THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 1789-1792
The storming of the Bastille fortress by people of Paris
THE FIRST REPUBLIC 1789-1792 (The Reign of Terror)
The guillotine
THE FIRST EMPIRE 1804-1814
In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte declares himself Emperor of the French.
Napoleon I
THE RESTORATION 1814-1830
Louis XVIII (House of Bourbon) is installed as king.
Louis XVIII
THE JULY REVOLUTION 1830
THE JULY MONARCHY 1830-1848
The crown goes to Louis Philippe (House of Orléans).
Louis Phillipe
THE REVOLUTION OF 1848
THE SECOND REPUBLIC 1848-1852
The nephew of Napoleon I, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, is elected president.
Louis Napoleon, president of the 2nd Republic
THE SECOND EMPIRE 1852-1870
In December 1851, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte stages a coup d’ėtat. He becomes Napoleon III of the Second Empire.
Napoleon III (same man, upgraded wardrobe)
THE THIRD REPUBLIC 1870-1940
The Third Republic established itself after the defeat of Napoleon III during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Taken prisoner after the decisive Battle of Sedan, he was later exiled to England, where he died in 1873.
Napoleon III prisoner of Bismarck
THE SIEGE OF PARIS
September 19, 1870 to January 28, 1871
Besieged by the Prussian army, the Parisians eat everything on four legs, including rats.
A soup kitchen during the Siege of Paris
THE PARIS COMMUNE
March to May 1871. Popular uprising comparable to the revolution of 1789, severely repressed by the government and ending in the Bloody Week during which an estimated 30,000 people were killed or summarily executed.
Paris burning during the Commune - in the foreground the imperial palace
End of the Bloody Week - bodies exhibited for identification
