1789- 1799. The French Revolution (1789-1792- Constitutional Monarchy; 1792-1795- First Republic; 1795-1799- The Directory.

1789 – The Outbreak of Revolution

• May 5: Estates-General convened at Versailles for the first time since 1614 to address France’s financial crisis.

• June 17: The Third Estate declared itself the National Assembly, claiming to represent the people of France.

• June 20: Tennis Court Oath – members vowed not to disband until a constitution was written.

• July 14: Storming of the Bastille – Paris crowds attacked the fortress-prison, a symbol of royal tyranny.

• July–August:

  • “Great Fear” spreads through the countryside; peasants revolt against nobles.

  • August 4: Feudal privileges abolished by the National Assembly.

  • August 26: Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen adopted.

• October 5–6: Women’s March on Versailles – angry market women march to Versailles, force the royal family to move to Paris (Tuileries Palace), bringing the monarchy under the people’s eye.

1790 – Reforms and Tensions

• Civil Constitution of the Clergy (July 1790): Church placed under state control; clergy required to swear loyalty to the nation — caused deep divisions between “juror” and “non-juror” priests.

• Paris sees increasing political debate in clubs, like the Jacobins and Cordeliers.

• Monarchy still exists but is increasingly distrusted.

1791 – Crisis and Breakdown

• June 20–21: Flight to Varennes – Louis XVI and his family attempt to escape Paris; caught and brought back, destroying trust in the king.

• September 1791: New Constitution of 1791 establishes a Constitutional Monarchy; the National Assembly becomes the Legislative Assembly.

• Paris remains restless; radical newspapers (like Marat’s L’Ami du Peuple) stir revolutionary fervor.

1792 – Fall of the Monarchy

• April 1792: France declares war on Austria; fear of foreign invasion intensifies revolutionary paranoia.

• June 20: Paris crowds invade the Tuileries to protest the king’s vetoes and his dismissal of Girondin ministers.

• August 10: Storming of the Tuileries Palace – the monarchy collapses; the royal family imprisoned in the Temple.

• September 2–6: September Massacres – mobs kill prisoners (nobles, priests, and supposed royalists) fearing counterrevolution.

• September 21: Monarchy abolished, France declared a Republic.

• December 1792: Trial of Louis XVI begins in Paris.

1793 – Radical Republic and the Terror Begin

• January 21: Execution of Louis XVI by guillotine in the Place de la Révolution.

• February: France at war with nearly all of Europe (First Coalition).

• March: Revolts in the Vendée and federalist uprisings in provinces.

• June 2: Radicals (Jacobins) and sans-culottes expel Girondins from the National Convention — Paris becomes the center of revolutionary power.

• September 5: Start of the Reign of Terror — Robespierre, the Committee of Public Safety, and the Revolutionary Tribunal dominate politics.

• October: Marie Antoinette executed; Girondin leaders executed; revolutionary calendar introduced.

• Late 1793: Revolutionary “de-Christianization” campaign sweeps Paris (closure of churches, Cult of Reason festivals).

1794 – The Height and Fall of the Terror

• spring–Summer 1794: Thousands executed under suspicion of treason or counterrevolution; even radical leaders fall victim.

• June 8: Festival of the Supreme Being (Robespierre’s attempt at a civic religion).

• July 27 (9 Thermidor): Thermidorian Reaction – Robespierre arrested and guillotined the next day.

• The Terror ends; Paris breathes uneasy relief

1795 – The Aftermath

• New Constitution (Year III): Establishes the Directory — a five-man executive with a bicameral legislature (Council of 500 and Council of Ancients).

• October 5 (13 Vendémiaire): Royalist uprising in Paris crushed by Napoleon Bonaparte, earning him fame.

• Political clubs like the Jacobins are shut down; Paris now under tighter military control.

1795–1797: Instability and Corruption

• Paris under the Directory is politically unstable:

  • Widespread corruption and economic hardship.

  • Food shortages lead to bread riots (especially in 1795–96).

  • Royalists and Jacobins both threaten the regime.

• 1796: Babeuf’s Conspiracy of Equals (proto-communist uprising) in Paris; crushed and Babeuf executed.

1797–1799: Rise of Napoleon and Fall of the Directory

• Growing reliance on the army to maintain order; Napoleon’s victories in Italy make him a national hero.

• 1798–1799: Directory faces military failures abroad and political discontent at home.

• November 9, 1799 (18 Brumaire, Year VIII): Napoleon’s coup d’état in Paris overthrows the Directory.

• End of the Revolution → beginning of the Consulate, with Napoleon as First Consul.