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Period: to
French Revolution
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Estates General
The Estates General was greeted by Louis XVI in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. On May 5 the meeting convened with an opening speech from the king. -
Tennis Court Oath
The Third Estate was locked out of its meeting room as preparations were being made for a royal session of all three estates. Confused and angry, the delegates met instead at an indoor tennis court on the palace grounds and signed an oath not to disband until they had drawn up a new, fair constitution for France. -
Storming of the Bastille
The mob first attacked the Invalides fortress from which they obtained 30,000 muskets. They moved on to the Bastille, an old fortress prison which had long been viewed as a sumbol of the king's absolute authority. The mob attacked the Bastille and released the seven prisoners inside. -
Great Fear
People in surrounding areas began to demand cheaper bread and suspension of feudla dues. Peasants attacked manor homes. Aristocratic property was destroyed by the peasantry. -
Decleration of the Rights of Man
Approved by the National Assembly of France.The Declaration of the Rights of Man echoed the sentiments of the Enlightenment philosophes, the English Bill of Rights, and the American Declaration of Independence. -
Women's March to Versailles
The market women and their various allies grew into a mob of thousands and they ransacked the city armory for weapons and marched to the royal palace at Versailles. -
Flight to Varennes
Marie and Louis attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution. Their destination was the fortress at Montmédy in northeastern France, a Royalist stronghold from which the king hoped to start a military campaign which would restore his rule. They were only able to make it as far as the small town of Varennes. -
Constitution of 1791
Was the second written constitution of France. -
Bunswick Manifesto
Louis XVI published the Brunswick Manifesto. It threatened that if the French royal family was harmed, then French civilians would be harmed. -
National Convention
Held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic. It was succeeded by the Directory. -
Reign of Terror
Was also known simply as The Terror, was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins. -
Directory
This was where a two house legislature and an executive body of five men ran the country. -
Napoleon Bonaparte takes over
He threw the directory out and took over. -
Concordat of 1801
Was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status.[ -
Louisiana Purchase
By a treaty signed on Apr. 30, 1803, the United States purchased from France the Louisiana Territory, more than 2 million sq km (800,000 sq mi) of land extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. -
Napoleonic Code
The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified.[ -
Napoleon becomes Emperor
He was the greatest military genius of his time and perhaps the greatest general in history. He created an empire that covered most of western and central Europe -
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 Napoleon's attempt to stop Britain's export and re-export trade with Europe and it was outlined in two Decrees issued by the Emperor -
Peninsular War
Was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. -
Invasion of Russia
Was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe. -
Exile to Elba
Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates the throne, and, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, is banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba. -
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo puts an end to the tyrant rule of Napoleon as the emperor of France.
