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Period: to
french revolution
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Opening of the Estates General
This was the first meeting of the Estates-General. It was an assembly representing the nobility, the clergy, and the common people. -
Tennis Court Oath
The members of the Third Estate were locked out of the Estates-General meeting, so they met in the indoor tennis court and pledged they would not leave until a new constitution was written. -
Storming of the Bastille
Members of the Third Estate stormed the Bastille in order to obtian gun powder. They killed some guards and paraded around the streets with their heads on pikes. -
Great Fear
Rumors circulated through the county side from town to town that the nobles were paying men to terrorize the peasants.
So they broke into noble’s homes and destroyed legal papers that bound them to pay feudal dues or even burned down their homes. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The National Assembly swept away feudal privileges of the first and second estate making all citizens equal. They passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which said “men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” -
Women’s march to Versailles
Women rioted over bread prices and marched to Versailles. they demanded that Louis and Marie return to Paris. -
Constitution of 1791
This constitution was an important part of the French Revolution. It meant the beggining of a French constitutional monarchy. -
Louis and Marie’s flight to Varennes
King Louis XVI of France and his wife Marie Antoinette attempted to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution. They were only able to make it as far as the small town of Varennes. -
Brunswick Manifesto
The Brunswick Manifesto threatened that if the French royal family were harmed, then French civilians would be harmed. -
National Convention
The National Convention took office and quickly abolished the monarchy. They declared France a republic where every male citizen could vote, no women though. -
Reign of Terror Starts
Robespierre lead the committee of Public Safety in 1793 and ruled France for the next year as a dictator, this time came to known as the reign of terror. -
Directory starts
The National convention draft a new plan for government called the directory where a two house legislature and an executive body of five men run the country. -
Concordat of 1801
the agrement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII that solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France. -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of 828,000 square miles of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. -
Napoleonic Code
The French civil code, established under Napoléon I which forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified. -
Napoleon becomes Emperor
Napoleon was emperor of the French from 1804-1815. -
Napoleon Bonaparte takes over
In 1799, Napoleon and his troops surround the legislature and its members are forced to vote to dissolve the Directory. In its place they established a government of three consuls one of which was Napoleon. He immediately made himself first consul and assumed dictatorial powers. -
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy. -
Continental System
The Continental System was the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France. -
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the UK, Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninusula. -
Invasion of Russia
Napoleon invaded Russia with an army of about 600,000 men. -
Exile to Elba
In the Treaty of Fountainebleau, the victors exiled Napoleon to the island of Elba. -
Battle of Waterloo
The french army, under the command of Napoleon, was defeated. -
Exile to St. Helena
After the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon surrendered to the British and was exiled to St. Helena.