Timeline of the French Revolution

Timeline of the French Revolution, with links to great French Revolution facts sites,

1745 onwards

The Enlightenment, which led to many European writers criticising more so, than before the Monarchy & espousing democratic, socialist, liberalist, & new kinds of nationalist 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 & 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 & general resistance by the nobility to the imposition of taxes & fiscal reforms.
March: Calonne's publication of his proposals & the intransigence of the Notables leads to a public clash & impasse
April 8: Louis dismisses both Calonne & 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 & 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 & 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, & increases tensions in Paris. Brienne backs down with his legislative demands, settling for an extension of the vingtième tax, & 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, & the arrest & imprisonment of two magistrates
1788

May 6: Orders for the arrest of two Parisian parlementaires, d'Eprémesnil & 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 & 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, & 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, & the French government effectively declares bankruptcy
Late August: Brienne resigns, & 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, & that nobles & 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 & 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) & 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 as a 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 & 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 & Second estates to join the Third.
June 30: Large crowd storms left bank prison & 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 & 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) & 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 & a number of urban disturbances & revolts
August 4: Surrender of feudal rights : The August Decrees
August 27: Declaration of the Rights of Man & of the Citizen approved by the National Assembly
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 & the National Assembly move to Paris.

November 2: Church property nationalized & otherwise expropriated
December 12 Assignats are used as legal tender
1790

February 13 Suppression of monastic vows & 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) & 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 Why the French Revolution was good

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 & the Declaration of the Rights of Man & of the Citizen is published
April 18: Louis & 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 & 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 & 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 Washington
February 7: Alliance of Austria & Prussia
April 20: French declare war against Austria
August 10–13: Storming of the Tuileries Palace. Louis XVI of France is arrested & taken into custody, along with his family
August 19 Lafayette flees to Austria
August 22 Royalist riots in Brittany, La Vendée & 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 & 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 & madame are banned by decree, to be replaced with citoyen & 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 for treason, for trying to get foreign lands to invade France and make him Absolute dictator again, a act which started the period of wars.
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 & 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 & 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 & 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 & 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

Why the French Revolution was good

100s of Websites http://www.lonympics.co.uk/

An Index with links to almost all our sites.

A site on the El Nino Famines that killed 10s of millions of Indians, & Chinese & others in the 19th Century

The Highland Clearances & it's full terribleness

A Quiz on the French Revolution

A site condemning the bias against the left wing, in most history books.

A site on the Belgian Congo, & how the king of that land killed 10s of millions of Congolese

The most evil regimes of the 19th century

A defence of Voltaire

Gites de France

A site on 1640s Britain