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Jeu de Paume Oath
After being constituted as a National Assembly, and finding the door of the room in which they will deliberate closed by royal order, the representatives of the third state meet in the covered fronton that served to play ball and solemnly swear not to separate until they have given France a constitution. -
Taking of the Bastille
The dismissal of Jacques Necker as Minister of Finance and the rumors about military preparations provoked the armed uprising of the Parisians, who appropriated rifles and cannons and surrounded the Bastille prison, symbol of despotism. Its governor, De Launay, opens fire on the assailants causing a hundred deaths, but he is forced to capitulate and is killed on the spot. The rebels take over the capital. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
After a frantic night session on August 4, the nobility and clergy vie for the abolition of their privileges, the National Assembly approves the Declaration, whose first article states that "men are born and live all equal in rights. -
Walk on Versailles
Faced with the king's resistance to sanctioning the Declaration of Rights, and mobilized by the high cost of living, the women of Les Halles market led a march on Versailles that ended in an assault on the royal palace. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette agree to accompany the mob back to Paris to settle in the Tuileries. -
Flight of the king
Feeling imprisoned in the Tuileries, the king, the queen and their children set off in disguise, according to a plan drawn up by the Swedish diplomat Fersen, who was in love with Marie Antoinette. After a day's journey to the north, where loyal troops must escort them to the other side of the border, they are discovered and arrested in the town of Varennes, and from there returned to Paris, where they receive a cold welcome. -
The King swears to the Constitution
The text maintains the Monarchy and grants the right of veto to a king with limited powers. The Constituent Assembly is dissolved and, after elections of a census nature to which outgoing deputies cannot run, the Legislative Assembly meets on October 1st. -
France declares the war to Austria.
At the behest of Louis XVI, who secretly seeks the defeat of his armies, the Assembly declares war "on the King of Hungary and Bohemia", to give the impression that it is not doing so against the Austrian people. Only Robespierre and a minority of deputies from the left are opposed. -
Overthrow of the Monarchy.
The uprising coordinated by the Parisian sections with the help of the federals coming from Marseilles leads to the taking up by arms and with a strong bloodshed of the Tuileries Palace. The king and his family take refuge in the Legislative Assembly, and an Insurrectional Commune takes control of the Paris City Hall. The Assembly provisionally suspends the King and summons a National Convention. -
September massacres
The alarming news about the advance of the allies towards Paris serves as a pretext for the organization of pickets of cutthroats that, with the support of Marat from the Commune and with the tolerance of Danton from the Ministry of Justice, assault the prisons and cruelly murder between one thousand and one thousand four hundred prisoners, including people of such importance in the court as the Princess of Lamballe. -
Establishment of the Republic
The Convention meets, declares the Monarchy abolished and proclaims the Republic. Although barely ten percent of the French exercise their right to vote, it is the first parliament in history to be elected by universal male suffrage in a major country. -
Execution of Louis XVI.
After being judged and condemned by the Convention, and all the maneuvers of the moderates to save his life failed, the king is guillotined in the Plaza de la Revolución at ten hours and twenty-two minutes. The drum roll prevents his voice from being heard. The executioner raises his head before a shocked multitude, which that same morning has known the assassination of the deputy Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau by a former guard of the Corps. -
Creation of the Revolutionary Tribunal.
The news of the military setbacks in Belgium create a climate of unrest and indignation in Paris. The deputies are divided among the sections to encourage recruitment and echo the proposal to create a court to judge political crimes without possible appeal. At the same time, the list of those who are supposed to be punished with the death penalty is being extended. There is also an attempt at an uprising in Paris by the Enragés, with complicity in the Jacobins Club and the Commune. -
Jacobin coup d'état
The alliance between Jacobins and Enragés with the support of the Commune mobilizes the Paris sections against the moderate leaders of the Convention. After three days of fighting, during which it is harassed by the National Guard, the Convention gives in and places twenty-nine of its members and two ministers under house arrest. A few days later, the new Republican Constitution is approved, which will never come into force. -
Robespierre enters the public health committee.
The aftermath of the coup d'état is the almost total renewal of the Committee at the beginning of July. Danton and his people are replaced by a Jacobin government led by Couthon and Saint-Just. The incorporation of Robespierre, replacing a lower ranking deputy, culminates the Jacobins' arrival in power and marks the beginning of the Terror. -
Execution of Marie Antoinette.
The deposed queen is guillotined after a mock trial at the Revolutionary Court, during which she is accused of having incestuous relations with her son. -
Execution of the herbalists.
In its obsession to eliminate the "factions", the Public Health Committee led by Robespierre detains the leaders of the most radical sector of the revolution, led by Jacques Hébert, editor and publisher of the popular newspaper Le Père Duchesne, and pushes for their condemnation. -
Thermidor coup d'état.
At the Convention, an alliance was forged between the Jacobin sector that felt threatened by Robespierre and the deputies of the Plain, who were usually mute. Robespierre's voice is silenced when he tries to make a speech, and he and his main collaborators are arrested. After a failed attempt of resistance at the City Hall -taken by troops faithful to the Commune- the Incorruptible is guillotined, along with his brother, Saint-Just, Couthon and other members of his entourage. -
Napoleon takes power.
After a year in which the Thermidorians control the Convention, and four years of authoritarian government through the Directorate, the coup d'état of the 18th of Brumaire takes place, in which General Napoleon Bonaparte, recently returned from Egypt, takes power as the first consul. France already has the dictator repeatedly demanded by Marat. -
Napoleon takes Italy
Napoleon takes Italy, crosses the Great San Bernardo port and occupies Milan; he wins the battle of Marengo and expels the Austrians from Italy. -
Positions on the Napoleonic War
England declares war on France, while Spain declares itself neutral, but signs a treaty committing itself to helping France economically.
The United States buys the territory of Louisiana from France. -
Proclamation of Napoleon as Emperor of France.
Napoleon is crowned Emperor of the French at Notre Dame by Pope Pius VII. -
Berlin Act
By signing the Berlin Decree Napoleon closes the ports of the continent to English trade.
That same year, he wins the battle of Jena, Prussia. -
Napoleon and Maria Luisa
Napoleon get divorced from Empress Josephine and marries Maria Luisa, daughter of the Austrian Emperor. This wedding does not consolidate peace. -
Waterloo battle
Banished, Napoleon, from the island of Elba tries to organize the French army and open new paths, when he leaves the island and lands in Cannes the army is put at his disposal.
He undertakes to respect all the treaties, but England is suspicious.
It advances on Belgium and in June of that year it throws itself against the English in the famous battle of Waterloo. Sick, he loses the battle; he returns to Paris and abdicates. -
Napoleon’s dead
Napoleon dies on the island of St. Helena, where he was exiled by the British after defeating him at the battle of Waterloo.
