To navigate the timeline, click and drag it with your mouse, or click on the timeline overview on the bottom.
1400 CE
1410 CE
1420 CE
1430 CE
1440 CE
1450 CE
1460 CE
1470 CE
1480 CE
1490 CE
1500 CE
1510 CE
1520 CE
1530 CE
1540 CE
1550 CE
1560 CE
1570 CE
1580 CE
1590 CE
1600 CE
1610 CE
1620 CE
1630 CE
1640 CE
1650 CE
1660 CE
1670 CE
1680 CE
1690 CE
1700 CE
1710 CE
1720 CE
1730 CE
1740 CE
1750 CE
1760 CE
1770 CE
1780 CE
1790 CE
1400 CE: The fortress of the Bastille in Paris is converted into a state prison.
1789 CE: France's three estates are reconciled into a unified National Assembly; the Estates-General concludes.
1789 CE: The Bastille fortress, symbol of the tyranny of the French monarchy, is demolished.
1789 CE: The National Assembly asks King Louis XVI of France to withdraw the troops concentrated around Paris. He refuses.
1789 CE: Jacques Necker, popular Chief Minister of France, is fired from King Louis XVI's cabinet for a second time and ordered into exile.
1789 CE: The dismissal of Jacques Necker causes over 6,000 Parisians to take to the streets. They fight with soldiers, burn toll booths, and raid armories and gunsmiths for weapons.
1789 CE: The Bastille in Paris is stormed.
1789 CE: The Comte d'Artois, Louis XVI's brother, flees Versailles with other royalists after the Storming of the Bastille, becoming the first wave of emigres to flee the French Revolution.
1790 CE: The Fete de la Federation is celebrated in France to mark the first anniversary of the fall of the Bastille; the first time 14 July is celebrated as a national holiday.