Search Results
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13 Apr 1747 - 6 Nov 1793Life of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, also known as Philippe Égalité. Head of the House of Orléans, and a supporter of the French Revolution.
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22 Oct 1761 - 29 Nov 1793Life of Antoine Barnave, French revolutionary leader.
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11 Jun 1775Coronation of King Louis XVI of France.
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1781Jacques Necker, French Director of Finance, publishes the Compte rendu au roi, the first record of royal finances ever made public.
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Jan 1789Abbé Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès publishes his influential pamphlet "What is the Third Estate?"
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5 May 1789The Estates-General convenes in Versailles for the first time in 175 years.
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11 Jul 1789Jacques Necker, popular Chief Minister of France, is fired from King Louis XVI's cabinet for a second time and ordered into exile.
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12 Jul 1789 - 14 Jul 1789The 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.
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14 Jul 1789The Bastille in Paris is stormed.
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15 Jul 1789Lafayette is appointed commander of the newly formed National Guard, and charged with keeping order in Paris.
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c. 19 Jul 1789 - c. 6 Aug 1789The Great Fear sweeps across the French countryside, as peasants attack the feudal estates of the nobility.
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4 Aug 1789The National Constituent Assembly discards their privileges, decides to abolish feudalism in France.
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11 Aug 1789In France, the August Decrees are passed.
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26 Aug 1789France's National Assembly approves a final version of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
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Oct 1789The Women's March on Versailles increases demand for a French constitutional monarchy, relocates the royal family to the Tuileries Palace in Paris.
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5 Oct 1789 - 6 Oct 1789Women's March on Versailles; King Louis XVI of France is forcibly moved to Paris.
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Jan 1790The National Assembly passes a decree making Corsica a department of France; Corsican hero Pasquale Paoli is invited back from exile after 22 years.
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13 Feb 1790The National Assembly abolishes monastic vows in France.
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12 Jul 1790The Civil Constitution of the Clergy is passed, making the French Catholic Church subordinate to the French government.
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14 Jul 1790Lafayette helps organize and lead the Fete de Federation, a festival celebrating the French Revolution. He takes an oath swearing loyalty to the nation, the law and the king.
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20 Jun 1791 - 21 Jun 1791The Flight to Varennes, an attempted escape by the French royal family from Paris, is foiled; public disdain for the monarchy increases.
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17 Jul 1791National Guard soldiers under Lafayette's command open fire at an anti-monarchy demonstration at the Champ de Mars in Paris. Several French citizens are killed.
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27 Aug 1791The Declaration of Pillnitz is issued by Austria and Prussia, threatening war against France should any harm befall the French royal family.
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3 Sep 1791France's National Assembly adopts the Constitution of 1791, with the Declaration of the Rights of Man serving as a preamble.
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Mar 1792Napoleon Bonaparte is elected lieutenant colonel of the Corsican National Guard; weeks later, he suppresses an Easter Sunday uprising in Ajaccio.
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20 Apr 1792Revolutionary France declares war on Austria, sparking the War of the First Coalition.
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29 Apr 1792French General Theobald Dillon is butchered by his own soldiers.
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11 Jun 1792King Louis XVI of France vetoes rulings by the Legislative Assembly, angering many.
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20 Jun 1792King Louis XVI is accosted in the Tuileries Palace by a swarm of sans-culottes; he is forced to wear a liberty cap and drink a toast to the nation.
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9 Aug 1792The Insurrectionary Commune gains power in Paris, stripping authority from the king and Legislative Assembly.
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10 Aug 1792Insurrectionists storm the Tuileries Palace in Paris, massacring the Swiss Guards; King Louis XVI of France is imprisoned in the Temple prison fortress two days later.
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13 Aug 1792The family of Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette are imprisoned in the Tower of the Temple.
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2 Sep 1792 - 7 Sep 1792Between 1,100-1,400 prisoners, or half of Paris' total prison population, are killed in the September Massacres.
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20 Sep 1792The Battle of Valmy results in a French victory over Prussian invaders.
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21 Sep 1792The National Convention abolishes the French Monarchy during the French Revolution.
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21 Sep 1792The First French Republic is established.
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21 Jan 1793King Louis XVI of France, now known as Citizen Louis Capet, is executed by guillotine.
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6 Apr 1793The Committee of Public Safety is set up by the National Convention.
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24 Apr 1793The trial of Jean-Paul Marat results in his acquittal, and is a major blow to the Girondins.
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4 May 1793The National Convention passes the "law of the maximum" which imposes a price cap on grain and wheat.
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31 May 1793 - 2 Jun 1793The Insurrections of 31 May-02 June 1793 lead to the arrests of prominent Girondins and the political purge of their faction.
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Jul 1793Napoleon publishes his pro-Jacobin pamphlet Le Souper de Beaucaire, gaining the notice of Jacobin leader Augustin Robespierre.
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27 Jul 1793Maximilien Robespierre elected to the Committee of Public Safety; the National Convention institutes death penalty for hoarders of goods.
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14 Oct 1793 - 15 Oct 1793Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried before the Revolutionary Tribunal. She is found guilty of high treason and is sentenced to death.
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31 Oct 179321 leading Girondins, including Vergniaud and Brissot, are executed.
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9 Aug 1794 - 20 Aug 1794Following the Thermidorian Reaction, Napoleon Bonaparte is arrested in connection to the Robespierres; he is eventually released.
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5 Oct 1795During the French Revolution, the royalist revolt of 13 Vendemiaire is crushed by Napoleon Bonaparte.