-
The beginning of the Enlightenment, a period of intellectual curiosity, scientific investigation and political philosophical debate.
-
The War of the Austrian Succession, one of several wars of the late 17th and 18th centuries that contributed to France’s growing national debt.
-
Baron de Montesquieu publishes The Spirit of the Laws, a treatise on political philosophy that explored systems of government and the separation of powers
-
The outbreak of the Seven Years’ War with Britain and her colonies, which further exacerbates the French debt crisis.
-
French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau publishes The Social Contract, which explores the relationship between individual liberties and government power.
-
The marriage of the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, and the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette.
-
Marie Antoinette.
-
After a period of division, the parlements are reorganised back into their original form.
-
The new king appoints the French economist Anne Robert Turgot as his finance minister
-
The Revolutionary War between Britain and British colonists in America begins.
-
Louis XVI is crowned as king.
-
After attempting some limited reform of the French economy, finance minister Anne Robert Turgot is dismissed by Louis XVI.
-
The Swiss banker Jacques Necker is appointed as Turgot’s successor.
-
A young French nobleman, Marquis de Lafayette, volunteers to fight with the American revolutionaries. He is later given a general’s commission in the American army.
-
France signs a military alliance with the American revolutionaries
-
Louis XVI formally declares war on Britain and mobilises the French army and navy.
-
Jacques Necker issues his Compte Rendu, a comprehensive but misleading account of the French financial position.
-
Necker is dismissed by the king, at the suggestion of Marie-Antoinette and other intriguers.
-
De Laclos publishes Les Liaisons Dangereuse (‘Dangerous Liaisons’), an indictment of the leisure-loving and amoral French nobility.
-
The Treaty of Paris brings the American Revolutionary War to a close. Involvement in the war had cost the French government more than 1.8 billion livres.
-
Marie Antoinette and her advisors are drawn into the ‘Affair of the Diamond Necklace’, bringing embarrassment and discredit.
-
Charles de Calonne, the new finance minister, informs Louis XVI of France’s imminent bankruptcy, proposing immediate fiscal and taxation reform.
-
Calonne orders the convocation of the Assembly of Notables, a panel of high ranking Frenchman, in an attempt to bypass the parlaments.