French Revolution Timeline

  • Meeting of the Estates General

    Louis XVI called all the estates together to discuss solutions to the governments financial problems. It was the first meeting of all the estates in over 175 years.
  • Tennis Court Oath

    The National Assembly locked themselves in a tennis court until a new constitution was created.
  • Storming the Bastille

    The people of Paris feared an attack. They stormed the Bastille prison to collect weapons and free the prisoners.
  • Great Fear

    A widespread panic thst surged through France, caused by rumors. This results numerous peasant attacks throughout France.
  • Feudalism Abolished

    A small group of deputies prepared a suprise move in the assembly with the abolishment of feudalism. What was left of serfdom and all personal servitudes was declared ended.
  • Declaration of the Rights of Man

    This is the first step towards a new constitution, modeled in part of the Declaration of Independence. Making all man citizens equal before the law.
  • March of Versailles

    The March on Versailles, was also known as The Bread March of Women. A hungry mob of 7,000 largely working-class women decided to march on the Versailles, they forced the royal famlily to return to Paris.
  • Constitution of the Clergy

    Constituent Assembly regarded the church as a form of public authority. This document went far toward setting up a French national church.
  • Royal Family Flees

    After revolutionaries capture the royal family trying to flee near the Netherlands boarder, they become imprisoned. This decreased their power and popularity.
  • Constitution Accepted

    Louis XVI accepting the Constitution shows the beginning of the constitutional monarchy
  • Formation of the Legislative Assembly

    It was the legislature of France. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.
  • Tricolor cockade made compulsory for men to wear

    Revolutionaries started wearing red, white, and blue cockades, or badges, to identify themselves as revolutionaries. This fueled the revolution even more.
  • September Massacres

    mass killing of prisoners that took place in Paris, a major event of what is sometimes called the “First Terror” of the French Revolution.
  • Executon of Louis XVI

    The Convention put Louis XVI on trial for treason, and unanimously pronounced him guilty.
  • Reign of Terror

    Fearing opposition within the country, revolutionary leaders suspended the constitution and anyone who critized the revolution was targeted.
  • 13 Vendémiaire

    A battle between the French Revolutionary troops and Royalist forces in the streets of Paris.
  • Directory Established

    Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France. With the establishment of the Directory, the Revolution might seem closed
  • Battle of the Pyramids

    It was a battle fought between the French army in Egypt under Napoleon, and local Mamluk forces.
  • Napoleon overthrows directory

    Napoleon overthrows the Directory by coup d'état, trickery, and force and replaces it with the Consulate.