-
The monarchy and nobility use a lot of the taxes levied from peasants to fuel their expensive social gatherings and events. At the same time, the peasants are not getting enough food from farming. This leads to them barely able to pay their taxes and feed themselves. A financial crisis occurs as both the spending and the poor harvests leads to France not producing enough revenue. There's not really a start date for this, since it had been this way even before Louis XVI was king.
-
Faced with a financial crisis created from his frivolous spending and poor harvests, King Louis XVI calls the Estates-General to Paris for the first time in years. He does this in the hopes that they will solve this problem that he and his peers are mainly responsible for. At the meeting, he doesn't give fair representation to the Third Estate, favouring the First and Second Estates more. Not much is done about the financial crisis either.
-
After being disappointed with the Estates-General, the Third Estate meets on their own and takes on the new name of the National Assembly. The First and Second Estate join them, seeing this as an opportunity to speak out against the king. All of them list the grievances they have with Louis XVI, causing the king to recognise the assembly. On July 9, the name was changed to the National Constituent Assembly and they began to truly act as a governing force as well as draft a new constitution.
-
The Third Estate meets in a Tennis Court after being upset with events during the Estates-General. The newly formed National Assembly was very revolutionary, with many members wanting extreme change. Not liking how things were going, the members of the Third Estate decide to swear an oath that they will not stop until France is a constitutional monarchy.
-
Rumours that the King and nobility had overthrown the Third Estate during the Estates-General meeting reached the peasants of the cities and the countryside. They started to riot at the news. When hearing of another rumour that the nobles had sent mercenaries after them, the crowds grew violent, beginning to attack nobles and burn buildings down.
-
Scared and angry at the rumours of the Great Fear, the Parisian mobs attack the Bastille, a fortress. It was guarded by a small garrison of soldiers that were quickly overrun by the rebels who were seeking access to the armoury. Now, it is known as National Day and is the equivalent of Independence Day.
-
Written by Abbe Sieyes and Marquis de Lafayette, the D.R.M.C. is a document that outlines the rights afforded to the people of France under the National Assembly. The main points of the document show Enlightenment influence, as it declares that all men are equal and have the right to certain rights like liberty and property. There are distinct similarities to the American Declaration of Independence, which could be seen as the National Assembly attempting to emulate the success of America.
-
The National Assembly finishes writing the new constitution for France. The constitution still had a monarchy but the main power was with the Legislative Assembly, whose members were voted in. The voting was restricted to "active citizens", aka tax-payers. This was unfair for the "passive citizens", non-tax-payers since most people were so poor that they couldn't afford to do so. The Constitution lasted less than a year.
-
Four days before his death, Louis XVI was tried for treason by the National Convention. He was referred to as "Citizen Capet", a result of him losing power. Everyone that voted, voted guilty. However, not everyone voted. Many different reactions occurred after his death. Some saw this as an inevitable end that would've happened while others decided that the event was unnecessarily extreme and violent. Regardless, his execution would lead to the French Revolution taking a more radical turn.
-
A period of bloodshed and violence. The execution of Louis XVI had emboldened revolutionaries, radicalising them towards more extreme measures. Robespierre, leading the Committee of Public Safety, enacts a new policy known as "The Terror" that persecuted any that were against the Revolution. Thousands were arrested and guillotined during this time, as even speaking one bad thing could lead to imprisonment. This period ended when Robespierre's political enemies executed him on July 28, 1794.
-
This was a period of bloodshed and violence. The execution of Louis XVI had emboldened revolutionaries, radicalising them towards more extreme measures. Robespierre, leading the Committee of Public Safety, enacts a new policy known as "The Terror" that persecuted any that were against the Revolution. Thousands were arrested and guillotined during this time, as even speaking one bad thing could lead to imprisonment. This period finally ended when Robespierre's political enemies overthrew him.
-
After the violent Reign of Terror under Robespierre, French legislators came up with a government. The Directory had a bicameral legislature and an executive branch that was split between five Directors, which is where the name comes from. This new government was very corrupt and constantly led France into war. The Directors themselves had severe restrictions put in place to stop them from being effective. The Directory would last about four years but the weaknesses would lead to something else.
-
Known as the Coup of 18 Brumaire, the bloodless change of power saw the rise of Napoleon into France's First Consul. The weakness of the Directory combined with Napoleon's military success and control saw the end of the French Revolution. Instead, France was headed towards a dictatorship under Napoleon, who had cleverly managed to put himself in charge of the country.
-
After various military successes as Consul, Napoleon finally takes power as emperor. This was done to preserve France as the Consulate would not have allowed Napoleon to stay in control. He crowned himself at the coronation, even though the Pope was there. Following this, he set out on various military campaigns achieving great success, conquering and expanding the French Empire. It would be this way until 1812 when he failed in his invasion of Russia. Fell victim to one of the classic blunders.
-
Aka the Battle of Nations. After failing to invade Russia, Emperor Napoleon turned his attention towards Germany. A coalition of European forces including Austria, Prussia, Russia, Saxony, and Sweden attacked the outnumbered French forces at Leipzig. Napoleon was forced to retreat back west towards France, losing 38000 men with another 30000 taken prisoner. This was seen as a turning point of the Napoleonic Wars as it signalled the end of the French Empire east of the Rhine.
-
Continuing the series of Napoleon's losses, this battle would be the final nail in the coffin for the French emperor's ambitions. After escaping Elba, where he was exiled to after losing major battles in 1814 which had left the French army crippled, he escaped and tried to reestablish what he had been doing. The Battle of Waterloo was the result of this and it was a spectacular defeat for him. It ended the Napoleonic Wars and Napoleon was exiled again, this time to St Helena.
