of executive government. -
French Republic abolishes slavery in their colonies
In France, on 4 February 1794, the National Convention enacted a law abolishing slavery in the French colonies. Revolutionaries in Saint-Domingue secured not only their own freedom but that of their French colonial counterparts, too. -
Robespierre executed
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. -
Napoleon Bonaparte declares himself Emperor of France
Military General Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself the emperor of France in 1804. His ambitions extended to more than just France, he saw himself as a modernizer of Europe. He conquered certain parts of Europe and let the members of his family rule those parts.