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Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker advised the calling of the estates-general and the double representation of the third estate. He permitted the orders to deliberate and vote in common. The court regarded him as the cause of the revolution. On July 11th he was ordered to leave France. -
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Louis XVI
Louis brought the French monarchy to its peak of absolute power and made France the dominant power in Europe. His reign is associated with the greatest age of French culture and art. -
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Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France. She helped to provoke the popular unrest that led to the French Revolution. The Revolution later caused the overthrow of the Monarchy in 1792. -
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Georges Danton
George Danton was described to be the chief force in the overthrow of the French Monarchy, And the establishment of the first French republic. -
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Charlotte Corday
Charlotte Corday was a figure of the French Revolution. She assassinated Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat a French Revolutionary hero. She was sent to guillotine, she blamed Marat for the more extreme course the Revolution had taken. -
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Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte created the lycee system. This is a system of schools for universal education, and built colleges. He introduced new civic codes that gave more freedom to the French than during the Monarchy. -
Calling of the Estates-General
A general assembly representing the French estates of the realm summoned by Louis XVI to propose solutions to France's financial problems. It ended when the Third Estate formed into a National Assembly, signaling the outbreak of the French Revolution. -
Formation of the National Assembly
It was a revolutionary assembly formed by the representatives of the Third Estate of the Estates-General. They represented at least 96% of the nation. -
Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath was a pledge that was signed in the early days of the French Revolution and was an important revolutionary act that displayed the belief that political authority came from the nations people and not from the monarchy. -
Attack of the Bastille
A state prison on the east side of Paris, known as Bastille, was attacked by an angry aggressive mob. When the prison was attacked it only held 7 prisoners, but the mob had not gathered for them. It had come to demand the huge ammunition stores held within the prison walls. -
Great Fear
The Great Fear was a period of panic and riot by the peasants and others amid rumours of an "aristocratic conspiracy" by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate. -
Flight to Varennes
The flight to Varennes was the royal families unsuccessful escape from Paris during the night. Undermined the credibility of the king as a constitutional monarch and eventually led to the escalation of the crisis and the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. -
Execution of Louis XVI
A secret cupboard containing proof of Louis' counter-revolutinary beliefs and correspondence with foreign powers was discovered in Tuileries Palace. He was brought to trail for treason and executed by guillotine. -
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror was a period of violence during the French Revolution incited by conflict between two rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins. The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands, with 16,594 executed by guillotine. -
Napoleon Invades Russia
Napoleon hoped to compel Tsar Alexander I of Russia to cease trading with British merchants through proxies in an effort to pressure the United Kingdom to sue for peace. The official political aim of the campaign was to liberate Poland from the threat of Russia.