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Summoning of the Estates
a legislative and consultative assembly the different classes (or estates) of French subjects. It had a separate assembly for each of the three estates, which were called and dismissed by the king. It had no true power in its own right—unlike the English parliament it was not required to approve royal taxation or legislation—instead it functioned as an advisory body to the king, primarily by presenting petitions from the various estates and consulting on fiscal policy. -
Meeting of the Estates-General
Estates-General meet -
National Assembly Declared
a revolutionary assembly formed by the representatives of the Third Estate (the common people) of the Estates-General; -
Tennis Court Oath
A pivotal event during the first days of the French Revolution. 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.T hey made a makeshift conference room inside a tennis court, located in the Saint-Louis district of the city of Versailles -
Storming of the Bastille
Occurred in Paris, France, on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. The prison contained just seven inmates at the time of its storming but was a symbol of the abuses of the monarchy: its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution. -
Feudalism Abolished
The panic of the Great Fear showed the peasants anger with the old, outmoded system of feudal obligations. Landed aristocracy in the National Assembly seized on the idea that the only way to stop the tide of violence in the countryside was to renounce feudal privileges. The aristocracy stripped themselves of their feudal rights and privileges. On August 11, 1789, the Assembly abolished serfdom. -
Declararation of the Rights of Man and of Citizen
Passed by France's National Constituent Assembly in August 1789, is a fundamental document of the French Revolution and in the history of human and civil rights. The Declaration was directly influenced by Thomas Jefferson, working with General Lafayette, who introduced it. Influenced also by the doctrine of "natural right", the rights of man are held to be universal: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself. -
March on Versailles
The rumors of Louis XVI's offensive court party spreads throughout the streets of Paris, it was rumored that Louis XVI stepped on the flag of France. Women lead a march to Versailles to demand bread. The mob forces the royal family to return to Paris with them. Louis XVI signs the Declaration of the Rights of Man. -
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
he nationalization of Church lands was the first step in state control of the Church. On July 12, 1790 the National Assembly passed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy to bring the clergy under government control. Clergy would now be elected by all citizens and their salaries paid by the state. The clergy were required to swear an oath of allegiance to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, essentially it required the clergy to acknowledge the supremacy of the French government over the Pope. -
King Louis XVI Accepts Declaration
King Louis XVI accepts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen -
The Royal Escape
Unrest in Paris in the spring of 1791 convinced the queen, Marie Antoinette, that the family must flee. With the help of a loyal friend, Count Axel von Fersen, an escape was organized. When they reached Varennes, they were recognized and National Guardsmen escorted them back to Paris through jeering crowds. -
France vs Austria
On April 21, 1792, the French government declared war on Austria. As Prussia was allied with Austria, France found itself fighting a war against both countries. -
Paris Mob Attacks the Tuileries
Paris seethed with discontent throughout the summer of 1792. Hungry, distrustful of government, and discouraged by failures in war. On August 10, 1792 they turned against their king. The mob stormed the Tuileries where the royal family was being held. They demand a new constitution and a convention to replace the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assembly dissolves and is replaced by the National Convention. -
September Massacres
In the fall of 1792, hysteria, uncertainty, and fear gripped the city. Rumors circulated that the 3000 prisoners held in Paris prisons were planning to stage an uprising. News that Verdun was threatened by the Prussian army was the spark that began what are called the "September Massacres". An angry mob led by Jean Paul Marat stormed the prisons and killed about 1600 prisoners. -
Republic of Virtue
Social and cultural changes were implemented by the Jacobins during the time they were in control in an attempt to erase all traces of the Old Regime. They called their new society, based on reason, the Republic of Virtue. -
Execution of Louis XVI
After six weeks of debate in the National Convention, with the Girondins wanting clemency for the king, whereas the Jacobins wanting to execute him. On January 21, 1793, the French government sent its former king to the guillotine. -
Levee En Masse
On August 23, 1793, the Committee of Public Safety made a decree that mobilized the entire French population for war. All unmarried men between the ages of 18 and 25 were conscripted. -
Reign of Terror
From September 1793 to July 1794, an estimated 16,000 people were guillotined. Many radicals were executed along with moderates. Most leaders of the French Revolution were now either dead or had fled the republic. Opposition to Robespierre grew both in the Committee of Public Safety and within the National Convention. The execution of popular Committee member George-Jacques Danton and Robespierre proclaiming himself as the leader of a new religion of the Supreme Being caused much resentment. -
Execution of Robspierre
Robespierre was arrested on July 27 and executed the next day. In month of Thermidor in the new French calendar, Robespierre was deserted by his supporters, accused of being a tyrant. Robespierre wanted to extend emergency powers, but others felt that the emergencies were over and wanted to return to regular administration. -
Napolean Rises to Power
Directory had lost control of the political situation and the confidence of the French people. Napoleon took action in early November. Troops under his command surrounded the national legislature and drove out most of its member -
First Consul: 1800-1804
The plebiscite of 1800 gives Napoleon the mandate to play a role for which he is well suited both in character and in terms of his 18th-century education - that of the enlightened despot
He now has the power, like a monarch, to select the members of the council of state over which he presides. As in a king's privy council, these councillors specialize in different departments of state. They give their advice. But on any important issue it is the first consul who makes the executive decision. -
The Concordat
In a Concordat agreed in July 1801, the pope accepts that Napoleon will appoint French bishops (an argument between church and state which goes all the way back to the investiture controversy in the Middle Ages) and that church lands seized during the revolution will not be restored. In return Napoleon agrees to pay the salaries of the clergy and to recognize Catholicism as the religion of the majority of the French people. Establishes new relationship between chruch and the state. -
Louisiana Territory
After the failure of the expidition to Saint Domingue, Napoleon decided to cut his losses in America. He oddered to sell territory to the US and Thomas Jefferson agreed and bought it for 15 million, Napoleon saw he could gain money to finance operations in Europe and gave England a new rival. -
Code Napoleon
In 1800 Napoleon appoints a committee of lawyers to work on the preparation of a code. He himself takes a keen interest, attending more than half the meetings in which their proposals are discussed. Statutes are enacted piecemeal from as early as 1801. By 1804 they are ready to be embodied in a single Code Civil, which in 1807 is renamed the Code Napoléon. -
Napoleon Crowned
Napoleon decided to make himself emperor, and the French voters supported him. On December 2, 1804, Napoleon walked down the long aisle of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Took the crown of the pope signaling he was more powerful than the church -
Battle of Trafalgar
The battle took place in 1805 off the southwest coast of Spain. The British Commander, Horatio Nelson, was a brilliant in warfare at sea as Napoleon was on land. This naval defeat was more important that all of his victories on land. This had two outcomes. First, it ensured the supremacy of the British navy for the next 100 years. Second, it forced Napoleon to give up his plans of invading Britian. -
Conquering Europe 1805 - 1813
In a series of brilliant battles, he crushed his opposition. Napoleon's battlefield success forced the rulers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia to sign peace treaties. These successes also enabled him to build the largest European empire since that of the Romans. France's only major enemy was Britain -
The Continental System
Napoleon set up a blockade to prevent all trade and communication between Great Britain and other European nations. The goal was to make continental Europe more self sufficient and destroy Great Britain's commercial and industrial economy. However, this blockade was not tight enough and smugglers managed to bring cargo from Britain into Europe. The US was also angered because they were being stopped and taxed by Britain's own blockade and declared war on Britain in 1812. -
The Peninsular War
In an effort to get Portugal to accepth the Cont. System, he sent an invasion force through Spain. Spanish people protested and in result, removed spanish king and Napoleon put brother on throne. Angered spanish people and their holy church so for six years, fighters known as guerillas struck at the French armies in Spain. Napoleon lost about 300,000 men during this war on the Iberian Peninsula and weakend the French Empire. -
Invasion of Russia
Napoleon and his Grand Army of more than 420,000 soldiers. Napoleon and Russia hadn't actually fought then because Napoleon wanted an equal battle. On September 7, 1812, the two armies fought in the battle of Borodino. Napoleon and his army march into Moscow and burned/destroyed the holy city. Napoleon decided to stay and left in October where him and his army were attacked by russian raiders until only about 10,000 of his shouldiers remained. -
Napoleon's Defeat
Most of Napoleon's soldieres were untrained and ill prepared for battle. Napoleon's army was demolished by the allied armies of the European poweres outside Germany. By January of 1814, the allied armies push through paris and two months later, led tropps through the French capital. In April 1814, Napoleon accepted terms of surrender and gave up his throne.The victores exhiled Napoleon to Elba. -
Napoleon's Return
Napoleon had escaped Elba and reutrned France and thousands of joyous crowds had welcomed him back. Within days, he was again the emperor of France -
Battle of Waterloo
The European allies quickly gathered their armies in response to this escape. The British army prepared for battle near the village of Waterloo. Napoleon and his army attacked all day until the late afternoon when Prussia's army arrived. The allied forced attaked mercilessly. After two days, Napoleon's soldiers gave away and and the allied forces chased them from the field. -
Napoleon's Final Exhile
The British shipped Napoleon to St. Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic. There, he lived in lonely exhile for six years, writing his memoirs. He died in 1821 of a stomach ailment, perhaps cancer.