The French Revolution and Napoleon

At the end of the 18th century France was an absolute monarchy with a society of estates: the nobility and the clergy had privileges and paid almost no taxes, while the third estate (bourgeoisie and peasants) bore the whole burden. With the state bankrupt and bread very expensive, Louis XVI summoned the Estates-General in 1789. The third estate declared itself the National Assembly and on 14 July 1789 the people of Paris stormed the Bastille, a prison that symbolised royal power.

The Assembly abolished feudal privileges and passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen: all are born free and equal in rights. In 1791 a Constitution limiting the king's power was passed. But the revolution became more radical: in 1792 the Republic was proclaimed, in 1793 Louis XVI was guillotined and Robespierre's Jacobins imposed the Terror, with thousands of executions, until their fall in 1794.

In 1799 General Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup and in 1804 crowned himself emperor. He conquered much of Europe and spread ideas from the revolution across it, such as the Civil Code, but he also caused wars like the Spanish War of Independence (1808–1814). He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815. The French Revolution marks the start of the Contemporary Age.