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Hobbes Writes Leviathan
The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. -
Locke writes Two Treatieses of Government
The First Treatise attacks patriarchalism in the form of sentence-by-sentence refutation of Robert Filmer's Patriarcha and the Second Treatise outlines his ideas for a more civilised society based on natural rights and contract theory. -
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Louis XVI attempts to escape
Towards the end of his reign, Louis XV, under the advice of Ange-Jacques Gabriel, began to remodel the courtyard facades of the palace. -
French and Indian War
The war was fought primarily between the colonies of British America and New France, with both sides supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France in 1756. -
American Revolution
It was a political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. -
Reign of Louis XVI
The Louis XVI neo classical style is also often associated with the "Etruscan" style. -
Calling of the Estates General
Prior to the assembly taking place, the "Committee of Thirty," a body of liberal Parisians, began to agitate against voting by estate. -
Tennis Court Oath
The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789. -
France experiences "The Great Fear"
Rural unrest had been present in France since the worsening grain shortage of the spring, and the grain supplies were now guarded by local militias due to rumors that bands of armed men were roaming the countryside. -
Legislative Assembly is created
The Legislative Assembly first met on 1 October 1791, and degenerated into chaos less than a year later. In the words of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. -
France goes to war with Austria
The French armies lacked organization and discipline, and many noble officers had emigrated. The allied Austrian and Prussian forces under Charles William Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, quickly crossed the frontier and began to march on Paris. -
National Assembly composes "The Declaration of the Rights of Man."
The concepts in the Declaration come from the philosophical and political principles of the Age of Enlightenment, such as individualism, the social contract as theorized by the Swiss philosopher Rousseau, and the separation of powers espoused by the Baron de Montesquieu. -
Louis XVI is executed
On 17 January 1793 Louis was condemned to death for "conspiracy against the public liberty and the general safety" by a close majority in Convention: 361 voted to execute the king, 288 voted against, and another 72 voted to execute him subject to a variety of delaying conditions. -
Committee of Public Safety is formed
The Committee of Public Safety succeeded the previous Committee of General Defence (established in January 1793) and assumed its role of protecting the newly established republic against foreign attacks and internal rebellion. -
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Reign of Terror
It was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions. -
Robespierre comes to power
As a member of the Committee of Public Safety, he was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended a few months after his arrest and execution in July 1794. -
Robespierre is executed
Robespierre was declared an outlaw, and condemned without judicial process. The following day, 10 Thermidor (28 July 1794), he was executed with 21 of his closest associates. -
Napoleon Bonaparte comes to power.
He established hegemony over most of continental Europe and sought to spread the ideals of the French Revolution, while consolidating an imperial monarchy which restored aspects of the deposed Ancien Régime. -
Napoleon invades Russia
The French Invasion of Russia in 1812, also known as the Russian Campaign in France[6] (French: Campagne de Russie) and the Patriotic War of 1812 in Russia (Russian: Отечественная война 1812 года), was a turning point during the Napoleonic Wars. -
Napoleon defeated at Waterloo
On 18 June 1815, at the battle of Waterloo, effective field commander of all the French forces present, minus those engaged at Plancenoit. -
Napoleon exiled to Elba
In the Treaty of Fontainebleau, the victors exiled him to Elba, an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the Mediterranean, 20 km off the Tuscan coast.
