Date |
Person |
Event |
Commentary |
Page |
| 1200 -1800 |
|
Parlements |
"The Parlements were 13 sovereign courts of law, sitting
in Paris and provincial centers, each comprising a body
of noble judges that, in different Parlements, numbered
from 50 to 130."
They handled both criminal and civil cases and acted
as censors of theatre and literature and as guardians
of social and moral propriety. "they also shared with
the King's bureaucrats ... administrative responsibility
for provisioning cities, setting prices in times of dearth
and policing markets and fairs."
The robins (the judicial nobility of the 'robe') `were
intensely self-concious of their collective dignity and
jealous of any attempts to encroach on their local authority.' |
105
106 |
| 1643 - 1715 |
Louis XIV |
"the sun king" |
very popular |
|
| 1715 - 1774 |
Louis XV |
|
indecisive and unpopular
his fiscal policies became more aggressive following
each of his major wars
"Since the 1750's the tone of Parlementaire resistance
to royal policy had been irate vehemence. ... it represented
a concerted effort to replace the unconfined absolutism
of Louis XIV with a more 'constitutional' monarchy."
"As the disputes with the Parlements over religious and
tax policies at the end of his reign became more acrimonious,
so the King became more adamantly absolutist." |
100
103 |
| 1721 - 1794 |
Malesherbes |
In charge of the royal houshold under
both Louis XV and Louis XVI. |
Malesherbes and Turgot were 2 of
the most powerful men in France.
He was very popular.
he tried to constrain rather then enforce the authority
of absolutism and supported fundamental liberties such
as freedom of the press and unfair taxation
"Much of Malesherbes' urging that the King should give
public demonstrations of a new candor and public-spiritedness
fell on deaf ears, or was defeated by the claims of traditional
decorum..." |
100
102 |
| 1700 - 1788 |
|
system of "privilege" |
Privilege was defined as various forms
of tax exemption.
Under Louis XVI "the crown's own position with
regard to privilege was deeply ambiguous" On one
hand it wanted to extend its control over the bureaucrats
but on the other it wanted to extend the number of privileges
because of the money it received.
"Privilege was not a monopoly of the nobility."
"the reasons for promotion were service, talent and
merit. ... At the very heart of the French elite, then,
was a capitalist nobility of immense significance to
the future of the national economy." |
115
118 |
| 1700 - 1788 |
|
system of "venality" |
Venality was the sale and purchase
of office. This was "more deeply and broadly rooted
in France than in any other major power in Europe."
|
68 |
| 1700 - 1788 |
|
taxation |
there was eloquent hatred among all
sections of society of the tax collecting apparatus, particularly
the Farmers-General. This was a syndicate of men who paid
the Treasury a certain sum in return for the right to "farm" (i.e.
collect) certain indirect taxes such as for salt and tobacco. |
72 |
| 1756 - 1763 |
|
Seven Years War |
European counterpart to the war in America between the
English and the French |
|
| 1740 - 1780 |
Denis Diderot |
writer & playwrite |
popular |
|
| 1760 - 1800 |
Jean-Baptiste Greuze |
artist |
painted French culture with a Romantic sensibility |
152 |
| 1760 - 1778 |
Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
author |
political ideas influenced the French Revolution |
155 |
| 1760's |
Simon Linguet |
lawyer, public speaker |
emphasized the value of the spoken word over that of
the printed word and this became highly prized during the
Revolution.
the Revolutionaries emulated the great Roman orators
(Cicero, Senaca, Cato) |
167 |
| 1770 - 1800 |
|
|
"The closing decades of the old regime were remarkable
for the number of cultural phenomena in which popular and
elite tastes converged." |
131 |
| 1770 |
|
|
The system of Parlements was abolished. |
108 |
| 1774 |
Louis XVI |
Ascended to the throne at age 19 |
|
|
| 1774 |
Vergennes |
Appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs |
|
|
| 1774 |
Turgot |
Appointed Controller-General |
Malesherbes and Turgot were 2 of the most powerful men
in France. |
|
| 1775 |
Louis XVI |
Coronation |
|
|
| 1775 |
|
|
The system of Parlements was reinstituted |
110 |
| 1775 - 1790 |
Marie Antoinette |
|
she made no concessions to her public role, becoming brazenly outgoing. She gave gifts. offices and money to her favorites and their families |
213 |
| 1775 - 1800 |
|
|
there was a strong underground press that produced books,
pamphlets, daily newspapers about the latest events and
ideas |
176 |
| 1775 - 1783 |
|
American War of Independence |
"For France, without
any question, the Revolution began in America." |
24 |
| 1776 - 1783 |
Vergennes |
French foreign policy of supporting
the American alliance ... while maintaining a strong army
in Europe |
"... the costs of Vergennes
global strategy policy brought on the terminal crisis
of the French monarchy"
"No other European power attempted to support
both a major continental army and a transcontinental
navy at the same time."
"More than any inequity in a society based on
priviledge, or the violent cycles of famine that visited
France in the 1780's, the Revolution was occasioned
by these decisions of state." |
62 |
| 1777 |
Lafayette |
Valley Forge USA |
Lafayette was with Washington at this battle.
Lafayette idolized Washington |
24 |
| 1777 |
Jacques Necker |
promoted to Director-General |
|
|
| 1778 |
|
France enters into treaty relations with the USA |
|
|
| 1779 |
|
French plans to invade England thwarted by bad weather |
|
|
| 1779 |
Lafayette |
returns to France |
|
|
| |
Benjamin Franklin |
|
promoted the patriot cause on both sides of the Atlantic |
|
| |
Talleyrand |
|
|
|
| 1781 |
Jacques Necker |
resigns as Director-General |
|
|
| 1783 |
|
Treaty of Paris |
Great Britain recognizes the USA |
|
| 1783 |
Vergennes |
cash-flow crisis |
"So in absolute terms, even after
the immense fiscal havoc wrought by the American war, there
are few grounds for seeing the scale of the French deficit
as necessarily leading to catastrophe. But it
was the domestic perception of financial problems, not
their reality, that propelled successive French governments
from anxiety to alarm to outright panic. The determining
elements in the money crisis of the French state, then,
were all political and psychological, not institutional
or fiscal." |
65 |
| 1783 - 1788 |
|
debt |
although the French debt was comparable
to the British debt, the French deficit was viewed as "royal" while
the British was considered "national" |
64 |
| 1784 -1786 |
Calonne |
Controller-General |
Calonne assumed that his policies would be imposed on the people rather than proposed to them (as did Necker). He also revelled in appearances and costly luxuries. |
227-237 |
| Feb 27, 1787 |
Assembly of Notables |
Calonne convenes the Assembly to publicly consider measures to resolve France's financial difficulties |
The notables began to display their independence and failed to follow Calonne's or Louis XVI's ideas, often going beyond them to more extreme measures of equality.
rather than being the tail-end of the ancien regime, they were more like the first revolutionaries |
243 |
| |
Assembly of Notables |
|
"Representation and consent were now required not as the auxiliary to government but as its working condition." |
259 |
| 1787 |
Brienne |
head of government |
initiated a number of reforms but antogonized the public with his approach
"Neither the seriousness of the financial crisis in the late spring of 1787 nor the acknowledged excellence of the government's reforms was enough to disarm what had become insuperable political objections to traditional government procedure." |
259 |
| Nov 19, 1787 |
Paris Parlement |
block the government's program |
The Parlement was supported by loud and public support |
264 |
| 1787 |
Brienne |
disbands the Parlements |
|
|
| Jun 7, 1788 |
Grenoble |
The Day of Tiles |
the first urban insurrection. The citizens threw tiles down on the soldiers who had been called out to maintain order.
- it signified the breakdown of royal authority
- it warned the elite beneficiaries of the disorder of the unpredictable consequences of encouraging a riot
- it delivered the initiative for further political action into the hands of younger, more radical, groups
|
274 |
| Jun 14, 1788 |
Mounier |
Grenoble |
Mounier begins to organize opinion more systematically. The assembly prepared a list of statements that:
- identified anyone who opposed them as a traitor
- the new political order should pay attention to the material grievancences of the people who had empowered it
- they appealed to the entire region to meet and prepare for their new representation
|
|
| Jul 21, 1788 |
Mounier |
Grenoble |
Meeting of the second assembly. Adopt the principle that goverments were founded to protect individual liberties, a new "American" concept. |
|
| Aug 8, 1788 |
Louis XVI |
Announces that the Estates-General would meet on May 1, 1789 |
This was a reversal of his earlier position where he had disbanded the Parlements and the local Estates. This encouraged the revolutionaries. |
|
| Aug 25, 1788 |
Brienne |
the government resigns |
large celebrations in Paris |
|
| Fall 1788 |
|
|
"The opportunity for constitutional reform was lost when the preservation of social distinctions - the orders of the old regime - became stigmatized as unpatriotic." |
292 |
| Fall 1788 - Winter 1789 |
|
famine, anger |
The fall of 1788 and the severe winter of 1789 severely damaged crops and led to widespread hunger, unemployment and starvation - leading to widespread anger. |
305 |
| Jan 24, 1789 |
Estate-General |
|
The process for electing the nobility and clergy to the Estates-General was well defined but the procedure for the Third-Estate was complicated and indirect, leading to much confusion and dissatisfaction. |
308 |
| Spring 1789 |
Estate-General |
|
The general population was encouraged to prepare lists of their grievances and these would then form the basis for the discussions of the Estate-General. In part this helped highlight many of the problems and injustices with the present system of govenment as well as creating a set of unrealistic expectations. |
316 |
| Spring 1789 |
Clergy |
|
The church in France at this time was in upheaval between "the claims of the pastoral clergy to embody the true spirit of the primitive evangel - humble, property-less and teaching the Gospel through works of charity and education - " versus "the worldly reality of episcopal big business." |
350 |
| 1789 |
|
|
The situation was rapidly escalating and getting out of hand. Louis XVI indecisiveness and reversing of decisions helped fuel the situation as there was a strong sense of a lack of leadership and control. At the same time the new patriotic fervour was growing quickly. |
|
| May 4, 1789 |
Estate-General |
|
Opening march of the members of the Estate-General from Notre Dame to the Church of Saint Louis. But instead of a ceremony that dissolved existing ranks into a form of patriotic duty, it became another extension of existing court ceremony. "The more brilliantly the first two orders [clergy, nobility] swaggered, the more they alienated the Third Estate and provoked it into exploding the institution altogether." |
339 |
| May 1789 |
Estate-General |
|
During the entire month of May the Estate-General was bogged down in endless bickering about procedures of verification of its members. |
353 |
| June 4, 1789 |
the Dauphin |
|
Dies at age 7, having been weak all of his life. (The Dauphin was the heir apparent to King Louis XVI. However there was another younger son to inherit the title.) But this event distracted the King from the business of the Estate-General. |
356 |
| |
Estate-General |
|
King Louis XVI fails to endorse the plans of the Estate-General and closes the building for renovations for a final ceremonial meeting. |
|
| June 22, 1789 |
Estate-General |
Tennis Court Oath |
The Estate-General meets in a nearby royal tennis court and affirmed their right to represent the country. They adopted the Roman posture of having the right arm oustretched as they swore an oath "to God ad the Patrie never to be separated until we have formed a solid and equitable Constitution as our constituents have asked us to." |
359 |
| June 27, 1789 |
Estate-General |
|
This body is no longer recognized by the King. |
366 |
| June 28, 1789 |
National Assembly |
|
The same group that made the Tennis Court Oath now called themselves the National Assembly and declared themselves the true government of the country, rather than the King and his advisors. They continue to meet at the Palais-Royal in Paris. The King returns to Versaille. The King backs down from the confrontation and the group is recognized by the King to large public demonstrations of singing and dancing. |
365 |
| July 12, 1789 |
Necker |
|
Necker ( by now he was a symbol of the victory of the Third Estate) is dismissed by King Louis XVI. There is a power struggle between the King and his close relatives and the National Assembly. The King mobilizes a number of military regiments but it is not clear how well they may follow orders. |
372 |
| July 12, 1789 |
|
Palais-Royal |
A large crowd gathers and voices its opposition to the King. The military is unable to control the crowd who now begin to demand arms to protect themselves from the King's army. This quickly became a struggle for control of Paris between the popular people and the King's authority. "During that single night of largely unobstructed riot and demolition, Paris was lost to the monarchy." |
387 |
| July 13, 1789 |
|
Paris |
A citizen's army of local militia is quickly formed. |
|
| July 14, 1789 |
|
The Bastille |
The citizen's army attacks the Bastille in an effort to obtain arms and powder. The local commander surrenders and the mob quickly begins tearing down the building which looks like a small fortress. The destruction of the Bastille immediately became a symbol for the Revolution. |
425 |
| July 1789 |
|
"The Great Fear" |
There is widespread rumour, unrest and panic throughout much of France as villagers armed themselves against brigands (small armies said to be formed by the aristocracy to wreak revenge on the Third Estate) or foreign invasions (Austrian troops in the Netherlands, English marines on the north coast, Swedish troops from the northeast, Spanish troops from the south). "The result was a wholesale breakdown in the structure of local command, swiftly followed by the formation of new armed authorities, empowered to contain the unrest. ... The real significance of the Great Fear was the vacuum of authority it exposed at the heart of the French government." |
434 |
| |
|
|
"The effect of this prolonged state of anxiety was to create the politics of paranoia that would eventually engulf the entire Revolution." |
436 |
| August 4, 1789 |
National Assembly |
|
In a spirit of patriotism, the nobility renounces all of its titles and privileges. "Giving something of one's own to the Nation became a demonstration of patriotic probity." |
439 |
| August - September, 1789 |
National Assembly |
|
Efforts were made to draft a "Declaration of the Rights of Man" as well as a new constitution. But there was little common agreement on what this should contain. There was also a strong difference of opinion on the appropriate role of the monarchy in the new France. |
442 |
| |
|
|
"All these issues boiled down to one great question: What is the relationship between violence and legitimacy? It was one that would dog the French Revolution through its entire history as successive regimes fell before their opponents' willingness to sanction punitive violence in the interests of patriotic righteousness." |
445 |
| Fall, 1789 |
Lafayette |
|
"For at least a few months Lafayette was the father-provider of Paris; its judge-arbitrator, the source of police protection and military authority." |
451 |
| Fall, 1789 |
Lafayette |
|
He invented the tricolor cockade as an obligatory badge of patriotic duty |
454 |
| Fall, 1789 |
National Guard |
|
They became the new police/army of the New France. They had to control both royalist conspiracies as well as mob anarchy. |
452 |
| October 5-6, 1789 |
working women of Paris |
March on Versailles |
The women of Paris spontaneously decide to march to Versailles to demand that bread be made available. The National Guard decide to support them and Lafayette joins the march against his own wishes.
The National Guard protects the King and Queen from the mob and they then "escort" the royal family back to Paris. They were placed under house arrest in the Tuileries Palace. |
470 |
| Spring 1790 |
Jacobins |
Paris |
Originally a social/political club of deputies of the National Assembly. The name was first used to describe the Dominican religious order because their first house was on St. Jacques street. This building became the meeting place of the deputies and they quickly became know as the Jacobins. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobin_Club |
|
| Spring 1790 |
National Assembly |
|
France is divided into 83 Departments (regional jurisdictions). |
477 |
| Spring 1790 |
Constituent Assembly |
|
The National Assembly now called itself the Constituent Assembly |
471 |
| May 1790 |
Mirabeau |
|
Mirabeau begins advising King Louis XVI on how to re-establish his authority |
533 |
| June 19, 1790 |
Constituent Assembly |
|
Eradicate all titles of heriditary nobility. This was considered incompatible with the concept of citizenship. Expressly banned were all insignia of social superiority such as coats of arms. |
477 |
| July 1790 |
Constituent Assembly |
Civil Constitution of the Clergy |
The clergy had to swear an oath to the country rather than to the pope. |
491 |
| 1790 |
|
|
There were sharp divisions between those who wanted a populist government and those that wanted a form of constitutional monarchy. |
497 |
| July, 1790 |
|
Fete de la Federation in Paris |
A large week long celebration on the first anniversay of the fall of the Bastille. Lafayette administered the oath to the country and the King declared as "King of the French" to "employ all the power delegated to me by the constitution to uphold the decrees of the National Assembly". There was a strong feeling of a fraternal coming together of all Frenchmen, but serious economic problems still persisted. |
511 |
| September 30, 1790 |
Constituent Assembly |
|
Abolishment of the local Parlements. The hierarchies of appointed royal officials were replaced by elected officials (who were often the same individuals). |
515 |
| |
|
|
"With the momentous exception of the expropriation of the Church, between 1789 and 1792 the Revolution produced no significant transfer of social power. It merely accelerated trends that had been taking place over a longer period of time." |
520 |
| |
|
|
"The liberties enshrined in the Declaration of the Rights of Man for the protection of free speech, publication and assembly had brought forth a politcal culture in which the liberation of disrespect literally knew no bounds. ... the removal of censorship and prosecution made it possible for political argument to reach an unprecedentedly broad audience." |
521 |
| March 1791 |
Mirabeau |
|
Mirabeau dies of a lymphatic disease. |
542 |
| April 18, 1791 |
Louis XVI |
|
An attempt by the royal family to leave for Saint Cloud where they could relax and celebrate Easter was blocked by an angry mob. Lafayette tried to lead a National Guard escort through the mob but the soldiers refused to obey him. The royal family eventually returned to their rooms clearly aware that they were powerless and prisoners of the people. |
550 |
| June 20, 1791 |
Louis XVI |
|
The royal family attempts to escape Paris but they are recaptured at the small town of Varennes and escorted back to Paris |
560 |
| September 1791 |
Louis XVI |
|
The King formally accepts the constitution drafted by the Constituent Assembly |
573 |
| October 1 1791 |
Legislative Assembly |
|
This elected Assembly replaced the Constituent Assembly who had completed its work by drafting the constitution. |
581 |
| |
Feuillants |
|
This group separated from the Jacobins over the issue of the future of the monarchy. The name comes from the name of the monestary where they met. |
|
| November 1791 |
Legislative Assembly |
|
136 members were Jacobins, 264 Feuillants and about 400 were uncommitted. |
582 |
| Spring 1792 |
Girondists |
|
This became another group within the Legislative Assembly that opposed the monarchy and helped force the war against Austria. |
|
| April 20, 1792 |
Legislative Assembly |
|
France declares war on Austria but suffers a number of military defeats on the borders. |
597 |
| June 20, 1792 |
Louis XVI |
|
An angry mob storms the Tuileries palace and force Louis XVI to wear the red hat of the revolution and to drink a toast to the revolution. |
608 |
| August 10, 1792 |
National Guard |
|
The National Guard storm the Tuilerie palace and massacre the Swiss Guards that were protectors of the monarchy. |
615 |
| August 10, 1792 |
Legislative Assembly |
|
Decrees that a National Convention should be conveened, elected by all Frenchmen over the age of 25.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Convention |
|
| August 19, 1792 |
Prussian army |
|
The Prussian army cross the French border and begin to slowly advance on Paris. |
627 |
| September |
Paris |
the September massacres |
In a move to kill conspirators before the volunteers leave Paris to defend the country, large mobs took over the prisons and began killing the inmates. Over 1400 unarmed prisoners were killed |
|
| September 7, 1792 |
Talleyrand |
|
Tallyrand emigrates to England to avoid the mobs in Paris |
679 |
| September 20, 1792 |
National Convention |
|
First session of the elected assembly |
|
| September 21, 1792 |
National Convention |
|
Royalty was abolished. |
|
| September 22, 1792 |
National Convention |
|
Considered to be the first day of the new republic. |
|
| January 17, 1793 |
National Convention |
|
The decision is made that the King must die as it would be inconsistent with the concept of a republic. |
|
| January 21, 1793 |
Louis XVI |
|
King Louis XVI is beheaded. |
670 |
| May 1793 |
Talleyrand |
|
Talleyrand leaves England for America (He is 39 years old at the time.) |
684 |
| February 1, 1793 |
National Convention |
|
France declares war on Great Britain and the Dutch Republic |
688 |
| March 11, 1793 |
|
Vendee uprising |
There is a popular uprising among the peasants in the Vendee region of western France against the republican government. The entire region is in the hands of the rebels. |
704 |
| March 24, 1793 |
|
|
The French army under Dumouriez is defeated by the Austrians and retreats from Belgium back into France. |
689 |
| April 5, 1793 |
Dumouriez |
|
Dumouriez fails to convince his troops to march on the National Convention and he gives himself up to the Austrians. |
689 |
| April 1793 |
Jean-Paul Marat |
|
There is a power struggle withing the National Convention between the Girondins and the Jacobins, with the Jacobins led by Marat, winning. |
718 |
| June 2, 1793 |
National Convention |
|
A large Parisian mob forces the National Convention to arrest the leaders of the Girondins. Once again, force and violence were the determining factors. |
725 |
| June 1793 |
|
|
The Jacobins institute little Terrors to intimidate those who opposed them. |
727 |
| July 13, 1793 |
Jean-Paul Marat |
Marat's assassination |
Marat is assassinated by Charlotte Corday, a woman from Caen who believed the Jocobins had degraded the aims of the Revolution |
737 |
| August 2 1793 |
Marie Antoinette |
|
Marie Antoinette is beheaded. |
800 |
| September 1793 |
National Convention |
national conscription army |
The government sets grain prices to alleviate the problems of hunger. It also established a national conscript army. This latter policy led to the retaking of the Vendee and prevented the French rebels from linking up with foreign armies. |
760 |
| November 1793 |
National Convention |
republican calendar |
A Jacobin move to create a new empire of images for the republican cause. |
776 |
| November 1793 |
|
dechristianization efforts |
Religious symbols and churches were replaced with secular imagery. |
780 |
| April 1794 |
|
Vendee massacres |
The republicans retake control of the Vendee region. |
792 |
| April 5 1794 |
Danton |
|
Danton is sent to the guillotine |
|
| July 28 1795 |
Robespierre |
|
Robespierre is guillotined. |
846 |
| 1789 - 1799 |
|
French Revolution |
"The causes of
the French Revolution were located deep within the
structure of the society that preceded it."
It is at the top, rather
than in any imaginary middle of French society,
that the cultured roots of the revolution should
be sought."
The revolution did not create French patriotism, rather
it gave the patriotism an opportunity to define itself
in terms of 'liberty'." |
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