The tennis court oath on june 20 1789 painting by jacques louis david

Major Events of the French Revolution

  • Louis summons the estates general

    Louis summons the estates general
    The king summons the estate's generals in order to find a solution to the countries money crisis. This involves pushing more taxes onto the poor.
  • Tennis Court Oath

    Tennis Court Oath
    King Louis brought together the 3 estates general so he could add taxes to the third estate. In order to have this pass through nicely, he locked the third estate out of their meeting room. Instead, the third estate's general broke into a handball court to discuss constructing a new constitution.
  • Abolishment of Feudalism

    Abolishment of Feudalism
    The French Assembly abolished the entire feudal system. This gave land to the peasants and got rid of tithes. They also established freedom of religion and equal legal punishment. In but a few hours much of Frace elites and cities lost their special privlages.
  • Women's March on Versailles

    Women's March on Versailles
    Massive expenditure in Frace had risen taxes drastically. Taxes were especially harmful when it came to bread, the staple food of France. A large crowd of protesters assembled and marched to Versailles after getting dissatisfactory answers from city officials. There they would kill several guards and take Louis to France to "live among the people".
  • Storming The Bastille

    Storming The Bastille
    As tensions and fears rose about the king's potential plans to shut down the revolution leaders and members realized that they needed weapons. What better than to attack the Bastille which was not only a symbol of what was wrong in France but also held vast weaponry. The members of the revolution were forced to rip apart the building piece by piece to get inside.
  • Declaration of the Rights of Man

    Declaration of the Rights of Man
    The French Assembly published the human liberties document that would hopefully guide their government called the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It would serve as the preamble to the coming constitution and later in time the French constitutional monarchy was created where Louis was little more than a figurehead.
  • Royal Flight to Varennes

    Royal Flight to Varennes
    Louis, fearing for himself and his family decides to escape France and seek refugee in Austria and maybe even get reappointed as king later. Louis and his family dressed up as servants and fled to the border. However, they were caught a public opinion of the nobility sank as a result.
  • French Republic Proclaimed

    French Republic Proclaimed
    King Louis is stripped of his title and power and is replaced by a Republic instead of a constitutional morarchy. This will be a necessary step in the road to his execution.
  • Execution of King Louis

    Execution of King Louis
    Due to Louis's attempted escape and the general public hatred surrounding him along with fear of war efforts and that the royalty were slipping letters informing Austria of Frech war plans and positions he was put on trial for treason. He was then found guilty and promptly was executed.
  • Mass Conscription Initiated

    Mass Conscription Initiated
    In order to support the war effort mass conscription was initiated. This was unpopular and was seen as an intrusion of the rights of the people.
  • Republican Calendar

    Republican Calendar
    As part of the Dechrstianization campaign, the Christian Calendar was replaced with a new one that made it difficult to know when Sunday was.
  • The Reign of Terror

    The Reign of Terror
    As the National Convention grew more fearful of internal threats they created the Committee of Public Safety which would go on to execute anyone which even just the slight hint that maybe they didn't agree entirely with the revolution. Around 40000 people were killed by the so-called "National Razor" until Robespierre was executed himself.
  • Execution of Marriee Antoinette

    Execution of Marriee Antoinette
    After the execution of Louis next up was Marie Antionette who went under trial being accused of treason and incest. The trial was hardly fair and the next day she was executed by the National Razor.
  • Robespierre Executed

    Robespierre Executed
    Robespierre was finally sought out and executed by the people after years of terror. Worst yet this was after a failed suicide attempt.
  • Coup of the Directory

    Coup of the Directory
    After the end of the Reign of Terror, a new constitution would be made which would create the Directory. The Directory was a horribly corrupt and inept government and would last all of 5 years until a popular general Napoleon would hold a military coup, seizing control of the country for himself.