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Nobles force King to call Estates General
The King was in trouble. The nobility was not happy with his attempt to tax their estate. Nobility wanted to pass the cost once again on the Third Estates. -
Estates-General meets in Paris
King Louis XVI calls body into session to approve a new tax on the 3rd Estate. Had not met in 175 years. -
Third Estate refuses to abide by one vote per Estate
The Third Estate representatives were angry that they were the largest Estate but they got the same vote as the other two Estates that were much smaller and would always vote against the Third Estate. -
Tennis Court Oath
The representatives of the Third Estate gathered in an indoor tennis court and swore an oath that they would not leave if their requests were not met. -
The Storming of the Bastille
The Parisians stormed the Bastille to raid the ammunitions that were in the prison. This was an important act representing the people's rebellion and the conflict against their oppression. -
Great Fear Begins
After the storming of the Bastille, people were becoming paranoid that King Louis XVI would become angry and punish all the members of the Third Estate. -
Nastional Assembly Abolishes Feudalism with August Decrees
The August Decrees eliminated all feudal dues and services owed by peasants to their landowneres. It also eliminated the legal privileges of the First Estate. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Laid out the basic principles of the French Revolution and the reasons why the French people were revolting. It was loosely based on the American Declaration of Independence and elightenment thinkers. -
Women of Paris March to Versailles for Bread
The women of Paris, like many other people, were getting sick of the presence of the King and his troops. They marched to the palace demanding bread because they were too poor for it. -
Royal Family's Flight from Varennes
The Royal Family was beginning to fear for its safety so under disguises, they attempted to flee their palace but were discovered and were quickly brought back. -
New Constitution Adopted
The new constitution established a new form of government in France. It created a new legisatlive body and kept the monarchy but severely restricted the power of the King. It also gave broad voting rights to tax-paying men. -
Beginning of Legislative Assembly
The creation of an assembly allowed for a legislative body whose members were the only ones that could create new laws and everyone had broader voting rights. -
Brunswick Manifesto warns not to harm Royal Family or else...
Austria and Prussia warned the French people to not harm the royal family or else they would attack France. In responses, France declared war on Austria but because the army was in disarray, they could not win many battles. -
Storming of the Tuileries Palace
The French people blamed the army's disarray and many defeats on the royal family so they stormed the palace and imprisoned the royal family and demoted them to mere commoners. -
French Monarchy officially abolished
Revolutionary government votes to abolish the monarchy and establish the first Republic. Royal family imprisoned. -
France defeats Foreign forces trying to preserve Monarchy
France turns the tide of the war and takes the offensive against the invaders. -
Execution of King Louis XVI
After the radical National Convention took over, the members put Louis on trial and quickly condemned him to death and executed him by guillotine the next day in a public execution. -
Committe of Public Safety Established
Established to manage the country's militray defenses against foreign forces and created a massive draft of all able-bodied, unmarried men between the ages of 18 and 45. -
Law of Suspects passes. Reign of Terror Begins
The law of suspects allowed for the massive number of arrests and executions that occured during the revolution of anyone who was deemed suspicious of opposing the revolution. -
Execution of Robespierre leads to end of the Reign of Terror
Many of the enforcers of the law of suspects fell victim to the law themselves and the most violent of the enforcers, Robespierre, was also executed, thus ending a 10 month long period of terror and coutnless executions in France. -
National Convention dissolved, Directorate is created
A new system of government was again created that consisted of 5 directors responsible for making laws in the country but this system was also ineffective as the directors became corrupted. -
Napoleon named First Consul
After a successful coup d'etat led by Napoleon's supporters, power in France was transferred from the Directorate to 3 different consuls of which Napoleon was elected to lead as the First Consul. -
Napoleon Bonaparte coronated as First Emperor of France
Napoleon is coronated as First Emperor of France which has become an empire but retains republic qualities with Napoleon as dictator. At his coronation, he grabs the crown from the Pope and places the crown on his head himself claiming that he seized power himself and it wasn't given to him.
