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Dec 5, 1492
Haitian Revolution ousted French Revolution
European navigator Christopher Columbus happened upon a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean. It was inhabited by the Taíno, an Arawakan people, who variously called their island Ayiti, Bohio, or Kiskeya (Quisqueya). Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, naming it La Isla Española -
Meeting of the Estates General
First meeting since 1614 of the French Estates General. Summoned my King Louis XVI to propose solutions to his government's financial problems. -
Storming of the Bastille
Occured in Paris, France, It was a medieval fortress and prison. It only contained 7 inmates when it "fell." At the time it was a symbol of the abuses of the monarchy. It's fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties -
Beginning of the Reign of Terror
A period of violence that occurred after onset of the French Revolution. Conflict between two rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution." -
Women March on Versailles
Their demonstrations quickly became intertwined with the activities of revolutionaries, who were seeking liberal political reforms and a constitutional monarchy for France. The market women and their various allies grew into a mob of thousands and, encouraged by revolutionary agitators, they ransacked the city armory for weapons and marched to the Palace of Versailles. -
King Louis XVI Execution
After being convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by French Nation Convention, King Louis XVI is executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris. -
British defeated at Toulon
An early Republican victory over a Royalist rebellion in the southern French city of Toulon. It is also called the Fall of Toulon. -
Maximilien Robespierre executed
As a member of the Estates-General, the Constituent Assembly and the Jacobin Club, he opposed the death penalty and advocated the abolition of slavery, while supporting equality of rights, universal male suffrage and the establishment of a republic. -
Creation of the Directory
The Directory was the government of France during the penultimate stage of the French Revolution. Administered by a collective leadership of five directors, it operated following the Committee of Public Safety and preceding the Consulate. -
Napoleon Crowns Himself Emperor
Napoleon wanted to establish in the mind of France legitimacy of his Imperial reign, with its new royal family and new nobility. Napoleon's elevation to Emperor was overwhelmingly approved by the French citizens in a referendum. Among Napoleon's motivations for being crowned were to gain prestige in international royalist and Catholic milieux and to lay the foundation for a future d -
Portugal is occupied by France
The military operation resulted in the almost bloodless occupation of Portugal because its government lacked the will to resist. However, the French presence was challenged by the Portuguese people and by the United Kingdom in 1808. The invasion marked the start of the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. -
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna. The objective of the Congress was to provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Goal was to resize the main powers so could balance each other off and remain at peace. -
Battle of Waterloo / Napoleon’s 2nd Abdication and Exile
After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, instead of remaining in the field with his shattered army Napoleon returned to Paris in the hope of retaining political support for his position as Emperor of the French. With his political base secured he hoped to then be able to continue the war. The British Government refused to allow Napoleon to set foot in England and arranged for his exile to the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena where he died in 1821.
