The French Revolution

Smarter in sixty minutes. Get smarter in just 60 minutes with in60Learning. Concise and elegantly written non-fiction books and audiobooks help you learn the core subject matter in 20% of the time that it takes to read a typical book. Life is short, so explore a multitude of fascinating historical, biographical, scientific, political, and financial topics in only an hour each. The French Revolution was a momentous event in modern history that began in 1789 and ended in 1799 when Napoleon Bonaparte took power. Many consider July 14, 1789 as the starting date of the revolution when rioters stormed the Bastille fortress in an attempt to obtain weapons and gunpowder. In the period of revolutionary upheaval, institutions such as the absolute monarchy and the feudal system were overthrown. Hundreds of accused counterrevolutionaries were massacred in an outburst of violence termed the Reign of Terror, and after the proclamation of the French Republic, the newly elected Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria and Prussia, where it feared that French émigrés were building counterrevolutionary alliances. The Revolution also unleashed a wave of global conflicts from the Caribbean to the Middle East. On November 9, 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup d'état, an event which marked the end of the Revolution. During the Napoleonic era, France dominated large parts of continental Europe and Napoleon would bring many of the principles of the Revolution to the areas he conquered.