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Meeting with the Estate's General
The first meeting since 1614, the meeting assembled representatives of all the classes. The meeting was summoned by King Louis XVI to help him propose solutions to the government's financial issues. -
Tennis Court Oath
Members of the French Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath was where the members swore to never separate themselves from the National Assembly and to reassemble wherever circumstances require until the constitution of the realm is drawn. -
Storming of the Bastille
The medieval armory, fortress, and political prison also known as the Bastille, and as the people revolted they decided to attack it and gain weapons and ammunition. The prison was also known as a symbol of the monarchy's dictatorial rule -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, set by France's National Constituent Assembly covered how men are born and remain free and equal in rights. -
Women's march on Versailles
The Women's march on Versailles gave the revolutionaries confidence in the power of the people over the king which was an early significant event -
Execution of King Louis XVI
The execution of King Louis XVI symbolized the end of the monarchy and the start of a new system, which was democracy. -
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Reign of Terror
A period of violence during the French Revolution incited by conflict between two rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of “the enemies of the revolution.” The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands, with 16,594 executed by guillotine. -
Maximilien Robespierre's Execution
After a year of harsh rule by Robespierre, many of the revolutionary leaders had had enough of the Terror. They turned on Robespierre and had him arrested. He was executed, along with many of his supporters, by guillotine -
Napoleonic Code
The Napoleonic Code, officially the Civil Code of the French is the French civil code established under the French Consulate and is still in force, although frequently amended. -
Napoleon Crowns Himself Emperor
Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor and made Josephine Empress. His coronation ceremony took place in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, with incredible splendor and at considerable expense. The royal court of the French Emporer now became a public spectacle of pomp and elegance. -
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Peninsular war
The Peninsular war was the military conflict fought by Spain, the United Kingdom and Portugal against the invading and occupying forces of France for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars -
Napoleon and his men march on Russia
When Napoleon and his men began to march on Russia they started by crossing the Neman River, invading Russia from present-day Poland. The result was a disaster for the French. The invasion lasted six months, and the Grande Armée lost more than 300,000 men. Russia lost more than 200,000 -
Napoleon is exiled to Elba
The emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, 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. -
Napoleon dies
Napoleon dies while exiled marking the end of one of the greatest military leaders in history.