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The palace of Versailles was a small country residence and, according to the Maréchal de Bassompierre, “a mere gentleman would not have been overly proud of the construction.” Louis XIII decided to rebuild it in 1631.
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Versailles before the reign of Louis was mostly used as a royal hunting lodge, but Louis had other plans for it. In 1661, he began expanding it into his personal palace. After its completion in 1682, Louis moved in and changed the capital from Paris to Versailles to escape the turmoil Paris was subject to.
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King Louis XVI married Marie Antoinette in 1770. France hoped their marriage would strengthen its alliance with Austria, its longtime enemy.
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A commitment to a national constitution and representative government, taken by delegates at the Estates-General at Versailles.
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The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen came into existence in the summer of 1789, born of an idea of the Constituent Assembly, which was formed by the assembly of the Estates General to draft a new Constitution and precede it with a declaration of principles.
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One of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution.
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The Storming of the Bastille was an event that occurred in Paris, France, on the afternoon of 14 July 1789, when revolutionaries stormed and seized control of the medieval armory, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille. At the time, the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. 98 were killed.
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The French Revolution was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799.
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A period of state-sanctioned violence and mass executions during the French Revolution.
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The execution of Louis XVI by guillotine.
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Coup d'état that overthrew the system of government under the Directory in France and substituted the Consulate, making way for the despotism of Napoleon Bonaparte.
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The resulting Civil Code of France marked the first major revision and reorganization of laws since the Roman era.
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Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor and made Josephine Empress.
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars.
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Napoleon's invasion of Russia.
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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.
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The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815, near Waterloo in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium.