FrenchRev
July 1793 - July 1794
Reign of Terror
Robespierre executed
Robespierre and his supporters were surrounded by National Convention soldiers and taken into custody.
July 27, 1794
Robespierre executed
June 1791
Royal family flees Paris
August 10, 1792
Royal family imprisoned
New Constitution creates the Directory
Run by an executive branch of five directors Weak, corrupt, and inefficient Ended in 1799 when Napoleon seized power
July 14, 1789
Storming in the Bastille
Days Later in June (June 20), 1789:
Tennis Court Oath
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The National Assembly adopted this. The Declaration laid out the basic principles of the French Revolution- "liberty, equality, fraternity". Writers of the Declaration took their inspiration from the English Bill of Rights, the American Declaration of Independence, and the writings of Enlightenment philosophers.
Constitution of 1791/creation of Legislative Assembly
The National Assembly finally completed the constitution. It created a new legislative body called the Legislative Assembly. Citizens gained broad voting rights, but only taxpaying men over 25 years old had the right to vote. The constitution kept the monarchy but severely restricted the king's power.
National Assembly created
The Third Estate proclaimed themselves a legislature, the National Assembly, with the right to make laws for France.
Royal family flees Paris
The king and queen suspected that they were not safe, so they put on disguises and fled Paris. However, they were recognized and brought back to the Tuileries Palace.
Tennis Court Oath
The king locked the Third Estate out of their meeting place. The representative of the Third Estate met in an indoor tennis court where they swore what become known as the Tennis Court Oath, that they could not leave the court until they had written a constitution for France.
Louis XVI executed
The king was placed on trial and quickly condemned. He was scheduled to die the day after the trial. The morning of the execution, the streets were quiet. Soldiers lined the way to the place of execution, in case any supporters of monarchy created problems. Louis tried to give a speech proclaiming his innocence but a drumroll drowned him out and he was placed in the guillotine.
Estates General meets for 1st time in 175 years
The nobility pressed Louis to call this meeting of the Estates General to approve new taxes on the Third Estate. The representatives wrote "notebooks" called cahiers to document their grievances.
National Convention convened
The radical representatives were in control. Under their direction the Revolution took an extreme turn. France would no longer be a constitutional monarchy. It would be a republic.
October 1789
Women March on Versailles
Royal family imprisoned
A mob marched on the Tuileries Palace and slaughtered the guards. Louis, Marie- Antoinette, and the children were thrown in prison.
Storming in the Bastille
A mob of Parisians went to the Bastille, an ancient prison, looking for weapons. At first, the mob tried to negotiate with the Bastille's commander for weapons. When the negotiations broke down, the angry mob and the prison guard exchanged fire and the mob swarmed into the prison. The mob killed the commander, stuck his head on a stick, and paraded it through the street. This whole situation became a powerful symbol of the French Revolution.
Reign of Terror
A series of accusations, trials, and executions that created a wave of fear throughout the country
Great Fear
After the fall of the Bastille, many people were shocked by what they had done and they feared that the king would punish then and end the Revolution. Rumors were spread that the king had hired foreign soldiers to punish the Third Estate. As a result, a panic that was based on fact and fiction swept through France.
Napoleon seizes power
Armed supporters of Napoleon surrounded the Directory legislature and forced members to turn the government over to Napoleon.
France declares war on Austria and Prussia
Austria and Prussia issued a declaration warning against harming the French monarchs and hinting that any such action would provoke war. Austria sent 50,000 troops to the French border. In response, the Legislative Assembly declared war. France's army was in disarray and was defeated.
1791
Constitution of 1791/creation of Legislative Assembly
August 1789
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Spring (May 5), 1789
Estates General meets for 1st time in 175 years
July 1792
France declares war on Austria and Prussia
Summer 1789
Great Fear
Women March on Versailles
King Louis called troops to Versailles to protect his throne and this angered the common people of Paris who feared that the king would crush the Revolution. A crowd of 7,000 women marched through the rain from Paris to Versailles. Demanding bread, the mob broke into the palace.
January 21, 1793
Louis XVI executed
November, 1799
Napoleon seizes power
June 17, 1789
National Assembly created
September 1792
National Convention convened
August, 1795
New Constitution creates the Directory