Events preceding but pertinent to the French Revolution

• The Enlightenment, which led to many European writers criticising the Monarchy and espousing democratic, liberalist
  Liberalism
  Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
  
  , nationalist and socialist ideas.

• Start of the Seven Years' War
  Seven Years' War
  The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
  
  , which compounded the debt situation.

• Coronation
  Coronation
  A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
  
   of Louis XVI at Reims
  Reims
  Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
  
  .

• Start of the American War of Independence (1775–1783)

• France declares war against Great Britain in support of the American colonies. The subsequent war worsens the debt situation further.

• February: Jacques Necker releases his 'Compte Rendu', leading ordinary French to believe that the economic situation was ok.

• The Segur Ordinance prevents those without a patrilineal century of nobility
  Nobility
  Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
  
   from entering the army officer corps.

• Laki eruption in Iceland
  Iceland
  Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
  
   and colder climate of the Little Ice Age
  Little Ice Age
  The Little Ice Age was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . While not a true ice age, the term was introduced into the scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939...
  
   combined with France's failure to adopt the potato
  Potato
  The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
  
   as a staple crop contributes to widespread famine
  Famine
  A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
  
   and malnutrition
  Malnutrition
  Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
  
  .
• Treaty of Paris
  Treaty of Paris (1783)
  The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
  
   ends the war. The success of the American colonists against a European power increases the ambitions of those wishing for reform in France.

• The Diamond Necklace Affair results in the discrediting of Marie Antoinette
  Marie Antoinette
  Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
  
  .

Financial crisis and Assembly of Notables

• August 20: Finance minister Calonne
  Charles Alexandre de Calonne
  Charles Alexandre, vicomte de Calonne was a French statesman, best known for his involvement in the French Revolution.-Rise to prominence:...
  
   informs Louis that the royal finances are insolvent
• December 29: The Assembly of Notables
  Assembly of Notables
  The Assembly of Notables was a group of notables invited by the King of France to consult on matters of state.-History:Assemblies of Notables had met in 1583, 1596–97, 1617, 1626, 1787, and 1788. Like the Estates General, they served a consultative purpose only...
  
   is convoked

• February 22: First Assembly of Notables meets against a background of state financial instability and general resistance by the nobility to the imposition of taxes and fiscal reforms.
• March: Calonne's publication of his proposals and the intransigence of the Notables leads to a public clash and impasse
• April 8: Louis dismisses both Calonne and the keeper of the seals
  Keeper of the seals
  The title Keeper of the Seals or equivalent is used in several contexts, denoting the person entitled to keep and authorize use of the Great Seal of a given country. The title may or may not be linked to a particular cabinet or ministerial office.- Canada :...
  
  , or minister of justice, Miromesnil
  Armand Thomas Hue de Miromesnil
  Armand Thomas Hue de Miromesnil was a minister of the French Ancien Régime who served as Keeper of the Seals under Louis XVI. He was brought into the ministry by his patron Maurepas following the ascension of Louis XVI and the dissolution of the Maupeou ministry, taking office alongside Turgot...
  
  , in an attempt to break the impasse
• April 13: Louis appoints Lamoignon keeper of the seals
• April 30: The Archbishop of Toulouse and vocal leader of the higher clergy, Loménie de Brienne
  Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne
  Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne was a French churchman, politician and finance minister of Louis XVI.-Life:...
  
   is appointed chief minister of state
• May 25: The first Assembly of Notables is dissolved
• June: Brienne sends edicts for tax reform legislation to the parlement
  Parlement
  Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
  
  s for registration
• July 2: Parlement of Paris overwhelmingly rejects the royal legislation
• August 6: Legislation passed at a lit de justice
  Lit de Justice
  Lit de Justice is an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred by Robert Sangster's Swettenham Stud, and purchased by the French racing operation Mise de Moratalla who named him for a famous Parlement of Paris known as the Lit de justice...
  
  . Subsequently the parlement declares the registration was illegal. Supported by public opinion, it initiates criminal proceedings against the disgraced Calonne
• August 15: Louis dismisses the Parisian parlement and orders the parlementaires to remove themselves to Troyes
  Troyes
  Troyes is a commune and the capital of the Aube department in north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about southeast of Paris. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town...
  
  
• August 19: Louis orders the closure of all political clubs in Paris
• September: Civil unrest in the Dutch republic leads to its invasion by the Prussia
  Prussia
  Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
  
  n army, and increases tensions in Paris. Brienne backs down with his legislative demands, settling for an extension of the vingtième tax, and the parlementaires are allowed to return to Paris.
• November 19: A royal session of the Paris parlements for registration of new loans turns into an informal lit de justice when Louis doesn't allow a vote to be taken
• November 20: The vocal opposition of the duc d'Orléans leads to his temporary exile by lettres de cachet, and the arrest and imprisonment of two magistrates

• May 6: Orders for the arrest of two Parisian parlementaires, d'Eprémesnil
  Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil
  Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil , French magistrate and politician, was born in India at Pondicherry, his father being a colleague of Dupleix....
  
   and Goislard, who are most implacably opposed to the government reforms, are issued; the parlement declares its solidarity with the two magistrates
• May 7: d'Eprémesnil and Goislard are imprisoned
• May 8: Judicial reforms partly abolishing the power of parlements to review legislation are forced through the parlements by Lamoignon in a lit de justice timed to coincide with military sessions
• June 7: Day of the Tiles
  Day of the Tiles
  The Day of the Tiles is an event that took place in the French town of Grenoble on 7 June 1788. It was among the first of the revolts which preceded the French Revolution, and is credited by some historians as being the start of it.-Background:...
  
   in Grenoble
  Grenoble
  Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
  
   - a meeting called to assemble a parlement in defiance of government order put down by soldiers.
• June: Outcry over the enforced reforms ensues, and courts across France refuse to sit
• July 5: Brienne begins to consider calling an Estates-General
• July 20: Meeting of the Estates of Dauphiné, known as the Assembly of Vizille
  Assembly of Vizille
  The Assembly of Vizille was the result of a meeting of various representatives in Grenoble, which took place on 7 June 1788. Its purpose was to discuss the events of The Day Of The Tiles, one of the first revolts preceding the French Revolution....
  
   and led by Jean Joseph Mounier
  Jean Joseph Mounier
  Jean Joseph Mounier was a French politician and judge.He was born at Grenoble . He studied law, and in 1783 obtained a judgeship at Grenoble. He took part in the struggle between the parlements and the court in 1788, and promoted the meeting of the estates of Dauphiné at Vizille , on the eve of...
  
  , to elect deputies to the Estates-General, adopts measures to increase the influence of the Third Estate
  Estates of the realm
  The Estates of the realm were the broad social orders of the hierarchically conceived society, recognized in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in Christian Europe; they are sometimes distinguished as the three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners, and are often referred to by...
  
  .
• August 8: After being informed that the royal treasury is empty, Brienne sets May 1, 1789 as the date for the Estates-General in an attempt to restore confidence with his creditors
• August 16: Repayments on government loans stop, and the French government effectively declares bankruptcy
• August 25: Brienne resigns, and Jacques Necker
  Jacques Necker
  Jacques Necker was a French statesman of Swiss birth and finance minister of Louis XVI, a post he held in the lead-up to the French Revolution in 1789.-Early life:...
  
   replaces him as Minister of Finance; de Lomenie, Archbishop of Toulouse is made chief minister.
• September: Necker releases those arrested for criticising Brienne's ministry, leading to a proliferation of political pamphlets
• September 14: Malesherbes
  Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes
  Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes , often referred to as Malesherbes or Lamoignon-Malesherbes, was a French statesman, minister, and afterwards counsel for the defence of Louis XVI.-Biography:...
  
   resigns
• November 6: Necker convenes a second Assembly of Notables to discuss the Estates-General
• December 12: The second Assembly of Notables is dismissed, having firmly refused to consider doubling the representation of the Third Estate
• December 27: Prompted by public controversy, Necker announces that the representation of the Third Estate will be doubled, and that nobles and clergymen will be able to stand for the same

• April 27 - The Réveillon Riots
  Reveillon riot
  The Réveillon Riot occurred on 28 April 1789 in the St. Antoine district of Paris where a factory which produced luxury wallpaper was owned by Jean-Baptiste Réveillon. The factory employed around 300 people. The Réveillon Riot was one of the first instances of violence during the French Revolution...
  
   in Paris, caused by low wages and food shortages, led to about 25 deaths by troops.
• May 5: The Estates-General
  Estates-General of 1789
  The Estates-General of 1789 was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the nobility, the Church, and the common people...
  
   meets for the first time since 1614
• June 20: Tennis Court Oath
  Tennis Court Oath
  The Tennis Court Oath was a pivotal event during the first days of the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789...
  
   of dismissed Estates-General members who refuse to adjourn
• July 12: Camille Desmoulins
  Camille Desmoulins
  Lucie Simplice Camille Benoît Desmoulins was a journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. He was a childhood friend of Maximilien Robespierre and a close friend and political ally of Georges Danton, who were influential figures in the French Revolution.-Early...
  
   gives a speech in the gardens of the Palais Royale, urging the citizens of Paris to take up arms.
• July 14: Storming
  Storming of the Bastille
  The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
  
   of the Bastille
  Bastille
  The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. The Bastille was built in response to the English threat to the city of...
  
  

Estates-General and Constituent Assembly

• May 5: Meeting of the Estates-General
  Estates-General of 1789
  The Estates-General of 1789 was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the nobility, the Church, and the common people...
  
   - voting to be by Estate, not by head
• May 28: The Third Estate (Tiers Etat) begins to meet on its own, calling themselves "communes" (commons)
• June 9: The Third Estate votes for the common verification of credentials, in opposition to the First Estate (the clergy) and the Second Estate (the nobility)
• June 13: Some priests from the First Estate choose to join the Third Estate
• June 17: The Third Estate (commons) declares itself to be the National Assembly
  National Assembly (French Revolution)
  During the French Revolution, the National Assembly , which existed from June 17 to July 9, 1789, was a transitional body between the Estates-General and the National Constituent Assembly.-Background:...
  
  
• June 20: Third Estate/National Assembly are locked out of meeting houses; the Third Estate chooses to continue thinking King Louis XVI has locked them out and decides upon a declarative vow, known as the "serment au Jeu de Paume" (The Tennis Court Oath
  Tennis Court Oath
  The Tennis Court Oath was a pivotal event during the first days of the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789...
  
  ), not to dissolve until the constitution has been established
• June 22: National Assembly meets in church of St Louis, joined by a majority of clergy
• June 23: Two companies of French guards mutiny in the face of public unrest. Louis XVI holds a Séance Royale, puts forward his 35-point program aimed at allowing the continuation of the three estates.
• June 24: 48 nobles, headed by the Duke of Orléans, side with the Third Estate. A significant number of the clergy follow their example.
• June 27: Louis recognises the validity of the National Assembly, and orders the First and Second Estates to join the Third.
• June 30: Large crowd storms left bank prison and frees mutinous French Guards
• July 1: Louis recruits more troops, among them many foreign mercenaries
• July 9: National Assembly reconstitutes itself as National Constituent Assembly
  National Constituent Assembly
  The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
  
  
• July 11: Necker dismissed by Louis; populace sack the monasteries, ransack aristocrats' homes in search of food and weapons
• July 12: Camille Desmoulins
  Camille Desmoulins
  Lucie Simplice Camille Benoît Desmoulins was a journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. He was a childhood friend of Maximilien Robespierre and a close friend and political ally of Georges Danton, who were influential figures in the French Revolution.-Early...
  
   announces the dismissal of Necker to the Paris crowd. The Karl Eugen, Prince von Lothringen-Lambesc  appears at the Tuilleries with an armed guard - a soldier and civilian are killed.
• July 13: National Guard
  National Guard (France)
  The National Guard was the name given at the time of the French Revolution to the militias formed in each city, in imitation of the National Guard created in Paris. It was a military force separate from the regular army...
  
   formed in Paris, of middle class men.
• July 14: Storming of the Bastille
  Storming of the Bastille
  The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
  
  ; de Launay
  Bernard-René de Launay
  Bernard René Jourdan, marquis de Launay was the French governor of the Bastille, the son of a previous governor, and commander of its garrison when it was stormed on 14 July 1789 .-Early life:...
  
  , (the governor), Foulon (the Secretary of State) and de Flesselles
  Jacques de Flesselles
  Jacques de Flesselles was a French public servant and one of the first victims of the French Revolution.On 21 April 1789, after serving as Intendant of Lyon , he became the last provost of the merchants of Paris, a post roughly equivalent to mayor...
  
   (the then equivalent of the mayor of Paris), amongst others, are massacred.
• July 15: Lafayette appointed Commandante of the National Guard.
• July 16: Necker recalled, troops pulled out of Paris
• July 17: The beginning of the Great Fear
  Great Fear
  The "Great Fear" occurred from 20 July to 5 August 1789 in France at the start of the French Revolution. Rural unrest had been present in France since the worsening grain shortage of the spring, and the grain supplies were now guarded by local militias as rumors that bands of armed men were...
  
  , the peasantry revolt against feudalism and a number of urban disturbances and revolts. Many members of the aristocracy flee Paris to become émigré
  Émigré
  Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
  
  s. Louis XVI accepts the tricolor cockade
  Cockade
  A cockade is a knot of ribbons, or other circular- or oval-shaped symbol of distinctive colors which is usually worn on a hat.-Eighteenth century:...
  
  .
• July 18: Publication of Desmoulins' La France libre favouring a republic and arguing that revolutionary violence was justified.
• August 4: Surrender of feudal rights: The August Decrees
• August 27: The Assembly adopts The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
• September 11 The National Assembly grants suspensive veto to Louis XVI; Louis fails to ratify the August acts of the National Assembly.
• October 5-6: Outbreak of the Paris mob; Liberal monarchical constitution; the Women's March on Versailles
  The March on Versailles
  The Women's March on Versailles, also known as The October March, The October Days, or simply The March on Versailles, was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. The march began among women in the marketplaces of Paris who, on the morning of 5 October 1789, were...
  
  
• October 6 Louis XVI agrees to ratify the August Decrees, Palace of Versailles
  Palace of Versailles
  The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
  
   stormed.

• November 2: Church property nationalised and otherwise expropriated
• November: First publication of Desmoulins' weekly Histoire des Révolutions ...
• December: National Assembly distinguishes between 'active' (monied) and 'passive' (property-less) citizens - only the active could vote
• December 12 Assignats are used as legal tender

• January: Former Provinces of France
  Provinces of France
  The Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the establishment of the département system superseded provinces. The provinces of France were roughly equivalent to the historic counties of England...
  
   replaced by new administrative Departments.
• February 13 Suppression of monastic vows and religious orders
• March 5: Feudal Committee reports back to National Assembly, delaying the abolition of feudalism
  French Revolution from the abolition of feudalism to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
  The French Revolution was a period in the history of France covering the years 1789 to 1799, in which republicans overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church perforce underwent radical restructuring...
  
  .
• March 29: Pope Pius
  Pope Pius
  There have been 12 Popes who were named Pius:*Pope Pius I *Pope Pius II *Pope Pius III *Pope Pius IV *Pope Pius V *Pope Pius VI...
  
   condemns the Declaration of the Rights of Man in secret consistory.
• May National Assembly renounces involvement in wars of conquest.
• May 19 Nobility abolished by the National Assembly.
• July 12 The Civil Constitution of the Clergy
  Civil Constitution of the Clergy
  The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government....
  
  . Demands priests to take an oath of loyalty to the state, splitting the clergy between juring (oath-taking) and non-juring priests.
• July: Growing power of the clubs (including: Cordeliers
  Cordeliers
  The Cordeliers, also known as the Club of the Cordeliers, Cordeliers Club, or Club des Cordeliers and formally as the Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , was a populist club during the French Revolution.-History:The club had its origins in the Cordeliers district, a...
  
  , Jacobin Club
  Jacobin Club
  The Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...
  
  )
• July: Reorganization of Paris
  Paris
  Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
  
  
• August 16 The parlement
  Parlement
  Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
  
  s are abolished
• September: First edition of radical newspaper Le Père Duchesne
  Le Père Duchesne
  Le Père Duchesne was an extreme radical newspaper during the French Revolution, edited by Jacques Hébert, who published 385 issues from September 1790 until eleven days before his death by guillotine, which took place on March 24, 1794...
  
   printed by Jacques Hébert
  Jacques Hébert
  Jacques René Hébert was a French journalist, and the founder and editor of the extreme radical newspaper Le Père Duchesne during the French Revolution...
  
  .
• September: Fall of Necker
  Jacques Necker
  Jacques Necker was a French statesman of Swiss birth and finance minister of Louis XVI, a post he held in the lead-up to the French Revolution in 1789.-Early life:...
  
  

• January 1: Mirabeau
  Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
  Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau was a French revolutionary, as well as a writer, diplomat, freemason, journalist and French politician at the same time. He was a popular orator and statesman. During the French Revolution, he was a moderate, favoring a constitutional monarchy built on...
  
   elected President of the Assembly
• February 28: Day of Daggers
  Day of Daggers
  The Day of Daggers or 'Day of Poignards' was an event during the French Revolution which occurred on 28 February 1791 when the Marquis de Lafayette arrested 400 armed aristocrats at the Tuileries in Paris...
  
  ; Lafayette orders the arrest of 400 armed aristocrats at the Tuileries Palace
  Tuileries Palace
  The Tuileries Palace was a royal palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine until 1871, when it was destroyed in the upheaval during the suppression of the Paris Commune...
  
  
• March 2: Abolition of trade guilds
• March 10: Pope Pius VI condemns the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
  Civil Constitution of the Clergy
  The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government....
  
  
• April 2: Death of Mirabeau
  Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
  Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau was a French revolutionary, as well as a writer, diplomat, freemason, journalist and French politician at the same time. He was a popular orator and statesman. During the French Revolution, he was a moderate, favoring a constitutional monarchy built on...
  
  - first person to be buried in Pantheon, formerly the church of Sainte-Geneviève
  Sainte-Geneviève
  -Buildings:* Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, a library in the 5th arrondissement of Paris* Abbey of St Genevieve-Places:* Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, a hill on the left Bank of the Seine in Paris...
  
  
• April 13: Encyclical of Pope Pius VI, Charitas, condemning the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the unauthorised appointment of Bishops is published
• April 18: Louis and Marie-Antoinette prevented from travelling to Saint-Cloud
  Saint-Cloud
  Saint-Cloud is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.Like other communes of the Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine or Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of the wealthiest cities in France, ranked 22nd out of the 36500 in...
  
   for Easter
• June 14: Le Chapelier law banning trade unions is passed by National Assembly
• June 20–25: Royal family's flight to Varennes
  Flight to Varennes
  The Flight to Varennes was a significant episode in the French Revolution during which King Louis XVI of France, his wife Marie Antoinette, and their immediate family attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution...
  
  
• June 25: Louis XVI forced to return to Paris
• July 10: Leopold II
  Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
  Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
  
   issues the Padua Circular calling on the royal houses of Europe to come to his brother-in-law, Louis XVI's aid.
• July 14: Second anniversary of the fall of the Bastille is celebrated at the Champ de Mars.
• July 15: National Assembly declares the king to be inviolable and he is reinstated.
• July 17: Anti-Royalist demonstration at the Champ de Mars
  Champ de Mars Massacre
  During the French Revolution, on 17 July 1791, the Champ de Mars in Paris was the site of a massacre, the . On that day, the National Constituent Assembly issued a decree that the king, Louis XVI, would remain king under a constitutional monarchy...
  
  ; National Guard kills fifty people.
• July: Remains of Enlightenment
  Age of Enlightenment
  The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
  
   philosopher Voltaire
  Voltaire
  François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
  
   reburied in Pantheon.
• August 14: Slave revolts in Saint Domingue (Haiti)
• August 27: Declaration of Pillnitz
  Declaration of Pillnitz
  The Declaration of Pillnitz was a statement issued on 27 August 1791 at Pillnitz Castle near Dresden by the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and Frederick William II of Prussia...
  
   (Frederick William II
  Frederick William II of Prussia
  Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
  
   and Leopold II
  Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
  Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
  
  )
• September 13–14: Louis XVI accepts the Constitution
  French Constitution of 1791
  The short-lived French Constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution of France. One of the basic precepts of the revolution was adopting constitutionality and establishing popular sovereignty, following the steps of the United States of America...
  
   formally
• September 30: Dissolution of the National Constituent Assembly
  National Constituent Assembly
  The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
  
  

Legislative Assembly

• October 1: Legislative Assembly
  Legislative Assembly (France)
  During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.The Legislative...
  
   meets - many young, inexperienced, radical deputies.
• November 9 All émigrés are ordered by the Assembly to return under threat of death
• November 11 Louis vetoes the ruling of the Assembly on émigrés and priests.

• January – March: Food riots in Paris
  Paris
  Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
  
  
• February 7: Alliance of Austria
  Austria
  Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
  
   and Prussia
  Prussia
  Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
  
  
• March 20: Guillotine
  Guillotine
  The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
  
   adopted as official means of execution.
• April 20: France declares war against Austria
  Austria
  Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
  
  
• April 25: Battle Hymn of the Army of the Rhine
  La Marseillaise
  "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song, originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin" was written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792. The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic's anthem in 1795...
  
   composed by Rouget de Lisle
  Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
  Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle , was a French Army officer of the Revolutionary Wars. He is known for writing the words and music of the Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin in 1792, which would later be known as La Marseillaise and become the French national anthem.- Biography :Rouget de Lisle was...
  
  . First execution using the guillotine.
• April 28: France invades Austrian Netherlands (Belgium
  Belgium
  Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
  
  ).
• July 5: Legislative Assembly declares that the fatherland is in danger (La Patrie en Danger).
• July 25: Brunswick Manifesto
  Brunswick Manifesto (1792)
  The Brunswick Manifesto was a proclamation issued by Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, commander of the Allied Army , on July 25, 1792 to the population of Paris, France during the French Revolutionary Wars. The Brunswick Manifesto threatened that if the French royal family were harmed,...
  
   - warns that should the royal family be harmed by the popular movement, an "exemplary and eternally memorable revenge" will follow.
• July 30: Austria and Prussia begin invasion of France.
• July: The tricolor cockade
  Cockade
  A cockade is a knot of ribbons, or other circular- or oval-shaped symbol of distinctive colors which is usually worn on a hat.-Eighteenth century:...
  
   made compulsory for men to wear. La Marseillaise sung by volunteers from Marseilles on their arrival in Paris.
• August 1: News of the Brunswick Manifesto reaches Paris - interpreted as proof that Louis XVI was collaborating with the foreign Coalition
  First Coalition
  The War of the First Coalition was the first major effort of multiple European monarchies to contain Revolutionary France. France declared war on the Habsburg monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792, and the Kingdom of Prussia joined the Austrian side a few weeks later.These powers initiated a series...
  
  .
• August 9: Revolutionary commune
  Paris Commune (French Revolution)
  The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, the Commune became insurrectionary in the summer of 1792, essentially refusing to take orders from the central French...
  
   took possession of the hôtel de ville
  Hôtel de Ville, Paris
  The Hôtel de Ville |City Hall]]) in :Paris, France, is the building housing the City of Paris's administration. Standing on the place de l'Hôtel de Ville in the city's IVe arrondissement, it has been the location of the municipality of Paris since 1357...
  
  .
• August 10–13: Storming of the Tuileries Palace
  10th of August (French Revolution)
  On 10 August 1792, during the French Revolution, revolutionary Fédéré militias — with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the "insurrectionary" Paris Commune and ultimately supported by the National Guard — besieged the Tuileries palace. King Louis XVI and...
  
  . Swiss Guard
  Swiss Guard
  Swiss Guards or Schweizergarde is the name given to the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. They have had a high reputation for discipline, as well as loyalty to their employers...
  
   massacred. Louis XVI of France
  Louis XVI of France
  Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
  
   is arrested and taken into custody, along with his family. Georges Danton
  Georges Danton
  Georges Jacques Danton was leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution and the first President of the Committee of Public Safety. Danton's role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed; many historians describe him as "the chief force in theoverthrow of the monarchy and the...
  
   becomes Minister of Justice.
• August 16: Paris commune presents petition to the Legislative Assembly demanding the establishment of a revolutionary tribunal
  Revolutionary Tribunal
  The Revolutionary Tribunal was a court which was instituted in Paris by the Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders, and eventually became one of the most powerful engines of the Reign of Terror....
  
   and summoning of a National Convention
  National Convention
  During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
  
  .
• August 19: Lafayette flees to Austria
  Austria
  Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
  
  . Invasion of France by Coalition troops led by Duke of Brunswick
  Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
  Charles William Ferdinand , Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, was a sovereign prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and a professional soldier who served as a Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia...
  
  
• August 22: Royalist riots in Brittany
  Brittany
  Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
  
  , La Vendée and Dauphiné
  Dauphiné
  The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....
  
  .
• September 3: Fall of Verdun
  Verdun
  Verdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is the slightly smaller city of Bar-le-Duc.- History :...
  
   to Brunswick's troops.
• September 3–7: The September Massacres
  September Massacres
  The September Massacres were a wave of mob violence which overtook Paris in late summer 1792, during the French Revolution. By the time it had subsided, half the prison population of Paris had been executed: some 1,200 trapped prisoners, including many women and young boys...
  
   of prisoners in the Paris prisons.
• September 19: Dissolution of Legislative Assembly.

National Convention

• September 20:National Convention
  National Convention
  During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
  
  . French Army stops advance of Coalition troops at Valmy
  Valmy
  Valmy is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.-Geography:The town stands on the west flank of the Argonne massif, mid-way between Verdun and Paris, near Vouziers.-History:...
  
  .
• September 21: Abolition of royalty and proclamation of the First French Republic.
• September 22: First day of the French Revolutionary Calendar (N.B.: calendar introduced in 1793).
• December 3: Louis XVI brought to trial, appears before the National Convention (11 & 23 December). Robespierre
  Maximilien Robespierre
  Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
  
   argues that "Louis must die, so that the country may live".
• December 4 : A Belgian delegation is received at the National Convention to claim independence from Belgium.

• January 21: Citizen Louis Capet guillotined, formerly known as Louis XVI.
• March 7: Outbreak of rebellion against the Revolution: War in the Vendée.
• March 11: Revolutionary Tribunal
  Revolutionary Tribunal
  The Revolutionary Tribunal was a court which was instituted in Paris by the Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders, and eventually became one of the most powerful engines of the Reign of Terror....
  
   established in Paris.
• April 6: Committee of Public Safety
  Committee of Public Safety
  The Committee of Public Safety , created in April 1793 by the National Convention and then restructured in July 1793, formed the de facto executive government in France during the Reign of Terror , a stage of the French Revolution...
  
   established.
• May 30: A revolt breaks out in Lyon
  Lyon
  Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
  
  .
• June 2: Arrest of Girondist
  Girondist
  The Girondists were a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution...
  
   deputies to National Convention by Jacobins
  Jacobin Club
  The Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...
  
  .
• June 10: Jacobins gain control of the Committee of Public Safety.
• June 24: Ratification of new Constitution
  French Constitution of 1793
  The Constitution of 24 June 1793 , also known as the Constitution of the Year I, or the The Montagnard Constitution , was the constitution instated by the Montagnards and by popular referendum under the First Republic during the French Revolution...
  
   by National Convention, but not yet proclaimed. Slavery is abolished in France until 1802 (Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte).
• July 13: Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat
  Jean-Paul Marat
  Jean-Paul Marat , born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution...
  
   by Charlotte Corday
  Charlotte Corday
  Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday d'Armont , known to history as Charlotte Corday, was a figure of the French Revolution. In 1793, she was executed under the guillotine for the assassination of Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat, who was in part responsible, through his role as a politician and...
  
  .
• July 27: Robespierre elected to Committee of Public Safety.
• July 28: Convention proscribes 21 Girondist deputies as enemies of France.
• August 23: Levée en masse
  Levée en masse
  Levée en masse is a French term for mass conscription during the French Revolutionary Wars, particularly for the one from 16 August 1793.- Terminology :...
  
   (conscription) order.
• September 5: Start of Reign of Terror
  Reign of Terror
  The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
  
  .
• September 9: Establishment of sans-culottes
  Sans-culottes
  In the French Revolution, the sans-culottes were the radical militants of the lower classes, typically urban laborers. Though ill-clad and ill-equipped, they made up the bulk of the Revolutionary army during the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars...
  
   paramilitary forces - revolutionary armies.
• September 17: Law of Suspects
  Law of Suspects
  The Law of Suspects is a term which is used to refer to an enactment passed on 17 September 1793 during the course of the French Revolution. It allowed for the creation of revolutionary tribunals to try those who were suspected of treason against the Republic and to punish those convicted with death...
  
   passed.
• September 22: A new calendar is introduced, denoting September 22, 1792 as being the start of year I.
• September 29: Convention passes the General Maximum
  General maximum
  General Maximum or The Law of the Maximum was a law created during the course of the French Revolution as an extension of the Law of Suspects on 29 September 1793...
  
  , fixing the prices of many goods and services.
• October 10: 1793 Constitution put on hold; decree that the government must be "revolutionary until the peace".
• October 16: Marie Antoinette
  Marie Antoinette
  Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
  
   guillotined.
• October 21: An anti-clerical law passed, priests and supporters liable to death on sight.
• October 24: Trial of the 21 Girondist deputies by the Revolutionary Tribunal.
• October 31: The 21 Girondist deputies guillotined.
• November 3: Olympe de Gouges
  Olympe de Gouges
  Olympe de Gouges , born Marie Gouze, was a French playwright and political activist whose feminist and abolitionist writings reached a large audience....
  
  , champion of rights for women, guillotined for Girondist sympathies.
• November 8: Madame Roland
  Madame Roland
  Marie-Jeanne Roland, better known simply as Madame Roland and born Marie-Jeanne Phlipon , was, together with her husband Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière, a supporter of the French Revolution and influential member of the Girondist faction...
  
   guillotined as part of purge of Girondists.
• November 10: Celebration of the Goddess of Reason
  Goddess of Reason
  During the French Revolution, on 10 November 1793, a Goddess of Reason was proclaimed by the French Convention at the suggestion of Chaumette. As personification for the goddess, Sophie Momoro, wife of the printer Antoine-François Momoro, was chosen...
  
   at Cathedral of Notre Dame
  Notre Dame de Paris
  Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
  
   which was re-dedicated as the Temple of Reason.
• December: First issue of Desmoulins' Le Vieux Cordelier
  Le Vieux Cordelier
  Le Vieux Cordelier was a journal published in France between 5 December 1793 and 3 February 1794. Its radical criticism of ultra-revolutionary fervor and repression in France during the Reign of Terror contributed significantly to the downfall and execution of the Dantonists, among whom its author,...
  
  .
• December 4: Law of 14 Frimaire (Law of Revolutionary Government) passed; power becomes centralised on the Committee of Public Safety.
• December 23: Anti-Republican forces in the Vendée finally defeated and 6000 prisoners executed.

• February: Final 'pacification' of the Vendée - mass killings, scorched earth policy.
• March 13: Last edition of Jacques Hébert
  Jacques Hébert
  Jacques René Hébert was a French journalist, and the founder and editor of the extreme radical newspaper Le Père Duchesne during the French Revolution...
  
  's Le Père Duchesne
  Le Père Duchesne
  Le Père Duchesne was an extreme radical newspaper during the French Revolution, edited by Jacques Hébert, who published 385 issues from September 1790 until eleven days before his death by guillotine, which took place on March 24, 1794...
  
   produced.
• March 19: Hébert and his supporters arrested.
• March 24: Hébert and leaders of the Cordeliers
  Cordeliers
  The Cordeliers, also known as the Club of the Cordeliers, Cordeliers Club, or Club des Cordeliers and formally as the Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , was a populist club during the French Revolution.-History:The club had its origins in the Cordeliers district, a...
  
   guillotined.
• March 28: Death of philosopher and mathematician Marquis de Condorcet
  Marquis de Condorcet
  Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet , known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist whose Condorcet method in voting tally selects the candidate who would beat each of the other candidates in a run-off election...
  
   in prison.
• March 30: Danton
  Georges Danton
  Georges Jacques Danton was leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution and the first President of the Committee of Public Safety. Danton's role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed; many historians describe him as "the chief force in theoverthrow of the monarchy and the...
  
  , Desmoulins and their supporters arrested.
• April 5: Danton and Desmoulins guillotined.
• May 7: National Convention, led by Robespierre, passes decree to establish the Cult of the Supreme Being
  Cult of the Supreme Being
  The Cult of the Supreme Being was a form of deism established in France by Maximilien Robespierre during the French Revolution. It was intended to become the state religion of the new French Republic.- Origins :...
  
  .
• May 8: Antoine Lavoisier
  Antoine Lavoisier
  Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , the "father of modern chemistry", was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology...
  
  , chemist, guillotined as traitor.
• June 8: Festival of the Supreme Being.
• June 10: Law of 22 Prairial
  Law of 22 Prairial
  The Law of 22 Prairial, also known as the loi de la Grande Terreur, the law of the Reign of Terror, was enacted on June 10, 1794 . It was proposed by Georges Auguste Couthon and lent support by Robespierre...
  
   - the Revolutionary Tribunal became a court of condemnation without the need for witnesses.
• June 26: French forces defeat Austrians at the Battle of Fleurus
  Battle of Fleurus (1794)
  In the Battle of Fleurus on 26 June 1794, the army of the First French Republic under General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan faced the Coalition Army commanded by Prince Josias of Coburg in the most decisive battle of the Flanders Campaign in the Low Countries during the French Revolutionary Wars...
  
  .
• July 25: André Chenier
  André Chénier
  André Marie Chénier was a French poet, associated with the events of the French Revolution of which he was a victim. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic movement...
  
  , poet, guillotined for conspiring against the Revolution.
• July 27-28: Night of 9-10 Thermidor
  Thermidorian Reaction
  The Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses of the Reign of Terror. It was triggered by a vote of the Committee of Public Safety to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Antoine Louis Léon de Saint-Just de Richebourg and several other leading members of the Terror...
  
   - Robespierre arrested, guillotined without trial, along with other members of the Committee of Public Safety. Commune of Paris abolished. End of the Reign of Terror. Also called The Thermidorian Reaction.
• Latter half of 1794: The White Terror
  First White Terror
  The first White Terror was started by a group in the south of France calling themselves The Companions of Jehu. They planned a double uprising to coincide with invasions by Great Britain in the west and Austria in the east...
  
   - reaction against remaining Jacobins.
• November 11: Closure of Jacobin Club.

• May 31: Suppression of the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal.
• July 14: Marseillaise accepted as the French National Anthem.
• August 22: 1795 Constitution
  French Constitution of 1795
  The Constitution of 22 August 1795 was a national constitution of France ratified by the National Convention on 22 August 1795 during the French Revolution...
  
   ratified - bicameral system, executive Directory of five.
• October 5: 13 Vendémiaire
  13 Vendémiaire
  13 Vendémiaire Year 4 is the name given to a battle between the French Revolutionary troops and Royalist forces in the streets of Paris...
  
   - Napoleon's "whiff of grapeshot" quells Paris insurrection.
• October 26: National Convention dissolved.

The Directory

• November 2: Executive Directory
  French Directory
  The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
  
   takes on executive power.

• March 9: Marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine.
• May 10: Battle of Lodi
  Battle of Lodi
  The Battle of Lodi was fought on May 10, 1796 between French forces under General Napoleon Bonaparte and an Austrian rear guard led by Karl Philipp Sebottendorf at Lodi, Lombardy...
  
   (Napoleon in Italy)
• June 4: Beginning of the Siege of Mantua
  Mantua
  Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
  
  

• April 18: Preliminary Peace of Leoben
  Leoben
  Leoben is a Styrian city in central Austria, located by the Mur river. With a population of about 25,000 it is a local industrial center and hosts the University of Leoben which specialises in mining...
  
  
• July 8: Cisalpine Republic
  Cisalpine Republic
  The Cisalpine Republic was a French client republic in Northern Italy that lasted from 1797 to 1802.-Birth:After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte proceeded to organize two states: one to the south of the Po River, the Cispadane Republic, and one to the north, the Transpadane...
  
   established
• September 4: Coup d'état
  Coup d'état
  A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
  
   of 18 Fructidor revives Republican measures
• October 17: Treaty of Campo Formio
  Treaty of Campo Formio
  The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on 18 October 1797 by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of revolutionary France and the Austrian monarchy...
  
  

• February: Roman Republic
  Roman Republic (18th century)
  The Roman Republic was proclaimed on February 15, 1798 after Louis Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon, had invaded the city of Rome on February 10....
  
   proclaimed
• April: Helvetian Republic proclaimed
• May 11: Law of 22 Floréal Year VI
  Law of 22 Floréal Year VI
  The Law of 22 Floréal Year VI was a law—arguably constituting a bloodless coup—passed on 11 May 1798 by which 106 left-wing deputies were deprived of their seats in the Council of Five Hundred, the lower house of the legislature under the French Directory....
  
   - Council elections annulled, left wing deputies excluded from Council.
• July 21: Battle of the Pyramids
  Battle of the Pyramids
  The Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was fought on July 21, 1798 between the French army in Egypt under Napoleon Bonaparte, and local Mamluk forces. It occurred during France's Egyptian Campaign and was the battle where Napoleon put into use one of his significant...
  
  
• August 1: Battle of the Nile
  Battle of the Nile
  The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
  
   - Nelson
  Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
  Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
  
  's victory isolates Napoleon in Egypt.
• December 24: Alliance between Russia and Britain

• June 17–19: Battle of the Trebia
  Battle of Trebia (1799)
  The Battle of Trebbia was fought on June 19, 1799 and resulted in the victory of the Austrians and Russians under Field Marshal Suvorov against the French under General Macdonald....
  
   (Suvorov defeats French)
• June 18: Coup of 30 Prairial Year VII
  Coup of 30 Prairial Year VII
  The Coup of 30 Prairial Year VII , also known as the Revenge of the Councils was a bloodless coup in France that occurred on 18 June 1799—30 Prairial Year VII by the French Republican Calendar...
  
   - removed Directors, left Sieyès
  Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès
  Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès , commonly known as Abbé Sieyès, was a French Roman Catholic abbé and clergyman, one of the chief theorists of the French Revolution, French Consulate, and First French Empire...
  
   as dominant figure in government.
• August 24: Napoleon leaves Egypt.
• October 9: Napoleon returns to France
• October 22: Russians withdraw from coalition
• November 9: The Coup d'État of 18 Brumaire
  18 Brumaire
  The coup of 18 Brumaire was the coup d'état by which General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the French Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate...
  
  : end of the Directory
  French Directory
  The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
  
  
• December 24: Constitution of the Year VIII
  Constitution of the Year VIII
  The Constitution of the Year VIII was a national constitution of France, adopted December 24, 1799 , which established the form of government known as the Consulate...
  
   - leadership of Napoleon established under the Consulate
  French Consulate
  The Consulate was the government of France between the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804...
  
  . French Revolution
  French Revolution
  The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
  
  may be considered ended.