1789-1849 (Napoleon Dies in Egypt)

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Events of the Napoleon Dies in Egypt timeline from 1789 to 1849.

French Revolution[edit | edit source]

Onset[edit | edit source]

It had been less than a decade since the United States of America broke free from Great Britain and earned her independence in eight years of warfare. The Enlightenment ideals of liberty and the thoughts of revolution began to swirl in the minds of underprivileged citizens of Europe's monarchies, namely the middle and lower class citizens of the Kingdom of France. France, despite aiding the Americans in their own pursuit of liberty, was an aristocratic autocracy and was laden with poverty, corruption, inequality, and economic stagnation. The costly Seven Years' War and the high expenses of France's aid to the Americans during the American Revolutionary Wars had severely indebted France and caused her economy to enter a free fall into depression. King Louis XVI, after appointing and dismissing numerous financial ministers, eventually made the decision to call the Estates General together for the first time since 1614.

Unlike the previous Estates General of 1614, the representation of the Third Estate was doubled to 600 delegates, which would be a majority over the First and Second Estates and could allow the middle and lower class to dictate the Estates General. The Estates General convened on May 5, 1789, however on the following day it was announced that voting would weighted collectively and not by delegate. This angered the delegated of the Third Estate and the King attempted to focus the convention on taxes and divert from the representation controversy. His efforts were fruitless and a month later on June 17, 1789, the Third Estate (now referring to themselves as the Communes) declared themselves the National Assembly and extended invitations to members of the First and Second Estates to join them. King Louis XVI sensed that his power was being seriously undermined by the entire Third Estate, along with a few dozen delegates from the First and Second Estates, and moved to shut down the meeting hall of the National Assembly on June 20, 1789. Despite this, the National Assembly relocated to a nearby tennis court and proceeded to swear the 'Tennis Court Oath', agreeing to not separate until they had settled the constitution of France. The king eventually relented and dissolved the Estates General on June 23.

Word of the new National Assembly, a body that dedicated itself to all citizen of France, spread across the country and was received with widespread support. Four days after the dissolution of the Estates General, the military began to arrive in Paris and various other cities to quell uprisings. On July 11, Louis XVI, influenced by his conservative advisors, dismissed and banished his finance minister, Jacques Necker, and completely restructured the ministry. News of this reached Paris the following day and many saw this as the beginning of a conservative coup against the National Constituent Assembly. Foreign soldiers, serving as mercenaries for the royal government, also began to arrive in France and Parisians began to openly rebel the same day. The city fell to widespread looting, rioting, and general chaos. Some of the French Guard who held sympathies for the rioters joined the rebellion as trained soldiers. With Paris in virtual anarchy, the king grasping for his waning power, and the looming threat of a conservative coup against the National Constituent Assembly, the time for revolution had come.

The Revolution Begins[edit | edit source]

Parisians set their sights on the well-armed fortress and the symbol of royal oppression: the Bastille. Parisians, joined by some members of the French Guard, besieged the Bastille. Several hours of combat ensued until the Bastille fell that afternoon. The Governor of the Bastille, Bernard-René de Launay, was captured and beheaded by the revolutionaries, who also put his severed and paraded it around the city. The king was alarmed by the violence and visited Paris on July 17. He also decided to recall Necker in an attempt to appease the people, however this ultimately did not succeed as the spirit of popular sovereignty swept through France.

On August 4 and August 11, the National Constituent Assembly moved to abolish feudalism. The Assembly would also bar the church from applying a 10% tax on French citizens. Roughly two weeks later, the Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and enabled itself to draft a new constitution for the Kingdom of France.

(More to come here)

War Begins[edit | edit source]

Defeat in Egypt[edit | edit source]

Fall of the Directory[edit | edit source]

By the summer of 1799, the Directory had lot