User:MulgaBill/Sandbox

Timeline of the French Revolution.

Events preceding but pertinent to the French Revolution

The Enlightenment, which led to many European writers criticising the Monarchy and espousing democratic, liberalist, nationalist and socialist ideas.

1740

War of Austrian Succession - which caused the French monarchy to fall heavily into debt.

1756

Start of Seven Years' War - which caused the situation to become increasingly more serious.

1774

Coronation of Louis XVI at Reims

1776

Louis XVI dismisses his finance minister, Turgot
Start of the American War of Independence (1776-1783)

1778

France declares war against Britain in support of the American colonies - the subsequent war worsens the debt situation further.

1783

Treaty of Paris ends the American War - the success of the American colonists against a European power increases the ambitions of those wishing for reform in France

1785

The Diamond Necklace Affair results in the discrediting of Marie Antoinette

Financial crisis and Assembly of Notables

1786

August 20: Finance minister Calonne informs Louis that the royal finances are insolvent
December 29: The Assembly of Notables is convoked

1787

February 22: First Assembly of Notables meets against a background of state financial instability and general resistance by the nobility to the imposition of taxes and fiscal reforms.
March: Calonne's publication of his proposals and the intransigence of the Notables leads to a public clash and impasse
April 8: Louis dismisses both Calonne and the keeper of the seals, or minister of justice, Miromesnil, in an attempt to break the impasse
April 13: Louis appoints Lamoignon keeper of the seals
April 30: The Archbishop of Toulouse and vocal leader of the higher clergy, Loménie de Brienne is appointed chief minister of state
May 25: The first Assembly of Notables is dissolved
June: Brienne sends edicts for tax reform legislation to the parlements for registration
July 2: Parlement of Paris overwhelmingly rejects the royal legislation
August 6: Legislation passed at a lit de justice. Subsequently the parlement declares the registration was illegal. Supported by public opinion, it initiates criminal proceedings against the disgraced Calonne
August 15: Louis dismisses the Parisian parlement and orders the parlementaires to remove themselves to Troyes
August 19: Louis orders the closure of all political clubs in Paris
September: Civil uprest in the Dutch republic leads to its invasion by the Prussian army, and increases tensions in Paris. Brienne backs down with his legislative demands, settling for an extension of the vingtième tax, and the parlementaires are allowed to return to Paris.
November 19: A royal session of the Paris parlements for registration of new loans turns into an informal lit de justice when Louis doesn't allow a vote to be taken
November 20: The vocal opposition of the duc d'Orléans leads to his temporary exile by lettres de cachet, and the arrest and imprisonment of two magistrates

1788

May 6: Orders for the arrest of two Parisian parlementaires, d'Eprémesnil and Goislard, who are most implacably opposed to the government reforms, are issued; the parlement declares its solidarity with the two magistrates
May 7: d'Eprémesnil and Goislard are imprisoned
May 8: Judicial reforms partly abolishing the power of parlements to review legislation are forced through the parlements by Lamoignon in a lit de justice timed to coincide with military sessions
June: Outcry over the enforced reforms ensues, and courts across France refuse to sit
July 5: Brienne begins to consider calling an Estates-General
August 8: After being informed that the royal treasury is empty, Brienne sets May 1 1789 as the date for the Estates-General in an attempt to restore confidence with his creditors
August 16: Repayments on government loans stop, and the French government effectively declares bankruptcy
Late August: Brienne resigns, and Jacques Necker replaces him as Minister of Finance; de Lomenie, Archbishop of Toulouse is made chief minister
September: Necker releases those arrested for criticising Brienne's ministry, leading to a proliferation of political pamphlets
September 14: Lamoignon resigns
November: The relapse of the ban on political clubs leads to the establishment of the "Society of Thirty" in Paris
November 6: Necker convenes a second Assembly of Notables to discuss the Estates-General
December 12: The second Assembly of Notables is dismissed, having firmly refused to consider doubling the representation of the Third Estate
December 27: Prompted by public controversy, Necker announces that the representation of the Third will be doubled, and that nobles and clergymen will be able to stand for the same

1789

January 24: The Estates-General is convoked for the first time since 1614
April 27 - The Reveillon riots in Paris

Estates-General and Constituent Assembly

May 5: Meeting of the Estates-General - voting to be by Estate, not by head
May 28: The Third Estate (Tiers Etat) begins to meet on its own, calling themselves "communes" (commons)
June 10: The Third Estate votes for the common verification of credentials, in opposition to the First Estate (the clergy) and the Second Estate (the aristocracy)
June 13: Some priests from the First Estate choose to join the Third Estate
June 17: The Third Estate (commons) declares itself to be the National Assembly
June 20: Third Estate/National Assembly are locked out of meeting houses by royal decree; the Third Estate chooses to continue despite decree and decides upon a declarative vow, known as the "serment au Jeu de Paume" (The Tennis Court Oath), not to dissolve until the constitution has been established
June 22: National Assembly meets in church of St Louis, joined by a majority of clergy
June 23: Two companies of French guards mutiny in the face of public unrest. Louis XVI holds a Séance Royale, puts forward his 35-point program aimed at allowing the continuation of the three estates.
June 24: 48 nobles, headed by the Duke of Orléans, side with the Third Estate. A significant number of the clergy follow their example.
June 27: Louis recognises the validity of the National Assembly, and orders the First and Second Estates to join the Third.
June 30: Large crowd storms left bank prison and frees mutinous French Guards
July 1: Louis recruits more troops, among them many foreign mercenaries
July 9: National Assembly reconstitutes itself as National Constituent Assembly
July 11: Necker dismissed by Louis; populace sack the monasteries, ransack aristocrats' homes in search of food and weapons
July 12: Camille Desmoulins announces the dismissal of Necker to the Paris crowd. The Prince de Lambesc appears at the Tuilleries with an armed guard - a soldier and civilian are killed.
July 13: National Guard formed in Paris, of middle class men.
July 14: Storming of the Bastille; de Launay, (the governor), Foulon (the Secretary of State) and de Flesselles (the then equivalent of the mayor of Paris), amongst others, are massacred.
July 15: Lafayette appointed Commander of the National Guard.
July 16: Necker recalled, troops pulled out of Paris
July 17: The beginning of the Great Fear, the peasantry revolt against feudalism and a number of urban disturbances and revolts. Many members of the aristocracy flee Paris to become émigrés.
July 18: Publication of Desmoulins' La France libre favouring a republic and arguing that revolutionary violence was justified.
July 27: Louis XVI accepts the tricolor cockade.
August 4: Surrender of feudal rights : The August Decrees
August 26 The Assembly adopts The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
September 11 The National Assembly grants suspensive veto to Louis XVI; Louis fails to ratify the August acts of the National Assembly.
October 5-6: Outbreak of the Paris mob; Liberal monarchical constitution; the Women's March on Versailles
October 6 Louis XVI agrees to ratify the August Decrees, Palace of Versailles stormed.

Louis and the National Assembly move to Paris.

November 2: Church property nationalised and otherwise expropriated
November: First publication of Desmoulins' weekly Histoire des Révolutions ...
December: National Assembly ddistinguishes between 'active' (monied) and 'passive' (property-less) citizens - only the active could vote
December 12 Assignats are used as legal tender

1790

January: Former Provinces of France replaced by new administrative Departments.
February 13 Suppression of monastic vows and religious orders
March 5: Feudal Committee reports back to National Assembly, delaying the abolition of feudalism.
March 29: Pope Pius condemns the Declaration of the Rights of Man in secret consistory.
May National Assembly renounces involvement in wars of conquest.
May 19 Nobility abolished by the National Assembly.
July 12 The Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Demands priests to take an oath of loyalty to the state, splitting the clergy between juring (oath-taking) and non-juring priests.
July 14: The first Fete of Federation begins, celebrating the fall of the Bastille.
July: Growing power of the clubs (including: Cordeliers, Jacobin Club)
July: Reorganisation of Paris
August 16 The parlements are abolished
September: Fall of Necker

1791

January 30: Mirabeau elected President of the Assembly
February 28: Day of Daggers; Lafayette orders the arrest of 400 armed aristocrats at the Tuileries Palace
March 2: Abolition of trade guilds
March 10: Pope Pius condemns the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
April 2: Death of Mirabeau
April 13: Papal bull, Cavitas, condemning the Civil Constitution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is published
April 18: Louis and Marie-Antoinette prevented from traveling to Saint-Cloud for Easter
June 14: Le Chapelier law banning trade unions is passed by National Assembly
June 20–25: Royal family's flight to Varennes
June 25: Louis XVI forced to return to Paris
July 10: Leopold II issues the Padua Circular calling on the royal houses of Europe to come to his brother-in-law, Louis XVI's aid.
July 14: Second Anniversary of the fall of the Bastille is celebrated at the Champ de Mars - anti-Royalist demonstration, 50 killed by National Guard.
July 15: National Assembly declares the king to be inviolable and he is reinstated.
End of July: National Assembly declares the king to be inviolable and he is reinstated.
August 14: Slave revolts in Saint Domingue (Haiti)
August 27: Declaration of Pillnitz (Frederick William II and Leopold II)
September 13–14: Louis XVI accepts the Constitution formally
September 30: Dissolution of the National Constituent Assembly

Legislative Assembly

October 1: Legislative Assembly meets - many young, inexperienced, radical deputies.
November 9 All emigrés are ordered by the Assembly to return under threat of death
November 11 Louis vetoes the ruling of the Assembly on emigrés.

1792

January – March : Food riots in Paris
February 7: Alliance of Austria and Prussia
March 20: Guillotine adopted as official means of execution.
April 20: France declares war against Austria
April 25: Battle Hymn of the Army of the Rhine composed by Rouget de Lisle. First execution using the guillotine.
April 28: France invades Austrian Netherlands (Belgium.
July 5: Legislative Assembly declares that the fatherland is in danger.
July 25: Brunswick Manifesto - if the French royal family is not harmed, then French civilians will not be harmed.
July 30: Austria and Prussia begin invasion of France.
July: The tricolor cockade made compulsory for men to wear. La Marseillaise sung by volunteers from Marseilles on their arrival in Paris.
August 1: News of the Brunswick Manifesto reaches Paris - interpreted as proof that Louis XVI was collaborating with the foreign Coalition.
August 9: Revolutionary commune took possession of the hôtel de ville.
August 10–13: Storming of the Tuileries Palace. Swiss Guard massacred. Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody, along with his family. Georges Danton becomes Minister of Justice]].
August 16: Paris commune presents petition to the Legislative Assembly demanding the establishment of a revolutionary tribunal and summoning of a National Convention.
August 19: Lafayette flees to Austria. Invasion of France by Coalition troops led by Duke of Brunswick
August 22: Royalist riots in Brittany, La Vendée and Dauphiné.
September 3: Fall of Verdun to Brunswick's troops.
September 3–7: The September Massacres
September 19: Dissolution of Legislative Assembly.

National Convention

September 20: First meeting of National Convention. French army stops advance of Coalition troops at Valmy.
September 21: Abolition of royalty and proclamation of the First French Republic.
September 22: First day of the French Revolutionary Calendar.
December 3: Louis XVI brought to trial, appears before the National Convention (11 & 23 December). Robespierre argues that "Louis must die, so that the country may live".

1793

January 21: Louis XVI guillotined.
March 7: Outbreak of rebellion against the Revolution in the Vendée.
March 11: Revolutionary Tribunal established in Paris.
April 6: Committee of Public Safety established.
June 2: Arrest of Girondist deputies to National Convention by Jacobins.
June 10: Jacobins gain control of the Committee of Public Safety.
June 24: Ratification of new Constitution by National Convention, but not yet proclaimed.
July 13: Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday.
July 17: Robespierre elected to Committee of Public Safety.
July 28: Convention proscribes 21 Girondist deputies as enemies of France.
August 23: Levée en masse (conscription) order.
September 5: Start of Reign of Terror.
September 9: Establishment of sans-culottes paramilitary forces - revolutionary armies.
September 17: Law of Suspects passed.
September 29: Convention extends the fixing of prices and wages.
October 10: 1793 Constitution comes into force.
October 16: Marie Antoinette guillotined.
October 21: An anti-clerical law passed, priests and supporters liable to death on sight.
October 24: Trial of the 21 Girondist deputies by the Revolutionary Tribunal.
October 31: The 21 Girondist deputies guillotined.
November 3: Olympe de Gouges, champion of rights for women, guillotined for Girondist sympathies.
November 8: Madame Roland guillotined as part of purge of Girondists.
November 10: Celebration of the Goddess of Reason at Cathedral of Notre Dame which was re-dedicated as the Temple of Reason.
December: First issue of Desmoulins' Le Vieux Cordelier.
December 23: Anti-Republican forces in the Vendée finally defeated and 6000 prisoners executed.

1794

February: Final 'pacification' of the Vendée - mass killings, scorched earth policy.
March 13: Last edition of Jacques Hébert's Le Père Duchesne produced.
March 19: Hébert and his supporters arrested.
March 24: Hébert and leaders of the Cordeliers guillotined.
March 28: Death of philosopher and mathematician Marquis de Condorcet in prison.
March 30: Danton, Desmoulins and their supporters arrested.
April 5: Danton and Desmoulins guillotined.
May 8: Antoine Lavoisier, chemist, guillotined as traitor.
June 7: National Convention, led by Robespierre, passes decree to establish a Supreme Being.
June 8: Festival of the Supreme Being.
June 10: Law of 22 Prairial - the Revolutionary Tribunal became a court of condemnation without the need for witnesses.
June 26: French forces defeat Austrians at the Battle of Fleurus.
July 25: André Chenier, poet, guillotined for conspiring against the Revolution.
July 27-28: Night of 9-10 Thermidor - Robespierre arrested, guillotined without trial, along with other members of the Committee of Public Safety. End of the Reign of Terror.
Latter half of 1794: The White Terror - reaction against remaining Jacobins.
November 11: Closure of Jacobin Club.

1795

May 31: Suppression of the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal.
July 14: Marseillaise accepted as the French National Anthem.
August 22: 1795 Constitution ratified - bicameral system, executive Directory of five.
October 5: 13 Vendémiaire - Napoleon's "whiff of grapeshot" quells Paris insurrection.
October 26: National Convention dissolved.