Revolutions: France AOS1 1774 - 4 August 1789

Accession of King Louis XVI (crowned 1775)

10 May 1774

turgot appointed controller-general of royal finnaces

1774

American War Of Independence

1775 -1783

Necker appointed Director of Royal Treasury

22 October 1776

France offers financial aid to American rebels

1778

Necker resigns after presenting financial report to the king, which hides deficit

19 may 1781

Assembly of Notables meets to approve Calonne's universal taxation proposal; Assembly dismissed after refusing to endorse reforms; beginning of Aristocratic Revolt.

22 february - 25 may 1787

Calonne becomes Controller General

november 1783

Calonne dismissed and Brienne appointed

April 1787

Paris and Bordeaux parlements exiled after refusing Brienne's reform proposals.

august 1787

king holds royal session with parlement of paris to assert his royal authority.

19 november 1787

parlement of paris proclaims the new taxes need approval of estates-general.

3 may 1788

'Day of Tiles' occurs in Grenoble; riots break out in support of local parlement.

7 june 1788

king calls estates-general for 1 may 1789; elections of deputies and writing of cahiers de doléances from estate take place.

8 august 1788

Treasury payments suspended; the Crown is bankrupt.

16 august 1788

Brienne resigns.

24 August 1788

Necker recalled after Brienne's resignation, parlements are restored.

26 august 1788

parlement of paris decrees that estates-general must meet according to the rules of 1614.

25 september 1788

king agrees to double third estate (commoners) numbers in estates-general.

27 december 1788

Severe Winter/Harvest Crisis.

1788 - 1789

Cahiers are drawn up, elections help, pamphlets circulated and political clubs form ahead of estates-general.

january - may 1789

Sieyès puplishes, what is the third estate?

january 1789

peasant disturbances begin

march 1789

réveillion riots

26 - 29 april 1789

estates-general begins; king makes no decision on voting rights: third estate refuses to verify their election in separate chamber.

5 may 1789

third estate declares themselves the National Assembly.

17 june 1789

Tennis Court Oath; deputies swear to stay together until the constitution is established.

20 June 1789

at royal session, the king declares national assembly unconstitutional and commands three estates to meet separately but introduces reforms; national assembly deputies ignore him.

23 june 1789

second estate begins to join national assembly.

25 june 1789

king gives in and orders estates to unite; troops are called to Paris.

27 june 1789

kind dismisses necker, sparking revolt in paris.

11 july 1789

Storming of the Bastille

14 July 1789

king orders troops to leave paris and recalls necker.

15 - 16 July 1789

king's brother, comte d'artois, flees paris. Over next two months 200,000 nobles follow, creating a counter-revolutionary group called émigrés.

16 july 1789

Lafayette escorts the king (wearing the revolutionary cockade) to town hall in Paris, where he formally acknowledges the crowd from a balcony; a shift in power has now taken place; symbolic birth of constitution monarchy.

17 july 1789

'The Great Fear' occurs, a rural revolt across France caused by fears of backlash from nobles; this sparks attacks on castles.

20 july - 6 august 1789

'Night of Patriotic Delirium': mass renunciation of noble and clerical privileges leads to August Decrees.

4 august 1789