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Louis XVI is crowned
Louis the sixteenth is crowned king of France on this date. This would mark a sharp decline in the wealth and power of France until after the French Revolution had taken its course. -
Estates General
This date marked the first meeting of all thre estates since 1614. This meeting gave an idea of how badly financial reform was needed in France and thus gave the third estate reason to seek alternative means of accomplishing these reforms. -
Tennis Court Oath
This Oath was created and signed by 576/577 representatives of the third estates after being locked out of the meeting of the Estates General of June 20th. This Oath declared that these representatives would not seperate or betray one another until their version of a constitution was written, and so created a strong sense of unity among the many arranged individuals and further demonstrated the inability of the king to retain power while the people disagreed with him. -
Storming of the Bastille
This was when the citizens of france took over and subsequently tore down the prime symbol of LuisXVI's power in central Paris. This prison/guardhouse was a symbol of many injustices to the citizens of France and thus when it was tore down(reportadly with the citizens bare hands) a great victory was won for the revolution. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens
Written in August of the year 1789 this Declaration was much inspired by the US Constitution and in fact contains many of the same themes. Most notable among these(I feel) is the fact that both emphasize that human beings are born free and equal to one another, and thus the goal of various gonvernments are to ensure the conservation and protection of said rights from any enemy, within or without. -
Women's March
The Women's March of the french revolution was an event of protest led by a primarily female crowd. This protest and the violence caused by it were first kicked off by an increase in the price of bread. The event eventually ended with an extreamlly large crowd stealing arms from the King's armory and storming the Palace of Versailles, forcing the king to return to Paris -
French Constitution of 1791
This was France's first attempt at drafting a public constitution, created swiftly after the fall of the Monarchs this constitution proved to be lacking and somewhat non-specific. This document is more or less notable mostly in the fact that it served as a precurser to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens -
Louis is Executed
This date marked the death of Louis XVI and thus the victory of the French people over their monarchy. -
Reign of Terror
Occuring from the 5th of September 1793 to July 28th 1794, the Reign of Terror was a period of time after the French Revolution had run its course where paranoia and fear were rampant. Executions of 'enemies to the revolution' were commonplace events and more often than not were caused by baseless accusations. I feel it should be mentioned that this period more or less died off after the revolution executed a group of peacfull nuns for refusing to give up their monastic vows. -
Coup of 18 Brumaire
This Coup was orchastrated by none other than Napoleon Bonapart. To be succint this coup consisted of various directors of the public being 'pressured' to give up their posts. After some political manouvering Napoleon was the welcomed as the sole ruler of France. This in turn facilitated and really started Napoleon's rise to power and by extent the spread of the ideas of democracy and equality.
