The French Revolution (1789-1799) was a period of radical social and political upheaval in French and European history. The absolute monarchy that ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges disappeared under the constant onslaught of liberal political groups and street masses. Old notions of hierarchy and tradition succumb to new Enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights.
The French Revolution began in May 1789 with the Conference of the Three Classes. The first year of the revolution saw members of the Third Estate take the oath on the tennis courts in June, the storming of the Bastille in July, the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in August, and the epic parade of Versailles that took over the royal court Postponed to Paris in October. The following years saw tensions between various liberal parliaments and a conservative monarchy intent on blocking major reforms. September 1792 Proclamation of the Republic, King Louis XVI. Execute the following year.
External threats also played a leading role in the development of the revolution. The French Revolutionary Wars began in 1792 and culminated in a stunning French victory, conquering the Italian peninsula, the Netherlands and much of the land west of the Rhine—achievement that for centuries eluded previous French governments. Internally, popular sentiment radicalized the revolution, culminating in the brutal Reign of Terror in 1793-94. After the fall of Robespierre and the Jacobins, the Directory seized control of the French government in 1795 and was not replaced until 1799 by Napoleon Bonaparte’s consulate.
