Timeline

Question 1

May 1774, and what is the significance of this event?

Answer 1

Louis XVI coronation - King of France
-Political
-Inherits a deeply indebted and rigid state; young, inexperienced and indecisive

Question 2

1774-1776

Answer 2

Turgot as Controller General of France
-Economic

Question 3

Turgot’s reforms

Answer 3

-physiocrat
-6 Edicts : abolish privileges, tax all, every man given right to work with no restrictions
- cuts to royal expenses
-removal / reduction of number of pensions + encourage LXVI to grant less
- 4% interest Rates w/ some Dutch Bankers

Question 4

Difficulties Turgot faced

Answer 4

-took out some loans to keep France going
-tried free grain trades which led to the Flour Wars in 1774
-6 Edicts were oppressed by parlement

Question 5

1776-1778

Answer 5

Necker as Director-General of Finances

Question 6

Necker’s reforms

Answer 6

-Published the Compte de Rendu - 1781 (Budget Statement) , with 100,000 copies sold
-Popular with Public
-continues Turgot’s cost cutting measures
- appointed salaried officials ( removed venal positions)
48–>12
-Tax Farmers reduced from 60 to 40

Question 7

Difficulties Necker faced-

Answer 7

-Compte de Rendu lied and made it seem there was a surplus of 10,000 million livres, but in actuality there was a 112million livre deficit
-Therefore Breach of Royal Protocol
-Venalities were vital source of credit, which was lost
-Increased loans

Question 8

What and when does France sign something that ends the American War?

Answer 8

1783
-Financial
-1.3 billion livres cost

Question 9

1783-1787

Answer 9

Calonne as Controller General

Question 10

Calonne’s Reforms

Answer 10

-universal land tax with surveys and evaluations of land
-abolition of remaining vingtiemes
-abolish corvee royale-change to tax on landowners

Question 11

Difficulties Calonne faced

Answer 11

-stamp duty tax
-removals of controls on grain trade
-blamed for deficit and exiled in April of 1787
-loans France relied on began to dry up
-called Assembly of Notables to pass universal land tax but rejected

Question 12

22 February 1787

Answer 12

Assembly of Notables convened
-Political/Financial
-Nobles reject Calonne’s reforms
-Demand Estates General
-Powerlessness of Crown

Question 13

Briennes Reforms

Answer 13

-Replaced Calonne in Assembly of Notables
-nothing more than adapted Calonne’s reforms, also rejected by Assembly of Notables

Question 13

May 1787

Answer 13

Brienne becomes Controller-General
-Financial/Political

Question 14

July-August 1787

Answer 14

Parlements resist reform
-Political
-Begin Revolt of Nobles

Question 15

13 July 1788

Answer 15

Louis exiles the Parlements to Troyes
-Political
-Royal authority challenged
-popular resistence

Question 16

8 May 1788

Answer 16

May Edicts issued by Louis to limit parlements’ power (deeply unpopular)

Question 17

August 1788

Answer 17

Brienne resigns; Necker recalled.

Question 18

7 June 1788

Answer 18

Day of Tiles Grenoble

Question 19

August 1788

Answer 19

Brienne Resigns

Question 20

August 1788

Answer 20

Louis XVI announces Estates-General will be called for May 1789

Question 21

13 July 1789

Answer 21

Paris begins arming itself (early revolutionary activity)

Question 22

14 July 1789

Answer 22

Storming of the Bastille

Question 23

15 July 1789

Answer 23

Louis reinstates Necker; recognises National Assembly

Question 24

Late 1788–Early 1789

Answer 24

Cahiers de doléances collected from all estates

Question 25

27 December 1788

Answer 25

Louis agrees to double representation for the Third Estate (but not by head)

Question 26

August 1788

Answer 26

Edicts revoked; Parlements reinstated.

Question 27

Spring 1789

Answer 27

Bread riots and unrest across France

Question 28

5 May 1789

Answer 28

Estates-General opens at Versailles

Question 29

17 June 1789

Answer 29

Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly

Question 30

20 June 1789

Answer 30

Tennis Court Oath: vow not to disband until a constitution is written

Question 31

1787–1789

Answer 31

Series of poor harvests, worsened by a severe winter in 1788–1789, increasing bread prices and hardship

Question 32

20 July – 6 August 1789

Answer 32

The Great Fear: peasant revolts and attacks on seigneurial dues

Question 33

4 August 1789 – August Decrees

Answer 33

feudal privileges and tithes abolished

Question 34

26 August 1789

Answer 34

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (key Enlightenment principles established).

Question 35

5–6 October 1789 – October Days

Answer 35

Women’s March to Versailles; royal family brought to Paris