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French Revolution
The French Revolution was a period of major social upheaval that began in 1787 and ended in 1799. It sought to completely change the relationship between the rulers and those they governed and redefine political power's nature. -
The Estates-General Meeting
The Estates General was a meeting of the three estates of France that took place in 1789 and marked the beginning of the French Revolution. King Louis XVI summoned the Estates General on May 5, 1789, to address the country's financial and political instability. The meeting took place at the Menus-Plaisirs building in Versailles and lasted until June 17, 1789. -
The Tennis Court Oath
While King Louis, not amused, locked them out of their meeting hall, they gathered on a tennis court meant for use by the Versailles Palace and took the aptly named Tennis Court Oath: that they would not stop meeting until France had a constitution. Held by the third estate. -
The Storming of the Bastille
On July 14, 1789, fears that King Louis XVI was about to arrest France's newly constituted National Assembly led a crowd of Parisians to successfully besiege the Bastille, an old fortress that had been used since 1659 as a state prison. -
The Great Fear
The Great Fear refers to a period of panic and unrest among the French peasantry, while the September Massacres were a violent episode during the early years of the revolution. -
The 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 execution of King Louis XVI
Louis XVI, former King of France since the abolition of the monarchy, was publicly executed by the guillotine on 21 January 1793 during the French Revolution at the Place de la Révolution in Paris. -
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The Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror was a period of mass executions and state-sanctioned violence during the French Revolution. It took place from September 5, 1793 to July 27, 1794, and was led by French lawyer and statesman Maximilien Robespierre. -
The 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 fervour, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason by the Committee of Public Safety. -
Napoleon Bonaparte’s Coup d’etat
The coup overthrew the Directory, a committee of five that governed France, and replaced it with the French Consulate. Most historians consider the coup to have ended the French Revolution and marked the beginning of Napoleon's era. -
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The First Empire (Napoleon)
On December 2, 1804, Napoleon crowns himself emperor and launches additional expansion campaigns for his growing Empire. After occupying Vienna, Napoleon wins his most renowned victory over the Russians and Austrians in 1805. -
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a meeting of European nations that set out a strategy to maintain peace and stability throughout the continent. It gathered in 1814 following the first defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France and namesake of the Napoleonic Wars. -
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo, fought on Sunday, June 18, 1815, near Waterloo, marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars. A French army under Napoleon's command was defeated by two armies of the Seventh Coalition. This was the last battle Napoleon lost.