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Louis calls the estates together
Facing crippling debt, the monarch of France, King Louis XVI assembles the Three Estates. Louis wishes to raise the taxes on the citizens of France, but law states that he can only do so with the approval of the Three Estates. However, what Louis did not predict was that the First Estate and the Second Estate would vote to only raise taxes on the Third Estate. This angers members of the Third Estate, who represent over 95 percent of the French population. -
The Creation of The National Assembly
Since the Estates General was against the third estate, were in favor of making them pay more taxes and left them out of the meetings, the angered people decided to make their own representation called the National Assembly. The people apart of the National Assembly took a Tennis Court Oath, swearing that they wouldn't break apart until a new constitution was created. After this creation, the members started going around France to spread Enlightenment ideals to further spark the revolution. -
The Storming of The Bastille
The Bastille, a prison where top offenders were, it was also wear France kept some of their armory and gunpowder. The third estate feared that the King would arrest the members of the National Assembly, as a result, they stormed the Bastille. They freed the majority of the prisoners, and they took guns. They marched around Paris, showing that their revolutionary spirit was strong enough to overthrow the kings troops. It was a turning point in history that showed a monarchy could be overthrown. -
Declaration of Rights of Man
After the storming of the Bastille, the French King quickly adopted the Declaration as he feared for his throne, he wanted to please the third estate. This declaration declared that every man is born free with natural rights and remains free and equal. It covered three main point, liberty, property and security. It also freed the third estate from having the burden of paying all the high priced taxes. These concepts were driven from Enlightenment ideas and philosophers. -
The March on Versailles
Although the declaration adopted, it didn't help the women of France, they still had very little rights and prices for food were still very high. 6,000 women decided they would riot along a market place in Paris. They so happen to mix in with the revolutionaries and joined together to march because they feared a famine was coming with the high prices and scarcity of bread. They marched together to confront king Louis, they overthrew the kings troops and forced the royals to Paris, trapping them. -
King Louis is Arrested and Executed
After the march on Versailles, the king and his family were trapped and arrested in Paris. This left the king in shambles, this led to the queen having to make most of the decisions. However the king decided that he would plan an dangerous escape the capital with his family. He planned to escape to a fort which was composed of people loyal to the royals, however, 31 miles away from the fort, he and his family were arrested. He and his wife were eventually beheaded at the guillotine. -
Reign of Terror
Robespierre was a dictator with a radical mindset, he was all for the revolution.He killed anyone who said a word against the revolution, he had no mercy. Eventually, it was labeled as the reign of terror due to how much people were killed by Robespierre.People were being executed with no evidence against them, simply being killed for no reason. People from all social classes were killed, no one was excluded. More then 40,000 people were killed in that year. But, Robespierre would be killed too. -
French Directory is Established
After Robespierre was executed, it left France in need of new government, instead of one ruler with power, they would choose five men. Thus, the Five man Directory was established, and they had to have voted for the execution of king louis. They were meant to reform France, however, that didn't happen. The economy was severely impacted and they relied on violence to control people. They also took away the once established suffrage rights for men. They were weak and failed to stabilize France. -
The Overthrowing of the Five Man Directory
The Five Man Directory was a weak government in place of the king. They did a very poor job and got France into many battles with other nations. This caused France's economy to go down and caused large amounts of debt. They even got rid of all men being able to vote and made it the old way where men could only vote if they own a set amount of property. Eventually, General Napoleon over threw the Five Man Directory, he staged a coup d'état, leading to his own dictatorship and being emperor. -
Napoleon's Reforms
After Napoleon came to power, he started to reform France based on revolutionary and enlightenment ideals.He created the Napoleonic code, it was about basic civil laws such as liberty and equality.This code was adopted through Europe and formed law systems. He also created and fixed roads throughout France and created a schooling system based on the Military. However he did reestablish slavery in some french colonies to appease British demands.He eventually would crown himself emperor as well. -
Haitian War of Independence Ends
The first time France abolished slavery in it's colony, Haiti was in 1794 due to the revolts of the Haitian Revolution. However in 1804, Napoleon reestablished slavery in an attempt to make peace within Europe and also to profit. This caused the Haitian to again, revolt against the French. With everything going on in Europe, Napoleon had to time to deal with the revolts in Haiti and ultimately made the decision to remove the 8000 soldiers from Haiti, leaving it to be independent. -
Confederation of The Rhine
With his growing Empire, Napoleon wanted to create peace through Europe however, it wasn't achieved. He had the confederation of the Rhine out of German Kingdoms that acted as a buffer to prevent any future aggression. Nations joined in the confederation and in return for French protection, the nations supplied France with military personnel and supplies and supported the French Army. It was in its largest state in 1808 with 35 German states in involved with the exception of Austria and Prussia. -
Continental System
The continental System was enforced by Napoleon, it was a trade embargo that was designed against the British. He wanted to weaken the British, however he knew that he wouldn't be able to battle them. So he decided that he would weaken their economy by forbidding nations to trade with them, preventing them from getting what they needed. However, it didn't really work, instead of weakening the British, it effected the rest of Europe, it effected ones who depended on overseas and increased prices. -
The Spanish War of Independence
After Napoleon gave Spain to his brother Joseph Bonaparte and making him king, the people of Spain started to riot against him. Hostility towards the new king quickly spread throughout the nation. This resistance led to the Spanish war of Independence,fighting against the occupation of the king. This would create another problem for Napoleon as it overlapped with the Peninsular War, a war between France and Portugal. This caused a strain on the French army as they had to fight two wars. -
Abduction of Spain
There were problems within Spain between Charles IV and Ferdidnad VII, they became rivals and Napoleon saw this as the perfect opportunity to intervene. He called the two together, inviting them to Bayonne, saying that he would help resolve the conflict. However, he did the opposite, he forced them give up their throne, making his brother Joseph Bonaparte, king of Spain. It was also to gain control of the Iberian peninsula. Although, the people of Spain wouldn't react very lightly. -
Invasion of Russia
When Russia stepped out of the continental system, Napoleon created a plan to invade them. However it would be a big mistake. The Harsh conditions of Russia were against his army, more than 500,000 of them died. He had to make the decision to turn back. However this caused the battle of the nations, a fight on German soil. This again heavily weaken France's army, they were defeated once again. Since this invasion was such a failure, Napoleon was sent to exile in Elba upon returning to France. -
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was the final battle of the French Revolution and it was the last battle Napoleon Boneparte ever fought in. The Battle of Waterloo was fought in present day Belgium. Napoleon’s French forces were outnumbered by the combined armies of the English and the Prussians, led by British officer the Duke of Wellington. When Napoleon was defeated, the French throne was once again given to King Louis XVIII.