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Period: to
Timespan of French Revolution
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Meeting of the Estates General
King Louis XVI called for a meeting of the three estates, which had not been done since 1614. He called the meeting because of French financial problems. The first estate was made up of clergy and church officials. The second of aristocrats and wealthy land owners. The third of working class peasant laborers. Yet even though the third estate comprised of 98% of the population they only had power of 1/3 of the estates. -
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille was the first major uprising of the peasants to start the French Revolution. The Bastille was a state prison East side of Paris. An angry and aggressive mob attacked the prison as a symbol of dictatorial rule of the aristocrats and government. -
March on Versailles
Thousands of women from Paris marched to Versailles, the government capital of France, and demanded bread on their arrival. The march was aimed at showing the King the great starving that was occurring in France. -
Flight to Varennes
King Louis XVI had denounced the revolution and tried to flee France with his family. His family was recognized and he was forced to travel back. This was occurring while the new constitution was about to be set in place by the National Assembly, which was made up of mostly the third estate. -
Dissolution of the National Assembly
France is proclaimed a constitutional monarchy and the National Assembly is replaced by the legislative Assembly. It was agreed that no members of the National Assembly would be able to hold a seat in the new legislative assembly. This new parliament was composed of different types of politicians. -
New Warring
The issue of war was the main point of debate in the legislative assembly. Other European monarchies saw France as a threat to their absolute ruling style. Revolutionaries in France wanted war in order to unify France and to spread the ideas to the rest of Europe. On this date France declares war on Austria. -
Attack on the Tuileries Palace
The Austrian forces with Prussian allies were advancing into French territory in the spring and summer of 1792. The King was still seen as a traitor because of his attempt to leave the country. On August 10, a crowd of about 20,000 people attacked the Tuileries Palace. The King and Queen had escaped the Palace. The Revolution was moving into a more radical phase. Over the next month, hundreds of suspected royalists were executed in what became known as the “September Massacre”. -
Declaration of the Republic and the Trial of Louis
Following the arrests of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the Legislative Assembly disbanded and replaced itself with a new political body named the National Convention. The first act of the latter was to declare France as a republic on September 21, 1792. On January 21, 1793, Louis was driven through the streets of Paris to a guillotine and decapitated. -
Reign of Terror
One man in particular, Maximilien Robespierre came to dominate the Committee and established himself as the leader of the so-called Reign of Terror. Robespierre wanted to rid France of all enemies of the Revolution and to protect the “virtue” of the nation. From September 1793 to July 1794, an estimated 16,000 people were guillotined. Many radicals were executed along with moderates. -
Directory and the Rise of Napoleon
After the dramatic fall of Robespierre, the National Convention created a new constitution for France that was implemented in 1795. In 1799, a successful military commander named Napoleon Bonaparte returned from a military expedition in Egypt and ousted the Directory. Napoleon established what he called the Consulate and himself as the First Consul.
