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Louis XVI was crowned in Reims Cathedral. He was 19 years old at the time of his coronation. He was the grandson of the previous king (Louis XV) and the great-great-great grandson of the king before that (Louis XIV who was known as 'the Sun King'.) -
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Jacques Necker became the leader of France's finances but was denied the full title of Controller-General nor was he given a seat on the Royal Council (Conseil du Roi) do to his being a Swiss Protestant. Although he made many modernising reforms to the French tax system Necker's term in office was characterised by his being instructed to fund France's involvement in the American War of Independence without raising taxes. He took out huge loans but warned the King of the dangers this posed. -
France signed the Treaty of Alliance with the United States of America on February 6 1778. This was a defensive military alliance in which also France recognised the United States as an independent nation. Britain declared war on France on March 17 1778. French support would last until the end of the war in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris. The French spent 1.3 billion livres to support the Americans directly in addition to the money it spent fighting Britain on land and sea outside the U.S. -
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French finance minister Jacques Necker pusblished the Compte rendu au Roi (Report to the King) which showed that the ministry was operating at a surplus of 10 million livres per year. As Necker's aim was to raise more loans in order to finance the ongoing French support for the Americans he was very selective with the figures that he included in the Compte. He did not include the 'extraordinary accounts' which contained the 520 million livres in new loans he had already taken out. -
Necker was dismissed because of both the impact of his Compte Rendu and because he wanted to be given the full title of Controller-General and elevated to the role of minister within the government with a seat on the Conseil du Roi. Under pressure from other ministers, Louis XVI dismissed Necker.
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Charles Alexandre de Calonne, the Controller-General of Finances (1783-87) told Louis XVI that the French government would be making a deficit of 112 million livres in the year 1786. Calonne's proposed 3 main reforms of France's finances:
1. A new land tax that everyone would pay without exception.
2. Stimulating the economy by increasing trade. Controls on the grain trade and internal customs barriers would be removed.
3. A restoration of national confidence in the economy. -
The Eden Treaty was a trade deal signed between Britain and France. It was designed to increase trade between the two countries after centuries of protectionism known as 'mercantilism' and, therefore, to boost their economies. However, it had a devastating impact on the French economy as Britain was able to flood the market with its cheaper manufactured goods, notably its textiles. The Eden Treaty is directly credited with worsening the economic crisis and leading to the Revolution in 1789. -
The Assembly of Notables was called to pass the set of reforms proposed by Calonne. The King and Calonne both decided against calling the Estates-General as they were too unpredictable and instead called 144 notables to Versailles. Although the Notables were willing to accept a number of reforms (mainly political ones) they argued that economic reforms required the consent of the Estates-General. This led to the sacking of Calonne and to the diminishing of the King's royal authority. -
Seeing the unpopularity of Calonne and his reforms amongst the Notables, King Louis XVI dismissed Calonne as Controller-General. He would be replaced on the 30th by the Archbishop of Toulouse and member of the Notables, Loménie de Brienne.
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King Louis XVI appointed Loménie de Brienne as his new Controller-General. Brienne was the Archbishop of Toulouse and this was clearly a measure designed to placate the Assembly of Notables. The Assembly proved to be no more cooperative with Brienne than they had been with Calonne. Brienne maintained Calonne's land tax and proposed a number of further reforms. These were refused registration by the Parlement of Paris. -
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The King showed his anger at the parlements of Paris and Bordeaux at refusing to register his government's reforms by exiling them from the respective cities. The Paris parlement was sent to Troyes. This was an attack on the authority of the parlement of Paris. -
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Shortly before 7 June 1788, in a large meeting at Grenoble those who attended the meeting decided to call together the old Estates of the province of Dauphiné. The government responded by sending troops to the area to put down the movement. -
This was an illegal meeting of the three orders. This was a direct challenge to royal authority.
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This was a turning point. Brienne convinced the King that the only way out of the political and economic crisis was to call the Estates-General for the following year. This was a direct assault on royal power.
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Brienne suspended payments from the treasury. This effectively meant that the French government was bankrupt.
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The Paris Parlement demanded 'the forms of 1614'. This meant that they wanted the Estates-General to be organised in the same as it was in 1614. This meant that each estate would meet separately and would have the same number of deputies. Voting would be by estate. This would give the first and second estates huge over-representation and was not how the provincial assemblies had been meeting since 1787 onwards (they had doubled the Third Estate and voting was by head).
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The King convened a second assembly of notables. This was done after the Estates-General had been called and was about deciding the forms that the Estates-General would take the following year. The Second Assembly of Notables advised the King that the forms of 1614 should be adopted (meeting separately by estate and voting by order). The Second Assembly of Notables disbanded on 12 December 1788.
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This was a pamphlet written by French writer and clergyman Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (1748–1836). It had a huge impact on the Revolution as it went against the forms of 1614 and argued for the Third Estate to have more representation than the others and voting by head rather than by order. -
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Jean-Baptiste Réveillon was the owner of a luxury wallpaper factory. In the context of the bread-price crisis in Paris he made comments that were aimed at helping the poor but were misinterpreted. He said prices of goods might go down if workers were paid less. This started a riot that led to the destruction of his factory and his house by a mob. 25 people died.
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The First Estate (voting 134 to 114) and Second Estate (voting 188 to 46) both endorse voting by order. The Third Estate refuses to meet separately or vote on the issue.
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Louis XVI’s seven-year-old son, Louis Joseph Xavier, dies of tuberculosis. His younger brother Louis-Charles becomes Dauphin of France.
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Sieyes proposes that representatives of the First and Second be invited to join the Third Estate, in order to form a national assembly. -
Some parish priests from the First Estate joined the Third Estate in verifying their credentials.
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The Third Estate, now joined by some members of the First and Second Estates, vote 490 to 90 to declare themselves the National Assembly of France. This was a revolutionary act as the National Assembly assumed the right to control its affairs and decide taxation.
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This was an important vote. Not all the clergy immediately joined the National Assembly but it showed that the tide was turning against the King.
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Deputies of the National Assembly found their meeting room at Versailles locked by order of the King. They met at a nearby tennis court outside the palace and swore an oath not to disband until they had written a new constitution. This meant that the King had no authority to dissolve them. This was a revolutionary act. -
Known in French as 'séance royale´ this was when King Louis XVI tried to exert his authority over the newly formed National Assembly by requiring meeting and voting by order. This attempt failed. Louis proposed a set of reforms but it was too late.
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This showed the King was losing control of the Estates General.
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This included the King's relative and enemy, the Duc d'Orléans. The situation was out of control for the King.
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King Louis was forced to order the remaining delegates who had not joined the National Assembly already to join them. This was a visible blow to the King's authority. On advice, he also orders the army to mobilise and gather outside Paris and Versailles.
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A crowd of 4,000 storms a prison on the left bank of the Seine, freeing dozens of mutinous soldiers.
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Louis XVI orders the mobilisation of royal troops, particularly around Paris.
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Public meetings at the Palais Royal express great concern at the troop build-up and the king’s intentions.
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The National Assembly reorganises and formally changes its name to the National Constituent Assembly.
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The Paris Commune was created to become the new government of Paris. It split Paris into 60 electoral districts. Each district sent 2 representatives to the Commune to govern Paris and a mayor was elected. The first Mayor of Paris was Bailly who was a moderate Feuillant. -
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Fearing a royalist military invasion, the people of Paris begin to gather arms. Affluent Parisians vote to form a citizens’ militia, the National Guard. The role of the National Guard is to protect the city and prevent property damage and theft.
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This was a revolutionary moment. Feudalism was destroyed overnight 4-5 August 1789. Things that were abolished: the tithe to the Church, venality, all financial and tax privileges, all privileges for different parts of the country, exclusion from any office in the nation based on birth. All citizens were to be taxed equally.
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This is when the National Assembly made the National Guard official.
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The reforms of August 4th are ratified by the Assembly, albeit with several less-radical amendments.
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The National Constituent Assembly votes 849 to 89 to create a unicameral (single chamber) legislative assembly.
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The National Constituent Assembly votes 673 to 325 to grant the king a suspensive veto. This was opposed to giving the king an absolute veto, which would have been more powerful.
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Jean-Paul Marat‘s radical newspaper L'Ami du Peuple (The Friend of the People) is published on the streets of Paris for the first time. -
The king uses his suspensive veto and refuses to endorse the August Decrees.
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Louis XVI and the National Assembly move to Paris (5th and 6th October, 1789). -
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They were then first issued on 19 December
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This was a change ordered by the National Constituent Assembly. It changed the government of Paris from 60 electoral districts to 48 Sections these were led by radical assemblies of sans-culottes.
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Written by Edmund Burke. -
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Leopold II, the Emperor of Austria, felt he had to do something to protect his sister Marie Antoinette and the rest of the Royal Family after the Flight to Varennes. The Padua Circular was a letter sent to all European monarchs asking for their support in protecting the French monarchy. Only Prussia responded positively. -
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In July 1791 the National Constituent Assembly created a constitution committee of 30 members, which drew up a constitution adopted on 3 September. This provided for a 745-seat Legislative Assembly with members elected for a two-year term. The constitution also turned France into a constitutional monarchy. Elections for the Legislative Assembly were held during September 1791 for the Assembly to meet on 1 October 1791.
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The election results were in and the National Constituent Assembly was not needed anymore. It was to be replaced by the Legislative Assembly which would rule through the Constitution.
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This was a key turning point as the Feuillants were moderate and the Girondins were more radical. The Girondins were now the government ministers and the move towards declaring war gathered momentum. Especially powerful was the new Foreign Minister, General Dumouriez who was a Girondin.
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The French monarchy was overthrown
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The Prussians crossed the frontier
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Decree of fraternity and help to foreign peoples
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First French victory in 1793
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Suppression of Federalist uprising
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19th vendémiaire
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Law of 14 Frimaire
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France recovered Toulon from the British. Napoleon Bonaparte's first major action in the revolutionary period.
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16 germinal
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27-28 July 1794 (9-10 thermidor)
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Government reorganised
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Formal separation of Church and State
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The insurrection of 12 Germinal Year III was a popular revolt in Paris on 1 April 1795 against the policies of the Thermidorian Convention. It was provoked by poverty and hunger resulting from the abandonment of the controlled economy (the Maximum being abolished). 10,000 unarmed protestors stormed the Convention and demanded bread and the release of the Montagnards Collot, Barère and Billaud. Loyal National Guards ended the protest and the Convention then deported the deputies to Guiana. -
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Peace was concluded with the chouans at Prévalaye.
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Treaty of The Hague.
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This was a more serious uprising than that of Germinal earlier in the year. It was an armed insurrection on 1 Prairial (20 May) which was again caused by starvation. The insurrectionists marched on the Convention, guards defending the Convention joined the rebels and a deputy was killed. Loyal National Guards arrived and cleared the protestors. On 3 Prairial (22 May) 20,000 troops of the regular army were used to make arrests and confiscate weapons. This was the end of sansculotte power.
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Also, the Two Thirds Law was approved.
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The Constitution of the Year III and the Two Thirds Law were promulgated.
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Bonarparte appointed commander of the Army of the Interior
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Conspiracy of Equals
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15th-18th November 1796
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The trial took place in Vendôme.
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Law of 22 Floréal 106 left-wing deputies were purged from the Council of Five Hundred. This represented a bloodless coup.
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9-10 November 1799 (18-19 brumaire)
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