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The Tennis Court Oath
he Estates General was called to Versailles to solve the emergency finanical crisis of France. They allowed the FIrst and Second Estate to out vote the Third Estate. The Third Estate wanted each delegate to vote, but the king refused so they create the National Assembly. However, they were locked out of further meetings by the First and Second Estate, The Assembly gathers outside a hall on royal tennis courts and refused to leave until they've drawn up a constitution, The Tennis Court Oath. -
Fall of Bastille
Rumors that royal troops were going to occupy the city spread among the capital. Over 800 Parisians assembled outside the Bastille, a medievel fortess used a a prision,wanting weopons and gunpowered believed to be stored there.The commander of Bastile refused to open the gate and opened fire. In a resulting battle, they killed the commander, five other guards, released a number of prisoners, but found no weopons.The fall of Bastille became the symbol of the begininng of the French Revolution. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
Issued by the National Assembly, the document was modeled in part on the Declaration of Independence. It stated that "all men were born and remain free and equal in rights." They also had natural rights to "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." It inisisted that the government exisisted to protect the natural rights of its citizens. Furthermore, it asserted freedom of religion and called for lower taxes. King Louis XVI was slow to agree to the reforms of the assembly. -
The Constitution of 1795
Wanting to move away from the accesses of the Convention, moderates produced the Constitution of 1795 during the Thermidorian Reaction in the French Revolution. The constitution set up a five - man Directory and a two-house legislative elected by male citizens of property. -
The Great Fear
With the news of the Bastille Rebellion spreading from Paris to the countryside, rumors began to spread that nobles hired outlaws for security had left peasants terrorized, and panic quickly enused. This period of panic was sparked by famine, France's political and econmic crisis, and fury towards the nobles. As a results, peasants attacked nobles with pitchforks and torches,stole grain from storehouses, and burned documents and houses of nobles. -
Women march on Versailles
The price of bread rose significantly during 1789 due to poor harvest, setting off 6,000 Parisian women who rioted over the increased price of bread. In the midst of a storm, a group of rough spoken Parisian women marched up to the palace of Versailles, demanding bread. When none came they broke into the palace, killing two guards.They refused to leave until the king agreed to return with them to Paris.The royal family agreed and would live the Tuileries palace for the next three years. -
The Civil Constitution of Clergy
Under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, bishops and priests became elected, salaried officials. Furthermore, it ended papal authority over the French Church and ended convents and monasteries. Many people, especially French Peasants were infuritated by the constitution. Many bishops and priests refused to comply with the constitution while the pope condemned it. -
The Declaration of Pilnitz
The declaration was a statement issued at the the Castle of Pillnitz in Saxony by the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and Frederick William II of Prussia. The emperor was also the brother of Marie Antoinette. In the delclaration, Prussia and Asutria threatened to intervene if neccessary in order to protect the French Monarchy. The revolutionaries in France took the threat seriously and prepared for full out war. -
The Constitution of 1791
The constitution set up a limited monarchy in place of an absolute one and gave a new Legislative Assembly political power.It replaced old provinces with 83 departments of roughly equal size, abolished the provincial courts, and reformed laws. It protected private property and supported free trade, compensated nobles for siezed lands, abolished guilds, and forbade city workers to organize unions. It ended church intereference and ensured quality before the law for all citizens. -
The Royal Escape
One night in June, a large coach lumbered north from Paris toward the border, where inside sat King Louis XVI and his family who were attempting to escape the Tuileries palace. The king and queen wore disguises while the children and a loyal friend pretended to be their wealthy Russian employer. Eventually they were caught at Varennes and sent back to Paris to insults of crowds such as "Long live the Nation." To Parisians, this attempt escape showed that the king was a traitor of France. -
Creation of The National Convention
With supports from French citizens, radicals took control over the Assembly. They called for a new legislative body called the National Convention. In it, suffrage, or the right to vote, was to be extended to all male citizens, not just to property owners. The convention voted to abolish the monarchy and declare France a republic. Deputies had then drew up a new constitution for France.The Jacobins set out to erase all traces of the old order. Lands were siezed and noble titles were abolished. -
Execution of a Monarch
In January 1793, the convention had put Louis XVI on trial as a traitor to France. King Louis was convicted by a single vote and sentence death by the guillotine. On a foggy morning in January, king Louis mounted on a scaffold in a public square in Paris. He tried to make a speech was was drowned out by drumrolls. Eventually, he was beheaded. -
The Reign of Terror
Led by Maximilien Robespierre, a shrewed laywer and politician,the Reign of Terror lasted from about July 1793 to July 1794. Revolutionary courts conducted speedy trials and gave out numerous death sentences. About 40,000 people died during this time. The engine of the Terror was the guillotine used for beheading. Within a year, the Reign of Terror died out and eventually Robespierre would ironically be beheaded himself by the Committee of Public Safety. -
The Directory
The Directory held power from 1795 to 1799. The Directory found itself to be weak yet dictorial It also faced growing discontent. Leaders of the Directory failed to deal with the many issues of France. When the rise of bread prices caused Sans-culotts to riot, the Directory quickly suppressed them. Politicians turned to military hero Napoleon Bonaparte in order to advance their own goals. Howvever, Napoleon would outwit them all and become a powerful ruler of France. -
Napoleon becomes Consulate
During 1799 in Paris, Napoleon led a coup d'Etat that overthrew the weak Directory and set up a three-man governing board called the Consulate. Another new constitution was created, but Napoleon soon claimed the title First Consul. In 1802, he named himself consul for life. He quickly took on dictorial powers and no one could have more influence than him. He holds a plebiciscit in 1800 where French citizens voted overwhelmingly for his leadership. -
Concordat of 1801
Napoleon wanted to esablish peace between the Catholic Church, which had been seen as a major enemy of the French Revolution. The church would remain under state control, but religious freedom for Catholics would be recognized. The Concordate helped Napoleon gain support of the peasants, many of whom were still devoted to the church. -
Coronation of an Emperor
In 1804 Napoleon declared himself as Emperor of France and was evidently supported by many French citizens. Napoleon had invited the pope to preside his coronation at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. DUring the lavish ceramony, Napoleon takes the crown from the pope in front of thousands of people and places it on his own head. This action showed the arrogance of Napoleon's nature and that he wanted to be more powerful than the church and have total control over Europe. -
Battle of Trafalgar
Fought at the southwest coast of Spain, Twenty-seven British ships led by Admiral Horatio Nelson has succeeded in defeating thirty-three French and Spanish ships under French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve. This causes France to lose naval supremacey and Napoleon is unable to invade the U.K. Napoleon striked back by waging economic warefare through the Continential System, which closed European ports to British goods. Howvever, this ends up hurting France more than Britian. -
The Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz is considered to be one of Napoleon's greatest strategic victory where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition.On December 1805, a French army, led by Napoleon, decisively defeated a Russo-Austrian army, commanded by Tsar Alexander I and Francis II of Holy Roman Empire, near Austerlitz, after nearly nine hours of difficult fighting. The battle ended with the signing of Treaty of Pressburg by France and Austria. -
Invasion of Spain
In 1808, Napoleon replaced the king of Spain with his brother and introduced liberal reforms that sought to undermine the Spanish Catholic Church. Many Spaniards were loyal to their old king and church. When they resisted invaders, French forces responded with brutal repression. Spanish patriots used guerrilla warfare against them and ambushed French supply trains and troops before they could leave the countryside. These attacks kept many French soliders in Spain when Napoleon needed them. -
Invasion of Russia
Napoleon's Russian army was not following through with the contenential system, so he decided to invade. He led the "Grande Armee" of 500,00 soldiers during the spring into Russia. The Russians used a scorched-earth policy in which they burned crops and villages as they retreat, leaving the French troop to starve. Napoleon managed to capture Moscow but it was set on fire before he arrived. By the fall, he and his army of meager 10,000 troops, starving and cold, returned back to Paris defeated. -
Exiled to Elba
After Napoleon's Russian defeat, Russia, Austria and Prussia rallied against a weakened France. In 1813, they defeated Napoleon's inexperienced army at the battle of Leipzig. Napoleon then abdicated, or stepped down from the throne and was exiled to Elba, an island in the Mediterranean. -
Congress of Vienna
After the Battle of Water, diplomats and heads of state sate down in a meeting called the Congress of Vienna. They're task was to restore stability and order in Europe of 25 years of war. The congress met for 10 months from September 1814 to June 1815. The main goal was to reestablish a balance of power amongst the countries of Europe and have peace between the nations. The Congress was successful in achieving its goal since the peace in Europe was left undisturbed for 40 years. -
A Hundred Days
When Napoleon was exiled, Louis XVIII was recognized as king of France. However his restoration did not go smoothly. He agreed to accept the Napoleonic Code and accept the land settlements made during thr revolution. An economic failure and fear of of a return to the old regime helped rekindle loyalty to Napoleon. He managed to escape Elba and return to Paris in March 1815 to the bannars heers of his supporters. However, Napoleon's triumph would only last him 100 days. -
Battle of Waterloo
On June 18, 1815, the opposing army met near the town of Waterloo in Belgium. Britishes forces under the Duke of Wellington and a Prussian army commanded by General Blucher destroyed the French army in a day long battle. After Napoleon's defeat, he was again exiled. This time he was banished to St. Helena, an island in the SOuth Atlantic where he would die there six years later.
