Important Dates - VCE History (Revolutions) Unit 3 AOS 2, French Revolution, 1789-1795

August Decrees

4 August 1789 - 11 August 1789

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

26 August 1789

National Constituent Assembly creates distinction between active and passive citizens

29 October 1789

Decree on Nationalisation of Church Property

2 November 1789

Civil Constitution of the Clergy passed by National Constituent Assembly

12 July 1790

Festival of the Federation

14 July 1790

D'Allarde Law (abolition of guilds) adopted by National Constituent Assembly

2 March 1791

Pope Pius VI issues the "Charitas" papal document, which calls upon French Catholics to oppose the Civil Constitution and Clerical Oath

13 April 1791

Le Chapelier Law (prohibition of workmen's unions and strikes) adopted by National Constituent Assembly

14 June 1791

Flight to Varennes

20 June 1791

Champ de Mars massacre - Crowds demonstrate in Champ de Mars parade in Paris and sign petitions by the Cordeliers Club calling for the King's abdication, before being shot by the National Guard (50 dead)

16 July 1791

Frederick William II (King of Prussia) and Leopold II (Holy Roman Emperor) issue the Declaration of Pillnitz, which threatened to use force to restore the King's position

27 August 1791

Legislative Assembly votes in favour of declaring war on Austria

20 April 1792

Lafayette sends a letter to the Legislative Assembly advocating the banning of revolutionary clubs (such as the Jacobins), and attempts to mobilise the National Guard in support of this goal

28 June 1792

5,000 federes stationed in Paris send petitions to the Legislative Assembly, calling for the King's removal

17 and 23 July 1792

Sans-culottes hold a peaceful demonstration inside the Tuileries Palace and present a petition to the King calling for the return of the Girondin ministry (which he had dismissed)

20 July 1792

Duke of Brunswick (commander of Austrian forces) issues the Brunswick Manifesto, which threatens the "total destruction" of Paris if the King's position is not restored

25 July 1792

National Guard allows passive citizens to join

1 August 1792

Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve (mayor of Paris) visits the Legislative Assembly and demands, on behalf of 47 of Paris's 48 sections, that the monarchy be abolished - his demands are refused

3 August 1792

20,000 sans-culottes storm the Tuileries Palace

10 August 1792

Feuillant leaders arrested

19 August 1792

Legislative Assembly orders the expulsion of refractory priests from France

23 August 1792

September massacres - sans-culottes summarily execute 1200 of Paris's 2700 prisoners

2 September 1792 - 6 September 1792

French forces score first major victory over Prussia in the Battle of Valmy

20 September 1792

King Louis executed

21 January 1793

Levee en masse - the National Convention orders the conscription of an extra 300,000 men from France's provinces, sparking the Vendee rebellion

24 February 1793

Revolutionary Tribunal is founded to hasten the trial and execution of suspected counter-revolutionaries

10 March 1793

Jean-Paul Marat acquitted at trial (principle of deputy immunity is effectively abolished)

24 April 1793

Sans-culottes (with the assistance of 75,000 National Guardsmen) invade the Convention building and demand the arrest and expulsion of the Girondin deputies

2 June 1793

French soldiers sweep through the Vendee region, shooting and drowning the local residents in response to the rebellion

1 August 1793

Law of Suspects - mandates that all suspected counter-revolutionaries (usually those on lists drawn up by local watch committees) should be held in custody

17 September 1793

Law of the General Maximum imposes price controls

29 September 1793

Committee of Public Safety orders the total destruction of Lyons for its participation in the Federalist revolts

12 October 1793

Girondin leaders executed

30 October 1793 - 31 October 1793

Law of 14 Frimaire Year II - full executive power is granted to the Committees of Public Safety and General Security, and provincial armies (carrying out the de-Christianisation campaign) are abolished

4 December 1793

Hebertists are executed by the Committee for Public Safety

24 March 1794

Decree of 18 Floreal Year II - Cult of the Supreme Being is established

7 May 1794

Law of 22 Prairal Year II - Trials of suspects are limited to three days, suspects are denied the right to a legal defence, and death is prescribed as the only penalty

10 June 1794

French forces defeat Austrian and Dutch armies at the Battle of Fleurus, which removes the threat of a foreign invasion of France (thus calling into question the entire basis for the Terror)

26 June 1794

Robespierre impeached and executed

27 July 1794 - 28 July 1794

Convention rules that revolutionary committees had to give grounds for arrest, and that all detainees who did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Law of Suspects should be freed (resulting in 3500 prisoners being released by the end of August)

5 August 1794

Revolutionary Tribunal reorganised so that suspects have to be given legal defence

10 August 1794

Revolutionary Commune of Paris is abolished

24 August 1794

State salaries to clergy are cut off, marking the complete separation of church and state

18 September 1794

Sans-culottes invade the National Convention building, and demand the suppression of the Muscadins and the release of imprisoned Jacobins, but are successfully defeated by National Guardsmen (the 26 Montagnard deputies responsible for inciting the riot are arrested)

1 April 1795

Parisian market women invade the Convention building again, and are suppressed again, resulting in the exile of 10,000 people to prison camps in the Seychelles and Guyana

20 May 1795 - 23 May 1795

30,000 royalists invade the Convention building demanding the restoration of the monarchy, and are defeated again, resulting in the deaths of 400

4 October 1795