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5 May 1789
The Third Estate knew that this couldn't serve them as the First and the Second Estate, which represented only 3% of the population, would be able to vote every time against them. They decided to ask for double representation. Necker supported this initiative, which increased his popularity significantly. On December 1788, the double representation of the Third Estate was granted by royal decree -
14 July 1789
The Storming of the Bastille (French: Prise de la Bastille [pʁiz də la bastij]) occurred in Paris, France, on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. -
26 August 1789
o the end that the acts of the legislative power and those of the executive power,
since they may be continually compared with the aim of every political institution,
may thereby be the more respected; to the end that the demands of the citizens,
founded henceforth on simple and incontestable principles, may always be
directed toward the maintenance of the Constitution and the happiness of all.
In consequence whereof, the National Assembly recognises and declares, in
the presence and under the a -
21 June 1791
The Flight to Varennes served as a major journee because it showed the National Assembly as well as the French people, that Louis XVI could no longer be trusted. While the Assembly had every intention of creating a limited or constitutional monarchy, after June 1791, such an idea became increasingly suspect. What follows here is an extract from Louis' "Declaration of the King Addressed to All the French About His Flight from Paris," (June 21, 1791). -
13 September 1791
Constitution of 1791, French constitution created by the National Assembly during the French Revolution. It retained the monarchy, but sovereignty effectively resided in the Legislative Assembly, which was elected by a system of indirect voting. -
10 August 1792
The war declared on 20 April 1792 against the King of Bohemia and Hungary (Austria) started badly. The initial battles were a disaster for the French, and Prussia joined Austria in active alliance against France. The blame for the disaster was thrown first upon the king and his ministers (Austrian Committee), and secondly upon the Brissotin party.[1] -
21 January 1793
In the neighbourhood of the present rue de Cléry, the Baron de Batz, a supporter of the Royal family who had financed the flight to Varennes, had summoned 300 Royalists to enable the King's escape. Louis was to be hidden in a house in the rue de Cléry belonging to the Count of Marsan. The Baron leaped forward calling "Follow me, my friends, let us save the King!", but his associates had been denounced and only a few had been able to turn up. Three of them were killed, but de Batz managed to esca -
14 October 1793
The daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, she married Louis in 1770 to strengthen the French-Austrian alliance. At a time of economic turmoil in France, she lived extravagantly and encouraged her husband to resist reform of the monarchy. In one episode, she allegedly responded to news that the French peasantry had no bread to eat by callously replying, “Let them eat cake.” The increasing revolutionary uproar convinced the king and queen to attempt an escape to Austria in 1791, but they w -
24 March 1794
Through the abuse of the liberum veto rule which enabled any deputy to paralyze the Sejm (Commonwealth's parliament) proceedings, deputies bribed by magnates or foreign powers or those simply content to believe they were living in an unprecedented "Golden Age", paralysed the Commonwealth's government for over a century. -
27 July 1794
In addition to widespread reaction to the Reign of Terror, Robespierre's tight personal control of the military, his distrust of military might and of banks, and his opposition to supposedly corrupt individuals in government, made him the subject of a number of conspiracies. The conspiracies came together on 9 Thermidor (27 July) when members of the national bodies of the revolutionary government arrested Robespierre as well as the leaders of the Paris city government.[1] In an attempt to sland -
5 October 1795
The social reforms of the French Revolution had been well received by the majority of the populace of France, but the Revolution's strongly anti-Catholic stance had created anti-republican sympathies in many Roman Catholics. In March 1793, this sentiment boiled over into an armed insurrection in the fiercely Catholic Vendée region of western France. -
26 October 1795
National Convention, French Convention Nationale , assembly that governed France from September 20, 1792, until October 26, 1795, during the most critical period of the French Revolution. The National Convention was elected to provide a new constitution for the country after the overthrow of the monarchy (August 10, 1792). The Convention numbered 749 deputies, including businessmen, tradesmen, and many professional men. Among its early acts were the formal abolition of the monarchy (September 2 -
17 September 1793
Maximilien Robespierre has always provoked strong feelings. For the English he is the ‘sea-green incorruptible’ portrayed by Carlyle, the repellent figure at the head of the Revolution, who sent thousands of people to their death under the guillotine. The French, for the most part, dislike his memory still more. There is no national monument to him, though many of the revolutionaries have had statues raised to them. Robespierre is still considered beyond the pale; only one rather shabby metro st