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national assembly in power
This newly created assembly immediately attached itself onto the capitalists — the sources of the credit needed to fund the national debt — and to the common people. They consolidated the public debt and declared all existing taxes to have been illegally imposed, but voted in these same taxes provisionally, only as long as the Assembly continued to sit. This restored the confidence of the capitalists and gave them a strong interest in keeping the Assembly in session. -
estates general called to session
The estates general was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). Summoned by King Louis XVI, it was brought to an end when the Third Estate formed into a National Assembly, inviting the other two to join, against the wishes of the King. This signals the outbreak of the French Revolution. -
Tennis court oath
On 20 June 1789, the members of the French Estates-General for the Third Estate, who had begun to call themselves the National Assembly, took the Tennis Court Oath, vowing "not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established." It was a pivotal event in the early days of the French Revolution. -
storming the bastille
The Storming of the Bastille was the incident that marked the start of the French Revolution when Parisian peasants, after years of abuse by the monarchy, overwhelmed soldiers guarding the arsenal on July 14, 1789. -
womens march on versailles
Women’s March on Versailles. The Women’s March on Versailles was a women riot that took place during the first stages of the French Revolution. It was spontaneously organized by women in the marketplaces of Paris, on the morning of October 5, 1789. -
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legislative assembly in power
The Legislative Assembly was the governing body of France between October 1791 and September 1792. The Legislative Assembly replaced the National Constituent Assembly, which by September 1791 had completed most of the work for which it was convened. Its deputies had drafted a constitution they believed reflected the aims of the revolution. Feudalism, noble titles and the Ancien Régime’s other institutional inequalities had been abolished. -
escap attempt by louis XIV and marie antoinette
The unsuccessful endeavour to escape to Varennes of King Louis XVI, alongside his wife Marie Antoinette and their immediate family on June 20, 1791 was an attempt at a counter-revolution in the north-eastern part of France to assemble forces and to retrieve his royal authority. This was because he resented and hated the treatment of the National Assembly towards him and his family. They had hoped to escape to Austria and to the protective hands of the Queen's relatives. -
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national convention in power
The National Convention was one of the three types of legislature in France during The French Revolution, the other two being the National Assembly and The Legislative Assembly. The National Convention also took over executive power during the first year of France's new radical republic, which was when the convention was most actively famous. -
overthrow of the monarchy
Louis ascended to the French throne in 1774 and from the start was unsuited to deal with the severe financial problems that he inherited from his predecessors. In 1789, food shortages and economic crises led to the outbreak of the French Revolution. King Louis and his queen, Mary-Antoinette, were imprisoned in August 1792, and in September the monarchy was abolished. Soon after, evidence of Louis’ counterrevolutionary intrigues with foreign nations was discovered, and he was judged -
execution of louis XIV
The execution of Louis XVI, by means of the guillotine, took place on 21 January 1793 at the Place de la Révolution ("Revolution Square", formerly Place Louis XV, and renamed Place de la Concorde in 1795) in Paris. It was a major event of the Revolution. The king was convicted in a near-unanimous vote (while no one voted "not guilty", several deputies abstained) and condemned to death by a simple majority. -
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Reign of terror
Reign of Terror, also called The Terror, French La Terreur, the period of the French Revolution from September 5, 1793, to July 27, 1794 (9 Thermidor, year II). With civil war spreading from the Vendée and hostile armies surrounding France on all sides, the Revolutionary government decided to make “Terror” the order of the day (September 5 decree) and to take harsh measures against those suspected of being enemies of the Revolution (nobles, priests, hoarders). -
execution of marie antoinette
The Execution of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. Above: Marie Antoinette, 1783. On this day in history, 16 October 1793, the thirty-eight year old Marie Antoinette, former Archduchess of Austria and more famously queen of France as consort of Louis XVI, was executed during the bloody and brutal French Revolution then ravaging the country. -
execution of Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre, the architect of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, is overthrown and arrested by the National Convention. As the leading member of the Committee of Public Safety from 1793, Robespierre encouraged the execution, mostly by guillotine, of more than 17,000 enemies of the Revolution. -
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the directory is in power
The Directory was a five-member committee which governed France from 1795, when it replaced the Committee of Public Safety. On 9 November 1799, it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and replaced by the French Consulate. It gave its name to the final four years of the French Revolution -
napoleon comes to power
Napoleon came into power in France due to military success in Italy, as well as his attack on the French Revolutionary government while it was under assault by a Parisian mob. On November 9th and 10th, 1799, he was put into power with two other consuls, Sieyes and Ducos. -
napoleon is confirmed as first consul of life
Napoleon became "first consul" for ten years, with two consuls appointed by him who had consultative voices only. His power was confirmed by the new "Constitution of the Year VIII", originally devised by Sieyès to give Napoleon a minor role, but rewritten by Napoleon, and accepted by direct popular vote (3,000,000 in favor, 1,567 opposed). The constitution preserved the appearance of a republic but in reality established a dictatorship. -
napoleonic code encacted
Napoleonic Code, French Code Napoléon , French civil code enacted on March 21, 1804, and still extant, with revisions. It was the main influence on the 19th-century civil codes of most countries of continental Europe and Latin America. -
holy roman empire abolished; confederation of the rhine created in its place with napoleon as leader
Napoleon had created a very large French empire, but he also rewrote the entire map of Europe. He brought the Netherlands, and Belgium, as well as parts of Italy and Germany into France. And he abolished the tottering Holy Roman Empire and made a 38 member Confederation of the Rhine under the French Protection. -
continental system begins
Continental System, in the Napoleonic wars, the blockade designed by Napoleon to paralyze Great Britain through the destruction of British commerce. The decrees of Berlin (November 21, 1806) and Milan (December 17, 1807) proclaimed a blockade: neutrals and French allies were not to trade with the British. -
napoleon has his brother, joseph, crowned king of spain
Born Giuseppe Buonaparte in Corte, on the island of Corsica, on January 7, 1768, Joseph Bonaparte was the older brother of Napoleon I, emperor of France. During his brother's reign, Joseph was made king of Naples and Sicily (1806–08), and then king of Spain (1808–13). -
napoleon abdicates and agrees to exile on Elba
On this day in 1814, 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.
The future emperor was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on August 15, 1769. After attending military school, he fought during the French Revolution of 1789 and rapidly rose through the military ranks, leading French troops in a number of successful campaigns throughout Europe. -
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napoleon's hundred days
The Hundred Days (French: les Cent-Jours IPA: ) marked the period between Napoleon's return from exile on the island of Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815 (a period of 111 days). -
(second) restoration of king louis XVII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as "The Desired" (le Désiré),[1][2] was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a period in 1815 known as the Hundred Days. He spent twenty-three years in exile, from 1791 to 1814, during the French Revolution and the First French Empire, and again in 1815, during the period of the Hundred Days, upon the return of Napoleon I from Elba.