-
May 5, 1789 Meeting with Estates General
The heads of each state of France met to discuss issues in their lives. Because nothing was accomplished, the 3rd Estate left the government to make their own government -
Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath was significant because it showed the growing unrest against Louis XVI and laid the foundation for later events, including: the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the storming of the Bastille. -
Storming of the Bastille
A state prison on the east side of Paris, known as the Bastille, was attacked by an angry and aggressive mob. When the prison governor refused to comply, the mob charged and, after a violent battle, eventually took hold of the building. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
A fundamental document of the French Revolution that granted civil rights to some commoners, although it excluded a significant segment of the French population. -
Women's March on Versailles
When the women's march on Versailles occurred, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were forced from their palace by a mob of angry common people. Louis XVI was killed by a guillotine, which was a popular method of killing people at that time. -
Execution of King Louis XVI
In November 1792, a secret cupboard containing proof of Louis' counter-revolutionary beliefs and correspondence with foreign powers was discovered in Tuileries Palace. He was brought to trail for treason and executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. -
Period: to
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror was a period where many firsts, second, and third estate members were targeted and executed . As a result, paranoia and mistrust spread across the people of France -
Period: to
Reign of Terror
Its purpose was to purge France of enemies of the Revolution and protect the country from foreign invaders. -
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 on July 28, 1794. -
Napoleonic Code is established
In March 1804, the Napoleonic Code was finally approved. It codified several branches of law, including commercial and criminal law, and divided civil law into categories of property and family. -
Napoleon Crowns himself emperor
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.The royal court of the French Emperor became a public spectacle of pomp and elegance. -
Period: to
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
Following the rejection of his Continental System by Czar Alexander I, French Emperor Napoleon I invaded Russia with his Grande Armée on June 24, 1812. The enormous army, featuring more than 500,000 soldiers and staff, was the largest European military force ever assembled to that date. -
Napoleon is exiled to Elba
Elba meant exile for Napoleon, but it was no prison. Napoleon specifically chose it because it had good weather and defenses, and he took up residence in a villa with harbor views built by the Medicis in the 1700s. -
Napoleon dies
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.