Fr

French Revolution

  • Storming of the Bastille

    Storming of the Bastille

    Citizens of Paris captured a large prison known as a bastille and around 100 citizens were killed.
  • Citizens attack the Paris Prison

    Citizens attack the Paris Prison

    Citizens of Paris captured a large prison and around 100 citizens were killed.
  • Declaration of the Rights of Man

    Declaration of the Rights of Man

    The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolution.
  • Estates General meets

    The 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. Summoned by King Louis XVI to propose solutions to his government's financial problems, the Estates-General convened for several weeks in May and June 1789.
  • Great Fear sweeps France

    Great Fear, French Grande Peur, (1789) in the French Revolution, a period of panic and riot by peasants and others amid rumours of an “aristocratic conspiracy” by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate.
  • Period: to

    Moderate

    The beginning of the revolution, formation of resistance
  • National Assembly is formed

    National Assembly is formed

    The National Assembly existed from June 13, 1789 to July 9, 1789. It was a revolutionary assembly formed by the representatives of the Third Estate of the Estates-General. This Assembly called themselves the "National Assembly" since they represented at least 96% of the nation.
  • Poor women of Paris march on Versailles

    The March on Versailles. Concerned over the high price and scarcity of bread, women from the marketplaces of Paris led the March on Versailles on October 5, 1789. This became one of the most significant events of the French Revolution, eventually forcing the royals to return to Paris.
  • Civil Constitution of the Clergy is Adopted

    The Civil Constitution of the Clergy (French: "Constitution civile du clergé") was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that caused the immediate subordination of the Catholic Church in France to the French government. ... Lastly, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy made bishops and priests elected.
  • Constitution creates a Limited Monarchy

    The short-lived French Constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution in France, created after the collapse of the absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.
  • Royal Family attempts to flee France

    Royal Family attempts to flee France

    The royal Flight to Varennes (French: Fuite à Varennes) during the night of 20–21 June 1791 was a significant episode in the French Revolution in which King Louis XVI of France, his queen Marie Antoinette, and their immediate family unsuccessfully attempted to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution .
  • Royal Family confined to Tuileries

    The royal family was confined to the Tuileries Palace. From this point forward, the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic became an ever-increasing possibility. The credibility of the king as a constitutional monarch had been seriously undermined by the escape attempt.
  • France becomes a Republic

    The First Republic (1792-1804) Following the aftermaths of the Revolution of 1789 and the abolishment of the monarchy, the First Republic of France is established on September 22 of 1792.
  • Period: to

    Radical

    Many things start to happen to change France like a national convention started and beheadings became popular as new people rose to power.
  • Paris mob invades Tuileries palace

    The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 was a defining event of the French Revolution, when armed revolutionaries in Paris, increasingly in conflict with the French monarchy, stormed the Tuileries Palace. The conflict led France to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic.
  • Louis XVI

    The king was guillotined because of treason.
  • Committee of Public Safety is Created

    The Committee of Public Safety was set up on April 6, 1793, during one of the crises of the Revolution, when France was beset by foreign and civil war.
  • Period: to

    Reign of Terror

    The Reign of Terror (September 5, 1793 – July 28, 1794), also known as The Terror, was a period of violence during the French Revolution incited by conflict between two rival political factions, the Girondins (moderate republicans) and the Jacobins (radical republicans), and marked by mass executions of “the enemies of ...
  • Marie Antoinette is beheaded

    Marie Antoinette is beheaded

    Louis XVI was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. Marie Antoinette's trial began on 14 October 1793, and two days later she was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason and executed, also by guillotine, on the Place de la Révolution.
  • Robespierre is Beheaded

    On July 27, 1794, Robespierre and a number of his followers were arrested at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. The next day Robespierre and 21 of his followers were taken to the Place de la Révolution (now the Place de la Concorde), where they were executed by guillotine before a cheering crowd.
  • Directory takes Power

    Directory takes charge. Between 12 and 21 October 1795, immediately after the suppression of royalist uprising in Paris, the elections for the new Councils decreed by the new Constitution took place. 379 members of the old Convention, for the most part moderate republicans, were elected to the new legislature.
  • Period: to

    Reaction

    Things start to calm down as a new order is put in place. The reign of terror ends but war still continues as Napoleon rises to power.
  • Third Constitution is Adopted

    The Constitution of the Year III is the constitution that founded the Directory. Adopted by the convention on 5 Fructidor Year III (22 August 1795) and approved by plebiscite on 6 September. Its preamble is the Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and of the Citizen of 1795.
  • Napoleon invades Egypt

    Napoleon invades Egypt

    In 1798, Napoleon led the French army into Egypt, swiftly conquering Alexandria and Cairo. However, in October of that year, discontent against the French led to an uprising by the people of Cairo.
  • Period: to

    Age of Napoleon

    The peak of Napoleon's power as he attempts to conquer the whole continent until his eventual downfall which generally is said to end the French Revolution.
  • Concordat with the Catholic Church

    Concordat of 1801, agreement reached on July 15, 1801, between Napoleon Bonaparte and papal and clerical representatives in both Rome and Paris, defining the status of the Roman Catholic Church in France and ending the breach caused by the church reforms and confiscations enacted during the French Revolution.
  • Napoleon Becomes 1st Consul

    In August 1802, Napoleon proclaimed himself First Consul for Life. A new constitution of his own devising legislated a succession to rule for his son (even though he had not yet fathered any children) and he had taken the major steps in creating a new regime in his own image
  • Napoleon named Consul for life

    In August 1802, Napoleon proclaimed himself First Consul for Life. A new constitution of his own devising legislated a succession to rule for his son (even though he had not yet fathered any children) and he had taken the major steps in creating a new regime in his own image.
  • Napoleonic Code adopted

    Napoleonic Code adopted

    Napoleonic Code, French Code Napoléon, French civil code enacted on March 21, 1804, and still extant, with revisions. It was the main influence on the 19th-century civil codes of most countries of continental Europe and Latin America.
  • Napoleon becomes Emperor

    On May 18, 1804, Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor, and made Josephine Empress. His coronation ceremony took place on December 2, 1804, in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, with incredible splendor and at considerable expense.
  • Battle of Austerlitz

    Known as Battle of Three Emperors. One of Napoleon's greatest victories when outnumbered 2 to 3.
  • Napoleon invades Spain

    Napoleon invades Spain

    On February 16, 1808, under the pretext of sending reinforcements to the French army occupying Portugal, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain. Thus began the Peninsular War, an important phase of the Napoleonic Wars that was fought between France and much of Europe between 1792 and 1815.
  • Napoleon returns from Elba.

    During a brief window of opportunity, with both British and Spanish ships temporarily absent, Napoleon and 1000 loyal men left Elba
  • Napoleon invades Russia

    On June 24, 1812, the Grande Armée, led by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, crossed the Neman River, invading Russia from present-day Poland. The result was a disaster for the French. The Russian army refused to engage with Napoleon's Grande Armée of more than 500,000 European troops.
  • Napoleon retreats from Russia

    The Russians refused to come to terms, and both military and political dangers could be foreseen if the French were to winter in Moscow. After waiting for a month, Napoleon began his retreat, his army now 110,000 strong, on October 19, 1812.
  • Battle of Leipzig

    Known as Battle of the Nations, major loss to Napoleon which made him retreat.
  • XVIII takes the thrown

    When the Sixth Coalition finally defeated Napoleon in 1814, Louis XVIII was placed in what he, and the French royalists, considered his rightful position.
  • Napoleon is exiled to Elba

    In 1814, Napoleon's broken forces gave up and Napoleon offered to step down in favor of his son. When this offer was rejected, he abdicated and was sent to Elba.
  • Napoleon abdicates the thrown & Louis

    On April 11, 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France and one of the greatest military leaders in history, abdicates the throne, and, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, is banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba.
  • Battle of Trafalgar

    Britain defeated Napoleon with its large fleet of ships and became the strongest sea power for over 100 years.
  • Napoleon Exiled to Helena

    Napoleon was subsequently exiled to the island of Saint Helena off the coast of Africa. Six years later, he died, most likely of stomach cancer, and in 1840 his body was returned to Paris, where it was interred in the Hotel des Invalides.
  • Battle of Waterloo

    Battle of Waterloo

    Napoleon's final loss in war
  • Napoleon Dies

    Napoleon dies in exile. Napoleon Bonaparte, the former French ruler who once ruled an empire that stretched across Europe, dies as a British prisoner