1789 – 1789
5 events, back to back 1789 Estates-General opens
1789 Tennis Court Oath
1789 Storming of the Bastille
1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
1789 Women's March on Versailles
1790
Civil Constitution of the Clergy The Assembly placed the Catholic Church in France under state control, reducing dioceses from 135 to 83 and making clergy elected. Few bishops accepted the oath, splitting the clergy.
1791
Flight to Varennes Louis XVI and his family tried to flee toward the royalist stronghold of Montmédy but were recognized and arrested at Varennes-en-Argonne, undermining the king's credibility.
1792
France declares war on Austria The Legislative Assembly voted for war on Austria, opening the French Revolutionary Wars. France faced a coalition of European monarchies.
1792
Insurrection of 10 August Armed revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, killing Swiss Guards, and the king took refuge with the Legislative Assembly. The monarchy was abolished within weeks.
1792
Republic proclaimed At its first meeting the National Convention abolished the constitutional monarchy; the First Republic was proclaimed the next day. This was also the day after the French stalemate with the Prussians at Valmy.
1793
Execution of Louis XVI After the Convention convicted him of treason and voted for death by a narrow majority, the king was guillotined at the Place de la Révolution in Paris.
1793
Committee of Public Safety created The National Convention set up the committee to act as a provisional government and war cabinet against foreign armies and internal revolts. Robespierre joined it in July.
1793
Reign of Terror A period of mass repression in which about 17,000 official death sentences were carried out, plus thousands more deaths without trial or in prison. Total deaths are estimated at 35,000 to 45,000.
1794
Fall of Robespierre After Robespierre warned of unnamed conspirators, the Convention voted to arrest him on 9 Thermidor. He was guillotined on 28 July, ending the Terror.
1795
13 Vendémiaire Troops defending the Convention crushed a royalist uprising in Paris as the Directory was taking shape. Napoleon Bonaparte's grapeshot-firing cannons made him a national hero and won him command in Italy within five months.
1799
Coup of 18 Brumaire Napoleon Bonaparte, with Sieyès and others, overthrew the Directory in a bloodless coup and became First Consul. The coup is widely seen as ending the Revolution.
