The French Revolution
A monarchy collapses, rights are declared universal, and the Terror follows.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 10 years
- Known to
- ± 1 year
- Era
- Early Modern, Holocene
Fiscal crisis forces the Estates-General in 1789; the Third Estate declares itself a National Assembly, the Bastille falls in July, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man asserts that men are born free and equal in rights. The monarchy is abolished, the king executed in 1793, and the Terror kills tens of thousands. Napoleon takes power in 1799. The Revolution establishes the modern political vocabulary of left and right, nation and citizen.