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May 5, 1789 meeting with the Estates-General
the estates generals met at the Menus-Plaisirs building in Versailles, France. It marked the beginning of the French Revolution -
Tennis Court Oath
the French people stood in an indoor tennis court and vowed to not leave until the voice of the country was heard. -
Storming of the Bastille
the prison was attacked and overtaken by protestors at the start of the French Revolution -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The Declaration of the Rights of Man was set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document -
Women's March on Versailles
Concerned over the high price and scarcity of bread, women from the marketplaces of Paris led the March on Versailles on October 5, 1789, eventually forcing the royals to return to Paris. -
Execution of King Louis XVI
Louis XVI, former king of France since the abolition of the monarchy, was publicly executed by beheading by guillotine on 21 January 1793 -
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Reign of Terror
period of the French Revolution when a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason by the Committee of Public -
Maximilien Robespierre's execution
Robespierre was arrested on July 27, 1794 at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris
Robespierre and 21 of his supporters were executed by guillotine the following day in the Place de la Révolution (now the Place de la Concorde) -
Napoleonic Code is established
he Napoleonic Code was the result of a major revision to France's legal system, which was outdated and confusing at the time. The code was created by a commission appointed by Napoleon Bonaparte, the new emperor of France, after the French Revolution. The commission included Napoleon and legal experts from across France -
Napoleon Crowns himself emperor
When he made himself emperor, Napoleon clearly rejected the republican form of government. Here he tries to claim that hereditary government is necessary in a large state. The presence of the pope at his coronation seemed to confer legitimacy on the act. -
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Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, it is considered to overlap with the Spanish War of Independence -
Napoleon and his men march on Russia
Napoleon wanted to force Tsar Alexander I to stop trading with British merchants and pressure the UK to sue for peace
Napoleon's army marched through Western Russia, fighting minor engagements and eventually engaging the Russians at the Battle of Borodino
The French captured Moscow but could not hold the city in the face of winter. The French suffered 500,000 casualties, mostly from disease and weather -
Napoleon is exiled to Elba
The coalition invaded France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. They exiled him to the Mediterranean island of Elba and restored the Bourbons to power. -
Napoleon dies
his death was from stomach cancer, exacerbated by bleeding gastric ulcers, after a huge dose of calomel – a compound containing mercury that was used as a medicine – was administered to him on the day before he died