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The Beginning
The Estates began their meeting at Versailles and quickly entered into a power struggle. -
Period: to
The French Revolution
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The Storm Bastille
At dawn on July 14, a great crowd armed with muskets, swords, and various makeshift weapons began to gather around the Bastille. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The declaration of the Rights of Men was approved by the National Assembly of France. -
The Flight to Varennes
The flight to Varennes was the royal family’s failed attempt to escape Paris. -
The King Accepts
King Louis XVI accepts the new constitution and will sign it tomorrow. -
The Attack on the Tuileries
a little more than three years after their attack on the Bastille, the people of Paris laid siege to another royalist symbol. This time the target was the Tuileries palace, the official residence of Louis XVI and the home of the Legislative Assembly. The king had been resident at the Tuileries since the people of Paris marched on Versailles in October 1789. -
King Louis XVI Executed
On January 21, he walked steadfastly to the guillotine and was executed. Nine months later, Marie Antoinette was convicted of treason by a tribunal. -
The Law of Suspects
" Law of Suspects" initiates the Terror. -
Marie-Antoinette
Marie-Antoinette tried and executed. -
The Terror Peaks
Robespierre joined others on the Committee of Public Safety in judging the Hébertists as anarchists guilty of conspiracy and of collusion with foreign powers, and on March 24, 1794, Hébert and nineteen of his faction were guillotined. -
Robespierre
Robespierre and his allies were placed under arrest by the National Assembly. Robespierre was taken to the Luxembourg prison in Paris, but the warden refused to jail him, and he fled to the Hotel de Ville. Armed supporters arrived to aid him, but he refused to lead a new insurrection. When he received word that the National Convention had declared him an outlaw, he shot himself in the head but only succeeded in wounding his jaw. -
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoléon was in Paris when a large, angry Parisian mob of royalists tried to attack the ruling National Convention at the Tuileries Palace. Vicomte Paul de Barras, who had been at Toulon and was impressed by Napoléon’s military ability, called upon Napoléon to defend the palace. Napoléon brought his canons to bear upon the mob, wounding and killing hundreds with his grapeshot, quickly clearing the streets. Napoléon was hailed as a hero by Barras and was promoted to major. -
National Convention
The convention dissolves itself in favour of a dictatorship of the Directorate.
