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Meeting of the Estates General
The Second Estate forced Louis XVI to call the Estates General. The Estates General was an assembly from all three estates to approve a new tax. It was the first meeting of all three estates in 175 years. -
Tennis Court Oath
The Third Estates delegates found themselves locked out of their meeting room, so they broke down a door into a tennis court, pledging to stay until they had drawn up a new constitution. This was known as the Tennis Court Oath. -
National Assembly
The Third Estate voted to establish the National Assembly, in effect proclaiming the end of absolute monarchy and the beginning of representative government. -
Storming of the Bastille
A mob searching for gunpowder and arms stormed the Bastille, a Paris prison. The angry mob hacked the prison commander and several guards to death, and then paraded around the streets with the dead men's heads on pikes. Bastille Day has been a French national holiday because it is a great symbolic act of revolution to the French people. -
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
The National Assembly adopted a statement of revolutionary ideals, called the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The document guaranteed citizens equal justice, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. In keeping with these principles, revolutionary leaders adopted the expression "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" as their slogan. -
The Constitution is Accepted by King Louis XVI
King Louis XVI agrees to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. -
Royal Family Attempts to Flee France
As the National Assembly restructed the relationship between church and state, Louis XVI pondered his fate as a monarch. He was warned that him and his family were in danger and they decided to leave the country. -
France Declares War on Austria and Prussia
Most European countries watched the revolts going on in France and feared the same thing could happen to them. Austria and Prussia took action by urging France to restore Louis back to an absolute monarch. The Legislative Assembly responded by declaring war on both countries. -
Creation of the National Convention
Under pressure from radicals in the streets and among its members, the Legislative Assembly set aside the Constitution of 1791. It declared the king deposed, dissolved the assembly, and called for the election of a new legislature. This new governing body, the National Convention, took office on September 21. -
Execution of the King
King Louis XVI was found guilty of treason and was sentenced to death. On January 21, 1793 the king was executed by the guillotine. -
France Declares War on England and the Netherlands
In early 1793, England and Holland joined Prussia and Austria against France. To reinforce the French army, Jacobin leaders in the Convention ordered a draft of 300,000 French citizens between the ages of 18 and 40. By 1794, the army had grown to 800,000 and included women. -
Reign of Terror
For the next year after Robespierre became leader of the Committee of Public Safety, he governed France virtually as a dictator, and the period of his rule became known as the Reign of Terror. -
Marie Antoinette is Executed
Marie was also convicted of treason and was executed by the guillotine on October 16, 1793. -
Robespierre is Elected President of the Convention
Maximilien Robespierre was elected President of the National Convention on June 6, 1794. -
Fall of Maximilien Robespierre
In July 1794, fearing for their own safety, some members of the National Convention turned on Robespierre. They demanded his arrest and execution. The Reign of Terror, the radical phase of the French Revolution, ended on July 28, 1794, when Robespierre went to the guillotine. -
Bread Riots in Paris
French public opinion shifted dramatically after Robespierre's death. People of all classes had grown weary of the Terror. They were also tired of the skyrocketing prices of bread, salt, and other necessities of life. So this is what had begun the rioting over bread. -
The Sans-Culottes Riot for Three Days
The Sans-Culottes revolted against the policies of the Thermidorian Convention. It was the last and one of the most remarkable and stubborn popular revolts of the French Revolution. -
Louis XVII Dies in Prison
When his father was executed on Jaunary 21 1793, during the middle period of the French Revolution, he became King of France and Navarre in the eyes of the royalists. However, since France was by then a republic, and Louis XVII had been imprisoned from August 1792 until his death from illness in 1795, he was never officially king, nor did he rule. -
Napoleon assumes command of French Army in Italy
In 1796, the Directory appointed Napoleon to lead a French army against the forces of Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia. Crossing the Alps, the young general swept into Italy and won a series of remarkable victories. -
Napoleon Takes Over the Directory, End of Revolution
By 1799, the Directory had lost control of the political situation and the confidence of the French people. When Napoleon returned from Egypt, his friends urged him to seize political power. Napoleon took action in early November 1799. Troops under his command surounded the national legislature and drove out most of its members. The lawmakers who remained then voted to dissolve the Directory. Which led Napoleon to power.