The French Revolution: A Timeline of Key Events
Origins of the Revolution: From Revolt to Revolution
The successive attempts of King Louis XVI’s ministers, Necker, Turgot, Calonne, and Brienne, to establish a single tax paid by all landowners eventually failed because of opposition from the privileged who refused to pay. The nobility and the clergy demanded in the Assembly of Notables that the adoption of new taxes be made at a meeting of the Estates-General. Since then, the writing of the *cahiers de doléances*, or “log of complaints”, began. While the nobility’s books advocated keeping their privileges, the war of the Third Estate against the other two reached its climax with the publication of the booklet: *What is the Third Estate?*.
The Moderate Revolution and Constitutional Monarchy
1. The Revolution of 1789
With the meeting of the Estates-General on May 5, 1789, in Versailles, the first act of the revolution began. On June 16, Sieyès proposed that the Third Estate declare itself the National Assembly. On July 9, the Assembly called itself the National Constituent Assembly. Louis XVI faced the first major urban revolution. The revolt in the countryside was more violent.
2. The Political Work of the National Constituent Assembly
The reaction of the National Constituent Assembly to the rural outcry was immediate: by the decree of August 4, 1789, the feudal system was abolished. The National Assembly adopted the *Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen*. In order to address the economic problem of finance, they proposed the nationalization of the clergy’s assets. The measure was cleared with the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. The Assembly took a series of measures to establish economic liberalism. The Constitution of 1791 was the pinnacle of the Constituent Assembly. The Constitution distinguished between active and passive citizens.
3. The Legislative Assembly
The king swore to the Constitution in September. Elections were held, and the new stage initiated is known as the Legislative Assembly. Monarchist deputies were advocates of the Constitution of 1791, with a significant presence of members constituting the Jacobin left. Democrats were Republicans, led by Robespierre. Democrats also highlighted the Girondins, who developed a monarchical republic and defended the interests of the high bourgeoisie. The year for which such a meeting was marked by internal problems due to food shortages. The counter-revolution had the support of the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia.
The Radical Revolution
1. The Fall of the Monarchy and the Republican Convention
The manifesto of the Duke of Brunswick caused the popular uprising of August 10, 1792. Parisian masses, led by the *sans-culottes*, occupied the town hall in the capital and formed a people’s commune. The legislature voted for the abolition of the monarchy, proclaimed a republic, and called a convention.
2. The Girondin Convention
It was composed of three groups: the Plain or Marsh, the Girondins, and the Montagnards and Jacobins. The trial and subsequent execution of Louis XVI faced the Girondins, who wanted to save him, and the Jacobins, who managed to have him executed. The first coalition against revolutionary France was then formed. The economic situation was also delicate. To livelihood issues, new tracks were added to a mass conscription of 300,000 men, which caused a monarchist and Catholic uprising in the Vendée region.
3. The Montagnard Convention and the Reign of Terror
The Jacobins thought to satisfy the demands of the most disadvantaged with the free distribution of community assets and the sale to farmers of small plots obtained with the goods of the emigrants. The new Constitution of 1793 contained a *Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen*, which extended that of 1789. The establishment of the Terror by the Law of Suspects was the beginning of the executions that would last throughout the Montagnard stage. A command economy was established with the General Law of Maximum. The steps of de-Christianization followed, including the suppression of religion and the adoption of the revolutionary calendar. A new law established the Great Terror and the persecution of the enemies of the people.