Time Line of the French Revolution 1789-1815

5 May 1789 Louis XVI recalls the Estates-General

• The French monarchy on the verge of bankruptcy by 1788 due to wars; the loss of valuable colonies and support for the American Revolutionary war (combined with a weak economy)

• Desperate to raise money, King Louis XVI recalled his former finance minister, Jacques Necker and decided to recall the Estates-General

• This was the legislative body of ancient regime, made up of representative of the three estates, or levels of society

• Although limited in power, the Estates-General did have the right to approve or veto any new taxes or increases in taxes

• For the previous 175 years, absolute monarchs of France had been able to avoid calling the Estates-General by extracting money from overseas colonies and other sources

• King was forced to take this radical step in the hope that the Estates-General would agree to increase taxes in exchange for some minor political and constitutional reforms

• Recalling the Estates-General sparked a series of events that turned into the French Revolution and signaled the (temporary) end of the monarchy in France

20 June 1789The Tennis Court Oath

• Estates-Generals meet (this includes all three estates)

• Third estate arrive and they realize they had been locked out of the hall

• They believed this was an blatant attempt by the King to end their demands for reform

• Fearful and worried that the King had planned to disperse of the Third Estate by force, the group retreats to a nearby tennis court

• Swore to stay together until a constitution was made

• Higher ranked Estates joined the Third Estate (ie. Abbe Sieyes – First Estate)

Tennis Court Oath (1789) – Jacques Louis David

14 July 1789 The Fall of the Bastille

• people of Paris rose up and decided to march on the Bastille, a state prison that stood for the absolute despotism of the Ancient Regime

• raid symbolically planned because the Bastille signified French oppressive power and signified justice of unlawful, criminal acts against one’s country, which the Third Estate felt the Second Estate were guilty of committing

• home to seven inmates however, claims were made that Bastille was also home to fire arms and ammunitions used by those friendly with the King

• was a violent act of protest

• upon storming the Bastille, the crowds freed criminals and began slaughtering anyone in their way

• final acts of violence allowed the “ball” of the French Revolution to gain speed and power to the Third Estate

Anonymous - Prise de la Bastille

1791 Slavery is abolished in France

• slavery was common in Europe

• by 1792 – ships were delivering up to 38,000 slaves a year

• most in favour of slavery esp. political leaders (not leaders of the Enlightenment) and property owners

• seen as supporting the economy – without it commerce would collapse

• Voltaire called attention to the fact that hundreds of thousands of slaves were dying just so Europeans could have things like sugar, tea, and cocoa

• Rousseau could not bear to see his fellow human beings being turned into beasts for the service of other people

• Finally resolved during the French Revolution when the National Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man which declared the equality of all men

1792 France declared a Republic

• Legislative Assembly dissolved and the Convention convened

• First act was the abolition of the monarchy

• Membership of Convention consisted of 750 men, including 189 deputies from previous assemblies (mostly lawyers, although two workers, a peasant, and 23 former nobles

• Black deputy who lived in France, but who represented the sugar colony (Haiti)

• They sat in a semi-circle facing the president, radicals on the left and conservative opponents on the right, the majority seated themselves in the middle

• From this, the modern terminology of the political left & right come

January 1793 Louis XVI is executed by guillotine

• Jacobins signaled their determination to break free from Europe’s past by executing Louis rather than imprisoning

• Occurred after the proclamation of the new republic by the Convention (January 21)

• Went on trial and sentence to death with a closed vote

• The guillotine was a symbol of the French Revolution

• After the death - there were struggles between the groups of deputies in the Convention -- Jacobins and Girondins

• Death of King affected the French Revolution based on the fact that it would almost be impossible to go back to a monarchy

1793 –1794 The Reign of Terror

• Period of the revolution characterized by a wave of executions of enemies of the state

• Directed by the Committee of Public Safety, the terror was essentially a war dictatorship, instituted to rule the country in a national emergency

• Designed to fight the enemies of the revolution, to prevent counter-revolution from gaining ground

• Most people rounded up were ordinary people not aristocrats

• Most believed “It was dreadful but necessary”

1794 The Terror reaches its height and Robespierre falls from power

• Maximilien Marie Isidore de Robespierre born of Irish descent on May 6, 1758 (advocate in 1781)

• Elected to the Estates-General in 1789 and attached himself to the extreme left

• Influence grew daily and people admired him

• Was the driving force behind the reign of terror and most powerful and influential man in France

• Forced mass executions with the guillotine – 1,376 people were guillotined in only 47 days

• Any who opposed the killings were executed

• Many committee members felt he was too powerful and out of control; turned on him because they thought their lives were in danger; declared an outlaw: no one knew who was on his execution list

• His motion for the executions was removed; he and his committee members were arrested

• Executed along with his followers by guillotine on July 1794

1794-1796The oligarchy known as the Directory fails to establish order in France

• Group of five men who held the executive power in the third year of the French Revolution

• Decision was made through three committees, The Legislature, the Council of Five Hundred, and the Council of Ancients

• Each year one of the members would be replaced

• The two councils chose the man who was to be replaced

• Directory established during a time when France was nearly bankrupt

• Directory helped the French Revolution because the corruption angered the French people and created an uprising

• September 1797 some conservative members ousted, and old measures against the church were revived

• Lost control of foreign policies to Napoleon, and Napoleon’s actions were responsible for the Second Coalition of France

• Military of 1799 brought the discontent with the Directory to a head, invasion was stopped, opposing forces defeated

• Abbe Sieyes, elected director in 1799, put Napoleon in power and replaced the Directory with the Consulate

1799 Napoleon seizes power in a coup d’etat

• Helped by Abbe Sieyes who prepares the Coup of 18 Brumaire (French calendar year – October –November)

• He returns from Egypt to save France

• November 9, 1799 Napoleon is put in charge of the council’s safety

• November 10,1799 Napoleon storms the deputies’ chamber with a small force of soldiers and forms a coup within a coup

• Motion is made by the Council of Five Hundred to declare Napoleon an outlaw

1804 Code Napoleon declared the new constitution in France & Napoleon crowns himself emperor

• First successful legal code and strongly influenced the law of many other countries

• Dealt with civil issues ie personal status, property and acquisition of property

• Shaped the civil law for Quebec

• Code so impressive that by 1960 over 70 different states either modeled their own laws after them or adopted them verbatim

• Appoints himself “Premier Council” or “First Council”; eventually crowns himself Emperor of France

1805 Napoleon’s victory at Austerlitz

• Regarded as Napoleon Bonaparte’s greatest victory, Austerlitz was a sublime trap that destroyed the armies of his enemies Russia and Austria

• Tricking his opponents into thinking he was weaker than he actually was, and then calling in nearby reinforcements, Bonaparte initially met the combined Allied army of 85,000 men and 278 guns with just 66,000 men

• After much hard fighting the French crushed the Allies. Thousands of fleeing troops drowned when a frozen lake split under the weight of men and guns

• French losses amounted to 8000 while the Russian and Austrian emperors, present at the battle, saw more than 27,000 men killed, wounded and captured. Bonaparte also captured 180 cannon

• Motive –Land acquisition

Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz - François Gérard

1814 Napoleon fails in his attempt to conquer Europe and Russia

• He places blame on Russia for the economic instability of his nation• 600 000 men – army to attack Moscow• No major battle, therefore to decisive victory; however, death toll was

high due to insufficient resources and Partisan attacks by the Russians• Despite high losses, Napoleon still arrives in Moscow, finding it already

burned by the retreating Russian army• Lack of men – Napoleon retreats, and loses even more men as a result

of the harsh Russian winter for which they were unprepared• Austria, Britain, Russia, Prussia and Sweden form an alliance against

France (seeing Napoleon’s weaknesses• Due to number of defeats, Napoleon loses Spain, Germany, Holland,

Switzerland, and Italy, significantly reducing the span of the French empire

1814 Napoleon fails in his attempt to conquer Europe and Russia

• Napoleon is offered a peace treaty if they reduced France to its original size – Napoleon refuses

• Raises a new army and wins a number of battles• Loses a decisive battle at Leipzig and retreats to Paris• Napoleon loses Paris in a desperate gamble & recognizing

his defeat, he surrenders (April 11, 1814)• Allies put Louis XVIII back on the French throne (grandson

of Louis XV and brother of Louis XVI, Louis XVII is his nephew but he never reigned because Louis XVIII put himself as his regent after the execution of Louis XVI 1793)

• Napoleon is exiled to the island of Elba

Napoleon’s Return

• He escapes from Elba with about 1000 followers• Lands at Cannes marches towards Paris, gathering

support and followers along the way• An army is sent to stop him, but instead they join

him• Napoleon enters Paris on March 20, 1815 – is

welcomed by the people, but is allowed to rule only under a constitution

• Defeats a Prussian army at Ligny, and engages the British army at Waterloo

1815 Napoleon is defeated at the Battle of Waterloo

• Battle fought 13 km south of Brussels b/w French and the Allied armies

• French greatly outnumbered the British, but a lapse in judgment by the French allowed the British to regroup and bring in reinforcements

• French defeat at Waterloo marked the end of 23 years of war that had begun with the French Revolution Wars in 1792

• Also marked the end of Napoleon’s final bid for power• Napoleon flees to Paris and abdicates his rule of France• Attempts to escape to the United States, but is intercepted by a

British battleship• Napoleon finally exiled to the island of St. Helena, where he dies on

May 5, 1821

Napoleon After The Battle Of Waterloo – Francois Flameng