The French Revolution

Jan 1789 – 24 Frimaire An VIII80 items

francerevolution

“Prise de la Bastille”: the storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789, in a watercolour by Jean-Pierre Houël, 1789. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

From the Estates-General to 18 Brumaire

Ten years in which France went from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy, to a republic that executed its king, to the Terror, to the Directory and finally to a general who declared the Revolution finished. Its wars reached from the Low Countries to Italy and Egypt, and its ideas to Saint-Domingue, where the enslaved freed themselves.

Two calendars

Everything before 22 September 1792 is dated in the Gregorian calendar. Everything after is dated in the French Republican calendar, which the revolutionaries themselves used: twelve months of thirty days named for the seasons, ten-day weeks, and years counted from the Republic. So Robespierre falls on 9 Thermidor Year II and Bonaparte seizes power on 18 Brumaire Year VIII, as the history books name them, and Timescrolly still places them on the same axis as the Gregorian dates before.

How it is laid out

The regimes as bands: the National Constituent Assembly, the Legislative Assembly, the Convention and the Directory.
Overlapping bands for the Terror, the wars, and the war in the Vendée.
Threads to filter by: terror, rights, uprising, war, women, religion, monarchy and napoleon.

Death tolls are given as ranges, with the historian who counted them. The Terror and the Vendée are still argued over, and no count is exact.

Items

Jan 1789
“What Is the Third Estate?”
5 May 1789
The Estates-General opens
Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs, Versailles
17 Jun 1789 – 30 Sep 1791
National Constituent Assembly
≈ 2 years, 3 months · Salle du Manège, Paris
20 Jun 1789
Tennis Court Oath
Salle du Jeu de Paume, Versailles
12 Jul 1789
Desmoulins calls Paris to arms
Palais-Royal gardens, Paris
14 Jul 1789
Storming of the Bastille
The Bastille, Paris
20 Jul 1789 – 6 Aug 1789
The Great Fear
17 days
4 Aug 1789
Night of 4 August
Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs, Versailles
26 Aug 1789
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs, Versailles
5 Oct 1789 – 6 Oct 1789
Women’s March on Versailles
1 day · Hôtel de Ville to the Palace of Versailles
12 Jul 1790
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Salle du Manège, Paris
20 Jun 1791 – 25 Jun 1791
Flight to Varennes
5 days · Tuileries to Varennes, by Meaux, Châlons and Sainte-Menehould
21 Jun 1791, 23:00
The king is stopped at Varennes
Varennes-en-Argonne
17 Jul 1791
Champ de Mars massacre
Champ de Mars, Paris
22 Aug 1791
Slave uprising in Saint-Domingue
Northern Plain, Saint-Domingue
Sep 1791
Declaration of the Rights of Woman
27 Sep 1791
Full citizenship for Jews
Salle du Manège, Paris
1 Oct 1791 – 20 Sep 1792
Legislative Assembly
11 months, 25 days · Salle du Manège, Paris
20 Apr 1792 – 26 Vendémiaire An VI
War of the First Coalition
≈ 5 years, 5 months
25 Apr 1792
First execution by guillotine
Place de Grève, Paris
25 Apr 1792
“La Marseillaise” is written
The mayor’s house, Strasbourg
Jun 1792 – Brumaire An VII
Measuring the meridian
≈ 6 years, 4 months · Dunkirk to Barcelona through Paris and Rodez
10 Aug 1792
Storming of the Tuileries
Tuileries Palace, Paris
2 Sep 1792 – 6 Sep 1792
September Massacres
4 days · Prisons of Paris
20 Sep 1792 – 4 Brumaire An IV
National Convention
≈ 3 years, 1 month · Salle du Manège, Paris
20 Sep 1792
Divorce is made legal
Salle du Manège, Paris
20 Sep 1792
Battle of Valmy
Valmy
21 Sep 1792
Monarchy abolished
Salle du Manège, Paris
1 Vendémiaire An I
1 Vendémiaire Year I
Salle du Manège, Paris
16 Brumaire An I
Battle of Jemappes
Jemappes, near Mons
21 Frimaire An I
Trial of Louis XVI
Salle du Manège, Paris
2 Pluviôse An I, 10:22
Execution of Louis XVI
Place de la Révolution, Paris
20 Ventôse An I – 9 Germinal An IV
War in the Vendée
≈ 3 years, 19 days · The Vendée militaire, south of the Loire
20 Ventôse An I
Revolutionary Tribunal created
Salle du Manège, Paris
21 Ventôse An I
Massacres at Machecoul
Machecoul
14 Prairial An I
Fall of the Girondins
Tuileries Palace, Paris
25 Messidor An I
Assassination of Marat
Rue des Cordeliers, Paris
22 Thermidor An I – 18 Vendémiaire An II
Siege of Lyon
2 months, 1 day · Lyon
23 Thermidor An I
The Louvre opens as a museum
Louvre, Paris
6 Fructidor An I
Levée en masse
Tuileries Palace, Paris
12 Fructidor An I
Sonthonax frees the slaves of the North
Le Cap, Saint-Domingue
19 Fructidor An I – 9 Thermidor An II
The Terror
10 months, 25 days
1 Sansculottides An I
Law of Suspects
Tuileries Palace, Paris
14 Vendémiaire An II
The Republican calendar is adopted
Tuileries Palace, Paris
25 Vendémiaire An II
Execution of Marie Antoinette
Place de la Révolution, Paris
27 Vendémiaire An II – 3 Nivôse An II
Virée de Galerne
2 months, 6 days · Saint-Florent-le-Vieil to Granville, Le Mans and Savenay
9 Brumaire An II
Women’s clubs are banned
Tuileries Palace, Paris
10 Brumaire An II
Execution of the Girondins
Place de la Révolution, Paris
13 Brumaire An II
Execution of Olympe de Gouges
Place de la Révolution, Paris
20 Brumaire An II
Festival of Reason
Notre-Dame de Paris
26 Brumaire An II – 9 Ventôse An II
Drownings at Nantes
3 months, 13 days · The Loire at Nantes
14 Frimaire An II
Mass shootings at Lyon
Plain of Les Brotteaux, Lyon
29 Frimaire An II
Toulon retaken
Toulon harbour
3 Nivôse An II
Battle of Savenay
Savenay
2 Pluviôse An II – Floréal An II
The infernal columns
≈ 3 months, 13 days · The Vendée militaire, south of the Loire
16 Pluviôse An II
Slavery abolished in the colonies
Tuileries Palace, Paris
16 Germinal An II
Execution of Danton
Place de la Révolution, Paris
19 Floréal An II
Execution of Lavoisier
Place de la Révolution, Paris
20 Prairial An II
Festival of the Supreme Being
Champ de Mars, Paris
22 Prairial An II
Law of 22 Prairial
Tuileries Palace, Paris
8 Messidor An II
Battle of Fleurus
Fleurus
9 Thermidor An II
9 Thermidor: Robespierre falls
Tuileries Palace, Paris
18 Germinal An III
The metric system becomes law
Tuileries Palace, Paris
1 Prairial An III
Insurrection of 1 Prairial Year III
Tuileries Palace, Paris
20 Prairial An III
Death of Louis XVII
Temple tower, Paris
3 Thermidor An III
Quiberon
Quiberon peninsula
13 Vendémiaire An IV
13 Vendémiaire
Church of Saint-Roch, Paris
11 Brumaire An IV – 18 Brumaire An VIII
The Directory
≈ 4 years · Luxembourg Palace, Paris
23 Germinal An IV – 29 Germinal An V
Bonaparte’s Italian campaign
≈ 1 year, 5 days · Nice to Leoben, by Lodi, Milan, Arcole and Rivoli
8 Prairial An V
Babeuf is executed
Vendôme
18 Fructidor An V
Coup of 18 Fructidor
Tuileries Palace, Paris
26 Vendémiaire An VI
Treaty of Campo Formio
Villa Manin, Passariano
13 Messidor An VI – 6 Fructidor An VII
Bonaparte in Egypt
≈ 1 year, 1 month
3 Thermidor An VI
Battle of the Pyramids
Embabeh, across the Nile from Cairo
14 Thermidor An VI
Battle of the Nile
Aboukir Bay
4 Messidor An VII
Mètre des Archives
National Archives, Paris
27 Messidor An VII
The Rosetta Stone is found
Fort Julien, near Rosetta (Rashid)
18 Brumaire An VIII
18 Brumaire
Tuileries Palace, Paris
19 Brumaire An VIII
Grenadiers clear the Orangerie
Château de Saint-Cloud
24 Frimaire An VIII
“The Revolution is finished”
Luxembourg Palace, Paris