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Period: 1543 to
Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution laid the foundation for all the future revolutions and ideas to come. Its challenge to the legitimacy of the authority’s information shook people’s minds by making them look up less information from the authority and started to use scientific reasoning to find it out on their own. This also marked the birth of the scientific process, which has become apart of the expectation in science nowadays. -
Galileo Galilei supports the heliocentric theory
Galileo’s support of the heliocentric theory in conjunction with disproving the geocentric theory showed how the authority could be terribly wrong, further encouraging people to find answers for their problems in a scientific manner, instead of just listening to what the authority says. This also encouraged people to bravely step up to the authority and propose radical thoughts and opinions including their political identity, something that could have only been imagined in the past. -
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English Civil War
The 3 phases of the English Civil War made so that the monarch can no longer rule like they were able to, and needed the consent of the Parliament. This was very significant to England as a whole as it marked the end of an absolute English monarch, which soon also influenced other countries in Europe for the Enlightenment and the French Revolution that would start a century later. -
Hobbes’s Leviathan is published
Hobbes's Leviathan was known to be one of the earliest books that contain the idea of Social Contract and concern about the government and its structure/legitimacy. It proved to be significant in society as it argued for a proper social contract between a ruler and the people and also highlighted the downfalls of an absolute ruler. These arguments later spread into people and make them think that they deserve a better social contract between the monarch and themselves. -
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Glorious Evolution
The Glorious Revolution overthrew England’s current catholic king and was replaced by protestants and ended up taking away even more power from the monarch. This became very significant for England, as it marked one of the key stepping points towards eventual democracy they will face in the future. This also wrapped up the catholic influence in what was left of the monarchy, further reducing strong religious influence for the government. -
Locke’s Two Treatises on Government is published
Locke’s Two Treatises on Government and its move towards basic equal human rights awakened people to realize that they should expect much more freedom and equality between everyone. This also encouraged people to step up against the government, which was the foundational idea for every single political revolution for the year to come. -
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Enlightenment
The Enlightenment gave birth to a series of, at the time, very radical ideas, most of which focused on human rights as well as how the government should function. This surge of ideas inspired ordinary people and made them think that the world is moving around in a way that it really shouldn’t. This would encourage them to speak up, and that act will reach other people. This wave of ideas led to numerous radical political refinements throughout the world, including the French Revolution. -
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American Revolution
The American Revolution held a series of events that made America a nation of its own, free from England and established the world’s first true democracy. Its significance cannot be understated as America served to be the goal for any other country trying to start a democracy, as America was the only one out there running it. The French Revolution for instance was heavily inspired by the American Revolution and the ideas it revolved around. -
Diderot Publishes First Volumes of Encyclopedia
The First Volumes of Encyclopedia was from the era of the glorious revolution just and went on sale to influence other people. As it was from a country that had an already limited monarchy, it was filled with lots of elements of the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution, which was not yet very popular in France, which was well before its revolution. People would have gotten a lot of influence from it, and spark the idea of a political revolution. -
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Louis XVI’s reign
Louis XVI highlighted what could go wrong with an absolute monarch due to his incredibly inefficient ruling and foolish acts, and showed how the political system of France desperately needed a change. He was soon seen as the enemy of the people, causing people to gather up and start the French Revolution, which later became history and a major turning point in France and its march to democracy, but also influenced other parts of Europe too by acting as a source of inspiration. -
Lexington and Concord
Lexington and Concord were the first-ever military engagement in the American Revolutionary War where the vastly outnumbered and underpowered American militia was able to strategically force the British soldiers back to Boston. Lexington and Concord later became very significant for the American as it showed how they could play defensively and win such an uphill battle. Its success for the first battle in the revolution also played the role of a massive morale boost. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence marked the end of the thirteen colonies being under Britain’s rule. This was significant to the colonists as they were now able to do truly anything, and they went ahead and created their own political system, which became the world’s first true democracy. This would also later influence other countries, mostly European ones, to change their own government into a democracy, and most were heavily based on how the US did it. -
National Assembly is formed in France
The formation of the National Assembly highlighted that power should come from the people and was enforced by the people. The National Assembly, very soon after its birth, will prove its significance by formally ending legal privileges of the higher estates, signing the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen, and slowly taking away the power of the monarch to create a limited monarchy. As a whole, it basically ended up reformatting France itself, bit by bit. -
Tennis Court Oath
As the Third Estate got locked out of the Estates-General meeting entirely by the king, they proceeded to go to a nearby tennis court and draft a constitution there. This showed the world how people were not just going to be neglected and be treated horribly forever, and instead proceed by themselves anyways to do what they should do. The constitution that gets drafted here truly shook the entire country and laid the foundation of the revolution, such as the DOROMAC. -
Declaration of Rights of Man
The Declaration of Rights of Man was passed by the National Assembly and since then, it redefined France, by granting all men access to the Enlightenment ideals. The DOROMAC completely changed how the French government worked and continued to influence it for several years to come. The fact that King Louis XVI was pretty much forced to sign the document also emphasized how the King is no longer the supreme ruler, and this led to a steady decrease in his power. -
Legislative Assembly is formed in France
The Legislative Assembly was the new government that was the successor to the National Assembly and marked the start of a limited monarchy. The Legislative Assembly proved its significance by ending absolute monarchy once and for all, and also started a war against Austria which soon caused the French Revolution to become rapidly more radical and changed France’s future forever, into a bloody mess. -
Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women is published
Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women highlight the fact that, since women are the ones who do the majority of raising children, a very important task for a nation, they should be treated as the ultimate companion of men, equally to them, and not the very unbalanced one of the time. While this was viewed as an enemy of the French Revolution and neglected, the foundation for all the future movements towards treating women more equally was laid down. -
Execution of Louis XVI
Sending a King to have his head cut off is no ordinary act. The execution of Louis XVI proved to be very significant as it marked the end to the monarchy itself and a whole new start of the French Republic (or at least it did in theory). Now, the royal family was no more, ending the “royal blood”. -
Execution of Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette’s execution, just shortly after Louis XVI’s one, also marked the end of monarchy and the royal family/heritage itself, and laid the foundation for the French Republic that appeared just shortly after. -
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Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror marked the peak of the most radical ideas in France which also died off with its founder, Robespierre The Reign of Terror proved to be very significant in France because it marked a major turning point in the French Revolution, where it became so violent that it almost fell in upon its founders. Even after its end, the Terror influenced the revolution as people started to shy away from radicals, as they became very scared of what they could do, seen by the Reign of Terror. -
Bill of Rights signed
The Bill of Rights contained the first 10 amendments of the constitution, focused to guarantee personal freedom and rights and limiting what the government can do. The Bill of Rights remains to be very significant to this day as it grants all the freedom and rights that has become an expectation throughout the world, indicating how it reformatted the way the world was viewed entirely. It also served to be a reference for others to follow, also proving its significance throughout the world. -
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Napoleon’s coup
Napoleon’s coup overthrew the directory in France and said that he would remain in power until France was stable enough, effectively ending the French Revolution at last. Even though Napoleon was technically just another dictator, he proved to be very significant as it ended all the chaos France went through during its revolution and brought it back to a much more peaceful state. Turns out that people didn’t mind an absolute ruler if he could bring back stability to the nation.