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May 5, 1789 meeting with the Estates-General
May 5. 1789 marked the start of the revolution. On this day the last grand ceremony of the ancien Regime was held in Versailles. -
Tennis Court Oath
The tennis court oath was a dramatic act of defiance by representative of the non privileged classes of the french nation during the meeting of the Estates-General at the beginning of the French Revolution. -
Storming of the Bastille
By the summer of 1789, France was moving quickly toward revolution. Bernard-René Jordan de Launay, the military governor of the Bastille, feared that his fortress would be a target for the revolutionaries and so requested reinforcements. On July 12, royal authorities transferred 250 barrels of gunpowder to the Bastille, and Launay brought his men into the massive fortress and raised its two drawbridges. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
On 26 August 1789, the French National Constituent Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. Which defined individual and collective rights at the time of the French Revolution. -
Women's March on Versailles
The Women's March on Versailles was an important event at the start of the French Revolution. It gave the revolutionaries confidence in the power of the people over the king. -
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 23 January 1793. -
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Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror was a dark and violent period of time during the French Revolution. Radicals took control of the revolutionary government. They arrested and executed anyone who they suspected might not be loyal to the revolution. The French Revolution had begun four years earlier with the Storming of the Bastille. -
Maximillian Robespierre's execution
Robespierre's was executed on July 28, 1794. He was killed because of his many harsh rules. He was turned on by his people and arrested. He was executed by guillotine. -
Napoleonic Code is established
The Napoleonic code was established by Napoleon Bonaparte. It was made to be a judicial body mandated to adjudicate claims against the State and assist in the drafting of important laws. -
Napoleon Crowns himself emperor
Napoleon's elevation to emperor was overwhelmingly approved by the French citizens in the French constitutional referendum of 1804. Among Napoleon's motivations for being crowned were to gain prestige in international royalist and Catholic circles and to lay the foundation for a future dynasty. -
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Peninsular War
At Vitoria, Spain, a massive allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish force under British General Arthur Wellesley routs the French, effectively ending the Peninsular War. -
Napoleon and his men march on Russia
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 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
After Napoleon Bonaparte’s disastrous campaign in Russia ended in defeat, he was forced into exile on Elba. He retained the title of emperor. But of the Mediterranean island’s 12,000 inhabitants, not the 70 million Europeans over whom he’d once had dominion. -
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.