Timeline
1789:
June 17 - National Assembly voted on and established. Marked the end of absolute monarchy and beginning of representative government.
- Three days later was the Tennis Court Oath.
July 14 -The Bastille was stormed and seized by a mob. First symbolic act of the French Revolution
October - Women overtook Versailles due to high bread prices. They took King Louis and Marie back to Paris never to return to Versailles.
1791:
September- National Assembly completes a new constitution. This created a limited constitutional monarchy, and established the Legislative Assembly.
1792:
Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria and Prussia.
September- Jacobin club formed, which was a radical political organization.
1793:
Great Britain, Holland and Spain join Austria and Prussia in the war against France.
July- Maximilien Robespierre becomes leader of the Committee of Public Safety. This virtually gave him the power of a dictator starting the Reign of Terror.
1794:
July- The Reign of Terror comes to an end from the National Convention turning on Robespierre by arresting and executing him.
1795:
Moderate leaders draft a new plan of government which placed power in the upper middle class, and created two legislative houses and an executive body of five men known as the Directory.
October- Napoleon successfully defends the National Convention from royalist rebels.
1796:
Directory appoints Napoleon to lead the French army against Austria.
1799:
The directory slowly loses political control, and once Napoleon returns from war he successfully seizes power of France by declaring himself the first consul of three.
1800:
A plebiscite was held to approve a new constitution, and they voted Napoleon to have all real power. This makes Napoleon the sole legitimate ruler.
Napoleon creates an efficient tax collection method, and national banking system. He set up lycees, which were government run schools resulting in a meritocracy. He also signed a concordat with Pope Pius VII that recognized the Church's influence but rejected their control in national affairs.
1802:
Europe was at peace after Britain, Austria, and Russia signed peace treaties with France.
1804:
December- Napoleon crowned himself emperor by taking the crown from the pope and placed it on his own head. This action showed he was more powerful than the pope.
1805:
Battle of Trafalgar, which was Napoleon's only major loss.
1806:
Napoleon sets up a blockade to prevent all trade and communication between Great Britain and other European nations, which was known as the Continental System because it was supposed to make cotinental Europe more self-sufficient. He also intended it to destroy Great Britain's commercial and industrial economy.
1808:
Napoleon sends an invasion through Spain in an effort to get Portugl to accept the Continental System. The Spanish people protested so Napoleon removed their king an replaced him with his brother Joseph.
1812:
The only areas of Europe free from Napoleon's control were Britain, Portugal, Sweden, and the Ottoman Empire
June- Napoleon invades Russia with his Grand Army of 420,000 soldiers. Alexander I pulled back not wanting to be lured into an unequal battle, while on the retreat they practiced a scorched-earth policy which destroyed anything the enemy could use to eat.
Septembr- The two armies meet at the Battle of Borodino and after several hours of fighting the Russians fell back. Napoleon moved on to Moscow.
October- Napoleon begins his retreat to France with a ragged weak army which suffered large casualties from the Russian army's attacks. All that remained of the Grand Army were 10,000 soldiers upon return.
All of Europe's great powers such as Russia, Britain, Prussia, and Sweden joined forces and declared war on France.
1813:
October- Napoleon faces the European powers and the French resistance gave way quickly.
1814:
January- The allied armies were headed steadily to Paris, and once they got there King Frederick William III of Prussia and Czar Alexander I of Russia led their troops around the capital in triumph.
April- Napoleon surrenders and gives up his throne. He is exiled to Elba, a small island off Italy.
1815:
March- Napoleon returns to France, and within days it recrowned the emperor.
June- Napoleon attacked in a battle near Waterloo in Belgium. The British army defended their ground all day, and late in the afternoon the Prussian army arrived. Together the allied forces defeated Napoleon ending his last effort for power known as the Hundred Days.
June 17 - National Assembly voted on and established. Marked the end of absolute monarchy and beginning of representative government.
- Three days later was the Tennis Court Oath.
July 14 -The Bastille was stormed and seized by a mob. First symbolic act of the French Revolution
October - Women overtook Versailles due to high bread prices. They took King Louis and Marie back to Paris never to return to Versailles.
1791:
September- National Assembly completes a new constitution. This created a limited constitutional monarchy, and established the Legislative Assembly.
1792:
Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria and Prussia.
September- Jacobin club formed, which was a radical political organization.
1793:
Great Britain, Holland and Spain join Austria and Prussia in the war against France.
July- Maximilien Robespierre becomes leader of the Committee of Public Safety. This virtually gave him the power of a dictator starting the Reign of Terror.
1794:
July- The Reign of Terror comes to an end from the National Convention turning on Robespierre by arresting and executing him.
1795:
Moderate leaders draft a new plan of government which placed power in the upper middle class, and created two legislative houses and an executive body of five men known as the Directory.
October- Napoleon successfully defends the National Convention from royalist rebels.
1796:
Directory appoints Napoleon to lead the French army against Austria.
1799:
The directory slowly loses political control, and once Napoleon returns from war he successfully seizes power of France by declaring himself the first consul of three.
1800:
A plebiscite was held to approve a new constitution, and they voted Napoleon to have all real power. This makes Napoleon the sole legitimate ruler.
Napoleon creates an efficient tax collection method, and national banking system. He set up lycees, which were government run schools resulting in a meritocracy. He also signed a concordat with Pope Pius VII that recognized the Church's influence but rejected their control in national affairs.
1802:
Europe was at peace after Britain, Austria, and Russia signed peace treaties with France.
1804:
December- Napoleon crowned himself emperor by taking the crown from the pope and placed it on his own head. This action showed he was more powerful than the pope.
1805:
Battle of Trafalgar, which was Napoleon's only major loss.
1806:
Napoleon sets up a blockade to prevent all trade and communication between Great Britain and other European nations, which was known as the Continental System because it was supposed to make cotinental Europe more self-sufficient. He also intended it to destroy Great Britain's commercial and industrial economy.
1808:
Napoleon sends an invasion through Spain in an effort to get Portugl to accept the Continental System. The Spanish people protested so Napoleon removed their king an replaced him with his brother Joseph.
1812:
The only areas of Europe free from Napoleon's control were Britain, Portugal, Sweden, and the Ottoman Empire
June- Napoleon invades Russia with his Grand Army of 420,000 soldiers. Alexander I pulled back not wanting to be lured into an unequal battle, while on the retreat they practiced a scorched-earth policy which destroyed anything the enemy could use to eat.
Septembr- The two armies meet at the Battle of Borodino and after several hours of fighting the Russians fell back. Napoleon moved on to Moscow.
October- Napoleon begins his retreat to France with a ragged weak army which suffered large casualties from the Russian army's attacks. All that remained of the Grand Army were 10,000 soldiers upon return.
All of Europe's great powers such as Russia, Britain, Prussia, and Sweden joined forces and declared war on France.
1813:
October- Napoleon faces the European powers and the French resistance gave way quickly.
1814:
January- The allied armies were headed steadily to Paris, and once they got there King Frederick William III of Prussia and Czar Alexander I of Russia led their troops around the capital in triumph.
April- Napoleon surrenders and gives up his throne. He is exiled to Elba, a small island off Italy.
1815:
March- Napoleon returns to France, and within days it recrowned the emperor.
June- Napoleon attacked in a battle near Waterloo in Belgium. The British army defended their ground all day, and late in the afternoon the Prussian army arrived. Together the allied forces defeated Napoleon ending his last effort for power known as the Hundred Days.