May 5: The Estates-General
meets for the first time since 1614.
June 21: Third Estate/National Assembly are locked
out of meeting houses; the Third Estate vows to never dissolve until the
constitution has been established (oath of the Tennis court).
June 24:
48 nobles, headed by the Duke of Orléans, side with the Third Estate. A significant
number of the clergy follow their example.
June 27:
Louis recognizes the validity of the National Assembly, and orders the First
and Second Estates to join the Third.
July 11: The
finance minister Necker is dismissed by Louis; populace sack the monasteries,
ransack aristocrats' homes in search of food and weapons.
July 13: National Guard
formed in Paris. Storming of the hotel des Invalides in search of canon.
July 14: Storming of the
Bastille; de Launay,
(the governor), Foulon (the
Secretary of State) and de Flesselles (prévot
des marchands), amongst others, are massacred.
July 15: Lafayette
appointed Commander of the National Guard.
July 16:
Necker recalled, troops pulled out of Paris
July 17:
The beginning of the Great
Fear, the peasantry revolt against feudalism and a number of urban
disturbances and revolts. Many members of the aristocracy flee Paris to become émigrés. Louis
XVI accepts the tricolor cockade.
August 4:
Surrender of feudal rights: The
August Decrees
August 26:
The Assembly adopts The
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
October 5-6: Outbreak of the Paris mob;
Liberal monarchical constitution; the Women's March on Versailles.
October 6
Louis XVI agrees to ratify the August Decrees, Palace of Versailles
stormed. The royal family and the
National Assembly move to Paris.
November
2: Church property nationalized and otherwise expropriated
1790
January:
Former Provinces of
France replaced by new administrative Departments.
February
13 Suppression of monastic vows and religious orders
May 19 Nobility abolished by the National
Assembly.
July 12
The Civil
Constitution of the Clergy. Demands priests to take an oath of loyalty
to the state, splitting the clergy between juring (oath-taking) and non-juring
priests.
July 14 Fête de la Fédération on the Champ de
Mars
July:
Growing power of the clubs (including: Cordeliers, Jacobin Club)
August 16
The parlements (royal courts
of justice) are abolished
September:
Fall of Necker
1791
January
30: Mirabeau
elected President of the Assembly
March 2:
Abolition of trade guilds
April 2:
Death of Mirabeau-
first person to be buried in Pantheon, formerly
the church of Sainte-Geneviève
April 13:
Encyclical of Pope Pius VI, Charitas,
condemning the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the unauthorized
appointment of Bishops is published
June 20–25: Royal family's flight to Varennes.
The royal family forced to return to Paris
July 10: Leopold II
the Austrian Emperor issues the Padua
Circular calling on the royal houses of Europe to come to his
brother-in-law, Louis XVI's aid.
July: Remains
of Voltaire reburied in
Pantheon.
August 14:
Slave revolts in Saint Domingue (Haiti)
August 27:
Declaration of
Pillnitz threatening France by Frederick
William II of Prussia and Leopold II
of Austria.
October 1:
Legislative
Assembly meets - many young, inexperienced, radical deputies.
November 9
All émigrés are ordered by the
Assembly to return under threat of death
November
11 Louis vetoes the ruling of the Assembly on émigrés.
1792
January –
March: Food riots in Paris
March 20: Guillotine adopted as
official means of execution.
April 20:
France declares war against Austria
April 25: Battle Hymn of the Army of the Rhine (Marseillaise) composed by Rouget de
Lisle. First execution using the guillotine.
April 28:
France invades Austrian Netherlands (Belgium).
July 25: Brunswick
Manifesto by European monarchs - warns that should the royal family be
harmed by the popular movement, an "exemplary and eternally memorable
revenge" will follow.
July 30:
Austria and Prussia invade France.
July: The
tricolor cockade made
compulsory for men to wear. La
Marseillaise sung by volunteers from Marseilles on their arrival
in Paris.
August 9: Revolutionary
commune took possession of the hôtel de ville.
August 10–13: Storming
of the Tuileries Palace. Swiss Guard massacred. Louis XVI is arrested and taken into custody at
the Temple, along with his family. Georges Danton becomes Minister of Justice.
August 16:
Paris commune presents petition to the Legislative Assembly demanding the
establishment of a revolutionary
tribunal and summoning of a National Convention.
August 19:
Lafayette
flees to Austria. Invasion
of France by Coalition troops led by Duke
of Brunswick.
August 22:
Royalist riots in Brittany,
La Vendée and Dauphiné.
September
3–7: The September Massacres
of prisoners in the Paris prisons.
September
19: Dissolution of Legislative Assembly.
September
20: First session of National Convention.
French Army stops advance of Coalition troops at Valmy.
September
21: Abolition of royalty and proclamation of the First
French Republic.
December
3: Louis XVI brought to trial, appears before the National Convention (11 &
23 December). Robespierre
argues that "Louis must die, so that the country may live".
1793
January
21: Citizen Louis Capet guillotined,
formerly known as Louis XVI.
March 7:
Outbreak of rebellion against the Revolution: War in the Vendée.
March 11: Revolutionary
Tribunal established in Paris.
April 6: Committee of
Public Safety established.
June 2:
Arrest of Girondist
deputies to National Convention by Jacobins.
June 10:
Jacobins gain control of the Committee of Public Safety.
June 24:
Ratification of new Constitution
by National Convention, but not yet proclaimed. Slavery is abolished in France.
July 13: Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday.
July 27: Robespierre elected to Committee of
Public Safety.
August 23:
Levée en masse
(conscription) order.
September
5: Start of Reign of Terror.
September
9: Establishment of sans-culottes
paramilitary forces - revolutionary armies.
September
17: Law of Suspects
passed.
September
22: A new calendar
is introduced, denoting September 22, 1792 as being the start of year I.
October
16: Marie Antoinette
guillotined.
October
21: An anti-clerical
law passed, priests and supporters liable to death on sight.
October
31: The 21 Girondist deputies guillotined.
November
10: Celebration of the Goddess
of Reason at Cathedral of Notre Dame which
was re-dedicated as the Temple of Reason.
December
4: Law of 14 Frimaire (Law of Revolutionary Government) passed; power becomes
centralized on the Committee of Public Safety.
December
23: Anti-Republican forces in the Vendée finally defeated and 6000 prisoners
executed.
1794
March 24:
Hébert and leaders of the Cordeliers
guillotined.
March 30: Danton, Desmoulins and
their supporters (left wing of the Revolution) arrested.
April 5:
Danton and Desmoulins guillotined.
May 7:
National Convention, led by Robespierre, passes decree to establish the Cult of the
Supreme Being.
June 8:
Festival of the Supreme Being on the Champ de Mars.
July 27-28: Night of 9-10 Thermidor - Robespierre arrested, guillotined
without trial, along with other members of the Committee of Public Safety. End
of the Reign of Terror. Also called The Thermidorian Reaction.
November
11: Closure of Jacobin Club.
1795
May 31:
Suppression of the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal.
July 14:
Marseillaise accepted as the French National Anthem.
August 22:
1795
Constitution ratified - bicameral system, executive Directory of five.
October 5:
13 Vendémiaire –
Napoleon Bonaparte’s "whiff of grapeshot" quells Paris left wing
insurrection.
October
26: National Convention dissolved.
November
2: Executive Directory
takes on executive power. The leading director is Barras.
1796
March 9: Marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte
and Josephine.
May 10: Battle of Lodi (Napoleon
in Italy)
1797 - October 17: Treaty of Campo
Formio
1798 - February: Roman
Republic proclaimed
April: Helvetian Republic
proclaimed
May 11: Law of 22
Floréal Year VI - Council elections annulled, left wing deputies excluded
from Council.
July: Bonaparte invades Egypt. Battle of the
Pyramids
The Consulate
1799
August 24:
Napoleon leaves Egypt to return to France. November 9: The Coup d'État of 18
Brumaire: end of the Directory. December
24: Constitution
of the Year VIII - leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte established under the Consulate. French Revolution may
be considered ended. Dec 25. Napoleon,
First Consul; Cambacérès, Second Consul; Lebrun, Third Consul.
1800
May and
June. Marengo campaign. Napoleon commences passage
of St. Bernard; 2d June, enters Milan; 14th June, battle of Marengo; 15th
June; Genoa and Italian fortresses surrender to French. Feb 9. Treaty of
Luneville between France and Germany; Venice partitioned; left bank of Rhine
and the Austrian Netherlands secured to France.
1801
Oct 1.
Preliminaries of peace between France and England signed at London. Mar 27. Treaty
of Amiens; England restores all conquests except Ceylon and Trinidad. Jul 15. Concordat with Rome; Roman Catholic
religion restored in France.
1802 - Aug
4.--Napoleon First Consul for life.
1803 - Mar 5.--Civil
Code (later, Code Napoléon) decreed. May.--War between France and England.
The First Empire
1804 - Mar 21.--Duc
d'Enghien shot at Vincennes. May 18.Napoleon becomes Empereur des Francais;
crowned 2d December.
1805 - Ulm campaign;
25th September, Napoleon crosses the Rhine; 14th October, battle of Elchingen;
20th October, Mack surrenders Ulm. Oct
21. Battle of Trafalgar. Dec 2. Russians and Austrians defeated at Austerlitz. Dec 26.--Treaty of
Presburg; Austria cedes her share of Venetian lands to Kingdom of Italy, and
the Tyrol to Bavaria, which, with Würtemberg, is recognized as a Kingdom.
1806
Feb
15.--Joseph Bonaparte enters Naples as King. June 5.--Louis Bonaparte, King of
Holland. Jena campaign with Prussia. Battle of Saalfeld, 10th October; battles
of Jena and of Auerstadt, 14th October; Berlin occupied, 25th October.
1807
Feb
8.--Battle of Eylau with Russians, indecisive; 14th June, battle of Friedland,
decisive. Jul 7. Treaty of Tilsit. Prussia partitioned; Polish provinces
forming Duchy of Warsaw under Saxony; provinces on left of Elbe, with Hesse
Cassel, made into Kingdom of Westphalia for Jerôme Bonaparte.
1808
Mar.--French,
under Murat, gradually occupy Spain under pretense of march on Portugal; 2d
May, insurrection at Madrid; 9th May, treaty of Bayonne; Charles IV. Of Spain
cedes throne; Joseph Bonaparte transferred from Naples to Spain; replaced at
Naples by Murat.
1809
Campaign
of Wagram. 10 April; battle of Abensberg 20th April; Echmuhl 22 April; Napoleon
occupies Vienna, 13th May; beaten back at Essling, 22d May; finally crosses
Danube, 4th July, and defeats Austrians at Wagram,
6th July; Armistice of Znaim, 12th July. Dec 15-16. Josephine divorced.
1810 - Apr 1 and 2. Marriage
of Napoleon, aged 40, with Marie Louise, aged 18.
1811 - Mar 20. The King of Rome, son of Napoleon, born.
1812 - Jun 23. War with Russia; Napoleon crosses the
Niemen; 7th September, battle of Moskwa or Borodino; Napoleon enters Moscow,
14th September; commences his retreat, 19th October. Nov 26-28. Passage of the
Beresina; 5th December, Napoleon leaves his army; arrives at Paris, 18th December.
1813 - Leipzig
campaign. Despite intial victories Napoleon is finally beaten in October.
1814
Allies
advance into France. March, allies commence their march on Paris; 29th March,
Empress and Court leave Paris. Mar 30.--First Treaty of Paris; France
restricted to limits of 1792. Apr 2. Senate declares the dethronement of
Napoleon, who abdicates, conditionally, on 4th April in favour of his son, and
unconditionally on 6th April; on 11th April Napoleon signs the treaty giving
him Elba for life; 20th April, Napoleon takes leave of the Guard at
Fontainebleau; 3d May, Louis XVIII
enters Paris; 4th May, Napoleon lands at Elba. Oct 3. Congress of Vienna meets
for settlement of Europe.
1815
Feb
26.--Napoleon quits Elba; lands near Cannes, 1st March; 19th March, Louis XVIII
leaves Paris; 20th March, Napoleon enters Paris. 18th June, Battle of Waterloo. Jun 29 Napoleon
leaves Malmaison for Rochefort; surrenders to English, 15th July; sails for St.
Helena. Nov 20 Second Treaty of Paris; France restricted to limits of 1790;
losing Savoy, pays an indemnity, and receives an army of occupation.
