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Period: to
French Revolution
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Estates General
Louis proposed to tax the nobility so he had to call the Estates General to approve this new tax; it was the first meeting in 175 years. -
Tennis Court Oath
The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789. They made a makeshift conference room inside a tennis court near the Palace of Versailles. -
Storming of the Bastille
The prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution. -
The Great Fear Begins
Fearful peasants armed themselves in self-defense and, in some areas, attacked manor houses. -
Declaration of Rights of Man
A fundamental document of the French Revolution, defining the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. -
Women's March to Versailles
Mobs of angry women stormed to Versailles, demanding bread. -
Louis and Marie’s flight to Varennes
King Louis XVI of France, his wife Marie Antoinette, and their immediate family attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution. -
Constitution of 1791
The short-lived French Constitution of 1791 was the second written constitution of France. It redefined the way the French government should be organized. -
Brunswick Manifesto
The manifesto promised that if the French Royal family was not harmed, then the Allies would not harm French civilians or loot. -
National Convention
The National Convention held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic. -
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, caused by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution." -
Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate. -
Napolean Takes Over
Napolean was the most powerful person in France as the First Consul. -
Concordat of 1801
The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status. -
Louisiana Purchase
The US purchased the territory of Louisiana from France. -
Napoleanic Code
The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified. -
Napolean Becomes Emperor
As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815. -
Battle of Trafalgar
A sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition -
Continental System
The Continental System was the foreign policy of Napoleon in his struggle against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland during the Napoleonic Wars. -
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. -
Russian Invasion
The turning point in the Napoleanic Wars. France was badly defeated and the country's power was weakend. -
Exile to Elba
Napolean is exiled to the island of Elba. -
Battle of Waterloo
Napoleon's army is defeated by the members of the Seventh Coalition. This defeat ended Napoleon's rule. -
Exile to St. Helena
Napoleon is imprisoned and then exiled to the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.
