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Period: to
The French Revolution
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Estates-General of 1789
was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy, the nobles, and the common people. Summoned by King Louis XVI to propose solutions to his government's financial problems, the Estates-General sat for several weeks in May and June 1789 but came to an impasse as the three estates clashed over their respective powers. -
The Oath of the Tennis Court
was a pivotal event during the first days of the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789. The only person who did not sign was Joseph Martin-Dauch, a politician who would not execute decisions not sanctioned by the king. They made a makeshift conference room inside a tennis court located in the Saint-Louis district of the city of Versailles, near the Palace of Versaille -
The Storming of Bastille
The peasants of Paris were afraid Louis was going to use the military to end the Revolution before it started, so they gathered weapons and stormed the Bastille stronghold. They murdered several guards, stole ammunition, and symbolically started the French Revolution. -
The Great Fear
in France at the start of the French Revolution. These peasant rebellions helped cause a subsequent general panic known as the Great Fear. Rural unrest had been present in France since the worsening grain shortage of the spring, and fueled by the rumors of an aristocrat famine plot to starve or burn out the population, peasant and town people mobilized in many regions. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man of the Citizen
is a fundamental document of the French Revolution and in the history of human rights, defining the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. -
Thermidorian Reaction/Creation of the National Convention
comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly of France and sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . The Convention held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic. -
Execution of Louis XVI
Killed by guillotine. He was arrested and then later killed. -
The Reign of Terror
a 10-month period in which suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined by the thousands. Many of the killings were carried out under orders from Robespierre, who dominated the draconian Committee of Public Safety until his own execution on July 28, 1794. His death marked the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction, a moderate phase in which the French people revolted against the Reign of Terror’s excesses. -
Creation of the Directory
was a body of five directors that held executive power in France following the National Convention and preceding the Consulate.
