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The Enlightenment thinkers time span lasted from January 1, 1650 to January 1, 1792. Throughout this period, many new ideas were formed and shared by figures such as John Locke, Voltaire, and more. The policies these thinkers came up with changed how governments worked. Majority of this time period is before the French Revolution took place and is extremely important in how the revolution developed as time moved on.
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On May 10, 1774, King Louis XVI became the King of France, following his grandfather King Louis XV. He was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. Even with his high education, he was still indecisive throughout his reign and his age brought some immaturity. Although, he did attempt to relieve France's financial problems, but his reign soon started to take a turn for the worse.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/king-louis-xvi -
On May 5, 1789, King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates- General. The goal of the meeting was to figure out France’s financial problems. Each of the three Estates got one vote. The Third Estate feared nothing would change because the other Estates would outvote them. The citizens wanted more of a say, but King Louis XVI refused to give them another vote. This angered the Third Estate and marked the start of the French Revolution.
https://www.pbs.org/marieantoinette/timeline/change.html -
The French Revolution is a time period in France when the French citizens over threw the government and took control of it. This time span changed the social and political structure of France. It ended the French monarchy, feudalism, and took power of the Catholic Church. Throughout the French Revolution, many new ideas were set into place such as life, liberty, and property and it lead on to help shape Europeans modern government.
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On June 20, 1789, the Third Estate found themselves locked out of the meeting hall by the First and Second Estate. The Third Estate decided to break into an abandoned tennis court and took an oath that pledged they could not leave until a new constitution was developed. This was an important revolutionary act that was signed in the early days of the French Revolution.
https://wp.stu.ca/worldhistory/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/07/Tennis-Court-Oath.pdf -
On July 14, 1789, members of the Third Estate stormed the Bastille, an old prison, out of fear. King Louis XVI had just hired a group of soldiers called the Swiss Guard to make sure he was safe. Although, the Third Estate thought this army was out to kill them. As they stormed this old prison, they took items such as gunpowder to ensure the Swiss Guard could not hurt them. This resulted in what became known as the Great Fear.
https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/july-2014-storming-bastille -
The Great Fear was a period of panic where peasants were rioting uncontrollably. It began on July 22, 1789 and resulted from the storming of the Bastille. Across France, peasants murdered members of the Third Estate, starting the Great Fear. The members of the Third Estate feared the king would overthrow them, which caused a great uproar in France. This led to the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen being drafted.
https://worldhistoryproject.org/1789/7/20/the-great-fear -
On August 26, 1789, the National Assembly issued the Declaration of Man and Citizen. This defined individual and collective rights during the French Revolution. Many of these laws came from the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers and reflected some of the same principles as the Magna Carta. These laws helped citizens have more of a say in the government and overall created a more orderly society.
https://www.marxists.org/history/france/revolution/rights-man.htm -
The Haitian Revolution was a series of conflicts between Haitian slaves, colonists, the armies of British and French colonizers, and more parties in Saint Domingue. It led Haitians independence from France and completely abolished slavery. Toussaint L´Ouverture and Jean Jaques Dessalines were main leaders throughout this Revolution.
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On August 21, 1791, the slaves of St. Domingue rose up to rebel against their masters. Slaves burned down sugar plantations, sugar processing facilities, and the homes of land owners. Although, the whites begged for help from other nations but did not receive any. Fearing that they would be victims of an attack, they killed hundreds of slaves to stop the rebellion from spreading any further. This can be considered the start of the Hatian Revolution.
http://abolition.e2bn.org/resistance_46.html -
The Vindication of the Rights Of Women, was written in 1791, by Mary Wollstonecraft, but was later published on January 1, 1792. Her work claimed that the educational system trained women to be incapable.If they were given an education, she believed they would be better wives and mothers and could have a job. This work is extremely important because some of the principles in this book were later put and placed and received attention.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3735238?seq=1 -
On September 21, 1792, the king's power was limited and it changed to a republic, where the power was held by the people and their elected leader. This abolished the absolute monarchy that was once set in place. Essentially, this reduced the power of King Louis XVI, leading him to turn to the Prussian and Austirian monarchies. France was the first republic established and led to many other nations changing their way of government.
https://library.brown.edu/cds/paris/chronology1.html -
On January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI was executed using a guillotine. Prior to this, he and his family tried to escape, but were soon discovered and brought back to Paris. Leaders considered him untrustworthy to carry out a constitutional monarchy, so the family was thrown into prison. Later, King Louis XVI was executed with his wife, Maria Antionette, following the same fate. This led to the formation of the Committee of Public Safety.
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/louis_trial.html -
The Reign of Terror began on September 5, 1793. Thousands of French citizens were executed because they were seen as “enemies to the revolution”, even when there was little to no evidence to back it up. Robspierre thought this was a necessary step in the Revolution. There was a formal rejection of religion and it was replaced with reason during this time. The Reign of Terror can be seen as one of the most crucial parts of the Revolution.
https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/the-reign-of-terror -
On February 4, 1794, slavery was outlawed in the French colonies, including in Saint Domingue. This marks France as the first European country to completely abolish slavery in all of its colonies. Dessalines proclaimed St. Domingue to be the first independent nation of former slaves. This took place following Dessalines victory of the French Revolution over Napoleon because he underestimated the number of soldiers needed to win.
http://www.uky.edu/~popkin/Haitian%20Revolution%20Lecture.htm -
As the Reign of Terror went on, the people grew tired of the bloodshed and the fear of being executed. French citizens had to be careful of what they said and did just in case somebody took it the wrong way. They were quick to blame Robspierre because he was the one who developed this policy. The people decided to arrest and execute Robespierre by a guillotine in front of a cheering crowd, leading to the Directory.
https://landmarkevents.org/the-death-of-maximilien-de-robespierre-1794/ -
On October 26, 1795, the Directory took control of France. This five man group was created when the new constitution was drafted. The Directory overcame challenges to restore order in France, created elite schools, supported France's economic recovery, and made peace with Spain and Prussia. Although, France continued at war with Austria and England. This important group brought in a more disciplined leader, Bonaparte.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/adams-french-revolution/ -
The War of Knives started on June 16, 1799, when a war broke out between L'Ouverture and his poorer former slaves against Rigaud and his well- educated, richer former slaves and free blacks. These two groups were fighting over control over St. Domingue. This war lasted for over a year, resulting in a win from L’ouverture with the help of the English. It caused Rigaud to flee into expulsion.
https://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=War_of_Knives -
On November 10, 1799, Napoléon organized a coup d’etat in attempts to overthrow the government in France, which at the time was the Directory. He was successful when doing this. It was substituted by the French Consulate. He made himself the first consul, political figure, in hopes of stabilizing the government. This was one of the ending events of the French Revolution.
https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/18-brumaire-the-context-and-course-of-a-coup-detat/ -
On December 15, 1799, a new constitution in France was put up for vote. It placed changes to the old constitution and established the form of government known as the Consulate. Napoléon Bonaparte, gained an a lot of power from it and was the first consul of France. This was approved by France, as they believed Bonaparte could achieve their goals and lead them to end the French Revolution, as he later did.
https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/legislation/c_constitution8.html -
On July 8, 1801, L’Ouverture proclaimed a new constitution in St. Domingue and was declared Governor for Life. The new constitution introduced many new laws to the people on this side of the island such as abolishing slavery and giving equal rights. L’Ouverture even decided to outlaw voodoo, a religion most people on the island practiced. This was extremely important because it lead to another revolution.
https://www.marxists.org/history/haiti/1801/constitution.htm -
Napoléon sent his troops back to Saint Domingue to win it back. Half of L’Ouverture’s army joined them out of spite due to his new constitution. They had not realized France was planning on putting slavery back into place. Then, Jean- Jaques Dessalines made a plan to stage a meeting with him, but really capture him and put him in prison. This occured on August 25, 1802. This event changed the course of the Hatian Revolution.
http://exhibits.usu.edu/exhibits/show/haitianrevolution/leaders -
On January 1, 1804, Dessaline helped proclaimed Haiti’s independence. To do this, Dessaline had to use the scorched earth policy to take away anything of value to the French. After claiming independence, Haiti was labeled the first independent nation of former slaves. They ended up abolishing slavery and granting natural rights, but whites could not own land. Although, no European nation or U.S would trade with them.
https://today.duke.edu/showcase/haitideclaration/declarationstext.html -
The Revolutions of Latin and South America are revolutions that resulted in many independent countries in Latin America. Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín are important leaders that helped lead these revolutions as they helped free many nations within Latin and South America.
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On September 16, 1810, Mexico declared their independence from Spain. Father Miguel Hidalgo, a creole priest, was one of the first to push for this. Then on this day, poor mestizos and Native Americans followed the priests and decided to attempt to declare independence. At first, creoles agreed with this movement, but then did not when abolishing slavery was added. Although, after Hidalgo's death, Jose Morello carried out this idea.
https://smarthistory.org/mexican-independence/ -
After Venezuela declared independence from Spain, it later lost this sovereignty again in 1812. Although, Simon Bolivar decided to draft a plan regarding getting the independence of his home country back. On May 24, 1813, he arrived at Merida, Venezuela after being named, “The Liberator.” He declared the “War to the Death” against the Spaniards and slowly began making further progress to freeing South America.
https://stampaday.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/simon-bolivar-el-libertador-de-venezuela/ -
The Battle of Chacabuco occurred on February 12, 1817. This battle was in the Latin Wars of Independence and resulted in a win for the South American patriots over the Spanish royalists north of Santiago Chile. Jose de San Martin was the leader of this movement and embarked on the liberation of Chile. The Battle of Chacabuco began the expulsion of Spaniards from Chile, which was completed next year during the Battle of Maipú.
https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chacabuco -
On July 28, 1821, Peru declared their independence. Two major leaders who joined forces to help lead Peru do this were Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin. Between 1810 and 1821, Peru struggled for their independence, but clearly overcame their issues. This led to Simon Bolivar being credited to his name, “The Liberator”. It also allowed him to continue to free even more nations and lead them to independence.
http://www.discover-peru.org/peru-history-independence/ -
On September 7, 1821, Gran Columbia was formed. This included nations of Columbia, Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador, parts of Peru, and parts of Brazil after they declared independence from the Spaniards independently. Simon Bolivar led this formation and made it his top priority to free Gran Colombia from Spain after their loss in the war. The independence of Gran Colombia led to South America taking their last steps in the revolution.
http://countrystudies.us/colombia/13.htm
