at the beginning of 1789 the French treasury is empty. There is famine in France due to failed grain harvests. Grain prices have risen enormously. In 1789 the French Revolution begins.

May 2, 1789

Louis XVI convenes the States General at Versailles. Each estate will vote with one vote. The bourgeoisie runs away from the States General and holds its own assembly: the National Assembly. They want France a constitution to give.

July 14, 1789

Parisians storm the Bastille, the state prison in Paris. Quatorze Juillet (July 14) is still a national holiday in France.

summer 1789

La Grande Peur: peasants revolt and plunder castles.

August 1789

The Rights of Man and Citizen are adopted: the class society is abolished.

October 1789

The National Assembly decrees that all property of the Church will henceforth belong to the French State.

1791

France gets a new constitution. The country remains a monarchy. The power of the king is limited by a constitution: France becomes a constitutional monarchy. The king must implement the laws of the National Assembly. The National Assembly is elected by wealthy people.

Louis XVI tries to flee with his family. He is apprehended in Varennes and brought back to Paris.

1792

France is at war with Austria and Prussia. The French army consists of many volunteers who want to defend the Revolution. They sing the Marseillaise.

1793

Louis XVI is guillotined. France becomes a republic.

Conscription is instituted.

1793 - 1795

Not everyone in France is happy with the new administration of the National Assembly. Because it is mainly the bourgeoisie that has the say. Many French people want suffrage for all men, because according to Rousseau everyone is equal. Moreover, there is still famine and the war is going badly. Opponents of the bourgeoisie include the Jacobins, who call themselves that because they meet in the monastery of Sint Jakob (Saint Jacques).

The Jacobins, led by Robespierre and Marat, seize power. A reign of terror is coming: the Terror.

1794

Robespierre is guillotined.

1795-1799

France gets a new government: the Directory with five directors. There will also be a new constitution. In the new constitution of the Directory, only the rich get the right to vote. All political clubs, such as those of the Jacobins, are banned. The Church regains its power. To prevent one man from gaining executive power, as was the case during the Terror, five directors are appointed. The directors use the army, led by General Napoleon, to maintain order.

1799

Napoleon stage a coup. He establishes a dictatorship. There will be a new constitution in which the principle that everyone is equal before the law will be maintained.

1804

France becomes an empire: Napoleon crowns himself and his wife Emperor and Empress of France. He gives France new codes of law (the Napoleonic Codes): the civil registry is introduced.