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Estates general convenes
There were 3 estates called the the first second and third estate. The first was made up of very high class people, the second was lower than the first estate and third was the lowest. Under this system, the First and Second estates always outvoted the Third Estate two to one. -
Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly
Made up of the Third Estate, and they made it because they felt as if they were not being represented. Claiming to represent the people of France, they declared themselves to be the National Assembly. They then invited delegates from the other estates to help them write a constitution, a document that describes the basic rules and laws of government. -
Storming of the Bastille
More than 800 Parisians assembled outside the Bastille,the crowd was demanding weapons and gunpowder believed to be stored there. The commander refused and soon enough violence broke out. Many people were killed, but it became a symbol of the French revolution. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen issued
All men, the French declaration announced, were “born and remain free and equal in rights.” They enjoyed natural rights to “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.” It was issued by the National Assembly, It baisically stated all French men were equal and they all had certain rights, which can not be taken away. -
Louis XVI execution
The Convention also put Louis XVI on trial as a traitor to France. The king was convicted by a single vote and sentenced to death. He died on the public square of Paris, and was beheaded. -
Maximilien Robespierre assumes leadership of the Committee of Public Safety
The government battled counterrevolutionaries under his guiding hand. He felt very strongly about the revolution. He even earned the name "the incorruptible" for his selfless dedication to the revolution. This dedication made him the leader of the Committee of Public Safety. -
Robespierrenis guillotined
The Convention was afraid of all the bloodshed that was happening and scared for their own lives, so they turned on the Committee of Public Safety who they thought were causing all the violence, and the head of the Committee was Robespierre so he was arrested and guillotined. -
Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power
Napoleon gained much of his power from his perfect record on the battle field. He made many important crucial victories for France, and eventually he moved up the scale to lieutenant and then eventually political leader, and then title of First Consul and then he had accumulated enough power to crown himself emperor. -
Napoleon is defeated by the British at the Battle of Waterloo
Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo, British forces under Duke of Wellington and they are allied with Prussia. These 2 countries joined forces and crushed the French army in a day long battle.
