1789–99
The French Revolution

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• May 1789 Louis XVI calls meeting of Estates General to discuss reform of state finances.

• June 1789 The third estate (commoners) demands an end to the system where the first estate (Church) and second estate (nobility) can outvote them. This is rejected by Louis XVI. The third estate declares themselves the National Assembly and, in the 'Oath of the Tennis Court', pledges to draw up a new constitution

• July 1789 Rumours of royal plans to break up the assembly lead to riots in Paris and, on the 14th, the storming of the Bastille prison. Peasant uprisings occur throughout France.

• August 1789 The National Assembly approves the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

•1789–91 National Assembly reforms include the abolition of noble privileges, dissolution of the religious orders, appropriation of Church lands, centralisation of the government and limits on the king's power.

• June 1791 Louis XVI attempts to escape from Paris to unite the opposition to the National Assembly, but is captured.

• September 1791 Louis XVI agrees to a new constitution.

• October 1791 The new legislative assembly meets, divided between the moderate Girondists and radical Jacobins.

• March 1792 The Girondists form a new government but their power in Paris is undermined by the Jacobins.

• April 1792–October 1797 After Austria signs a declaration supporting restoration of France's ancien régime, France declares war. Austria joins with Britain, Holland, Spain, Prussia and Russia to form the First Coalition. The War of the First Coalition starts with victories for the European powers, but following mass mobilisation in France, reverses soon follow and the French are eventually victorious. The war finally ends in 1797 with the Treaty of Campo Formio. (See also Empire.)

• August 1792 Louis XVI is suspended from office and the government is dismissed.

• September 1792 The National Convention – dominated by the Jacobins – is elected on the basis of universal (male) suffrage. A republic is proclaimed.

• December 1792 Louis XVI is tried and condemned to death.

• January 1793 Louis XVI is executed by guillotine.

• April 1793 The National Convention delegates power to the Committee of Public Safety, dominated by Robespierre. The Terror begins; eventually some 40,000 people will lose their heads.

• July 1794 Robespierre is deposed and executed. The Terror ends.

• 1795 Moderate Thermidoreans take control of the National Convention and create a new executive Directory of five members.

• 1795-99 The Directory fails to solve France's internal or external problems and becomes increasingly unpopular.

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