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'Timeline of the French Revolution'

Contents

Events preceding but pertinent to the French Revolution

Financial crisis and Assembly of Notables

Estates-General and Constituent Assembly

Legislative Assembly

The National Convention

The Directory

Beginning of the Napoleonic Era

Events preceding but pertinent to the French Revolution

★ The Enlightenment, which led to many European writers criticising the Monarchy and espousing democratic, liberalist, nationalist and socialist ideas.
'1740'

★ War of Austrian Succession - which caused the French monarchy to fall heavily into debt.
'1756'

★ Start of Seven Years' War - which caused the situation to become increasingly more serious.
'1774'

★ Coronation of Louis XVI at Reims
'1776'

★ Louis XVI dismisses his finance minister, Turgot

★ Start of the American War of Independence (1776-1783)
'1778'

★ France declares war against Britain in support of the American colonies - the subsequent war worsens the debt situation further.
'1783'

★ Treaty of Paris ends the American War - the success of the American colonists against a European power increases the ambitions of those wishing for reform in France
'1785'

★ The Diamond Necklace Affair results in the discrediting of Marie Antoinette

Financial crisis and Assembly of Notables

'1786'

★ August 20: Finance minister Calonne informs Louis that the royal finances are insolvent

★ December 29: The Assembly of Notables is convoked
'1787'

★ February 22: First Assembly of Notables meets against a background of state financial instability and general resistance by the nobility to the imposition of taxes and fiscal reforms.

★ March: Calonne's publication of his proposals and the intransigence of the Notables leads to a public clash and impasse

★ April 8: Louis dismisses both Calonne and the keeper of the seals, or minister of justice, Miromesnil, in an attempt to break the impasse

★ April 13: Louis appoints Lamoignon keeper of the seals

★ April 30: The Archbishop of Toulouse and vocal leader of the higher clergy, Loménie de Brienne is appointed chief minister of state

★ May 25: The first Assembly of Notables is dissolved

★ June: Brienne sends edicts for tax reform legislation to the parlements for registration

★ July 2: Parlement of Paris overwhelmingly rejects the royal legislation

★ August 6: Legislation passed at a ''lit de justice''. Subsequently the parlement declares the registration was illegal. Supported by public opinion, it initiates criminal proceedings against the disgraced Calonne

★ August 15: Louis dismisses the Parisian parlement and orders the parlementaires to remove themselves to Troyes

★ August 19: Louis orders the closure of all political clubs in Paris

★ September: Civil uprest in the Dutch republic leads to its invasion by the Prussian army, and increases tensions in Paris. Brienne backs down with his legislative demands, settling for an extension of the vingtième tax, and the parlementaires are allowed to return to Paris.

★ November 19: A royal session of the Paris parlements for registration of new loans turns into an informal ''lit de justice'' when Louis doesn't allow a vote to be taken

★ November 20: The vocal opposition of the duc d'Orléans leads to his temporary exile by ''lettres de cachet'', and the arrest and imprisonment of two magistrates
'1788'

★ May 6: Orders for the arrest of two Parisian parlementaires, d'Eprémesnil and Goislard, who are most implacably opposed to the government reforms, are issued; the parlement declares its solidarity with the two magistrates

★ May 7: d'Eprémesnil and Goislard are imprisoned

★ May 8: Judicial reforms partly abolishing the power of parlements to review legislation are forced through the parlements by Lamoignon in a ''lit de justice'' timed to coincide with military sessions

★ June: Outcry over the enforced reforms ensues, and courts across France refuse to sit

★ July 5: Brienne begins to consider calling an Estates-General

★ August 8: After being informed that the royal treasury is empty, Brienne sets May 1 1789 as the date for the Estates-General in an attempt to restore confidence with his creditors

★ August 16: Repayments on government loans stop, and the French government effectively declares bankruptcy

★ Late August: Brienne resigns, and Jacques Necker replaces him as Minister of Finance; de Lomenie, Archbishop of Toulouse is made chief minister

★ September: Necker releases those arrested for criticising Brienne's ministry, leading to a proliferation of political pamphlets

★ September 14: Lamoignon resigns

★ November: The relapse of the ban on political clubs leads to the establishment of the "Society of Thirty" in Paris

★ November 6: Necker convenes a second Assembly of Notables to discuss the Estates-General

★ December 12: The second Assembly of Notables is dismissed, having firmly refused to consider doubling the representation of the Third Estate

★ December 27: Prompted by public controversy, Necker announces that the representation of the Third will be doubled, and that nobles and clergymen will be able to stand for the same
'1789'

★ January 24: The Estates-General is convoked for the first time since 1614

★ April 27 - The Reveillon riots in Paris

Estates-General and Constituent Assembly

★ May 5: Meeting of the Estates-General

★ June 10: The Third Estate (''Tiers Etat'') (commons) votes for the common verification of credentials, in opposition to the First Estate (the clergy) and the Second Estate (the aristocracy)

★ June 13: Some priests from the First Estate choose to join the Third Estate

★ June 17: The Third Estate (commons) declares itself to be the National Assembly

★ June 20: Third Estate/National Assembly are locked out of meeting houses by royal decree; the Third Estate chooses to continue despite decree and decides upon a declarative vow, known as the "serment au Jeu de Paume" (The Tennis Court Oath), not to dissolve until the constitution has been established

★ June 23: Two companies of French guards mutiny in the face of public unrest. Louis XVI puts forward his 35-point program aimed at allowing the continuation of the three estates.

★ June 24: 48 nobles, headed by the Duke of Orleans, side with the Third Estate. A significant number of the clergy follow their example.

★ June 27: Louis orders the First and Second estates to join the Third.

★ June 30: Large crowd storms left bank prison and frees mutinous French Guards

★ July 1: Louis recruits more troops, among them many foreign mercenaries

★ July 9: National Assembly reconstitutes itself as National Constituent Assembly

★ July 11: Necker dismissed by Louis; populace sack the monasteries, ransack aristocrats homes in search of food and weapons

★ July 12: The Prince de Lambesc appears at the Tuilleries with an armed guard.

★ July 14: Storming of the Bastille; de l'Aulnay, (the governor), Foulon (the Secretary of State) and de Flesselle (the then equivalent of the mayor of Paris), 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.

★ 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

★ September 11 The National Assembly grants suspensive veto to the King; King fails to ratify the August acts of the National Assembly.

★ 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 at Versailles stormed.
Louis and the National Assembly move to Paris.

★ November 2: Church property nationalized and otherwise expropriated

★ December 12 ''Assignats'' are used as legal tender
'1790'

★ February 13 Suppression of monastic vows and religious orders

★ March 29: Pope Pius condemns the Declaration of the Rights of Man in secret consistory.

★ 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: The first Fete of Federation begins, celebrating the fall of the Bastille.

★ July: Growing power of the clubs (including: Cordeliers, Jacobin Club)

★ July: Reorganisation of Paris

★ August 16 The ''parlements'' are abolished

★ September: Fall of Necker
'1791'

★ January 30: Mirabeau elected President of the Assembly

★ February 28: Day of Daggers; Lafayette orders the arrest of 400 armed aristocrats at the Tuileries

★ March 2: Abolition of trade guilds

★ March 10: Pope Pius condemns the Civil Constitution of the Clergy

★ April 2: Death of Mirabeau

★ April 13: Papal bull, ''Cavitas'', condemning the Civil Constitution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is published

★ April 18: Louis and Marie-Antoinette prevented from traveling to Saint-Cloud for Easter

★ June 14: Le Chapelier law banning trade unions is passed by National Assembly

★ June 20–25: Royal family's flight to Varennes

★ June 25: Louis XVI forced to return to Paris

★ July 10: Leopold II issues the Padua Circular calling on the royal houses of Europe to come to his brother-in-law, Louis XVI's aid.

★ July 14: Second Anniversary of the fall of the Bastille is celebreated at the Champs de Mars.

★ July 15: National Assembly declares the king to be inviolable and he is reinstated.

★ July 17: Champ de Mars massacre in which the National Guard fire on protestors against the reinstatement of the king

★ August 14: Slave revolts in Saint Domingue (Haiti)

★ August 27: Declaration of Pillnitz (Frederick William II and Leopold II)

★ September 13–14: Louis XVI accepts the Constitution formally

★ September 30: Dissolution of the National Constituent Assembly

Legislative Assembly

★ October 1: Legislative Assembly meets

★ November 9 All ''emigrés'' are ordered by the Assembly to return under threat of death

★ November 11 Louis vetoes the ruling of the Assembly on ''emigrés''.
'1792'

★ January – March : Food riots in Paris

★ February 7: Alliance of Austria and Prussia

★ April 20: French declare war against Austria

★ August 10–13: Storming of the Tuileries Palace. Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody, along with his family

★ August 19 Lafayette flees to Austria

★ August 22 Royalist riots in Brittany, La Vendée and Dauphiné

★ September 2–7: The September Massacres

★ September 22 First day of the French Revolutionary Calendar.

The National Convention

★ September 20: Battle of Valmy

★ September 20: Final sessions of the Legislative Assembly and first meeting of the National Convention; unanimous vote for the abolition of the monarchy

★ September 20: France declared a Republic by the National Convention

★ October 10: The terms ''monsieur'' and ''madame'' are banned by decree, to be replaced with ''citoyen'' and ''citoyenne''

★ December 11: Commencement of the trial of Louis XVI before the Convention
'1793'

★ January 14: The Convention votes almost unanimously in affirmation of Louis' guilt

★ January 17: A sentence of death is imposed on the King by the majority of a single vote 271-188 with 72 abstentions.

★ January 21: Execution of Louis XVI

★ February 1: War declared against Britain, Holland, Spain

★ February 14: France annexes Monaco

★ March: Royalist revolt in the Vendée

★ March 10: Establishment of the Revolutionary Tribunal

★ April 6: Power centered in the Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security

★ June 2: Arrest of 31 Girondist deputies

★ June 24: Ratification of the Constitution of 1793 (the Constitution was never put into effect)

★ July 12: Royalist revolt in Toulon

★ July 13: Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat

★ July 27: Robespierre joins the Committee of Public Safety

★ August 23: Levy of entire male population, the ''Levée en masse''

★ September 17: Passing of the Law of Suspects

★ September 29: Passing of the ''Law of Maximum Général'', a comprehensive program of wage and price controls

★ October 9: Lyon retaken by republicans from rebelling federalists

★ October 16: Execution of Marie Antoinette

★ October 31: Execution of Girondist leaders

★ November 8: Madame Roland executed

★ November 10: Abolition of the worship of God: Cult of Reason

★ December: Retreat of the allies across the Rhine

★ December 19: English evacuate Toulon

★ December 23: Battle of Savenay crushes the royalist revolt in La Vendée
'1794'

★ January 19: English land in Corsica

★ February 4: Abolition of slavery in colonies

★ March 24: Execution of the Hébertists

★ April 2: Trial of Danton begins

★ April 6: Execution of the Dantonists

★ May 7: Beginning of Cult of the Supreme Being

★ June 8: Festival of the Supreme Being

★ June 10: Law of 22 Prairial

★ June 26: Battle of Fleurus (1794) (French victory in Belgium)

★ July 2-July 13: Battle of the Vosges (French victory on the Rhine)

★ July 27: Fall of Maximilien Robespierre (9 Thermidor)

★ July 28: Robespierre executed by guillotine

★ December 24: Repeal of ''maximum''
'1795'

★ March 5: Peace of Basel (Prussia withdraws from war)

★ April 1: Bread riots in Paris

★ June 8: Death of the dauphin (Louis XVII)

★ August 22: Constitution of 1795

The Directory

★ October 5: 13 Vendémiaire - Napoleon's "whiff of grapeshot"

★ October 26: Convention dissolved; Directory begins
'1796'

★ March 5: War against the Holy Roman Empire

★ March 9: Marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine

★ May 10: Battle of Lodi (Napoleon in Italy)

★ June 4: Beginning of the Siege of Mantua
'1797'

★ April 18: Preliminary Peace of Leoben

★ July 8: Cisalpine Republic established

★ September 4: ''Coup d'Etat'' at Paris (republicans over reactionaries)

★ October 17: Treaty of Campo Formio
'1798'

★ February: Roman Republic proclaimed

★ April: Helvetian Republic proclaimed

★ July 21: Battle of the Pyramids

★ August 1: Battle of the Nile

★ December 24: Alliance between Russia and Britain
'1799 '

★ June 17–19: Battle of the Trebia (Suvorov defeats French)

★ August 24: Napoleon leaves Egypt

★ October 22: Russians withdraw from coalition

Beginning of the Napoleonic Era

There is no precise date for the beginning of the Napoleonic Era. The coup of 18 Brumaire produced the effective dissolution of the Directory; the constitution some six weeks later produced its formal end.

★ November 9: The Coup d'Etat of 18 Brumaire: end of the Directory

★ December 24: Constitution of the Year VIII: Dictatorship of Napoleon established under the Consulate