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Period: to
First Stage (1789-1791)
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The National Assembly
June 20, 1789 National Assembly members take Tennis Court Oath, pledging to create new constitution. -
The Fall of the Bastille
Mob of Parisian citizens storm Bastille prison and confiscate weapons. -
Peasants vs Feudal Landlords
Rural violence of Great Fear breaks out; peasants lash out at feudal landlords for several weeks -
Decrees
Peasants and farmers are released from feudal contracts. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen issued -
The March for Bread
Women march to Versailles because of the food crisis. French king was forced to accept August Decrees and Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. King and family imprisoned in Tuileries. -
Government vs the Church
Government takes church property. -
Constitution of the Clergy
The civil constitution of the clergy is issued. -
Period: to
Second Stage (1791-1792) constitutional monarchy
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The Escape
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette attempted to escape disguised as servants, but their carriage was apprehended at the town of Varennes. -
Declaration of Pillnitz
Austria and Prussia issue Declaration of Pillnitz warning against harming the king and demanding for the restoring of the monarchy. -
Constitutional Monarchy
Louis XVI approves National Assembly’s new constitution, which establishes constitutional monarchy. -
Period: to
Third Stage (1792-1794) Reign of Terror
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War
France declares war on Austria and Prussia. -
Louis XVI's fate
Jacobins and sans-culottes storm Tuileries and arrest Louis XVI. The National Assemby is split on what to do with Louis XVI. -
The September Massacre
The Sans-Culottes wiped out all the politcial prisoners, aristocrats and the clergy, and they were influenced by the Jacobin journalist, Marat. -
The National Convention
The National Assebly is now called the National Convention and it split into two major factions, one the Girondins and the other the more radical, the Jacobins. Another political faction was gaining popularity, the Sansculottes, or those without breeches. -
Republic
The National Convention finally declared France a republic -
Louis XVI
Louis XVI is executed. -
The Committee of Public Safety
The National Convention creates the Committe of Public Safety, an assemby that governed France in its police state, and the Revolutionary Tribunal, designed to try citizens who were supsected of counter-revoluitonary activities. -
The Reign of Terror
In the Fall of 1793 Robespierre and the Jacobins began economic and political threats, but they turned it into the infamous campain of purging France of all Counter-revolutionaries. France became a police state. Robespierre censored the press. Robespierre became responsible for 800 executions a month. -
Pointing Fingers
Beginning in September, Robespierre, under the Committee of Public Safety, began pointing an accusing finger at anyone whose beliefs seemed to be counterrevolutionary. Executions awaited those under suspicion of counterrevolutionary acts or beliefs. -
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette is executed under the crimes of molesting her son, treason, and other counter-revolutionary activity. -
The Cult of the Supreme Being
June 6th was appointed as the Festival of the Supreme being. This was after Robespierre made up and endorsed a new religion: The Cult of the Supreme being. On June 6, 1794, Robespierre appeared in a toga on a paper mache mountain, it convinced the people that he was no longer a viable leader. -
Robespierre
Robespierre is overthrown, the next day he was executed along with his friends. -
Period: to
Fourth Stage (1794-1799) Directory
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The New Constitution
The Constitution of 1795 is ratified. -
The Directory
After Robespierre's death, a new governmetn was established. Under the Directory, a three-chambered system with two legislative bodies called the Council of Ancients and the Council of Five Hundred, there was a system of checks and balances. -
Paris Riots
The new constitution caused riots in the streets o Paris and the military was called in to stop it. Conditions in France worsened as they neglected the people of France. -
The Planned Coup
In May 1796, a group of Jacobins planned a coup to reinstate the constitution of 1793, but they were stopped by the Directory -
The 1797 Elections
After the elections produced pro-royal and pro-jacobin results, three members of the Directory annulled the election results and removed a majority of new deputies from their seats. They also removed two people from the Directory, in order to ensure that the government would remain moderate. This happened again in 1798. Popular opinion of the republic dwindled. People were almost ready to embrace a monarchy again. -
Napolean Bonaparte
After France's misfortunes in war, Napolean returned. Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès was elected in 1799 into the Directory, but he didn't want it and instead planned a military coup with Napolean to topple the Directory. On November 9, 1799 Napolean overthrew the Directory, dissolved the legislature, and instituded himslef as the leader of his dictatorship. He ended the French Revolution.
