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France’s Financial Crisis
Excessive spending and poor harvests led to a financial crisis in France. France's prolonged involvement in the Seven Years' War of 1756–1763 drained the treasury, as did the country's participation in the American Revolution of 1775–1783. The nation was in debt, and some new taxes were needed to solve it. Bad harvests also caused economic hardship. Thus contributing to the start of the French Revolution -
The Great Fear in the countryside
The Great Fear was a period of panic and riot by peasants and others amid rumours of an “aristocratic conspiracy” by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate. The gathering of troops around Paris provoked an insurrection, and on July 14 the Parisian rabble seized the Bastille. To check the peasants, the National Constituent Assembly decreed the abolition of the feudal regime and introduced the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. -
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King Louis XVI calls the Estates General
The political and financial situation in France had grown rather bleak, forcing Louis XVI to summon the Estates General. This assembly was composed of three estates – the clergy, nobility and commoners – who had the power to decide on the levying of new taxes and to undertake reforms in the country. This marking the start of the French Revolution -
The Tennis Court Oath
On 20 June 1789, the members of the French Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath in the tennis court which had been built in 1686 for the use of the Versailles palace. It was an important revolutionary act that displayed the belief that political authority came from the nation's people and not from the monarchy. -
The Storming of the Bastille
The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, when revolutionaries stormed and seized control of the medieval armory, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille which represented royal authority in the center of Paris. The storming of the Bastille set a precedent: For the first time in modern history, ordinary men and women, through their collective action in the streets, ensured the creation of a constitutional system of democratic government. -
The National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
On 26 August 1789, the French National Constituent Assembly issued the Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen (Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen) which defined individual and collective rights at the time of the French Revolution. -
The Women’s March on Versailles Napoleon's coup d'etat, overthrowing the Directory
The Women’s March on Versailles was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. On the morning of October 5, 1789, women were near rioting in the Paris marketplace over the high price and scarcity of bread. Their demonstrations quickly became intertwined with the activities of revolutionaries, who were seeking liberal political reforms and a constitutional monarchy for France. -
The Constitution of 1791 sets up a constitutional monarchy in France
Following the Tennis Court Oath, the National Assembly began the process of drafting a constitution as its primary objective. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted on 26 August 1789 eventually became the preamble of the constitution adopted on 3 September 1791 -
Louis XVI is executed at the guillotine
When a final decision on the question of a respite was taken on January 19, Louis was condemned to death by 380 votes to 310. He was guillotined in the Place de la Révolution in Paris on January 21, 1793. Nine months later his wife met the same fate. -
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Robespierre's Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervor, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason by the Committee of Public Safety. This was in response and the effect of people's opposition to the Revolution -
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The Directory is installed
The French Revolutionary government set up by the Constitution of the Year III, which lasted four years, from November 1795 to November 1799 when it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and replaced by the Consulate. It included a bicameral legislature known as the Corps Législatif. -
Napoleon is declared First Consul
Napoleon is declared First Consul On August 1802, Napoleon proclaimed himself First Consul for Life. A new constitution of his own devising legislated a succession to rule for his son (even though he had not yet fathered any children) and he had taken the major steps in creating a new regime in his own image.Napoleon brought authoritarian personal rule which has been viewed as military dictatorship. -
Napoleon is declared Emperor
Napoleon crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I at Notre Dame de Paris. According to legend, during the coronation he snatched the crown from the hands of Pope Pius VII and crowned himself, thus displaying his rejection of the authority of the Pontiff. -
Napoleon is defeated by Horatio Nelson
The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, which established British naval supremacy for more than 100 years. A fleet of 33 ships (18 French and 15 Spanish) under Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve fought a British fleet of 27 ships under Admiral Horatio Nelson. France lost multiple ships while Britain didn’t lose any. Nelson led Britain to victory over a combined French and Spanish fleet. -
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The Continental System is implemented
The Continental System, in the Napoleonic wars, was the blockade designed by Napoleon to paralyze Great Britain through the destruction of British commerce. Its aim was to impose an economic blockade against Britain and to prevent import of British goods by other countries of Europe. It was introduced as Napoleon found it difficult to defeat Britain in a straight military fight due to the supremacy of Britain's Navy. -
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Napoleon is defeated at Leipzig (Battle of the Nations)
Decisively defeated again, Napoleon was compelled to return to France while the Sixth Coalition kept up its momentum, dissolving the Confederation of the Rhine and invading France early the next year. Napoleon was forced to abdicate and was exiled to Elba in May 1814. -
Napoleon is exiled to Elba
Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France and one of the greatest military leaders in history, abdicates the throne, and, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, is banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba. This was the effect of his defeat at Leipzig (Battle of the Nations). -
Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo and exiled to St. Helena
Napoleon had been exiled to St. Helena after he was defeated by the British at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Having escaped his previous exile from Elba, off the coast of Italy, the French emperor was a flight risk to his fellow European rulers who wanted rid of him Located 1,200 miles from the nearest landmass off the coast of Africa, St Helena was the ideal choice for Napeoleon’s exile
Napoleon arrived in St Helena on 15th October 1815, after ten weeks at sea on board the HMS Northumberland.