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Birth.
Born on November 21st 1694, his birth name was François-Marie Arouet and he was one of five chilrden. -
Education.
His only real records of formal education was by the Jesuits at the Colla ge Louis-le-Grand. From 1704 -1711. -
Studying of Law.
He studied law from 1711 to 1713 but was really writing poetry, his father discovered him though. -
French ambassador in Holland.
His father obtained a job for him as a secretary to the French ambassador in the Netherlands. Where Voltaire fell in love with a French Protestant refugee named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer, their love was foiled by Voltaire's father and he was forced to return to France. -
Devotion of life.
Devoted his life to writing, after getting in trouble several times it seemed to prove good to Voltaire. His wit also made him popular with families that he mixed with. -
Exile!
Voltaire was arrested and exiled from Paris for five months,Most of Voltaire's early life revolved around Paris. From early on, Voltaire had trouble with the authorities for even mild critiques of the government and the Catholic Church. -
1717- 1718 Imprisoned!
It was during his subsequent eleven month period of detention that François Marie Arouet / Voltaire completed his first dramatic tragedy, Oedipe. This dramatic work was based upon the play Oedipus Tyrannus attributable to the ancient Greek dramatist Sophocles. (It was during these times that François Marie adopted the pen name Voltaire). Voltaire's Oedipe opened at the Théâtre Français in 1718 and received an enthusiastic response. -
Stay at the Bastille.
Visited by a flow of admirers. But in 1726 - 1728/9 he lived exile mainly at England.Voltaire's exile in Great Britain lasted nearly three years, and his experiences there greatly influenced many of his ideas. The young man was intrigued by Britain's constitutional monarchy in contrast to the French absolute monarchy, as well as the country's relative support of the freedoms of speech and religion. He was also influenced by several of the neoclassical writers of the age, and developed an interes -
First English essays!
Essay upon epic poetry and essay upon the civil wars in France. After almost three years in exile, Voltaire returned to Paris and published his views on British attitudes towards government, literature, and religion in a collection of essays in letter form entitled the Lettres philosophiques sur les Anglais (Philosophical Letters on the English). Because he regarded the British constitutional monarchy as more developed and more respectful of human rights (particularly religious tolerance) than i -
Histoire De Charles XII
Used novelistic technique and rejected the idea that divine intervention guides history. Agaisnt the King of Sweden, Voltaire had many controversial ideas in the eyes of kings and queens along side nobles. -
Zaire and other plays.
Zaïre (The Tragedy of Zara) is a five act tragedy in verse by Voltaire. Written in only three weeks, it was given its first public performance on 13 August 1732 by the Comédie française in Paris. It was a great success with the Paris audiences and marked a turning away from tragedies caused by a fatal flaw in the protagonist's character to ones based on pathos. The tragic fate of its heroine is caused not through any fault of her own, but by the jealousy of her Muslim lover and the intolerance o -
Start of liaison.
Voltaire started his famous sixteen-year liaison with Mme du Chatelet. She was twenty-seven, married, and the mother of three children. -
Philosophical letters.
Appeared in philosophical letters in which he compared the French system of government with the system he had seen in England. He was also almost arrested. -
Lived at the Chateau de Cirey.
The building was renovated with his money, and here he began a relationship with the Marquise du Châtelet, Gabrielle Émilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil (famous in her own right as Émilie du Châtelet). Cirey was owned by the Marquise's husband, Marquis Florent-Claude du Chatelet, who sometimes visited his wife and her lover at the chateau. The relationship, which lasted for fifteen years, had a significant intellectual element. Voltaire and the Marquise collected over 21,000 books, an enormous numbe -
Refuge in Holland!
Having learned from his previous brushes with the authorities, Voltaire began his future habit of keeping out of personal harm's way, and denying any awkward responsibility. He continued to write many plays, such as Mérope (or "La Mérope française") and began his long researches into science and history. Again, a main source of inspiration for Voltaire were the years of his British exile, during which he had been strongly influenced by the works of Sir Isaac Newton. Voltaire strongly believed in -
a SPY!
For the ambassador in Prussia, not much is known about this point in his life. -
Journeying.
Detained by Fredrick of Prussia for treason, joins academy Francaise. Mission to Berlin and Bayreuth. -
1745-50 King Louis XV.
Historiographer of Louis XV. -
Zadig.
Zadig ou la Destinée, ("Zadig, or The Book of Fate") (1747) is a famous novel and work of philosophical fiction written by Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. It tells the story of Zadig, a philosopher in ancient Babylonia. The author does not attempt any historical accuracy, and some of the problems Zadig faces are thinly disguised references to social and political problems of Voltaire's own day. The book is philosophical in nature, and presents human life as in the hands of a destiny beyond -
Micromegas.
Micromégas (1752) is a short story by the French philosopher and satirist Voltaire. It is a significant development in the history of literature because it originates ideas which helped create the genre of science fiction. The tale recounts the visit to Earth of a being from a planet circling the star Sirius and his companion from the planet Saturn. This story and Voltaire's Plato's Dream (another early precursor of science fiction.) -
Death
In February 1778, Voltaire returned for the first time in 20 years to Paris, among other reasons to see the opening of his latest tragedy, Irene. The 5-day journey was too much for the 83-year old, and he believed he was about to die on February 28, writing "I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition." However, he recovered, and in March saw a performance of Irene where he was treated by the audience as a returning hero. He soon became ill again and d -