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Imprisonment of Voltaire
Writer Francois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, is imprisoned in the Bastille on this day in 1717. Critics embraced his epic poem, La Henriade, but its satirical attack on politics and religion infuriated the government, and Voltaire was arrested in 1717. He spent nearly a year in the Bastille. -
Louis XVI is crowned
On May 10, 1774, Louis Auguste became Louis XVI upon the death of his grandfather, Louis XV. Only 20 years old at the time, Louis XVI was immature and lacked self-confidence -
Start or End of the Seven Years War
The Seven Years' War was a global war fought between 1756 and 1763. It involved all five European great powers of the time plus many of the middle powers and spanned five continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. -
The American Revolution
The American Revolution was a colonial revolt that occurred between 1765 and 1783. The American Patriots in the Thirteen Colonies defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War with the assistance of France, winning independence from Great Britain and establishing the United States of America. -
Bastille is Stormed
The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris, France, on the afternoon of 14 July 1789. The medieval armory, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the center of Paris -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolution. The Declaration was drafted by the Abbé Sieyès and the Marquis de Lafayette, in consultation with Thomas Jefferson -
Women’s March on Versailles
The Women's March on Versailles, also known as the October March, the October Days or simply the March on Versailles, was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. -
The first Constitution of France
The short-lived French Constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution in France, created after the collapse of the absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. One of the basic precepts of the revolution was adopting constitutionality and establishing popular sovereignty. -
San Culotte attack the prisons
The September Massacres were a series of killings of prisoners in Paris that occurred from 2–6. There was a fear that foreign and royalist armies would attack Paris and that. The massacre began in the early afternoon in the middle of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Within the first 20 hours, more than 1,000 prisoners were killed. -
The murder of Marat
The Death of Marat is a 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David of the murdered French revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat. It is one of the most famous images of the French Revolution. -
Execution of Robespierre
After a year of harsh rule by Robespierre, many of the revolutionary leaders had had enough of the Terror. They turned on Robespierre and had him arrested. He was executed, along with many of his supporters, by guillotine
