France & Germany; key historical events up to 31/12/1869
Click here for events in France &
Germany from 1/1/1870
Page last modified 5/12/2019
This
agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman
Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire – Voltaire
1) For emergence of France and Germany from Frankish Kingdom 768 click here
2) For growth of Germany from Brandenburg 1415 click
here. See also entry for 1415 below.
3) For Mediaeval map of Heligoland click here
(was much larger island).
Colour key:
People
Napoleon I 1769-1821
French Revolution
Murat
Seven Years War 1756-63
Mazarin /
Conde 1643-52
Huguenot
wars; 1560-1619
Thirty Years War
Hundred Years War 1337-1453
Chlothar I
843-880. Treaty of Verdun to Treaty of Ribemont. The formation of
modern France, Germany, Italy
17/6/1869 Wilhelmshaven,
Germany’s first military port, was officially inaugurated.
29/2/1868, Ex-King Louis of Bavaria died in Munich, aged 81.
Louis
was a patron of the arts and his capital, Munich, was a centre of culture. Louis
had an affair with an Irish dancer, Marie Gilbert (stage name Lola Montez). This affair
provoked a revolution; Louis had to abdicate in 1848, and Marie
died destitute in new York in 1861, aged 43.
1/7/1867. The German Federal Constitution came into force.
17/4/1867, The North German Reichstag adopted the new federal
Constitution. Four years later all of
the German Empire had adopted it.
8/2/1867, As Prussia became increasingly powerful under Prime Minister
Otto von Bismarck and King Wilhelm I, political differences between
Germany and the Hapsburgs of Austria, who had ruled Austria since 1278. This
weakened Austria to the point where Hungary threatened to break away, and to
save the unity of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was forced to agree to a
Dual Monarchy, where each State had a separate government and a convoluted
system of joint Ministers to oversee the Empire. However this in turn alienated ethnic
minorities within Austro-Hungary, ultimately sparking off demands for Serbian
independence and the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand that led to World War One.
3/10/1866, The states north of the Mainz joined a new North German Confederation
under Prussian leadership. Austria was finally excluded from the
German Confederation. The formerly
independent duchy of Nassau, Germany, 1,830 square miles, was incorporated with
the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia annexed Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover,
Hesse-Cassel, and Frankfurt Am Main. The southern German states agreed that
their troops should come under the command of Prussia in the event of war.
3/7/1866, In northern
Czechoslovakia, the Austrian army was
routed by Prussian forces at the Battle of Sadowa (Koniggratz). The victory
by Bismarck was sealed at the Treaty of
Prague, by which Austria renounced her claim to Schleswig-Holstein, where
Germany would later build a great naval base at Kiel and build the Kiel
Canal linking the Baltic and North Seas.
29/6/1866, The Hanoverian army was forced to capitulate to
the Prussians after a defeat in the Battle of Lasngensalza.
15/6/1866, Prussian troops crossed the frontiers of Hanover,
Saxony, and Hesse-Cassel.
14/6/1866, The brief Austro-Prussian
War began, over a dispute between Prussia and Austria over the Duchies of
Schleswig and Holstein.
7/6/1866, Prussian troops entered Holstein. This was the start of the Austro-Prussian
War.
8/4/1866. Bismarck arranged an alliance between Italy and Germany. Italy promised to join Germany
in was against Austria if war broke out in the next three months.
8/4/1865, Erich von Ludendorff, German soldier, was born.
30/10/1864. By the Peace of Vienna, Denmark gave up Schleswig, Holstein, and
Lauenberg. These provinces came under
Austrian and Prussian rule.
10/3/1864, Maximilian II, King of Bavaria,
died.
1/2/1864, Austrian and Prussian
troops under the command of Friedrich von Wangle invaded Schleswig, Denmark.
Although the British monarch, Queen Victoria, was pro-German, the British Prince Edward,
the future King
Edward VII – who had only months earlier married Alexandra of
Denmark – was shocked; they supported Denmark. The Second Schleswig
War began. This event ensured that under King Edward VII’s reign, British foreign
policy was pro-Danish, anti-German, and
Britain formed a triple entente with France and Russia against Germany.
28/9/1862, Bismarck
made his ‘blood and iron’ speech.
23/9/1862. Bismarck arrived in Berlin and was
made Prime Minister of Prussia.
2/2/1861, The Franco-Monagesque Treaty restored independence
to Monaco.
2/1/1861, Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia died aged 65.
He was succeeded by his brother and Regent, Wilhelm I.
10/7/1859, The Treaty of Villafranca
was signed.
27/1/1859,
Kaiser Willhelm II was born in Potsdam, near Berlin. He was the son of the German Emperor
and the grandson of Queen Victoria.
7/10/1858, Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia was certified
insane, and his brother, 61-year-old Wilhelm, was made Regent.
10/7/1858, Napoleon III of France secretly met Count Cavour at Plombieres. The two
agreed to jointly attack Austria.
13/3/1858, Felice Orsini, Italian revolutionary, was
executed for his part in the assassination attempt on Napoleon III in Paris.
14/1/1858, An Italian assassin threw a bomb at French Emperor
Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie as they drove to the Paris
Opera. The bomb, thrown by Felici Orsini, missed its target but killed
eight bystanders and injured 100. Orsini planned the attack in London, causing
anti-British sentiment in France.
24/4/1856, Philippe Petain, French Army Marshall, was
born in Cuchy a la Tour.
For Crimean War see Russia 1850s
4/4/1853. The customs union signed by various German states was extended for
another 12 years; Austria remained excluded.
29/1/1853, Napoleon III of France married Eugenie de Montijo in Paris.
1852, Napoleon III gave the Bois de Bolougne to
Paris for a public park.
2/12/1852, Louis Napoleon was proclaimed
Emperor of France as Napoleon III. The
Second French Empire was proclaimed.
12/1/1852, Joseph Joffre, French Army Marshall and
Commander in Chief on the Western Front, was born in Rivesaltes.
2/10/1851, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, French General who led
the counteroffensive that defeated Germany in 1918, was born in Tarbes, France.
26/8/1850, Death of Louis Philippe, the ‘citizen king’, who
abdicated rather than face a middle-class revolt.
16/4/1850. Swiss waxworks show proprietor Madame Marie Tussaud died. She was born on 1/12/1761 in Strasbourg. She learnt the
art of wax modelling from her uncle, Philippe Curtius. Before the French Revolution
Mme Tussaud
was art tutor at Versailles to Louis XVI’s sister, Elizabeth. After a period in
prison she was tasked with making death masks from the heads of those
guillotined, some of whom she recognised as friends. She left Paris in 1802,
along with her waxwork models, and two sons from a failed marriage to a French engineer,
Francois
Tussaud. She spent 33 years touring Britain before opening a
permanent display in London.
31/5/1850, France
passed a law requiring voters to be resident in the same place for three years
before qualifying for a vote. This was
to exclude migratory workers, who tended to be radical.
3/5/1849, Bernhard, Prince von Bulow, German Chancellor
and Prime Minister of Prussia (1900-09) was born.
19/3/1849, Alfred von Tirpitz, German
Admiral, was born in Kustrin, Brandenburg, Prussia.
20/12/1848, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was
proclaimed President of France.
11/12/1848. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was elected President of
the French Republic by a large majority.
26/8/1848. Denmark and Prussia signed
a truce at Malmo. Both agreed to evacuate the disputed territory of
Schleswig-Holstein.
27/6/1848, Denis Affre, Archbishop of
Paris, died (born in St Rome, Tarn, 27/9/1793)
26/6/1848. Riots in Paris from
the 23rd to the 26th June.
10/5/1848, The French Assembly
spurned the proposal of Louis Blanc to establish a Ministry of Labour
and Progress, a bold measure to implement Blanc's socialist agenda.
2/5/1848. Prussia invaded Denmark over the Schleswig-Holstein question.
20/3/1848, Ludwig I, King of Bavaria, abdicated.
17/3/1848, Protests in Berlin against the conservatism of
Prussian ruler Frederick
William IV.
3/3/1848, Louis-Philippe of France arrived in England,
following his abdication. Meanwhile
economic depression and hunger, and discontent amongst the growing middle
classes, was spurring revolution across Europe. Demonstrations occurred in
Vienna and across Hungarian cities; ethnic minorities within the
Austro-Hungarian Empire were demanding self-rule. Venice proclaimed
independence from Austria.
26/2/1848, The Second
French Republic was proclaimed. See 24/2/1848.
24/2/1848. The French
monarchy fell as King Louis Philippe fled to
exile in England. See 26/2/1848.
2/10/1847, Paul von Hindenburg, German politician, was
born.
25/8/1845, Ludwig II, King of
Bavaria, was born.
28/9/1841, Georges Clemenceau, French Prime
Minister 1917-20, was born.
15/12/1840, Napoleon’s body was interred in Les Invalides,
Paris.
7/7/1840, Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia died aged 69.
He was succeeded by his 44-year-old son, Friedrich Wilhelm IV.
19/4/1837, Johann Ancillon, Prussian statesman and
historian, died (born 30/4/1766 in Berlin).
1836, The Arc de Triomphe, Paris, was completed (begun by Napoleon
to commemorate his victories between 1790 and 1814). It is Europe’s largest
triumphal arch, 50 meres high and 45 metres wide.
2/3/1835, Francis II, last Holy Roman Emperor, died. He was succeeded, as Emperor of Austria only, by his 4-year-old
son, Ferdinand
I.
19/11/1834, Richard Avenarius, German philosopher, was
born in Paris (died in Zurich 18/8/1896).
7/8/1834, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, French inventor, died.
1/1/1834, The German zollervein (customs union) now
extended to all German states except Austria and the north-eastern states.
3/5/1833, Jean Constans, French politician, was born at
Beziers (died 7/4/1913 in Paris).
22/3/1833. A customs union, or zollverein, was signed
between Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Prussia, and Hesse-Darmstadt. Austria was
excluded. This zollverein covered 17 states with a total population of 20
million. Until now, 67 different tariffs and 13 non-Prussian enclaves, each
with a different fiscal system, had hampered economic development. The
zollverein was the idea of the economist Friedrich
List, who returned to Prussia from the USA in 1832. Germany
was also being united by the spread of the railways out from Berlin.
28/6/1832, Metternich
insisted on the German Confederation’s acceptance of the Six Articles. This
uniformised the behaviour of sovereigns across German States, forbade public
meetings, and introduced surveillance of suspicious characters.
18/10/1831, Frederick III, Emperor of Germany, was born.
9/3/1831. King Louis-Philippe founded the French Foreign Legion. Its headquarters
was at Sidi-bel-Abbes in Algeria. In 1962 the headquarters was moved to Aubagne, France. See 5/7/1830.
24/2/1831, Georg Caprivi, German statesman (died
6/2/1899) was born.
15/12/1830, Karl August Ferdinand von Borcke (born
18/2/1776) a Prussian general and the first recipient of the Iron Cross, died.
7/8/1830, Louis Philippe accepted the Crown of France.
2/8/1830, The July
Revolution in France ended. Charles X abdicated.
29/7/1830, French liberals opposed to Charles X seized Paris.
27/7/1830, Revolutionary riots in Paris, The July Revolution, sparked by the harsh
policies of King
Charles X.
24/9/1828. Several German states founded the Commercial Union
of Central Germany, signing a customs agreement with Prussia.
23/4/1828, Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony from 1873
(died 10/6/1902) was born.
11/1/1828, The
Prussian zollervein, or customs
union, was extended to Hesse Darmstadt.
From 1825 a new Prussian finance minister, Friedrich von Motz, had begun to
extend the Prussian customs union or zollervein. Independent enclaves or city states had
previously served as smuggling centres, hindering tax collection. In May 1829 Bavaria, whose ruler Louis I
was keen on the zollervein, joined. See
1/1/1834.
13/10/1825, Maximilian I, King of Bavaria, died.
3/10/1824, Harry Arnim, German diplomat, was born (died
1881).
16/9/1824. Louis XVIII, King of France, died aged 68, leaving a strong and prosperous country, in
contrast to its defeat under Napoleon. However his attempts at
constitutional reform were thwarted by the ultra-royalists. He was succeeded by
his brother, Charles
X.
28/2/1824, Charles Blondin,
French tightrope walker famous for his crossings of Niagara Falls, was born in
Hesdin near Calais, as Jean Francois Gravelet.
29/1/1824, Louise Caroline, Countess of Albany, died.
16/1/1822, Henri Aumale, French statesman, was born in
Paris (died in Zucco, Sicily 7/5/1897).
5/5/1821, Napoleon Bonaparte died, in exile on St Helena, in the Atlantic
(born 15/8/1769). The cause may have
been arsenic poisoning, or it may have been stomach cancer, which also killed Napoleon’s
father.
12/9/1819, Gebhard von Blucher, Prussian Field Marshall
who helped the Allies to victory against Napoleon, died in Silesia.
21/11/1818, France was admitted to the Quadruple alliance, now
the Quintuple alliance (see 20/11/1815).
France’s war indemnity was cut.
29/9/1818, The Congress of Aix La Chapelle began.
26/5/1818, A Bill presented by the economist and councillor Karl Maaseen
was adopted. It abolished customs procedures within Prussia and lifted
trade restrictions.
23/10/1817, Pierre Larousse, French lexicographer, was
born.
12/6/1816, Pierre Augereau, French soldier, died.
7/12/1815. Marshall Ney, a famous general of Napoleon,
convicted of high treason, was executed by firing squad for supporting Napoleon
at Waterloo when ordered by the Allies to arrest him.
20/11/1815, A second
Treaty of Paris reduced France to its 1789 frontiers (see 30/5/1814), stripped her of the port of Savoy,
and created an organisation charged with the collective security of Europe.
Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia renewed their Quadruple Alliance
and agreed to exclude the Bonaparte dynasty from French rule for another 20
years. An Allied army of occupation was installed in Paris. An Allied army of
occupation was installed in Paris. Under this Alliance, each power agreed to
supply 60,000 soldiers in the event of French aggression.
16/10/1815, Napoleon arrived at St Helena, see 8/8/1815.
13/10/1815, Joachim Murat, King of the Two Sicilies, was
executed.
22/8/1815, Pro
Royalists won the first free elections in France.
8/8/1815. Napoleon set sail for
exile on St Helena. He arrived there on 16/10/1815.
17/7/1815. Napoleon attempted to escape to America from Rochefort but
was captured by the British.
15/7/1815. Napoleon surrendered to Captain Maitland of the ship Bellerophon
at Rochefort.
7/7/1815. The Allies
entered Paris victoriously a second time, and King
Louis XVIII returned to Paris.on 8/7/1815.
1/7/1815, A battle between
the French and the Allies at
Ligny, near Fleurus, Belgium.
26/9/1815. Holy Alliance formed between Russia, Austria,
and Prussia.
25/6/1815. Napoleon abdicated in Paris for a second time.
21/6/1815, Napoleon reached Paris.
18/6/1815. Sunday; the Battle
of Waterloo was fought, in driving rain., in the flat Belgian countryside. Combined British and Prussian forces,
15,000 and 8,000 respectively) led by the Duke of
Wellington and Field Marshall Blucher
decisively defeated the French (25,000) under Napoleon. Napoleon miscalculated,
underestimating his enemies. The French
soldiers were aware of an advancing force on their right flank; Napoleon
knew this was the Prussian Army, but reckoned he could defeat the British
before they arrived, then re-deploy. He
told the French Army these were more French soldiers. When the Prussians opened fire on the French
it seemed as these ‘French’ soldiers had changed sides; a cry of ‘treason’ went
up, and the French Army disintegrated. Napoleon
himself retreated westwards, but was held up at Genappe, only four miles from
the battlefield, as a mass of men attempted to cross the only bridge over the
River Dyle. Finally, only minutes before the Prussian cavalry arrived at
Genappe, Napoleon
succeeded in crossing the bridge and galloped away towards Paris. See 26/2/1815.
16/6/1815, Battle of Quatre
Bras.
15/6/1815. Napoleon defeated the Prussians under Blucher at the Battle of Ligny, Netherlands. The
Prussians lost 12,000 men, against French losses of of 8,500. Napoleon was hoping, by invading The
Netherlands, to eliminate Britain and Prussia from the coalition against him.
8/6/1815, Abandoning the idea of re-establishing the old
German Empire, the 39 disparate German
States formed a Union whose constitution was laid down in the Federal Act
which came into force this day. However
the rulers of States such as Bavaria, Hanover, Wurttemberg, Baden, and Saxony
were unwilling to cede any authority to a central government.
23/5/1815, Ferdinand IV formally retook the Neapolitan throne.
20/5/1815, Murat fled to
Corsica and the pro-Napoleon Neapolitans, now under the command of General Michele
Caracosa, signed a treaty agreeing to the restoration of King Ferdinand
IV.
3/5/1815, Murat was
heavily defeated at the Battle of Tolentino by General Bianchi’s Austrian I
Corps.
9/4/1815, Murat was
defeated at the Battle of Occhiobello.
8/4/1815, Edmond Scherer, French
politician, was born (died 16/3/1889).
1/4/1815. Otto von Bismarck,
German statesman, was born at Schonhausen in Brandenburg.
25/3/1815. Britain,
Austria, Prussia, and Russia, concluded a new alliance against France. On 10/4/1815 Austria also declares war on Joachim
Murat, the King of Naples, who has
allied himself with Napoleon. On 3/5/1815 Murat was defeated by the Austrians at Tolentino. Murat
fled Naples on 20/5/1815 and entered France. On 3/6/1815 Murat was replaced by Ferdinand IV, the former King of
Naples.
20/3/1815. Napoleon re-entered Paris; Louis XVIII had hurriedly left
the previous night, and fled for Ghent. British fears that Elba was too close a
place to France to exile Napoleon
were realised.
17/3/1815, Britain,
Russia, Austria and Prussia mobilised 150,000 men each to fight Napoleon.
15/3/1815, On
hearing of Napoleon’s
escape, Joachim
Murat, King of Naples and Napoleon’s brother in law, declared war on
Austria.
14/3/1815,Marshal Ney, who had
been sent to arrest Napoleon at Auxerre, instead joined him with
6,000 men.
7/3/1815. The first French
troops rallied to Napoleon.
1/3/1815. Napoleon landed at Cannes, southern France, with a
force of 1,500 men, and marched on Paris.
26/2/1815. Napoleon escaped from exile on Elba. He arrived in
Paris on 20/3/1815.
2/12/1814, Marquis de Sade died in a lunatic asylum at
Charenton.
1/11/1814, The Congress of
Vienna opened, following Napoleon’s defeat.
30/5/1814. The Treaty of Paris returned France to its 1792
borders (see 20/11/1815). France
renounced all claims to Germany, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, and Malta.
24/5/1814, Pope Pius VII, exiled by Napoleon
Bonaparte, returned to Rome.
3/5/1814. Louis XVIII entered Paris, to rule as a constitutional
(Bourbon) monarch, ending his
exile in England.
28/4/1814, Napoleon departed from the port of Frejus for Elba.
11/4/1814, Napoleon officially abdicated, see
6/4/1814.
6/4/1814. Napoleon, granted a pension and sovereignty of the island
of Elba, agreed to abdicate at Fontainebleau (he abdicated on 11/4/1814).
He retained the title of Emperor. On 3/5/1814 Napoleon
landed on Elba.
31/3/1814. Paris, encircled, poorly
defended, and flooded with refugees, surrendered.
Marmont
was the French commander who surrendered.
20/3/1814. Napoleon was defeated at Arcis sur Aube, 17 miles NE of
Troyes, leaving the way open for the Allies to occupy Paris.
12/3/1814. British forces
under Wellington
occupied Bordeaux, following, on 10/3/1814, Napoleon’s
defeat at Laon.
17/1/1814. Murat defected from Napoleon’s
rule, and the French domination of Italy
was at risk.
31/12/1813. Prussian forces under Blucher
crossed the Rhine frontier into France, pursuing retreating French forces.
30/12/1813, Danzig surrendered to the Allies, who
then threatened to invade France if Napoleon did not come to terms.
26/12/1813, Modlin and Torgau captured by the Allies.
5/12/1813, Lubeck surrendered to the Allies.
11/11/1813, Dresden surrendered to the Allies.
10/11/1813, Wellington crossed
the frontier into France in pursuit of Marshal Soult.
18/10/1813. Napoleon was
defeated at Leipzig, Saxony, by the Prussians, Swedes, and Austrians. The French lost
Germany. Casualties totalled
110,000. See 31/12/1813.
8/10/1813. Having
liberated Spain
from the French, British troops under Wellington invaded southern France.
6/9/1813. While trying to
take Berlin, Napoleon’s forces under Marshall Ney
were defeated by the Prussians under Bulow, at Dennewitz.
27/8/1813, Battle of
Dresden, the last major victory of Napoleon.
12/8/1813. Austria declared war on France. England
was giving financial support to Spain, and the Spaniards
together with English troops were advancing
from the south against France. Napoleon was therefore now fighting almost the
whole of Europe.
21/6/1813. The victory of Wellington
at Vitoria in the
Peninsular War. Spain was lost by the French. Napoleon had deposed the Spanish monarch and
replaced him with his own brother, Joseph. However this act provoked major
Spanish popular resistance against France and led to Napoleon’s defeat there.
15/6/1813, Britain formed a
new alliance with Prussia and Russia
against Napoleon.
12/6/1813. Napoleon pulled
out of Madrid.
For more
events of Peninsular War, see Spain-Portugal
30/5/1813, The French took Hamburg.
22/5/1813. Napoleon I
defeated an allied army of Russians and Prussians at Bautzen, Saxony.
2/5/1813. Napoleon defeated a combined Russian and Prussian army at Grossgorchen, near Lutzen.
18/3/1813. Russian troops reached Hamburg, and on 27/3/1813 they
occupied Dresden, capital of Saxony.
13/3/1813. Prussia declared war on France, but was defeated at Lutzen and Bautzen.
4/3/1813. The Russians reached Berlin,
which surrendered without a fight.
20/12/1812. The retreating
remains of Napoleon’s Russian invasion force
reached eastern Prussia.
26/11/1812, The Battle of Berezina. The Russians won; French plans to
over-winter at Smolensk had been thwarted.
18/11/1812, Russian forces closing in on the retreating French in western Russia won
the Battle of Polotsk.
16/11/1812, French
troops retreating from Moscow successfully broke
through a Russian roadblock at Krasnoi.
9/11/1812. One of the
worst winters on record in northern Europe began, severely affecting Napoleon’s troops as they retreated from Moscow (see 14/9/1812). Napoleon’s army endured
temperatures as low as –37 C for 27 consecutive days. On 9/12/1812 Napoleon’s troops reached the
undefended city of Vilnius; some
35,000 French troops died during the last four days of the march westwards to Vilnius. Napoleon
had already fled Vilnius on 5/12/1812, and returned to Paris, abandoning
his army to the Russians. On 10/12/1812 the Russians reached Vilnius
and vented their fury on Napoleon’s army.
Most of the French had already died of cold, hunger, and disease by the
time the Tsar entered Vilnius on 22/12/1812.
3/11/1812, French
troops retreating from Moscow successfully broke
through a Russian roadblock at Vyazama.
2/11/1812. Napoleon’s forces
re-occupied Madrid
after a British force failed to capture
Burgos, which
they laid siege to in September 1812.
23/10/1812, An anti-Napoleonic
faction in Paris attempted a coup, believing Napoleon to have died in Russia.
21/10/1812, Otto von Camphausen, Prussian statesman (died
18/5/1896) was born.
19/10/1812, Napoleon’s forces began their retreat from Moscow.
18/10/1812, Russian forces defeated the French at the Battle of Tarutino, south of
Moscow.
16/9/1812, French troops in
Moscow destroyed what the
Russian had left.
14/9/1812. Napoleon entered Moscow, which had
been abandoned and burned by the Russians in their scorched earth policy. This denied Napoleon’s
army much-needed winter quarters.
Winter was approaching (see 9/11/1812) and Napoleon
was forced to retreat. Napoleon failed to persuade Czar Alexander
to come to terms, and his army began to leave Moscow to return to France on 19/10/1812.
For Napoleon
in Russia see also Russia, 1812
For more
events of Peninsular War see also Spain
1810s
7/9/1812. Napoleon’s forces marching to Moscow defeated the Russians under Kutzov at the Battle of
Borodino, 70 miles west of the city. Each side lost some
40,000 men.
18/8/1812. Napoleon’s forces entered Smolensk.
16/8/1812, The Battle of
Smolensk
began.
12/8/1812. Viscount Wellington’s British forces entered Madrid in the war against Napoleon’s
brother, Joseph
Bonaparte.
22/7/1812. British forces
under the Duke
of Wellington defeat the French at Salamanca, western Spain, during the Peninsular
War.
24/6/1812. Napoleon began his conquest of Russia. France and Russia had been
allies but relations had deteriorated between them. This day La Grande Armee crossed the River Niemen
into Russia. On 28/6/1812 he captured Vilnius, capital of Poland. Napoleon headed the biggest army ever
assembled up to that time, 614,000 men of at least 20 different nationalities. Within 6
months, 90% of them would be dead. Napoleon
wanted Russia under Tsar Alexander I to join
the French blockade of Britain. Napoleon’s army was welcomed as he entered
Lithuania and Poland, as liberators from the Russians, who had taken control of
these countries in 1795.
26/4/1812, Alfred Krupp,
German arms manufacturer, was born in Essen, in the Ruhr.
28/2/1812, Johann Archenholz, German historian, died at
Oyendorf, Hamburg (born 3/9/1743 in Langfuhr, Danzig).
For more
events of Peninsular war see Spain
20/3/1811, Napoleon Bonaparte’s son was born; he was nominated as the King of Rome.
1810, The Krupp Works, Essen, Germany, opened.
27/9/1810, (Spain) Wellington
defeated the French at Busaco, in
the Peninsular War. Wellington then withdrew behind the Lines
(fortifications) of Torres Vedras
which Wellington
had built to protect Lisbon and waited as the French forces starved and
retreated.
19/7/1810, Queen Louise of Prussia died, aged 34.
2/4/1810. Napoleon married Marie-Louise, daughter of the Austrian
Emperor, having rejected Josephine because of her inability to fill the
royal nursery.
17/2/1810. Napoleon annexed the Papal States.
4/2/1810. Czar Alexander refused Napoleon
the hand of his sister Anna, aged 15.
16/12/1809. Napoleon divorced Josephine Beauharnais, because she has not given him a son, during their
13-year marriage.
8/8/1809, Heinrich Abeken, Prussian government official,
was born (died 1872).
28/7/1809, At the Battle of Talavera, in the Peninsular War,
the Duke of
Wellington was victorious over the French Admiral Soult.
15/7/1809, Napoleon Bonaparte annulled his marriage to Josephine. He married the
Austrian Archduchess Marie Louise in April 1810.
6/7/1809. Napoleon gained victory at Wagram over Austria. Pope Pius VII
was arrested. Austria had tried to
regain its old position whilst Napoleon was occupied in Spain. See 14/10/1809.
5/7/1809, Napoleon annexed
the Papal States.
10/6/1809, Napoleon was excommunicated by Pope Pius VII. On 6/7/1809
Pope Pius was arrested for this act.
6/6/1809, Franz Ahrens, German scholar (died 25/9/1881)
was born.
21/5/1809, Battle of Aspern-Essling,
fought between Napoleon’s French
troops and the Austrians. Napoleon
lost. Austria had reopened hostilities
against France in 1809, with a re-organised army. However Napoleon
reacted swiftly and pushed down the Danube to occupy Vienna.
22/4/1809, Napoleon defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Eckmuhl.
20/4/1809, Napoleon inflicted a major defeat on the Austrian Army under
Archduke
Louis and General Hiller at
Abensburg, Bavaria.
10/4/1809. Austria declared war on France and its army
entered Bavaria.
12/3/1809. Britain signed a treaty with Persia, forcing the French
out of the country.
16/1/1809, The British won a rearguard action against the French, under Nicolas Soult, at Corunna in the Peninsular War. Britain had invaded Spain in the hope of raising anti-Napoleonic
support but found this lacking. Corunna enabled the British forces to be
successfully evacuated. However the British commander, Sir John Moore, was killed in
this battle.
15/1/1809, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, French socialist and
political writer (died 1895) was born.
3/12/1808, Napoleon
entered Madrid. He installed Joseph Bonaparte
as King of Spain.
14/10/1808, The closure of the Conference of Erfurt (began 27/9/1808); a
settlement of European affairs between Napoleon I of France and Czar Alexander I of Russia. It
was also attended by the 34 princes of the Confederation of the Rhine. In
return for territorial gains in Europe (Finland, Moldova and Wallachia) Alexander I
agreed not to hinder the French war effort in Spain, and to assist Franc if it
was attacked by Austria.
6/9/1808, Louis Anquetil, French
historian, died (born 21/2/1723 in Paris).
21/8/1808, British troops under Wellington
defeated the French under General Junot. This was at
the Battle of Vimiero, during the Peninsular War. The Peninsular
War absorbed some 300,000 of Napoleon’s
best troops, and was ended when Napoleon heard reports that Austria, backed by
Britain, was arming against him.
20/7/1808, Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, entered Madrid; meanwhile Spanish
patriots defeated the French army at Bailen.
29/6/1808, Johann Baptist Alzog, German
theologian, was born in Ohlau, Silesia (died 1/3/1878).
1/5/1808, King Charles IV of Spain
abdicated in favour of Joseph Bonaparte.
20/4/1808, Napoleon III, Emperor of France,
was born.
2/2/1808, French
forces occupied Rome.
17/12/1807, The Milan Decree was issued.
29/11/1807, The Portuguese Royal
Family fled to Brazil as France invaded Portugal, which
had refused to join the Continental System.
11/11/1807, Britain extended its naval blockade to Russia after the Anglo-Russian
alliance against France was broken, see 7/7/1807.
5/9/1807, British forces seized the North Sea island of
Heligoland from Denmark. In 1980 Britain ceded the island to Germany in return
for Zanzibar.
2/9/1807, Britain bombarded and destroyed the Danish
fleet at Copenhagen, to prevent its use by France or Russia.
18/8/1807, Napoleon I created the Kingdom of Westphalia, and set up his
brother Jerome
as ruler.
7/7/1807. Napoleon
signed the Treaty of Tilsit,
making peace with Russia and Prussia.
Prussia continued to exist as a
kingdom, but was forced to cede all its lands west of the Elbe, as well as most
of its recent acquisitions in Poland.
Out of the former Prussian territory between the Elbe and the Weser, Napoleon created the Kingdom of Westphalia, installing his brother Jerome
as King.
14/6/1807. Napoleon gained
victory at Friedland Prussia, against the Russians,
under Levin
Bennigsen.
26/5/1807, The French took Danzig.
4/5/1807. The Finkenstein
Treaty was signed between France and Persia. The French agreed to military
aid and advice, to assist Persia in expelling the Russians from Georgia. In
return Persia pro missed to assist France in any French invasion of
British-held India.
18/3/1807, British troops occupied Alexandria, but were forced
out again by the Turks.
8/2/1807, Napoleon’s
army fought a combined force of Russians and Prussians at Eylau, East Prussia. Napoleon’s advance into Poland was halted,
temporarily.
26/12/1806, Battle of Pultusk, fought 60 km NNE of Warsaw, between the Russians
and the French. The French came off slightly better, although both sides
claimed victory.
21/11/1806. Napoleon issued
the Berlin Decree forbidding the importation of British
goods and even excluding from harbours under his control or in friendly
countries any vessel that had touched at a British port. This was effectively
an economic blockade of Britain, causing British food
prices to rise and the British textile industry to decline.
27/10/1806, French forces entered Berlin. Creation of the Confederation of the
Rhine. Napoleon united the states he
had created, including Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, and
Berg. The Confederation of the Rhine had
an independent internal policy but no foreign policy independent of Napoleon,
and had to supply troops to Napoleon if required. The
old German Empire ceased to exist politically; Germany became a mere
geographical area.
14/10/1806. Napoleon’s army defeated the Prussians at Jena.
The French General
Davout also defeated the Prussians this day at Auerstadt. Napoleon entered Berlin in triumph and Frederick
William had to flee to Konigsberg.
10/9/1806, Johann Adelung, German
grammarian (born 8/8/1732) died.
6/8/1806, Francis II renounced the crown
of the Holy Roman Empire.
16/5/1806. Britain blockaded the European coast
from Brest to Hamburg.
15/2/1806. France and Prussia signed the Treaty of Paris, by which Prussia closed
its ports to British goods. Britain declared war on Prussia.
23/1/1806. William Pitt the Younger, twice
Prime Minister (the first when only 24), died at Putney aged 47. He was buried
in Westminster Abbey. Napoleon was still strong in Europe. Prussia, who had been
reluctant to join the Allies, now had to live with French domination of the
puppet state of the Confederation of the Rhine.
31/12/1805. The French Revolutionary Calendar introduced after the Revolution was abandoned for the Gregorian Calendar.
14/12/1805, Nelson blockaded the French Mediterranean ports, and Spain
declared war on Britain.
2/12/1805. Battle of Austerlitz near Brunn,
Moravia. The French under Napoleon I
defeated a combined force of the Russians and Austrians. Napoleon, with 70,000 troops, faced an enemy reinforced
to 86,000 men by the arrival of new Russian troops. A Russian attempt to outflank Napoleon’s
right was thwarted by Napoleon’s thrust towards the weakened Allied centre. The
Allies lost 18,500 men to just 900 French casualties. Austria sued for peace,
and was forced to abandon her territorial interests in Italy, also losing lands
in the western Alps. The British Prime Minister, Pitt, was
dismayed. The Russians withdrew from
fighting France, and Napoleon now occupied much of southern Germany. See 26/12/1805.
14/11/1805. Napoleon’s army entered Vienna.
21/10/1805. Battle of Trafalgar. Death of Nelson. Nelson blockaded the combined fleets of France
and Spain in Cadiz. The French Admiral, Villeneuve, attempted to break out, but
British ships sank or captured most of the French and Spanish ships. The
French had planned to link up with the Spanish fleet in the West Indies and so
lure the British into giving chase across the Atlantic. However Nelson
guessed at the French tactics and the Admiralty was warned. A British fleet
under Calder found the French fleet off Cape Finistere and they put into
Spanish harbours. The French fleet later emerged to sail, not for Britain, but
to return to the Mediterranean. The French were intercepted off Cape Trafalgar,
and destroyed in the Battle of Trafalgar. This destroyed Napoleon’s
chances of dominating the English Channel, so prevented a French invasion of
England.
20/10/1805. The outnumbered French army of Napoleon
defeated an Austrian army at Ulm;27,000 Austrian troops surrendered. Napoleon had already realised he cold not gain
control of the English Channel, or overcome British naval supremacy, so before
the Battle of Trafalgar he had directed his forces eastwards, against Austria.
Austria had to submit to the Treaty of
Presburg, by which Venetia was ceded to the French Kingdom of Italy and the
States of the Lower Rhine were forced into the Confederation of the Rhine, a
French dependency. The Electors of Bavaria and Wurttemberg became Kings
independent of Austria, and Austria had to pay Napoleon a war contribution of
40 million francs.
15/10/1805, Karl Mack, Prussian General, was forced to surrender to Napoleon at Ulm.
26/5/1805, Napoleon
was crowned King of Italy in Milan Cathedral.
17/1/1805, Duperron Anquetil, French
orientalist, died in Paris (born 27/12/1731 in Paris).
2/12/1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of France at Notre Dame
Cathedral in Paris, by Pope Pius VII.
21/5/1804, The Pere
Lachaise cemetery was opened in Paris.
18/5/1804. Napoleon
Bonaparte was appointed Emperor of
France. He was crowned Emperor on
2/12/1804 in the presence of Pope Pius VII. He had ruled in name since he
was made Consul for Life in 1802, when a referendum gave him 3 million votes,
with only a few thousand against. He had reformed the economy and government,
and made France a great power again.
21/3/1804, A new civil code,
the Code Napoleon, came into force in
Paris.
20/3/1804, The Duc d’Enghien
was shot at Vincennes for plotting to restore the French monarchy.
9/1/1804, Aurelle de
Paladines, French General, was born in Malzieu, Lozere (died in
Versailles 17/12/1877).
2/12/1803 , The French
army set up camp at Boulogne, preparing to invade England.
18/3/1803, France and
England were at war again, in
contravention of the Treaty of Amiens,
signed in 1802 See 25/3/1802.
30/10/1802, Charles Calonne, French statesman (born 1734)
died.
10/8/1802, Franz Aepinus, German natural philosopher, died
10/8/1802 in Dorpat (born 13/12/1724 in Rostock).
2/8/1802, Napoleon Bonaparte was made Consul for life.
19/5/1802, France instituted the Legion d’Honneur, the
highest award for civil or military distinction.
25/3/1802, The Treaty of Amiens was signed between the British, Spanish,
Dutch, and the French, ushering in a fragile peace between the 2 countries that lasted just over 12
months. Both counties were exhausted from continual warfare. Napoleon
still detested the British and
both countries built up their navies as Britain
still feared a French invasion. See 18/5/1803.
15/7/1801, The Roman Catholic Church was
re-established in France.
2/4/1801, Nelson put
his blind eye to his telescope at
the Battle of Copenhagen, aboard the Elephant, thus failing to
see Admiral
Parker’s command to stop fighting. He continued the action until the French-Danish fleet was totally subdued.
21/3/1801, At the Battle of Alexandria, The French made a surprise attack
on the British near Alexandria, Egypt. The
British under General
Abercrombie defeated the French, but Abercrombie himself was mortally
wounded.
2/3/1801, The British landed a force at Aboukir Bay, Egypt, to try and evict the French from that country.
9/2/1801, By the Peace of Luneville,
the cession of the west bank of the Rhine to France was confirmed. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved.
See also Egypt for British-French military
conflict 1801 in Egypt
24/12/1800. An unsuccessful attempt was made on Napoleon’s
life at Rue St Nicaise by French
Royalists.
3/12/1800, Battle of Hohenstaufen; the French
defeated the Austrians.
26/10/1800, Helmuth von Moltke, Prussian
general, was born in Mecklenberg.
30/9/1800, Napoleon signed the Treaty
of Mortefontaine, settling a naval dispute between France and America.
5/9/1800, French troops occupying Malta surrendered to Britain.
14/6/1800. At the Battle of Marengo, near Alessandria, north west Italy, the French under Napoleon
heavily defeated the Austrians during the French Revolutionary Wars. The French thus won back Italy, and advanced
victoriously into southern Germany.
9/6/1800, Napoleon won the Battle of Montebello, south of Milan.
2/6/1800, Napoleon’s army occupied Milan.
17/5/1800, Napoleon’s army reached Aosta. Italy, having traversed the
Great St Bernard Pass.
14/5/1800, Napoleon’s army reached Martigny on its march south east into
Italy.
24/3/1800, A French army under Kleber defeated the Turks at
Heliopolis.
19/2/1800, Napoleon Bonaparte appointed himself First Consul of the newly formed
French dictatorship.
24/12/1799, In France, a public
referendum led to the end of the French
Revolution and the founding of the First Republic.
15/12/1799. France
declared a new constitution.
9/11/1799. After a coup,
Corsican General
Napoleon Bonaparte
was appointed Consul, with Sieyes and Ducis. He made his name at the
defeat of the British fleet at the revolt of Toulon, 1793.
9/10/1799, Napoleon returned to France.
25/9/1799, Napoleon gained victory at Zurich.
18/9/1799, Napoleon gained victory at Alkmaar, Holland.
23/8/1799. Leaving the French
Army under Kleber,
Napoleon left to return to France.
15/8/1799, Napoleon was
defeated at Novi.
25/7/1799. Napoleon gained victory over the Turks at Aboukir.
7/6/1799, Battle of
Zurich. Napoleon
defeated a Russian army.
10/5/1799. Napoleon withdrew from attacking Acre after an 8th unsuccessful assault.
29/12/1798, Formation of the Second Coalition against France; Britain,
Austria,
Russia, Naples and Portugal.
9/9/1798. The Ottoman
Empire declared war on France
because of its occupation of Egypt.
1/8/1798. At the Battle of the Nile, at Aboukir Bay, Admiral Nelson, on the ship Vanguard, destroyed 11 out of
13 French battleships which were the convoy that took Napoleon to Egypt.
The French commander was Brueys,
aboard the ship L’Orient. The
crew were mostly ashore getting water, leaving no one to man the 120 French
guns. This effectively trapped the
French Army in Egypt.
Five French ships with 5,000 men were
sunk, 2 ships were captured, and 2 ships managed to escape from Nelson. On 10/2/1799 Napoleon left Egypt for Syria, occupying
Gaza
on 24/2/1799. On 7/3/1799 Napoleon captured Jaffa,
where his soldiers massacred over 2,0000
Albanian prisoners. On 17/5/1799 Napoleon lifted the siege of Acre
after failing to capture it.
21/7/1798, At the Battle of the Pyramids, Napoleon,
soon after his invasion of Egypt, defeated
an army of some 60,000 Mamelukes. Napoleon now intended to establish a
French base in Egypt from where he could harass British-India sea traffic. He
could also attack the Ottoman Empire form here via Syria. He sought to assure
the ulema, the Egyptian intelligentsia, that he was no modern Crusader but had
come to empower them and facilitate Egyptian self-rule independent of the
Ottomans. However the Egyptians were not yet ready for such self-determination,
and failed to follow the French initiatives.
2/7/1798. The French
invaded Egypt,
see 31/8/1801.
11/6/1798. Malta surrendered to Napoleon
Bonaparte. On 2/9/1798 the
Maltese revolted against French occupation, forcing the French troops to take
refuge in the citadel of Valetta.
19/5/1798. Napoleon left France for Egypt.
11/2/1798, French troops captured Rome.
16/11/1797, Death of the Prussian King Frederick William II, aged 53. He was succeeded by Frederick William III.
17/10/1797. Napoleon made peace with
Austria at Campo-Formio. Austria to
cede the Belgian provinces to France in return for Venice, Dalmatia and Istria.
4/9/1797, A French army
coup halted the plans of British backed Royalists in Paris.
25/6/1797. Admiral Nelson
was wounded in the right arm by grapeshot, during the Battle of Santa Cruz, off
Tenerife. He had the arm amputated that
afternoon.
14/5/1797, Napoleon conquered Venice.
18/4/1797¸ Napoleon signed preliminaries of peace with Austria.
13/4/1797, Napoleon captured Leoben on his advance from Italy into
Austria.
22/3/1797, (1) Napoleon captured Gorizia, in an advance from Italy into Austria..
(2) Wilhelm I, Emperor of
Germany, was born.
19/2/1797, Napoleon captured Tolentino, Italy, where he signed a treaty
with the Papacy
(The Peace of Tolentino)
9/2/1797, Napoleon captured Ancona, Italy.
2/2/1797, Napoleon captured Mantua, Italy.
1/2/1797, Napoleon captured Bologna, Italy.
14/1/1797, Battle of
Rivoli. Napoleon’s
first decisive victory over the Austrians.
15/12/1796, A French
fleet under General
Hoche sailed from Brest to invade Ireland. However a storm dispersed
the fleet off Kerry and the invasion was called off.
5/10/1796. Spain
declared war on Britain by signing the
Treaty of San Il Defonso, allying it with Revolutionary France. The
Treaty was engineered by Spanish Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy, lover of King Charles IV’s wife Maria Luisa.
De Godoy
was opposed to monarchist Britain.
Many ordinary Spanish opposed the Treaty, which diminished Spain as an imperial
power and weakened her influence in The Americas.
30/6/1796, Napoleon marched into central Italy, taking Florence this
day.
23/6/1796, Pope Pius VI signed an armistice with Napoleon.
3/6/1796, Napoleon advanced to Verona, thereby securing all of
Austrian Lombardy.
17/5/1796, Napoleon advanced to Brescia.
15/5/1796, Napoleon occupied Milan.
10/5/1796, Napoleon won the Battle of Lodi.
28/4/1796, Napoleon reached an armistice with Sardinia.
13/4/1796, Napoleon won the Battle of Millesimo.
10/3/1796. Napoleon gained victory at the Battle of Lodi.
9/3/1796. Napoleon married Josephine de
Beautharnais.
2/3/1796. Napoleon was
appointed Commander in Chief of the Army of Italy and The Alps.
26/10/1795. Napoleon was
appointed General of the Army of the Interior.
5/10/1795. Napoleon
participated in defeating a Royalist uprising in Paris. He became Commander of
the Army of the Interior.
1/10/1795, Belgium was incorporated in the French
Republic.
15/7/1795. The Marsellaise was
officially adopted as the French
National Anthem. It had been written by the French
Army Captain Rouget de Lisle in 1792, whilst he was
stationed at Strasbourg.
27/6/1795, A force of French Royalists, under D’Hervilly and Puisaye,
landed at Quiberon to try and start a pro-monarchist rebellion. They were
defeated by General
Hoche, all prisoners being shot.
23/6/1795, Off the port of Lorient, NW France, a British fleet
under Lord
Bridport defeated the French under Villaret-Joyeuse.
5/4/1795, Frederick William of Prussia
signed a peace treaty with France (First Treaty of Basle), to leave himself
free to deal with his eastern frontier. The west bank of the Rhine was given to
France.
2/1/1795, The French captured the Dutch fleet as it stood
frozen into the River Texel. William V escaped to England as the French
established a Batavian Republic.
20/8/1794, Napoleon was released, see 10/8/1794.
10/8/1794, In France, Napoleon Bonaparte was briefly arrested
because of his connections with the Jacobins, a radical political group.
28/7/1794, Maximillien Robespierre, 36, French leader of the Jacobins during the French
Revolution, was guillotined in
Paris. Anti-Jacobin sentiment rose. Robespierre’s zeal for use of the guillotine
made even his former friends uneasy. See 27/7/1793.
17/7/1794, The Paris Commune, set up in 1791, was suppressed.
12/7/1794. Admiral Nelson lost his right eye at the siege of the French
garrison at Calvi in Corsica.
26/6/1794, The French defeated the
Austrians at the Battle of Fleurus.
1/6/1794, The Battle of the Glorious
1st June.
5/4/1794, George Jacques Danton, French revolutionary leader, was guillotined for
treason, nine months after his dismissal from the Committee of Public Safety
which was ruling France.
18/12/1793. The British withdrew from Toulon and Napoleon
was appointed General de Brigade.
6/12/1793, Madame du Barry, last mistress of King Louis XV of France, was guillotined
by the Revolutionary Council.
8/11/1793, In Paris, the Revolutionary Government allowed the public to view the
Royal art collection for the first time.
3/11/1793, Execution by guillotine of French playwright Olympe de Gouges, Horrified by
the bloodshed that was characterising the French Revolution, she had called for
a referendum that would let the people decide between a Republic or restoration
of the monarchy. She was executed along with other moderate Girondists.
16/10/1793. Marie Antoinette, born 2/11/1755, the Queen of France as
wife of Louis XVI, was convicted of
treason and guillotined in Paris. See
21/7/1793. Aged 38, she had been held in prison for over a year; since August
in solitary confinement.
27/9/1793, Denis Affre, Archbishop of Paris,
was born in St Rome, Tarn (died 27/6/1848).
17/9/1793, Revolutionary France passed the Law
of Suspects. This was a wide-ranging measure that authorised the arrest of
anyone who had supported tyranny or federalism, former nobles and their
relatives, also emigres. It was the basis for the Reign of Terror, and was repealed in 1795.
23/8/1793, France introduced the first national conscription, claiming all
unmarried men aged 18 to 25.
1/8/1793, The kilogram was introduced in France as the first metric weight.
27/7/1793, Maximilian Robespierre, Jacobin
leader, became a member of the Committee of Public Safety, established to
guard against an attack on France by neighbouring countries after the execution
of King
Louis XVI. See 28/7/1794.
17/7/1793, Charlotte Corday was guillotined for the murder of Jean Paul Marat,
see 13/7/1793.
13/7/1793, Jean Paul Marat, French
Revolutionary, was stabbed to death by a Girondist (right-wing) supporter, Charlotte
Corday. Marat’s zeal for execution of royalty and
government ministers had made him many enemies.
11/6/1793. Napoleon had to
leave Corsica with his family and went to Toulon.
31/5/1793. The Reign of Terror, in which thousands went to the guillotine, in the
French Revolution, began.
20/3/1793, An army of peasant Royalists defeated
the Republicans in the Vendee
region of France. See14/3/1793.
18/3/1793, Austrian forces defeated a
French Revolutionary Army at the Battle of Neerwinden.
14/3/1793. A force of counter-revolutionaries in western France was trying to restore the monarchy. See 20/3/1793.
7/3/1793. France declared war on
Austria, and also on Spain on 7/3/1793.
1/2/1793. Britain declared war on France. The British
economy entered a depression.
21/1/1793. (1) The county of Nice was annexed
to France. Monaco was annexed to France on 14/2/1792.
(2) Louis XVI, King of
France since 1774, was executed by
guillotine in the Place de la
Revolution, Paris, convicted of treason. The executioner was called Sanson.
His trial had ended with the death sentence on 19/1/1793. See 16/10/1793.
19/11/1792, The new French Republican Government offered to
help any other nation that wished to overthrow its monarchy; Britain saw this
as provocative.
6/11/1792, The French
under General Dumouriez decisively
defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Jenappes, Belgium. As a result of this
battle, the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium) were annexed by revolutionary
France.
27/10/1792, France invaded the Spanish Netherlands.
30/9/1792, French troops took Speyer, in the Rhineland.
22/9/1792, This day was declared the beginning of Year One of
the New French Republic. A new
‘Revolutionary Calendar’ was introduced, consisting of 12 30-day months divided
into 3 10-day weeks. The months were given names corresponding to the
prevailing weather or harvest conditions. An extra 5 days (6 in leap years)
were added as holidays at the end of each year. This calendar ran in France
until it was abolished in 1805 by Napoleon I.
21/9/1792.
France formally abolished the
monarchy and declared itself a Republic.
20/9/1792, The Battle
of Valmy. The Prussians failed to
successfully attack the French, in wet marshy conditions, and retreated; the
French considered it a victory.
17/9/1792, The French Crown
jewels were stolen in Paris.
20/8/1792, The
Prussian army took Verdun.
19/8/1792, The French
Revolutionary Tribunals were set up.
10/8/1792, The French mob
invaded the Palace of Versailles. The
French Royal Family was imprisoned.
Napoleon participated in the
assault on the Tuileries Palace.
14/7/1792. The Prussians threatened to invade France to
restore the French monarchy. However an attempted Prussian invasion of France
failed.
25/4/1792. The
guillotine was first erected in Paris, at the Place de la Greve. It was
first used to behead a highwayman called Pelletier. The guillotine had been
designed to make executions more humane but swiftly became a symbol of the
tyranny of the French Revolution. Beheading took less than half a second.
In fact a version of the guillotine was in use in Ireland as early as 1307. During the French Revolution an estimated 40,000
people were guillotined. The last
public execution in France was on 17/6/1939 and the guillotine was last
officially used in France on 10/9/1977. See 20/3/1792.
24/4/1792. Claude Rouget de l’Isle composed the French
National Anthem, the Marseillaise.
20/4/1792. France declared war on Austria. Austria was
allied with Prussia but there was disunity between the two commanders. In
1793 England and Holland joined in against France, which was attempting to
annex Belgium, an Austrian possession. Ultimately Austria received Bavaria
as a compensation for Belgium going to France.
20/3/1792, The French legislature approved the use of the guillotine, see 25/4/1792.
1/3/1792, Leopold III, Holy Roman Emperor, died unexpectedly, aged 44. He was succeeded by his
24-year old son, Francis, last of the
Holy Roman Emperors.
20/2/1792, The Battle of Valmy. French
Revolutionary forces successfully drove back an invading Prussian force. This
greatly boosted French Revolutionary morale.
7/2/1792, Austria and Prussia signed a military alliance
against France.
24/1/1792. In Paris, five
days of looting ended in a riot as the cost of living soared.
9/9/1791. French
Royalists
took control of Arles and barricaded themselves inside the town.
4/9/1791, King Louis XVI was forced to approve the new French constitution, making him a mere civil servant.
27/8/1791, European monarchs
backed King
Louis XVI against the Revolution.
16/7/1791,
Louis XVI was
suspended from office until he agreed to ratify the new French Constitution.
21/6/1791, The French royal
family attempted to flee Paris in disguise but are forced to return after being
arrested at Varennes. The King, disguised as a valet, intended to meet
supporters at Pont de Sommeville but they were delayed and the villagers got
suspicious of the soldiers, who had to hide in the woods and got lost. The King pressed on to Varennes,
142 miles from Paris, where he was recognised by a horseman sent by Lafayette, head of the National Guard, to look for
him. Louis’ powers were suspended by the
Assembly on 25/6/1791. However Louis’ brother, the Count of Provence, did succeed
in fleeing Paris for Brussels.
26/5/1791, The French
Assembly forced Louis XVI to hand over the State and Crown assets.
18/4/1791. National Guardsmen prevented Louis XVI
and his family from leaving Paris. On
26/4/1791 Louis
XVI was forced to hand over all the assets of the Crown to the State.
13/4/1791. Pope Pius VI threatened to suspend all priests in France who swore
allegiance to the State (see 13/1/1791) unless they recant within 40 days.
2/4/1791, Death of Count de
Mirabeau, a moderate leader of the French Revolution.
13/1/1791. The
French Assembly introduced a universal tax
on rent and property values. The
requirement for French priests to swear allegiance to the State stirred up
rebellion amongst the clergy.
27/10/1790. France adopted the decimal
system of weights and measures.
6/10/1790, Leopold was crowned Holy Roman Emperor at
Frankfort.
22/7/1790, In France, the clergy were removed from the control
of Rome, and Church property was nationalised.
19/6/1790. The French
Assembly passed a law abolishing the
hereditary nobility.
15/6/1790, French Protestant
militia massacred 300 Roman Catholics.
8/5/1790, France began
the process of metrication when its National
Assembly approved Talleyrand’s
proposal for a unified system of weights and measures.
4/3/1790, The modern day French departments were created by
the National Constituent Assembly, They were drawn so as to break up older
traditional historic regions, thereby emphasising national unity, and designed so that the entire territory of each
department was within one day’s horse ride of the capital, for security.
20/2/1790, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, died. His reforms
had provoked rebellion in Belgium and Hungary.
21/1/1790, In Paris, Dr Joseph
Ignace Guillotin demonstrated to the National Assembly of Paris a
new machine for ‘humane’ executions using a heavy blade falling on the victim’s
neck.
21/10/1789, Martial law was imposed in Paris after a baker was
killed by the mob, accused of hoarding bread.
5/10/1789, Parisian women,
frustrated by bread shortages, marched on Versailles to demand the King move to
Paris, where he could be monitored more closely.
27/8/1789, The new French regime (French National Assembly) drew up the Declaration
of the Rights of Man and of Citizen.
26/8/1789. Miners in the
Pyrenees protested against their working conditions.
4/8/1789, The feudal system was abolished in France. Peasants
attacked their landlords.
22/7/1789, A revolutionary
mob murdered the Bailiff of Paris.
14/7/1789. Fall of the Bastille, Paris. It was stormed by the
citizens of Paris and burned to the ground, at the start of the French
Revolution. From 16/7/1789 the French nobility began to flee France. The Bastille had been built in 1369, and designed
by Hugues Aubriot (died 1383). At dawn on the 14/7/1789 the mob had stormed Les
Invalides, hoping to find arms to repulse an expected attack by soldiers loyal
to King
Louis XVI. They found 32,000
rifles but no ammunition; a rumour spread that the ammunition was at the
Bastille. The Bastille was guarded by 80 soldiers deemed unfit for front-line
duties, reinforced by 30 Swiss Guards, and with cannon. Neither the prison
governor nor the army showed much will to fight the mob. Seven prisoners within
were released.
12/7/1789, Fires burnt in
Paris after two days of rioting.
11/7/1789, The Marquis de
Lafayette presented the Declaration of Human Rights to the French
National Assembly.
30/6/1789, The revolutionary
mob in Paris attacked the Abbaye prison.
20/6/1789, The French Revolution began. See
5/5/1798. The Third Estate, excluded from Versailles,
formed a new assembly at a tennis court nearby, to oppose the dominance of the
aristocracy.
17/6/1789, In France, the Third Estate constituted itself as the French
National Assembly. The Third
Estate was the commoners, after the Clergy and the Nobility. These last two Estates, under 3% of the
population, owned 40% of the land. They were also exempt from taxes, placing an
undue tax burden on the middle classes.
4/6/1789, The Dauphin Louis, heir to King Louis XVI, died aged 7.
5/5/1789, The French King opened the States General Assembly at Versailles. The French middle class wanted to break
down the monopoly of power and wealth held by the aristocracy. The French King felt insecure because of the unpopularity
of his Austrian wife, Marie Antoinette, the
bankruptcy of the French Treasury, and the increasingly democratic mood of the
French Army following on from the American Declaration of Independence. See 20/6/1789. France had also suffered humiliation
in the Seven Years War (1756-630, losing to Britain; France had lost her North American colonies, and bad harvests in 1788
and 1789 had almost doubled the price of bread.
28/4/1789. 300 workers at the
Reveillon wallpaper factory were killed when troops opened fire on rioters
there. The protest was over proposed pay cuts. France had been in financial
crisis for months now, the state overburdened by an expensive aristocracy and
clergy. On 22/5/1789 the nobility joined with the clergy in giving up their
financial privileges.
29/11/1787. Louis XVI of France promulgated an Edict of Tolerance, allowing civil
status to Protestants.
22/2/1787, France was nearly bankrupt, with a
national debt of UK£ 800 million.
25/8/1786, Ludwig I, King of Bavaria, was born.
17/8/1786. Frederick
the Great, military leader and King of Prussia since 1740, died in
Potsdam, aged 74. Under his rule Prussia grew from under 46,000 square
miles to over 71,000 square miles, and its population rose from 2.2 million to
5.8 million. Prussia had a standing army of 200,000, well armed and
disciplined. Britain often gave financial aid to Prussia, in its wars against
France and Austria.
8/8/1786, Mont Blanc, 4,807 metres
high, was conquered by a local man, Dr Michel Gabriel Paccard of Chamonix, along
with his porter Jacques Balmat.
27/3/1785, King Louis XVII of France was born.
17/10/1784. Napoleon, aged 15, entered the Ecole Militaire in Paris. He
graduated a year later, coming 42nd out of 58.
23/12/1780. France was
suffering a deepening financial crisis, in part caused by the costs of
supporting the Americans against Britain.
1/6/1780, Karl von Clausewitz, military
strategist, was born, in Burg, near Magdeburg, Prussia.
10/8/1779. Louis XVI freed the last remaining serfs on
royal land.
15/5/1779. Napoleon,
aged 9, entered the Military School at Brienne.
13/5/1779, At the Peace
of Teschen, Austria made peace with Frederick of Prussia. Austria received a small part of Bavaria, the
Innvertiel, and renounced all claims to the Bavarian inheritance.
27/7/1778, The
Battle of Ushant, between Britain and France.
13/2/1777. In Paris, the Marquis de
Sade was arrested, and later condemned to death. However he
escaped from prison before the execution.
10/5/1774. King Louis XV of France died, aged 64, of smallpox. He had reigned for 58
years. He was succeeded by his 19-year old grandson, Louis XVI.
6/10/1773, Louis Philippe, King of France, was born.
15/9/1770, (see 15/5/1768), Corsica formally submitted to
French rule.
19/4/1770, Marriage of King Louis XVI of France (1754-93) to Marie
Antoinette (1755-93)
15/8/1769. Napoleon, Emperor of France
1804-15, was born in Ajaccio, Corsica;
he died on 5/5/1821. He was the son of a lawyer. See 18/6/1815. Had he been born the previous
year he would not have been French, but Genoese, see 15/5/1768.
10/1/1769, Michel Ney, French Army marshal, the most
famous of Napoleon’s
marshals, was born in Saarlouis, son of a cooper.
15/5/1768. By the Treaty of Versailles, France purchased
the island of Corsica from Genoa.
Some Corsicans wanted total independence, but see 15/9/1770.
12/2/1768, Francis II, last Holy Roman Emperor, was born.
7/1/1768, Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of Napoleon
and King of Naples and Spain, was
born on Corsica.
30/4/1766, Johann Ancillon, Prussian statesman and
historian, was born in Berlin (died 19/4/1837).
18/8/1765, Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, died. He was
succeeded by Josef II (1741-90).
15/4/1764, Madame de Pompadour,
French courtier and mistress of Louis XV, died in Versailles.
23/6/1763, Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon,
was born on the French island of Martinique as Marie Rose Tascher de la Pagerie.
Her marriage to Napoleon
was dissolved when she failed to produce an heir.
15/2/1763, Austria, seeing
hope for a decisive victory over Prussia recede with peace between Russia and
Prussia, made peace with Prussia at Hubertusberg this day. Frederick evacuated Saxony but retained
Silesia. Austria had failed to
destroy Prussia before Prussian power was consolidated.
10/2/1763. The end
of the Seven Years War. France ceded
Canada to Britain at the Treaty
of Paris. See 26/7/1758 and 13/9/1759. The same treaty gave Florida
to Britain in exchange for Britain returning Cuba, which it had invaded on
12/8/1762, to Spain; Spain also regained Louisiana and the Philippines. Britain
gained all of America east of the Mississippi. Britain also gained Minorca,
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Tobago, St Vincent, Grenada, Dominica, and Senegal,
as well as becoming pre-eminent in India; Britain therefore became the world’s
major colonising power. Frederick of Prussia retained Silesia, which set
Prussia on the road to also becoming a major European power.
3/11/1762, Britain concluded
a peace with France at Fontainbleau. See 10/2/1763.
See also East Europe for Seven Years War
29/10/1762, The
Austrians were defeated at the Battle of Freiburg. The war was making Austria bankrupt and
Austria was questioning whether the war was worth it for the recovery of one
province. Austria and Prussia agreed on
an armistice on 24/11/1762 for the
winter of 1762/3.
9/10/1762, The
Austrians under Daun
were defeated by Prussia at Schweidnitz.
16/8/1762, The Austrians
under Daun
were defeated by Prussia at Reichenbach.
21/7/1762, The
Austrians under Daun
were defeated by Prussia at Burkersdorf.
22/5/1762, Peace was
formally agreed between Russia and Prussia (Treaty of Hamburg). Russian forces
began to return home.
5/1/1762, Elizabeth I of Russia died; her successor Tsar Peter III
made peace with Prussia. This was
fortunate for Frederick
of Prussia because after the end of the Pitt Ministry in England, the
English were moving towards making peace with France and therefore no longer giving financial support to
Prussia. See 15/2/1763 and 5/10/1761.
16/12/1761 The
Russians under Pyotr
Aleksandrovitch Rumyantsev captured the Prussian port and fort of
Kolberg. It had been a bad year for Frederick of Prussia, with French forces
making progress eastwards in south western Germany, and the Austrians under Laudon
capturing Schweidnitz on 1/10/1761, ensuring they could over-winter in Silesia.
Frederick
had failed to prevent the Russian Army, 50,000 strong, joining up with the
72,000-strong Austrian Army on 23/8/1761. Frederick’s
biggest concern was that since the change of monarch and the resignation of Pitt in Britain, he could no longer
rely on British support. Without a major change of fortune, Prussia faced
certain defeat in 1762.
5/10/1761, In Britain, Pitt
resigned, and Britain virtually
abandoned support for Prussia.
6/3/1761, Antoine Francois Andreossy, French soldier and
diplomat, was born in Castelnaudary (died 1828).
3/11/1760 Frederick of Prussia won the Battle of Torgau against the Austrians but
failed to follow up this success and achieve his objective of capturing Dresden.
25/10/1760, George II died suddenly at 8am, in
Kensington, London, aged 76. His successor George
III was inclined to concentrate on British, not Hanoverian,
interests, and disliked William Pitt, Earl of
Chatham, who had promoted the Anglo-Prussian Alliance. Without
British help, Prussia could not continue fighting.
26/7/1760, The Austrians under Laudon captured Glatz from
Prussia.
23/6/1760, The Austrians under Laudon defeated the Prussians at
Landshut.
20/11/1759, Naval
battle at Quiberon Bay, France. Admiral Hawke’s
British first fleet destroyed the French invasion fleet under Admiral Conflans,
during the Seven Years War. The French had planned to invade Britain with a
fleet of flat-bottomed boats carrying some 20,000 soldiers. However the British
navy kept this invasion fleet bottled up in its home base of Brest, France. In
November 1759 a gale forced the British Navy to return to Torbay, Devon; when
the gale died down the French quickly escaped from Brest with 19 battleships.
The British navy went looking for the French, as they spotted them another
storm approached from the west. The French sought refuge in Quiberon Bay,
assuming that the numerous reefs and rocks would deter the British from
following. However the British did follow into the Bay. Many French battleships
were run aground, wrecked or captured. The French lost 14 battleships and 2,500
men killed; the British lost 2 ships and 400 men. The French navy was broken,
leaving Britain in commend of the seas.
9/11/1759, Edward Hawke withdrew
from blockading Brest (19/8/1759); the French fleet set sail, to be defeated by
tyhe British at Quiberon Bay (20/11/1759).
14/9/1759, The
Austrians under Daun
took Dresden from the Prussians.
19/8/1759, The
Battle of Lagos. Choiseul had managed to extricate France from much of its
commitment to support Austria, so the French could commit more resources to
fighting Britain. Choiseul planned an invasion, with landings
from London to Scotland. To transport this invasion the French Mediterranean
fleet was ordered to sail from Toulon to join the Atlantic fleet at Brest. On
its way northwards past Portugal, the French fleet was attacked by Admiral Edward
Boscawen off Lagos, Portugal, and scattered. Meanwhile Edward Hawke
was blockading the French port of Brest (see 9/11/1759).
12/8/1759, Frederick, who had
been unable to prevent the Austrians under Daun and the Russians under Saltykov
joining forces, was heavily defeated by them at Kunersdorf. Frederick
lost 18,000 men in six hours. The Russians did not capitalise on this victory,
but Daun
then marched on Dresden.
1/8/1759, At the Battle of
Minden (Seven
Years War), six British-Allied army regiments defeated a larger
French force, in north-west Germany.
23/7/1759. 70,000
Russians under Saltykov
defeated 26,000 Prussians under von Wedel at Zullichau.
9/7/1759, The
French, under the Duc de Broglie, took Minden on the River Weser.
13/4/1759, Ferdinand of Brunswick, who had
enjoyed success against the French in southwest Germany, was defeated at
Bergen, near Frankfurt am Main, by the Duc de Broglie.
See also East Europe for Seven Years War
For
British-French conflict in Canada, 1700s, see Canada
14/10/1758, The Austrians
under Daun
launched an unexpected counter-attack against the Prussians at Hochkirk;
Prussian losses were 9,500 against 7,500 for the Austrians. Daun
began an advance on Dresden, but fell back to Pirna when he heard of Frederick’s
march on Lusatia. However the Austrian victory at Hochkirk raised French
morale; they had been inclined to abandon the war against Prussia.
25/8/1758, Frederick of Prussia moved
around Fermor’s
east flank and his 36,000 men attacked the Russians at Zorndorf (Sarbinowo).
Prussian losses were 13,500, against Russian casualties of 42,000 (21,000
killed). Frederick
now left Christoph
von Dohna to pursue the defeated Russians; Frederick moved south to assist
his brother, Prince
Henry, against the Austrians under Daun at Dresden.
20/8/1758, Frederick’s forces
arrived at Frankfurt on Oder, ready to attack the Russians besieging Kustrin.
15/8/1758, Russian
forces under Fermor
began a siege of the Prussians at Kustrin.
23/6/1758, Emmerlich’s
Anglo-Hanoverian army, 40,000-strong, defeated 70,000 men under the Comte de
Clermont at Krefeld. This victory enabled Emmerlich to hold all of
northern Germany against France, despite French victories further south in
Hesse and Thuringia.
16/4/1758, Frederick of Prussia defeated
the Austrians at Schweidnitz, Silesia.
27/3/1758, An
Anglo-Hanoverian force under Ferdinand of Brunswick crossed the Rhine at
Emmerlich, near the Dutch frontier (see 23/6/1758).
6/5/1758, Birth of Maximillien Robespierre, French revolutionary
who instituted the Reign of Terror, and was eventually guillotined himself.
22/1/1758, William Fermor,
Scottish emigrant to Russia who had taken the place of Apraksin (see 30/8/1757) in
September 1757, took the East Prussian capital, Konigsberg (Kaliningrad) from
Prussia. However a spring thaw melted the snow and made the roads impassable,
temporarily immobilising Fermor.
5/12/1757, Frederick of Prussia, now confronted by an Austrian army which had
invaded Silesia and seized Breslau, defeated them this day at Leuthen and recovered Breslau, capital
of Silesia. Frederick’s
43,000 men attacked the 72,000 Austrians under Charles of Lorraine with a
sudden cavalry charge followed by a heavy artillery bombardment. Frederick’s
losses amounted to 6,000, against 22,000 lost by Charles, including 12,000 taken
prisoner. Meanwhile the Swedes, who had invaded Prussian Pomerania in September
1757 (without Russian approval), were also forced back into Swedish Pomerania,
where they held against the Prussians at Stralsund. With the Russians under Apraksin
also having retreated (see 30/8/1757), the was began to turn in Prussia’s
favour.
22/11/1757, In
Silesia, Austria took Breslau (Wroclaw) from Prussia.
11/11/1757, In
Silesia, Austria took Schweidnitz (Swidnica) from Prussia.
5/11/1757, Frederick, faced by a French Army advancing from Thuringia
towards Berlin, won a major victory against them at Rossbach. 21,000 Prussian
troops faced 41,000 French and allied
men but the cautious tactics of the French commander Soubise were at odds with his
more aggressive ally Saxe-Hildburghausen, and the Prussian cavalry
forces were more mobile, under the leadership of Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz.
In two hours fighting, the Prussian lost 550 men against allied losses of
7,000. Encouraged by this victory the British repudiated Klosterzeven (see
26/7/1757) and sent troops to reinforce the Hanoverians.
7/9/1757, Prussian
forces under Fredrick
Francis of Brunswick-Bevern were defeated at Moys (Zgorzelec) in
Silesia by the Austrians.
6/9/1757, Marquis de Lafayette, Frenchman who fought
with the American colonists for independence from Britain and was a key figure
in the French Revolution, was born.
30/8/1757, A Russian
army of 90,000, having crossed Poland and entered Prussia, heavily defeated the
Prussians under Hans
von Lehwaldt at Gross-Jagersdorf, west of Gumbinnen. Unexpectedly
the Russian commander, Apraksin, then withdrew. The health of the Russian Empress
Elizabeth, who hated Prussia, was becoming uncertain and her
successor, the future Peter III, liked Frederick and opposed the fight
against Prussia. Therefore Apraksin risked the displeasure of his future
master if he continued his aggression in Prussia.
26/7/1757, A French
Army of 100,000 defeated the Hanoverian, Prussian and British allied forces
under William
Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, a younger son of King George II of England. This
was at Hastenbeck, south west of Hanover. On 8/9/1757 the French forced Cumberland
to sign the Convention of Klosterzeven, which stipulated the disbandment of Cumberland’s
forces in Germany.
18/6/1757, Frederick, ruler of Prussia, sought
to turn back an advancing Austrian army, 50,000 strong under von Daun,
but was heavily defeated at Kolin this day.
Frederick
had to give up Bohemia and raise the siege of Prague.
6/5/1757, The Battle of
Prague. Frederick’s
Prussian Army of 64,000 routed an Austrian Army of 66,000 under Browne
and Prince
Charles of Lorraine. This defeat came before the Austrians could be
reinforced by more troops under Leopold Joseph, Graf von Daun. 14,000
Austrians were killed, 16,000 escaped to join von Daun, and the rest fled into
Prague itself where they were besieged by Frederick.
1/5/1757, Austria
and France signed the Second Treaty of Versailles, allying themselves for an
offensive against Prussia. Under this Treaty, Austria would regain Silesia
(from Prussia) but would cede the Austrian Netherlands (to be divided between King Louis XV
of France and his Spanish Bourbon cousin Philip Duke of Parma). Philip’s
Italian possessions would revert to Austrian rule. France would garrison
105,000 of its troops in Prussia, in addition to supplying 30,000 men to the
Austrian Army (increased from an earlier figure of 24,000). France would
provide an annual subsidy to Austria of 12,000,000 livres. Meanwhile on
11/1/1757 France had concluded a secret treaty with Russia whereby France
agreed to help Russia in the event of any attack on Russia by Turkey
(contravening a long-standing detente between France and Turkey). In return for
this Russia would supply 80,000 men against Prussia. Allparties swore not to
make separate peaces with Prussia, which was to be partitioned between the
Allies.
18/4/1757, Frederick
of Prussia left his winter quarters
and marched on Prague. See 16/10/1757.
16/10/1756, The army of
Saxony capitulated to Frederick of Prussia at the fortress of
Pirma. See 18/4/1857. Most of the Saxon
Army joined with Prussia. Russia would have marched to help Austria against
Prussia, but this would entail Russian troops crossing Poland. Although France
would nominally have welcomed this, as it would relieve the French from helping
Austria, and Poland was allied to France, in secret the French would not
welcome any Russian influence upon Poland.
1/10/1756, The Battle of
Lobositz (midway between Dresden and Prague).
The Prussians defeated the Austrians..
10/9/1756, Frederick entered
the Saxon capital, Dresden, with his army of70,000. The Saxon Army, 20,000,
fell back to Pirna to the south east. Prussia assured Poland of it’s good
intentions but was not believed; Poland was also friendly with France.
Meanwhile an Austrian army under Ulysses von Browne, of 32,000 men, was moving
from Bohemia to unite with the Saxons. To counter this threat, Frederick
moved into Bohemia, towards Lobositz (see 1/10/1756).
29/8/1756. Frederick II of Prussia invaded Saxony, setting off a European war. Britain
was allied with Prussia, against Austria and France, see 16/1/1756, and
1/7/1756. Austria wanted to regain its province of Silesia, taken by Frederick II of Prussia during the War of the
Austrian Succession (1740-48). Frederick , believing in attacking first,
invaded Saxony to detach it from the Franco-Austrian alliance.
27/5/1756, Maximillian I, King of Bavaria, was born.
18/5/1756, Britain declared
war on France. This was the start of the Seven Years War.
1/5/1756, Alarmed by the Convention of Westminster, (see
16/1/1756), the French concluded a defensive treaty with Austria, who was under
threat from the Prussians. The Russians were also concerned at the
Anglo-Prussian alliance and sought closer ties with Austria and France.
16/1/1756. George II secured an agreement, the Convention of Westminster, by which Frederick of
Prussia guaranteed to help England if Hanover was attacked, and
England promised to help Prussia if Silesia was attacked. This
guaranteed the neutrality of the Prussian states under Frederick II in the escalating Anglo-French dispute. See 1/5/1756.
17/11/1755, Louis XVIII, King of France after the fall of
Napoleon, was born in Versailles.
2/11/1755, Marie Antoinette, Austrian princess and Queen
Consort of Louis
XVI of France, was born in Vienna.
23/8/1754, Louis XVI, King of France, was born at
Versailles, the only son of Louis XV.
2/2/1754, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, French
foreign minister to Louis XVIII and Napoleon Bonaparte, and
ambassador to Britain, was born.
20/9/1752, Louise Caroline, Countess of Albany, was born
in Mons.
9/2/1751, Henri Aguesseau, Chancellor of France (born
27/11/1668) died.
19/7/1747, The battle of Assietta. The troops of Charles
Emmanuel III of Piedmont halted the advance on Turin by a
Franco-Spanish force, during the War of
the Austrian Succession.
5/5/1747, The Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II was born.
11/5/1745, The Battle of Fontenoy took place in Belgium,
during the War of the Austrian
Succession. Marshal
de Saxe won a French
victory over British and Allied forces. William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, had been
sent with Austrian, British, Dutch and Hanoverian troops to relieve Tournai,
Belgium, under siege by the French. Cumberland’s army was beaten back with
casualties of 7,000 and forced to retreat during the night towards Brussels.
The British suffered further setbacks in Flanders and as troops were called
back to fight the Young Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart. The
British made peace with France at Aix la Chapelle in 1748.
20/1/1745. Death of Frederick II of Prussia.
3/9/1743, Johann Archenholz, German historian, was born
in Langfuhr, Danzig (died 28/2/1812 at Oyendorf, Hamburg).
19/8/1743, Comtesse du Barry, the last mistress of Louis XV,
was born in Vancouleurs as Marie Jeanne Becu, daughter of a dressmaker.
27/6/1743, The Battle of Dettingen. The last battle in which a
British monarch commanded an army on the battlefield. George II defeated the
French at the Battle of Dettingen, in Bavaria, during the War of Austrian
Succession.
13/3/1741, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor,
was born.
See also events in Austria
8/2/1741. Neisse and Brieg still held
out but the Prussians stormed and occupied Glogau on 9/3/1741. At the Battle of
Mollwitz, 10/4/1741, the Prussians narrowly won the day. Europe realised
that Prussia was now a major military power and France sent an envoy, Marshal
Belleisle, to negotiate an alliance with Frederick. The ‘Silesian adventure’ now became the War
of the Austrian Succession. France
supported the Elector of Bavaria. Sweden was supposed to stop Russia
attacking Prussia but on 3/9/1742 the Swedes were heavily defeated by the
Russians at Wilmanstrand, and Sweden capitulated in 1742 at Helsingfors, the
Swedish capital. At the Peace of Dresden, 25/12/1745 Frederick recognised the Elector of
Bavaria as ruler of Austria in return for his acquiring Silesia. The
war of the Austrian Succession ended on 18/10/1748 with the Peace of Aachen
(Aix la Chapelle).
20/10/1740, Emperor Charles VI died
unexpectedly. Maria
Theresa, aged 23, became ruler of Austria. Frederick II of Prussia, taking
advantage of Austria having a young female ruler, prepared to invade the
wealthy Austrian provoince of Silesia. Meanwhile Bavaria and Saxony also had claims on Austrian
lands (their claims supported by France), and Spain wanted the Italian
provinces of Austria. Hungary supported Austria.
2/6/1740, Birth of Marquis de Sade,
French writer who was imprisoned in the Bastille for his sexual perversions.
31/5/1740, Frederick William I of Prussia died aged 51.
He had made his country into a significant military power with a standing army
of 83,000 men. He was succeeded by his 28-year old son, Frederick II, who then occupied
part of Silesia, starting a war with Austria.
6/5/1738, Robespierre, French
revolutionary, was born in Arras.
17/1/1736, The German architect Matthaus
Poppelman died, aged 74.
8/8/1732, Johann Adelung, German grammarian, was born
(died 10/9/1806).
7/12/1731, Duperron Anquetil, French orientalist, was
born in Paris (died 17/1/1805 in Paris).
13/12/1724, Franz Aepinus, German natural
philosopher, was born in Rostock (died 10/8/1802 in Dorpat).
21/2/1723, Louis Anquetil, French historian, was born in
Paris (died 6/9/1808).
29/12/1721, Madame de Pompadour, French Mistress of Louis XV
of France, was born in Paris as Jeanne Antoinette Poisson.
31/7/1720, Emmanuel Aiguillon, French soldier, was born
(died 1782).
24/7/1720. Financial crisis hit Paris as the South Sea Bubble collapsed.
2/8/1718, A Quadruple Alliance was formed between Britain,
France, Holland,
and Austria,
against Spain,
after Spain seized Sardinia and Sicily, threatening another European war. Under
the Treaty of Utrecht (11/4/1713) Sardinia had been assigned to Austria and
Sicily to Savoy (see also 17/2/1720). However King Philip V of Spain, influenced by his wife
Elizabeth
Farnese of Parma and her advisor Giulio Alberoni, seized these
islands. Admiral
Byng was sent to defend Sicily, with Austrian troops. In a sea
battle off Cape Passaro, he totally destroyed the Spanish fleet. Meanwhile
French troops occupied northern Spain. The purpose of the Quadruple Alliance were, to maintain the terms of the Peace of
Utrecht, for Spain to renounce any claim to the French throne, and to guarantee
the Protestant succession in Britain. The four powers would also assist each
other if any were attacked. Spain initially backed a Jacobite invasion of
Britain, but after the dismissal of Cardinal Alberoni in December 1719 Spain
changed policy and joined the Alliance, which provided a forum to discuss
territorial disputes in Europe.
4/8/1717. A treaty of friendship was signed between France
and Russia.
1/9/1715. King Louis XIV of
France, the ‘Sun King’
died at Versailles, of gangrene of the leg, after reigning for 73 years, the
longest in European history, aged 77. He famously said ‘L’etat, c’est moi’. The
five-year-old Louis
XV succeeded him, and reigned for almost 59 years; the regency was
in the hands of Philip
of Orleans, aged 41.
5/7/1715, Charles Ancillon, French educationalist, died
(born in Metz, 28/7/1659).
8/6/1714, Sophia, Electress of Hanover, died.
13/8/1713, Frederick William consolidated the Prussian
State by an ordinance reducing the power
and autonomy of Prussian nobles.
11/4/1713. France in the Treaty of
Utrecht ceded Gibraltar and Newfoundland to Britain. This Treaty
established terms of peace with Louis XIV, and ended the War of the Spanish Succession.
The Treaty also preserved the balance of power in Europe by preventing either Bourbon France or
Hapsburg Austria from dominating the territories of the Spanish Succession.
Philip V became King of Spain but had to renounce all claims to the French
throne. Britain also gained Minorca and Gibraltar. Sicily went to the Duke of
Savoy and Prussia gained Upper Gelderland, Neuchatel, and Valengin. European powers were exhausted by a war
that had dragged on for 12 years.
For more
events of the War of the Spanish
Succession, see Spain-Portugal
25/2/1713, Frederick I, first
King of Prussia, died aged 55. He was succeeded by his 24-year old son, Frederick
Wilhelm I.
24/1/1712, Frederick the Great, Prussian king and
military leader, was born.
14/6/1711, The
Jewish quarter of Frankfurt was destroyed in what was one of the largest fires
in Germany before the 20th century.
17/4/1711, Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, died.
15/2/1710, The French King Louis XV was born. His weak and indecisive rule set the scene for the French Revolution.
11/9/1709, At the Battle of Malplaquet in
northern France, near Mons, The Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene won a costly
victory over the French in the War of
the Spanish Succession. 100,000 Austrian, British, Dutch and German
soldiers were intending to besiege the French at Mons but were met by a French
force of 90,000. In an attack on the French the Allies lost 24,000 men; the
French lost 12,000. The French then withdrew but Allied losses prevented
further exploitation of this victory.
8/12/1708, Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, was born.
23/5/1706, The Battle
of Ramillies, between Louvain and Namur in Belgium. Allied British and Dutch armies under Marlborough
intercepted a French offensive. 15,000 French and 5,000 Allied soldiers died.
The result of Ramillies was that
Brussels, Antwerp and most of the Spanish Netherlands surrendered. By the end
of 1706 the French held only Namur and Mons in The Netherlands.
5/5/1705, The Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I died at Vienna, aged
54, after a 47 year reign. He was
succeeded by his son, who ruled until 1711 as Josef I.
13/8/1704. The Battle
of Blenheim took place, in Germany,
where Anglo-Austrian forces under the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene,
52,000 men, defeated the French and Bavarian armies, 56,000 men, in the War of the Spanish
Succession. The French and
their allies, the Bavarians, had encamped on the west bank of the Nebel, a
small stream running into the left bank of the Danube, about a mile or two from
the Danube itself. Marlborough and Eugene had also encamped on
another tributary of the Danube, five miles eastwards of the French/Bavarian
forces. Early in the morning of the 13 August Marlborough’s forces began
moving towards the French, and caught them by surprise at 7.am.
With the defeat of the two French armies under Tallard
and Marsin,
the sun began to set on a decade-long tradition of French military triumph.
Vienna was saved from capture by the French.
12//9/1703, The Hapsburg Archduke
Ferdinand was proclaimed King of Spain, War of the Spanish Succession began. France had already, in 1701,
begun to occupy key fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands, following the death
of the Spanish monarch Charles II on 2/10./1700, with no heir.
11/10/1693, Charleroi surrendered to the
French.
22/5/1693, The town of Heidelberg was captured by the French;
Heidelberg Castle surrendered on 23/5/1693.
19/5/1692, At the battle of La Hogue, the British
and Dutch
destroyed a French fleet off Cap de la Hague. The French fleet under Colbert
was severely reduced, ending French hopes of invading England.
17/10/1690, Marguerite Alacoque, French nun who was
beatified by Pope Pius IX in1846, died (born 22/7/1647 near Autun).
18/10/1685. Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes which had been issued
by Henry IV
of |France and had given Huguenots
equal rights with Catholics. The laity were also forbidden to emigrate; Louis XIV
was concerned about the drain of skilled Huguenot merchants
and craftsmen, many of whom had fled to England.
6/5/1682. King Louis XIV arrived at his new chateau of Versailles.
28/9/1681. Louis
XIV’s army captured the previously independent city of Strasbourg. The French now
controlled all of Alsace, except Mulhouse.
5/2/1679, The Third Treaty of Nijmegen ended seven years of
war in Europe.
26/7/1678, The Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I was born.
16/11/1677, French troops occupied Freiberg.
11/4/1677, The Battle of Cassel; Philippe I of Orleans defeated William of
Orange.
1676, Les Invalides, Paris was completed; it was a combined hospital and
retirement home for soldiers.
17/4/1675, Marie Aiguillon, charity worker for the poor, died
(born 1604).
5/1/1675, French forces inflicted a heavy defeat on the
German Army at Turckheim, forcing them to abandon an invasion of France and
withdraw back across the Rhine.
2/8/1674, Philippe II, Regent of France, was born.
1/6/1670, Two Treaties of Dover – one public, one secret – were made by Charles II with Louis XIV. Charles II secretly agreed to
declare his conversion to Catholicism and subsequently to restore it to Britain.
Charles II
did not announce his conversion, to the annoyance of Louis
XIV. The public Treaty committed Britain and France to declare war on
Holland – if this war was successful, Britain would receive Zeeland and the
port of Ostend. Britain would assist Louis XIV’s claim on the Spanish throne. The private Treaty, known only to Charles II
and a select few of his government ministers, stated that Charles would re-establish Catholicism
in Britain in return for £150,000 from France and the use of 6,000 French
troops to cope with any ‘internal resistance’.
27/11/1668, Henri
Aguesseau, Chancellor of France (died 9/2/1751) was born.
2/5/1668, Treaty of
Aix la Chapelle.
13/1/1668. The Triple Alliance was formed between England,
Holland,
and Sweden
to defend The Netherlands from the ambitions of the French King, Louis XIV,
who was pursuing a claim based on his wife’s rights as Spanish Infanta. This was the
War of Devolution which was ended on 2/5/1668 by the Peace of Aix la Chapelle.
31/7/1667. The Peace
of Breda ended the war between England and the Netherlands.
Trade laws were modified in favour of the Dutch, who also gained Surinam
but recognised British possession of New York.
See 18/6/1667 and 2/2/1665. The English sought peace with the Dutch in
order to curb the growing military power of (Catholic) France. In the ‘War of
Devolution’ France had already seized the Spanish Netherlands and
Franche-Comte; Holland and England now sought to mediate in this war between
France and Spain. The other principal Protestant power in Europe, Sweden, then
joined with (Protestant) Holland and Britain in a Triple Alliance (formalised
by the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle, 2/5/1668).
However (Catholic) King Charles II regretted this Triple Alliance
against France and began negotiations with Louis XIV that led to the Treaties of Dover
(1/6/1670).
27/10/1662. King Charles II
sold Dunkirk to the French King Louis XIV (Treaty of Dunkirk) for 2.5 million livres.
1661, Louis XIV of France began work
on the Palace of Versailles.
9/3/1661, With the death of the French Regent, Cardinal
Mazario, the personal rule of King Louis XIV of France began.
9/6/1660, King Louis XIV of France, the ‘Sun King’,
married Maria
Theresa of Spain.
3/5/1660, At the Peace of Oliva (near Danzig), Frederick
William ceded Eastern Pomerania to Sweden.
7/11/1659. The war between France and Spain ended. Spain’s
treasury was empty and England had joined on the side of the French.
28/7/1659, Charles Ancillon, French educationalist, was
born in Metz (died 5/7/1715).
14/6/1658, The Battle of the Dunes was fought near Dunkirk.
The French defeated the Spanish.
4/6/1658, A British force defeated the Spanish at The Dunes and
captured Dunkirk.
11//7/1657, Frederick I, King of Prussia, was born.
2/4/1657, The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III died aged 48. He was succeeded by his 16-year old son,
Leopold I.
25/6/1656, The Treaty of Mareinburg was concluded between Sweden and
Brandenburg-Prussia. The Poles under John Casimir
had expelled the Swedes, and under this Treaty Brandenburg-Prussia was promised
part of the spoils should Poland be defeated by Sweden.
3/6/1654, Coronation of King Louis XIV
of France.
21/10/1652, The exiled
boy-King, Louis
XIV, returned from exile to Paris.
2/10/1652, In Paris,
the middle class disputed with the Fronde, and allowed Louis XIV to enter the city.
7/4/1652, In
France, the Battle of Bleneau; Conde defeated Marshall Turenne, who had
defected back to the Royalist side. Both armies marched to Paris to negotiate.
In July 1652 the Duchesse de Montpensier persuaded the Parisians to open the
city gates to the Fronde (anti-Royalist) army, and the Bastille’s
guns were turned on Turenne’s Royalists. See 2/10/1652.
12/1651, Mazarin returned to France with 7,000 troops to suppress Conde’s
rebellion.
6/8/1651, Francois
Fenelon, French author and Archbishop of Cambrai (1695-1715) was
born in Perigord (died 7/1/1715 in Cambrai).
24/9/1650, Charles de
Valois Angoulmeme (died (born 28/4/1573 in Fayet Castle).
14/1/1650, In
France, Cardinal
Mazarin ordered the arrest of Conde and his associates. However in early
1651 the French Parliament dismissed Mazarin and released Conde. Mazarin left France.
8/2/1649, Gabriel Daniel,
French Jesuit historian, was born in Rouen (died 1728).
24/10/1648. The Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War. The Treaty was between the Holy Roman Empire and France.
Under it, a large part of Alsace,
formerly a German dukedom, was ceded to France, which seized the rest at
the Peace of Ryswick, 1697. Sweden also received territories on the German
coast of the Baltic, Spain was forced to acknowledge the independence of the
United Netherlands, and the Protestant states of Saxony and Brandenburg
(=Prussia) received additional territories.
29/5/1648, Conde captured Ypres.
17/5/1648, Battle of
Zusmarshausen, Germany.
13/5/1648, Conde commenced a siege of Ypres.
22/7/1647, Marguerite Alacoque, French nun who was
beatified by Pope Pius IX in1846, was born near Autun (died 17/10/1690).
14/3/1647, The Treaty of Ulm.
Elector
Maximillian I of Bavaria made an agreement with France to end his alliance with Ferdinand III,
Holy Roman Emperor.
3/8/1645, Battle of
Allerheim, Germany
2/5/1645, Battle of
Mergentheim, Germany.
3/10/1644, Battle of
Freiburg, Germany
3/8/1644, At Freiberg,
Saxony, the French fought a combined force of Bavarians and Austrians during
the Thirty Years War. Fighting at Frieburg also occurred on 5th
and 15th August.
24/11/1643, Battle of
Tuttlingen, Germany.
14/5/1643. Louis XIV
became King of France at the age of four years, 231 days, and then reigned
for over 72 years. He succeeded his
father, Louis
XIII.
19/5/1643, Battle of Rocroi.
The French, under the Prince of Conde, defeated the Spanish.
4/12/1642, Cardinal Richelieu
(Armand du Plessis), French politician
and chief minister to Louis XIII from 1624, died aged 57 in Paris. He was succeeded by Mazarin. Mazarin was to alienate
the nobility of France, and parliament, due to his policies of high taxation
and supreme position, provoking the rebellion by the Fronde.
2/8/1642, Second Battle of Brietenfeld, Germany.
17/9/1640, The French captured Turin.
9/6/1640, The Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I,
was born.
19/1/1639, Noel Alexandre, French
theologian (died 1724) was born in Rouen.
5/9/1638, Louis XIV,
King of France, known as the ‘Sun King’, born in St German en Laye, just
outside Paris.
15/2/1637, The Holy
Roman Emperor Ferdinand
II died, aged 57, in Vienna. He was succeeded by his 28-year old
son, Ferdinand
III.
15/8/1636, The Spanish besieged Corbie, France.
19/5/1635, France declared war on Spain.
Spain initially had success, capturing Corbie, near Amiens. However the Spaniards did not follow up their
successes and faced with revolts in Portugal and Catalonia, lost Artois and
Roussillion.
10/3/1635, The Academie
Francaise in Paris was expanded to become a national academy for the
artistic elite.
2/1/1635, Cardinal Richelieu established the Academie Francaise to protect the purity
of the French language.
6/9/1634, Battle of
Nordlingen, Germany. Hapsburg forces defeated Sweden.
15/5/1633, French
military engineer Sebastian le Prestre de Vauban was born in
Nivernais, France. He developed a system of fortifications to defend France
against invasion.
16/11/1632, Gustavus II, King of Sweden from 1611, killed as his
army gained victory in the Battle of Lutzen (Thirty Years War) near Leipzig. He
was succeeded by his 6-year old daughter, Christina; in the interim, Sweden was governed by
Count Axel
Oxenstierna.
31/8/1632, Battle of
Alte Veste, Germany.
15/4/1632, Battle of
Rain, Bavaria. Swedish forces destroyed the Bavarian army, which had been
allied to the Hapsburgs.
1631, The Leipzig
Manifesto was issued. The Protestant States of Saxony and Brandenburg
wanted to drive foreign forces, the (Protestant) Swedes, from German soil but
at the same time to counter the Edicts of Restitution, which was aimed at
restoring Catholicism to Germany. The Leipzig Manifesto ruined Swedish
hopes for support by Protestant German princes against the German Emperor.
23/12/1631, The
Swedes captured Mainz, Germany.
17/9/1631, During the Thirty
Years War, a battle was fought between Gustavus II, King of Sweden
(1594-1632) and the Holy Roman Empire forces under Tilly at Brietenfeld,
Germany. (see 4/7/1630). The Swedes
overwhelmingly won. Gustavus II had extended the Kingdom of Sweden right around
the eastern Baltic, turning it into a ‘Swedish lake’. Gustavus now began to
conquer the wealthy lands of the rivers Main and Rhine.
4/7/1631. The first employment agency, the ‘Bureau
d’Adresse’ was established in Paris by Theophraste Renaudot. It charged 3 sous to
both employers and employees; unless too poor to pay, when the bureau was
free. In 1639 the Paris police ordered
that all unemployed strangers arriving in Paris must register at the bureau
within 24 hours or be sent to the galleys for vagabondage. Vacancies were
mainly for domestic servants and shop assistants. See 12/8/1649.
1630, The Academie Francaise was intiated as an informal group meeting at the
house of Valentin
Conrart, for the purpose of maintaining the purity of the French
language. Members were sworn to secrecy, as assemblies of any kind were then
illegal in France. However when Cardinal Richelieu heard of the society, he
supported it and gave his patronage to it. The first French dictionary was
published by the Academie in 1694.
14/10/1630, Sophia, Electress of Hanover, was born.
4/7/1630, During the Thirty
Years War, Gustavus Adolphus, Protestant King of Sweden, landed at Peenemunde with an
army of 13,000 men, in an attempt to bring the entire Baltic under Swedish
control. See 17/9/1631.
6/3/1629, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, issued the Edict of Restitution. Under this, all Catholic properties lost to
Protestantism since 1552 were to be restored and only Catholics and Lutherans
(not Calvinists, Hussites, or other groups) were to be allowed to practise
their faith.
28/10/1628, The siege of La Rochelle ended.
24/8/1626, Battle of
Lutter, Germany. The Danes were routed by the Hapsburgs.
25/4/1626, Battle of
Dessau, Germany.
29/4/1624, Louis XIII of
France appointed Richelieu as his chief minister.
6/8/1623. Battle of
Stadtlohn, western Germany. The Protestant Army was destroyed.
10/1622, Louis XIII of France capture the Protestant
city of Montpellier,and blockaded La Rochelle.
20/6/1622, Battle of
Hochst, Germany.
6/5/1622, Battle of
Wimpfen, southern Germany.
8/10/1619, The Treaty of Munich was signed by Ferdinand II
and Maximillian I, Elector of Bavaria.
28/8/1619, Ferdinand II was elected emperor of the Holy Roman
Empire.
10/8/1619, The Treaty of Angoulmeme ended the civil
war in France.
23/5/1618, The defenestration
of Prague. Rebel nobles hurled the Holy
Roman Emperor’s advisers from the
windows of Hradcany Castle (they survived due to landing in a refuse heap),
triggering the Thirty Years War (Reformation). Rebel Protestant Bohemian nobles
were in protest against their Catholic King, who had been elected as Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II. The conflict this started spread to involve other European powers,
who were eager to cash in on the weakened state of a severely-split Germany.
See also eastern Europe.
20/1/1612, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, died aged 59. He was succeeded by his brother, Matthias.
11/11/1611, Henri de Turenne, French Marshall-General during the Thirty Years War, was
born.
17/10/1610, Louis XIII was crowned King of France.
27/5/1610, Ravaillac was executed in Paris.
14/5/1610. King Henry IV of France, ‘Good King Henry’,
was murdered by a mad Catholic monk, Francois Ravaillac, in Paris. Ravaillac
jumped onto the carriage wheel of the King’s carriage and plunged a knife into
his chest. He wanted to avert King Henry’s planned war against Catholic
Spain and Austria. He was succeeded by King Louis XIII, aged 8.
14/7/1602, Cardinal Mazarin, politician, was born.
6/10/1600, Henry IV of France married Marie de Medici.
2/5/1598, The Treaty of Vervins ended the Franco-Spanish War.
13/4/1598. Henry IV of France issued the Edict
of Nantes, giving Huguenots
equal rights with Catholics. See 24/8/1572, and 18/10/1685.
25/9/1597, King Henry IV of France captured Amiens from
the Spanish.
9/6/1595, Battle of
Fontaine-Francaise; Huguenot victory.
25/5/1595, German scholar Valens Acidalius died in Neisse.
21/5/1592, Parma escaped Protestant forces at
Coudebec and marched south east to resupply forces at Paris.
17/5/1592, The Duke of Parma
withdrew from besieging Coudebec. His forces had been reduced to 15,000, and
the Dutch Protestants were able to resupply Coudebec by
sea, sailing up the River Seine.
21/4/1592, The Duke of Parma
raised the siege by Protestants of
Catholics holding out at Rouen.
27/3/1592, Henry of Navarre, Protestant, restarted the siege
of Catholics holding Rouen.
24/3/1592, The Duke of Parma,
Catholic, began a siege of Protestants holding the town of Coudebec, on the
lower Seine.
9/2/1592, Parma attacked Protestants at Neufchatel.
4/2/1592, Military
skirmish at Aumale, west of Amiens, between Catholics and Huguenot
Protestants.
16/1/1592, The Catholic Duke of Parma
marched south west from Amiens with 30,000 men.
24/5/1591, Sir John Norreys, leading an expeditionary force sent by Queen Elizabeth
I, took the town of Guincamp after a brief siege, to assist the
Protestant King
Henry of Navarre., in his fight against the Catholics in France.
14/3/1590, Battle of
Ivry; Huguenot victory.
21/9/1589, The Battle of
Arques, NW France; Huguenot victory.
1/8/1589, Henry III, King of France, murdered by a mad Dominican
monk.
5/1/1589, Catherine di
Medici, Italian wife of King Henry II of France, died.
12/5/1588, Day of the Barricades in Paris; popular uprising
against King
Henry III.
20/10/1587, Battle
of Coutras; Huguenot victory.
21/1/1586, Augustus
I, Elector of Saxony, died in Dresden (born 31/7/1526 in Freiberg).
9/9/1585, Cardinal Richelieu French politician and chief
minister of King Louis
XIII from 1624, who was ruthless at crushing all opposition to
the monarchy, was born near Chinon.
7/7/1585. King Henry III of France bowed to Catholic
pressure and revoked the tolerance allowed to Hugenots.
9/12/1582, France adopted the Gregorian calendar; the day after
9/12/1582 was 20/12/1582.
17/9/1577, The Peace of
Bergerac was signed between King Henry III of France and the Hugenots.
12/10/1576, The Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian II died, aged 49. He was succeeded by
his son Rudolf.
10/10/1575, The Battle of Dormans. Catholic
forces under Duke
Henry of Guise defeated the Protestants,
capturing Philippe
de Mornay amongst others.
14/2/1575, Henry III of France married Louise de
Lorraine-Vaudemont.
13/2/1575, Henry III of France was crowned at Reims.
1573, Death of Michel de l’Hopital. Born 1507,
he became Superintendent of Finances in 1554, and was Chancellor of France from
1560. He attempted to quieten down
religious conflict in France by restraining the Catholic
executioners. However he retired in 1568 to his estate near Etampes.
7/1573, The Edict of Boulogne limited
Hugenot worship to the cities of La Rochelle, Momtauiban and Nimes.
28/4/1573, Charles
de Valois Angoulmeme was born in Fayet Castle (died 24/9/1650).
26/4/1573, Marie de Medici, Queen of France, was born.
24/8/1572. The St
Bartholomew’s Day Massacre took place in Paris. Thousands of French Huguenots were killed by order of the
Catholic French court. See 13/4/1592. Gaspard de
Coligny, Huguenot leader, was
killed. This was 6 days after the marriage of Catholic Marguerite de Valois,
daughter of Henry
II of France, also known as Catherine de Medici, to the Protestant Henri de
Bourbon, King of Navarre. The bride’s mother , Catherine was anxious over the
influence of Protestants on the couple.
8/8/1570, Peace of St Germain ended the Third French War of
Religion.
3/10/1569, At the Battle of Moncountour, Royalist forces
of Tavannaes
and Anjou defeated Coligny’s Huguenots.
24/8/1569, At the Battle of Orthez, Huguenot
forces under Gabriel
de Montgomery defeated Royalist forces under General Terride in French
Navarre. Catholics surrendered on
condition that their lives would be saved.
The Huguenots agreed but then massacred them
anyway.
10/6/1569, German Protestant troops reinforced Gaspard
de Coligny, near Limoges.
13/3/1569, At the Battle of Jarnac, Royalist troops under
Marshal
Gaspard de Tavannes defeated the Huguenots
under the Prince
of Conde, who was captured and murdered. A large number of Huguenot
troops escaped, under Gaspard de Coligny.
20/3/1568, Albert, 1st Duke of Prussia, died in Tapiau
(born 16/5/1490 in Ansbach).
18/2/1563, Francis, Duke of Guise, was assassinated whilst besieging Orleans.
19/12/1562, The Battle of
Dreux;
Catholics defeated the Huguenots.
9/10/1561, The Colloquy of Poissy broke up.
5/12/1560, Francis II, King of France, died, aged 16, he was succeeded by
his brother, 10-year old Charles IX.
10/7/1559, Henry II, King of France, died aged 40. He was succeeded by his
14-year old son, Francois II. The Duc de Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine were
Regents.
2/4/1559, The Peace of Cateau-Cambresis, ending the wars of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
in Europe. Italy was recognised as a Spanish sphere of influence, and Franche
Comte was to be part of the Spanish monarchy. French possession of Metz, Toul
and Verdun was confirmed. A strategic marriage was arranged between King Philip II
of Spain and Elizabeth Valois, daughter of King Henry II
of France.
21/9/1558. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 to
1556, died. His reign was marked by almost constant wars with France, through
which he gained control of Italy in 1529 at the Peace of Cambrai.
7/1/1558. Calais, the last English possession on mainland
France, was taken by the French under the Duke of
Guise. The English had captured Calais in 1346 after a year
besieging it.
10/8/1557, The Battle of St Quentin. Spanish forces under the Duke of Savoy
defeated the French under the Constable of Montmorency. The French were
driven out of Italy.
8/1/1557, Albert,
Prince of Bayreuth, died in Pforzheim (born 28/3/1522 in Ansbach).
16/1/1556, The Emperor Charles V abdicated.
25/9/1555, The Peace of Augsburg was signed between Holy Roman
Emperor Charles V and the Schmalkaldic
League, at the city of Augsburg.
It cemented the division within Christendom between Catholicism and
Protestantism, and allowed German states to choose either Roman Catholicism or
Lutheranism as their State Religion.
14/12/1553,
Henry IV,
King of France, was born.
2/8/1553, Battle of Marciano. A French army
invading Tuscany was defeated.
18/7/1552, The Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II,
was born.
19/9/1551, Henry III, King of France, was
born.
27/6/1550, Charles IX, French monarch who
ordered the massacre of the Hugenots on St
Bartholomew’s Day in 1572, was born.
9/8/1549. England declared war on
France.
30/6/1548, The Interim of Augsburg. A solution
devised at the Diet of Augsburg by Charles V to solve the religious divisions of
the Holy Roman Empire by devising a loosely-defined Catholicism that was
acceptable to the Protestant Princes. It allowed the laity to receive the
Communion cup and for Protestant Ministers to keep their wives. However the
Catholics were unenthusiastic and most of the Protestant princes rejected it.
Pope Paul refused to endorse it until August 1549.
1547, French replaced Latin as the official
language of France.
23/4/1547, Battle of Muhlberg. Charles
(1500-58), who became King of Spain in 1516 and Holy Roman Emperor in
1519, was opposed to the growth of Lutheranism (Protestantism). At Muhlberg, Charles defeated the Protestant
princes, allowing him to impose the Interim
of Augsburg (1548) which was a temporary compromise making minimal
concessions to these Protestants. Many
German Protestants who felt these concessions were inadequate fled to England,
assisting the Reformation there.
31/3/1547, King Francis I of France died, aged 52.
3/8/1546, In Paris the printer Etienne Dolet was hanged and
burned for heresy, after printing the works of humanists such as Erasmus.
24/9/1545, Albert, Archbishop of Mainz, died.
14/9/1544. Henry VIII
of England captured Boulogne. On 7/6/1546 the English
and French signed the Peace of Ardres. This said Boulogne was to remain in
English hands for another eight years.
19/7/1544, Henry
VIII laid siege to the French town of Boulogne, in revenge for
French military assistance to Scotland.
19/1/1544, Francis II, King of France, was born.
12/1/1539, The Treaty of Toledo was signed by Charles V
(Holy Roman Emperor, and King of Spain), and Francis I (King of France). Each agreed to make no further alliances with
England. The origin of this Treaty was
the dispute between King Henry VIII of England and Pope Paul III.
10/8/1539. King Francis of France ordered that all legal
documents were henceforth to be drawn up in French, not Latin. He also ordered
all priests to keep records of baptisms and deaths.
18/6/1538, The Truce
of Nice; peace was declared between Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and King Francis I
of France.
1/1/1538, German and Swiss states introduced the Gregorian
Calendar.
2/2/1534, The Great Swabian League was dissolved.
13/8/1532, Union of
Brittany and France: The Duchy of Brittany was absorbed into the Kingdom of
France.
27/2/1531, German Protestants formed the Schmalkaldic League,
to resist Charles V.
23/2/1530, Carlos
I of Spain was crowned Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Italy
by Pope
Clement V.
5/8/1529, The Treaty
of Cambrai was signed, between Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and King Francis of
France. France abandoned its claims in Italy, but kept Burgundy.
15/8/1528, Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, French military
leader (born 1485) died.
31/7/1527, The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II was born.
6/5/1527, German mercenaries sacked the city of Rome, an event considered by many to mark the end
of the Renaissance. This occurred during warfare between the Holy League
and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.
31/7/1526, Augustus I, Elector of Saxony, was born in
Freiberg (died 21/1/1586 in Dresden).
22/5/1526, France
repudiated the Treaty of Madrid, and formed the League of Cognac, against Charles V. This League included the Pope, Milan, Venice,
and Florence.
14/1/1526, The Peace
of Madrid; Francis
I of France agreed to cede Burgundy to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. France also abandoned all claims to Flanders,
Artois, Naples, and Milan.
1525, The Prussian Territory of
the Order of the Teutonic Knights became the Duchy of Prussia.
15/5/1525, The Battle of Frankenhausen.
7/5/1525. The Peasant’s Revolt in Germany was
defeated. It had begun in 1524 when the peasants demanded abolition
of feudal dues, serfdom, and tithes.
24/2/1525. The Battle of Pavia.
Pavia, held by the French, had been under siege by Spanish forces since October
1524. Italy itself was a territory being fought over by the rival powers of
France, Germany, Turkey and Spain. The French under King Charles
VIII defended Pavia with cavalry and cannon, but the Spanish had
adopted the arquebus or hackenbushe, an early version of the handgun; this
weapon replaced the Spanish crossbow. The
arquebus meant an unskilled infantryman could kill a skilled knight and Pavia
was the start of the dominance of the handgun as a military weapon.
28/3/1522, Albert,
Prince of Bayreuth, was born in Ansbach (died 8/1/1557 in
Pforzheim).
6/6/1520. Henry VIII
and Francis
I of France met in a glittering ceremony at The Field Of The
Cloth Of Gold near Calais.
28/6/1519, Charles V was elected as Holy Roman Emperor.
He was already the ruler of several territories across Europe,in Italy,
Austria, Spain and the Low Countries. He had ambitions to establish a wealthy
Catholic pan-European State which would push back the ottoman threat, In
practice the varied peoples he ruled were disinclined to surrender power to a
remote central authority, or to pay taxes to him, and religious differences
between his lands persisted. Other European powers were suspicious of his
pan-European aims. This resulted in his reign being one of almost continual
warfare.
12/1/1519, The Holy Roman Emperor, Maximillian I, died aged 59. He had been King of
Germany and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493. He was succeeded by Spain’s Carlos I,
elected Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V.
1517, The port of Le Havre was founded.
1/1/1515. King Louis XII of France was succeeded by his
nephew, Francis,
who continued France’s policy of attempting to invade Italy.
9/10/1514, Louis XII, King of France, married Mary Tudor.
16/8/1513, The Battle of the Spurs. King Henry VIII defeated the
French.
1512, Albrecht
Durer became Court Painter to the Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian I.
21/4/1503, The Battle of
Cerignola, Italy. The Spanish under Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba defeated the French
under the Duc de Nemoura, who was
killed. This was the first battle
considered to have been won by gunpowder and small arms.
23/2/1503, At the Battle of Ruvo, the Spanish defeated the French.
12/9/1500, Albert III, Duke of Saxony, died in Emden
(born 27/1/1443).
20/2/1500, Charles V, Holy
Roman Emperor, was born.
8/4/1498, Charles
VIII of France died suddenly, aged 27. He was succeeded by his
cousin, the Duc d’Orleans, as Louis XII.
6/7/1495, At the Battle of Fornovo, near Parma, the French Army secured its
retreat from Italy by defeating a combined Milanese-Venetian force under Giobvanni
Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of
Mantua. France had contested with Spain over who would control Italy. Charles VIII
of France expected support from his one-time allies, the Milanese, but when he
arrived in Italy he found they had joined with Venice, the Papacy and the Holy
Roman Empire to oppose his plans for Italy.
12/9/1494, Francis I, King of France, was born.
6/2/1493, Maximilian I of Germany became Holy Roman
Emperor.
19/1/1493, King Charles VIII of France returned Cardagne
and Roussillon in the eastern Pyrenees to Spain under the Treaty of Barcelona.
1491, Frency forces occupied Brittany, ending its independence, see
9/9/1488.
19/12/1490, Anne of Brittany married Maximillian I, Holy Roman
Emperor, by proxy.
16/5/1490, Albert, 1st Duke of Prussia, was born in
Ansbach (died 20/3/1568 in Tapiau).
9/9/1488, Anne of Brittany became Duchess of Brittany at
the age of 11. Her marriage to King Charles VIII in 1491 effectively ended Breton
independence from France.
28/7/1488, At the Battle
of Saint Aubin du Cornier, troops loyal to King Charles VIII of France
defeated forces led by the rebel Duke of Orleans and Duke of Brittany in the main engagement of the Mad War.
14/2/1488, The Great Swabian league was formed.
11/3/1486, Albert III, Elector of Brandenburg, died
11/3/1486 in Frankfort (born 9/11/1414 in Tangermunde).
30/8/1483, Louis XI, King of France, died, aged 60. He
unified France after the Hundred Years War. He was succeeded by his 13-year old son, Charles
VIII.
23/12/1482. Burgundy
and Picardy were absorbed into
France by the Treaty of Arras.
Meanwhile other
Burgundian lands in the Low Countries passed to the Hapsburgs due to the
marriage of Charles’
only child, Margaret,
to the future Holy Roman Empire, Maximilian I.
10/7/1480, Rene,
Count of Anjou, died without an
heir. Louis
XI annexed his territory.
1477, The death of Charles the Bold, Duke
of Burgundy 1467-77, in battle brought Burgundy back firmly under French
control. Burgundy, seeking at least de facto independence from France, had allied with Britain durting the Hundred
Years War,l and by marriage were united with Flanders. However France retained
its hold on Champagne, separarating the two parts of Burgundy.
5/1/1477, Battle of Nancy.
1476, First known mention of the
Bayeux Tapestry, recorded in an
inventory at Bayeux Cathedral.
15/6/1467, Philip the Good, Duke of
Burgundy, died, aged 71,
after a 48-year reign. He was succeeded by his son, Charles the Bold, who began a
10-year power struggle with Louis XI of France. He was the last Duke of
Burgundy.
19/10/1466, King Casimir IV signed the
Second Peace of Thorn, ending the
warfare which began in 1454 when Casimir IV agreed to help the Prussian
Confederation against the Teutonic Knights.
1465, League of the
Common Weal set up in France as an aristocratic counterweight to King Louis XI.
1464, Louis XI of France founded the Poste Royale, the first national postal
service.
24/7/1461, Charles VII of France died aged 58 (ruled sonce 1427). He was succeeded
by his son, Louis
XI.
22/3/1459, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian was born.
19/10/1453, France recaptured Bordeaux from the English.
Bordeaux had fallen to France in 1451, but the English retook it.
17/7/1453. The end of the Hundred
Years War, when the French defeated the English at Castillon. Now
only Calais remained in English
hands; in 1449 England occupied nearly a
third of France.
19/3/1452, Frederick,
King of Germany, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Nicholas.
20/8/1451, The French captured Bayonne, the last English stronghold in
Guyenne.
30/6/1451, French troops under the Comte de Dunois invaded Guyenne
and captured Bordeaux.
16/9/1450, Louis Aleman, French Cardinal, died in Arles.
12/8/1450, Cherbourg, the last English territory in Normandy,
surrendered to the French.
6/7/1450, Caen surrendered to the French.
15/4/1450, The Battle
of Formigny. Fought near Caen, the French defeated an English force sent to
halt King Charles VII’s reconquest of Normandy.
29/10/1449, The French recaptured Rouen from the English.
27/1/1443, Albert III, Duke of Saxony, was born (died
12/9/1500 in Emden).
26/10/1440, Gilles de Rais, Marshal of France, was hanged.
21/2/1440, The Prussian
Confederation was formed.
9/12/1437, The Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund died.
13/4/1436, The English lost Paris to the French.
20/9/1435, Charles VII concluded the Treaty of Arras with
the Duke of Burgindy.
5/3/1432, Charles VII concluded the Treaty of Rennes.
16/12/1431. The Bishop of Winchester, Henry Beaufort, crowned King Henry VI King of France.
30/5/1431. Jeanne D’Arc,
a peasant girl from Donremy, was burned at the stake in Rouen for heresy.
She had been taken prisoner by the Burgundians in May 1430 and handed over to Pierre Cauchon,
Bishop of Beauvais. She endured a year of inquisition and torture. She was
canonised in 1920 on the anniversary of her death.
26/8/1429. Jeanne D’Arc
made a triumphal
entry into Paris.
17/7/1429, Charles VII was crowned King in Reims.
16/7/1429, The French Army reached Reims, which surrendered to
Charles VII
without a fight.
18/6/1429. Jeanne D’Arc,
17 years old, defeated the
British at the Battle of Patay. Historians are still in dispute over Jeanne D’Arc’s role in the Hundred Years War between Britain
and France. Born a peasant’s daughter on 7/1/1412, she believed she
was led by divine guidance and her mission was to make sure that Charles VII
became King of France and not the English Henry V. The French and the English
came face to face at Patay on 18/6/1429 and Jeanne D’Arc had promised the
French a greater victory than ever they had seen so far. The English army was
indeed routed and also its reputation for invincibility, as the Earl of
Salisbury’s 5,000 men were forced back across the River Loire. She was captured by the English a year later,
on 24/5/1430, with the help of French collaborators, and burnt as a witch on
30/5/1431. She was canonised in 1920.
For Hundred
Years War events see also Britain
7/5/1429, The French captured the English fort of Les Tourelles,
inspired by Joan of Arc. This was pone of several strongholds around Orleans lost by
the English. The following day, 8/5/1429, the English began retreating, but Joan of Arc forbade the
French to pursue because it was a Sunday.
29/4/1429, Joan of Arc arrived to relieve the Siege of Orléans.
27/4/1429, French troops mustered at Blois and set off for Orleans. Orleans
had been almost surrounded by English troops since 12/10/1428, although it was
possible for the French to enter and leave.
13/2/1429, Joan of Arc left Vancouleurs, a town loyal to
the French Dauphin, and travelled across English-held territory to Chinon to
meet the Dauphin. The French nobility were unsure if she was mad or a heretic, but
then decided to use her to raise French morale so as to defeat the English at
Orleans.
3/7/1423, Louis XI, King of France, was born.
31/8/1422. King Henry V
died in Vincennes, France, struck down by dysentery.. He was just about to
take the crown of both France and England; his son, Henry
VI, was just 9 months old, and English
power in France looked uncertain again.
1/12/1420, Henry V made a triumphal entry into Paris, see
25/10/1415 and 21/5/1420.
21/5/1420, Under the Treaty
of Troyes, King
Henry V of England became ruler of France also, following his
victory at Agincourt. Henry V married Catherine de Valois and when Charles de
Valois died Henry would inherit the throne, so long as Henry
and Catherine
produced a male heir. Under French Salic Law, a woman could not rule France.
19/1/1419, In the Hundred Years' War, Rouen surrendered to Henry V
of England, which took Normandy under the control of England.
1415, Frederick of Hohenzollern used
the wealth he had amassed as Burg-Graf of Nuremberg to purchase, from Holy Roman
Emperor Sigismund, the governorship of the State of Brandenburg (see map here). From here the Hohenzollern
Margraves (Mark-grafen, or border Counts) expanded their influence north east
into Pomerania and Mecklenburg, and southawrds into Saxony, at the expense of
the Counts (Marks) of these regions. Ongoing conflict with the Slavic peoples
and the absence of easily-defensible frontiers for Brandenburg ensures that
this political entity became highly militarised as Prussia and then Germany. In 1618 the Duchy of Prussia passed by
inheritance to the Margrave of Brandenburg.
25/10/1415. Battle of Agincourt, 20 miles inland from
Boulogne. The English forces, after the capture by the French of Harfleur, had
set out to march to Calais through Picardy. Henry
V could have simply garrisoned Harfleur and
returned the way he had come, by sea, but he decided to march through enemy
French territory to the English enclave of Calais to make a political point. Their
crossing of the River Somme was delayed by torrential rains and the French set
out to block their passage. The French troops set up at the northern end of a
defile of open ground between the woods of Agincourt and Tramercourt. The
English were short of food and supplies and hunger might have eventually forced
their surrender. The French outnumbered the English three to one. However
King Henry V was able to use his archers, in the restricted space of the
battlefield, to mow down the French cavalry and so win the battle. Thick mud, from the rains, restricted the movement
of the French cavalry. The English victory gave Henry
the finances and reputation to continue the war. Four
years later the whole of Normandy was under British control, and in 1420 the
Treaty of Troyes recognised Henry as heir to the French throne, see 1/12/1420.
14/8/1415, Henry
V’s fleet arrived at Chef de Caux, 10 miles west
of Harfleur. Harfleur was a port from which the French had made many raids on
the English south coast.
9/11/1414, Albert
III, Elector of Brandenburg, was born in Tangermunde (died 11/3/1486
in Frankfort).
6/1/1412, Joan of Arc was born.
18/5/1410, Rupert, King of Germany, died.
27/4/1404,
Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, died.
19/3/1397, Pierre D’Ailly became Bishop of Cambrai.
13/6/1396, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, was born.
16/9/1380, King Charles V of France, aged 43, died at
Vincennes after eating poisonous mushrooms. He had ruled since 1356, and was
succeeded by his 12-year-old son, King Charles VI, who ruled until 1422 (despite
bouts of insanity from 1392 onwards).
29/11/1378, The Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV died aged 62. His
lands were divided amongst his three sons.
1372, France defeated the
British fleet at La Rochelle. Britain expelled from Acquitaine.
1369, France recommenced the Hundred Year’s War.
15/2/1368, The Emperor Sigismund was born.
For Hundred
Years War events see also Britain
12/4/1365, Treaty of Guerande. The French House of Blois ceded its rights to
Brittany.
24/10/1360, The Treaty
of Brétigny was ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of
the Hundred
Years' War. Under
its terms, King
John II of France, who had been captured at Poitiers, would be
released for a ransom of 3 million Ecus. Calais, Guines, Ponthieu and all of
Aquitaine would be ceded to Edward III of England. In return Edward,
who had besieged Rheims (December 1359 – January 1360) but failed to capture
it, promised to renounce claims to the French Crown when John renounced sovereignty over
Aquitaine. In fact these renunciations
never took place and the Hundred Years War resumed 1369.
10/6/1358, End of the Jacquerie
peasant rebellion in France (began 30/5/1358).
19/9/1356. The English, led by Edward the Black Prince,
defeated the French under King John II, at the Battle of Poitiers,
western France, in the Hundred Years War.
5/5/1352, Rupert, king of Germany, was born.
22/8/1350. King John II, (the Good) succeeded Philip VI
as King of France.
12/8/1350, Philip IV, King of France, died.
4/8/1347, Calais surrendered to the English.
26/8/1346. The Battle of Crecy took place, 32 miles south of
Boulogne. The outnumbered army of Edward III, aided by his son Edward the
Black Prince, defeated the French under Philip
IV, who fled, leaving over 1,500 French dead. On 3/8/1347 the English
captured Calais after nearly a year’s siege, which began on 3/9/1346. This battle, during the Hundred Years War, was the first
time the English had used longbows
in continental warfare. The crossbow assault at Crecy decimated the
French-Geonese archers and the French knights behind, attempting an attack
through the Genoese, caused a troops jam into which the English longbowmen
continued to fire. The French retreated; Edward decided against pursuing the
survivors but marched on north to attack Calais.
12/7/1346, An English
invasion force landed unopposed at St Vaast, western Normandy, with the aim of
capturing Paris. This force was defeated by a superior French army and the
English attempted a retreat back to England, marching west 60 miles in four
days. However the French followed their march just to the south, denying the
Seine Valley to the English. The English needed a port to evacuate their
forces. The English now had to cross the lower Somme between Amiens and the
sea, but this tract was tidal, full of treacherous marches, passable only along
narrow causeways for a few hours a day at low tide. Crossing points to the
north of the Somme were guarded by the French. The English attempted to force a
crossing of the Somme at Crecy.
11/7/1346. Charles V of Luxembourg was elected Holy Roman
Emperor at the instigation of Pope Clement VI.
15/1/1342, Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, was born.
1341, France imposed a salt tax
to pay for the cost of the war with England.
1340, England defeated France at
the naval Battle of Sluys.
See also Benelux,
1300s.
24/5/1337, Philip VI of France took Gascony from English
control.
1328, The last Capetian ruler of France died. The
French Crown passed to the related Valois Dynasty. However the English monarch,
Edward III,
had a rival claim to the French throne through hus mother. England initiated
the Hundred Years War, 1337-1453.
1317, France adopted the Salic Law, which prohibited women from
succeeding to the throne.
5/6/1316, King Louis X of France died.
14/5/1316, The Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV was born.
29/11/1314, Philip IV, King of France, died.
13/11/1314, Albert, Landgrave of Thuringia, died.
24/8/1313, King Henry VII of Germany was poisoned.
1/5/1308, Albert I of Habsburg, King of Germany and Holy Roman
Emperor, was murdered by his nephew,John (Parricida). This followed a humiliating
defeat of Albert’s forces whilst attempting an invasion
of Thuringia.
2/4/1305, Jeanne, Queen of Navarre, died.
24/8/1298, Albert I was elected King
of Germany
2/7/1298, Adolph of Nassau was killed in battle with his
successor, Albert of Austria.
23/5/1298, Adolf of Nassau was deposed as King of
Germany.
5/5/1292, Adolf of Nassau (born 1250) was elected as
King of Germany, principally as a means of blocking Hapsburg claims to the
German throne through Albert of Austria. However he became too
ambitious for the comfort of the Electors of Germany and he wads deposed in
1298. He died in battle against Albert I of Austria in 1298.
15/7/1291, Rudolf I, King of Germany, died.
4/10/1289, Louis XI, King of France, was
born.
2/11/1285, Peter
III, King of Aragon, died.
5/10/1285, Philip III, King of France, died.
15/11/1280, Albertus Magnus, German scholar, died in
Cologne.
21/5/1254, Conrad IV, King of Germany,
died. Born in 1228, he ruled from 1237.
12/12/1250, Death of Frederick II of Germany, from
dysentery (born 1194).
3/4/1245, Philip III, King of France, was born.
1244, Provence became part of
Capetian France.
1237, The city of Berlin was
founded.
17/3/1230, The Archbishop
of Bremen, Gerhard II, convened a Great Church Gathering at Bremen.
There he organised the excommunication
of the Stedinger for such crimes as worshipping wax images of the Devil and
consulting evil spirits. In reality the Stedinger had been granted permission,
in 1106 by an earlier Archbishop of Bremen, to reclaim the marshlands at the estuary
of the River Weser for agriculture. The work was hard, digging drainage ditches
and building dikes but the inhabitants
of this land, called Stedingen, were at least free from Feudalism. They paid a
nominal tax to the Archbishop but owned no feudal duties to any Lord. Over time
the feudal Lords of the region and the Archbishops of Bremen came to see the
freedom of the Stedinger as a threat. Relations deteriorated as the Counts of
Oldenburg built two fortresses in Stedingen, at Lechtenburg and Luneberg,
kidnapping local people from the area, and in turn the Stedinger formed local
militias for their own protection. Gerhard II went to Rome to secure Pope Gregory
II’s agreement for a Crusade
against the Stedinger, which began in Spring 1233. By the end of 1234 the
Stedinger society had been eradicated, although some families claiming descent
from the Stedinger remain today in Germany and the USA.
26/4/1228, Conrad IV, Holy Roman Emperor,
was born (died 1254).
8/11/1226, Louis VIII, King of France,
died.
23/5/1125, Holy Roman Emperor Henry V
died at Utrecht. He was succeeded by the 55-yerar-old Lothair, who
was crowned at
Aix-la-Chapelle on 13/9/1125.
6.8.1223, Louis VIII was crowned King of
France.
14/7/1223, Philip Augustus, King of France,
died.
19/5/1218, The Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV died.
1/5/1218, Rudolf I, King of Germany, was born.
22/5/1215, King Philip II Augustus of France received instructions from the Pope
to abandon his invasion of Britain, following 4/3/1215. King John of England had considerable
economic interests in the District of Flanders, whose cloth merchants received
almost all their wool from England, With English agents in many Flemish
towns, France feared losing influence over the region to England.
27/7/1214, The Battle of Bouvines. Near Lille, France, Philip
II Augustus of
France defeated an English-German-Flemish alliance. This dashed
the hopes of King
John of invading France on two fronts to recover the Angevin (meaning ‘of Anjou’) lands, and
this humiliation for John brought on the Magna Carta rebellion.
25/4/1214, Saint Louis, King of France, was born.
30/5/1213, Battle of Damme: King John’s
English fleet under William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury
destroyed a French fleet off the Belgian port of Bruges, in the first major
victory for the fledgling Royal Navy. This forced King Philip
II Augustus to
abandon plans for the invasion of England.
8/4/1213, The Assembly of Soissons.
1/4/1204, Eleanor
of Aquitaine, wife of King Henry II of England, died. She was buried
at Fonteraud. In June 1204 England lost Normandy and otyer laqnds in France
including Anjou, maine and parts of Poitou to the French King, Philip
Augustus.
27/5/1199, King John became King of England. He also became heir
to the Angevin lands in France.
9/6/1198, Otto of Brunswick was crowned King of Germany
and Holy Roman Emperor, Otto IV.
28/9/1197, The Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI died.
1196, By the Treaty of Louviers, King Richard I
of England, and the Angevin lands, regained some territories which
Philip II had seized whilst Philip II was away on crusades.
26/12/1194, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, was born at
Iesi, Italy.
10/6/1190. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa)
drowned in a river on his way to the Holy Land in the Third Crusade.
5/9/1187, Louis XIII, King of France, was born.
18/9/1180, Louis VII,
King of France, died.
1/11/1179, Louis VII, in
declining health, had his son crowned as King of the Franks, Phillip II.
In 1190 Phillip
II became the first monarch to style himself ‘King of France’.
29/7/1166, Henry II, Count of Champagne,
was born.
21/8/1165, Philip Augustus, King of France,
was born.
1158, The city of Munich was founded.
15/2/1152, Conrad III, Holy Roman Emperor,
died at Bamberg (see 7/3/1138). Born in 1093, he ruled from 1093.
21/4/1142, The French scholar Peter Abelard
was born at Chalon sur Saone.
7/3/1138, Conrad III (1093-1152) was again
chosen as Holy Roman Emperor (see 18/12/1127). He was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle
on 13/3/1138, but was still opposed by Henry the Proud, the powerful Duke of Bavaria
and Saxony. Henry
the Proud died in 10/1139, but Conrad still faced opposition from Henry’s
brother, Welf.
Peace was finally arranged at Frankfort in 5/1142, with Henry the Lion (son of Henry the Proud)
installed as Duke of Saxony, whilst Bavaria was given to Conrad’s stepbrother, Henry
Jasomirgott, Margrave of Austria, who married Gertrude, widow of Henry the Proud.
1/8/1137, Louis VI, King of France, died,
aged 56. He was succeeded by his 16-year old son, Louis
VII.
18/12/1127, Conrad III (1093-1152) was
chosen as Holy Roman Emperor, in opposition to Lothair. He hastily crossed the
Alps to be crowned King of Italy at Monza, 6/1128. Whilst being acknowledged as
King in northern Italy he was rejected as King by both rival Popes, Innocent II
and Anacletus
II. He failed to consolidate his holdings in Italy, and returned to
Germany in 1132, where he fought with Lothair until 10/1135. He then submitted to Lothair,
was pardoned, and recovered his estates, When Lothair died in 12/1137, Conrad III
was again chosen as Emperor on 7/3/1138.
28/9/1106. King Henry of England defeated his brother Robert at the Battle of Tinchebrai in France
and reunited England and Normandy,
divided since William the Conqueror died, see 5/8/1100 and 9/9/1087.
25/1/1077, German King
Henry IV, who was losing popular support because of his
excommunication by Pope Gregory VII, arrived at Canossa Castle,
northern Italy, to do penance in reconciliation. He knelt in the snow in a
monk’s hair shirt for three days before the Pope admitted him. “Going to
Canossa” became a saying for reluctant penance, especially in Germany.
4/8/1060, Henry I, King of France, died after a 29-year
reign, aged 52. He was succeeded by his 8-year-old son who ruled as King
Philip I until 1108.
5/10/1056, Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, died, aged 38. He was succeeded as
German King by his 5-year-old son, who reigned as Henry IV until 1106. His mother Agnes acted as Regent until 1065.
25/12/1046, The German King was crowned Holy Roman Emperor Henry III in Rome by Pope Clement II.
11/1/1043, Agnes
(1024-77), daughter of William V the Pious, Duke of Aquitaine and Agnes of
Aquitaine, married Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor. Henry
III died in 1056 and
Agnes
(daughter) served as Regent for her minor son, Henry IV. However when Henry IV
came of age, Agnes
refused to relinquish the throne. She was eventually deposed by the efforts of
two German bishops; she thereafter lived in Rome, as a staunch supporter of Pope Gregory
VII, until her death in 1977.
4/6/1039, Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II died in Utrecht, aged 49, having
ruled from 1024. He was succeeded as German King by his 21-year-old son, Henry.
1032, The Kingdom of Arles came back
under the control of the Holy Roman Empire, see 951.
20/7/1031, Robert II, (The Pious), King of France, died
aged 61 He was succeeded by his 23-year-old son Constance
of Aquitaine, who ruled as Henry I
until 1060.
26/3/1027,
Easter Sunday. Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II was crowned in Rome.
13/7/1024,
The Holy Roman Emperor Henry II died
aged 51 after a 10-year reign. He was succeeded as King of the Germans and Holy
Roman Emperor by his 34-year-old son, who ruled as Conrad II until 1039.
12/5/1003. Sylvester II, (Gerbert of Aurillac) the first French Pope, died. Elected in 999
with the backing of Otto III, he encouraged the Holy Roman
Emperor’s ambition to re-create the Roman Empire of the west.
23/1/1002, The Holy Roman Emperor, Otto III, died aged 21, whilst fighting Rome.
He was succeeded as King of the Franks and Bavarians by his 28-year-old cousin Henry, Duke of
Bavaria, who became Holy Roman Emperor in 1014.
17/12/999, Adelheid,
widow of King
Otto I of Germany, mother of King Otto II and grandmother of King Otto III,
born 931, died.
14/10/996, Hugh Capet, King of the Franks, died aged 58.
He was succeeded by his 26-year-old son who ruled as Robert II until 1031.
15/6/991, Empress Theophano, Byzantine-born widow of King Otto II of
Germany, died.
5/987, Louis V, King of the Franks
died, aged 20; allegedly poisoned by his mother, Emma. His death ended the Carolingian Dynasty, founded by Charlemagne
in 800. He was succeeded by 49-year-old Hugh Capet, starting the Capetian Dynasty that endured until 1328. The Archbishop of Reims
had declared the Frankish monarchy to be elective rather than hereditary, so as
to deny the throne to the late king’s uncle, Charles, and engineer the succession
of the Archbishop’s friend, Hugh. Hugh Capet ruled until 996.
2/3/986, Lothair, King of
the Franks, died, aged 44. He was succeeded by his 19-year-old son who ruled briefly
as Louis V (le Faineant).
7/12/983, The Holy Roman Emperor Otto
II died in his palace in Rome, aged 28. He was succeeded by his
3-year-old son.
7/5/973. Otto I, King of Germany, died. aged 60, after an 11-year
reign. He was succeeded by his 18-year-old son, Otto
II, who had been joint Emperor since Christmas 967, and who in
972 had married the Byzantine Princess
Theophano, daughter of Romanus II. Otto II ruled until 7/12/ 983.
965, Bremen was granted the right to hold a
market, to levy its own port dues and to mint money.
2/2/962, The Saxon Otto I was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII.
17/6/956, Hugh The Great died, 2
months after gaining mastery of Burgundy. He was succeeded by his 18-year-old
son, Hugh Capet, who was
reluctantly acknowledged as Duke of the Franks by his cousin, Lothair, King of the Franks.
10/8/955, At the Battle
of Lechfeld, near Augsburg, Otto I of the Holy Roman Empire heavily defeated the Magyars, stopping their westwards
invasion into Germany.
10/9/954, Louis IV, King of
France, died aged 33. He was succeeded by his 13-year-old son Lothair who reigned until 986.
951, The
Kingdoms of Upper and Lower Burgundy were reuniyed, to become the Kingdom of
Arles (Arelat). See 1032.
2/7/936, Henry the
Fowler, King of Germany, died aged 60 after a 17-year reign. He was
succeeded by his 23-year-old son, who was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962 and
ruled as Otto I until 973.
9/928, France’s King Louis III (The Blind) died at
Arles aged 48 after a 27-year reign, 23 years of which were sightless.
924, Berengar I, Holy Roman emperor from 915, also
King of Italy from 888, was killed by his own men.
15/6/923, Robert I, King of
France, was killed in battle.
29/9/922, In France, Charles
III (The Simple) was deposed by rebellious barons and replaced by King Odo who was crowned this day at Reims.
918, Conrad I, King of Germany from 911, died.
23/11/912, The Holy Roman Emperor, Otto
the Great, was born.
911, The Duchy of Normandy was founded, when
Charles III (The Simple), King of
the Franks, granted lands around Roeun to Rollo (Rolf), leader of the Vikings. In return Rollo converted to Christianity and took the name ‘Robert’.
8/11/911, Following the death of King
Louis III (The Child) at age 18, the son of Conrad, Count of
Lanhgau, was chosen as German King, at Forchheim.
12/889, Holy
Roman Emperor Arnulf died aged
49. He was succeeded as German King by his 8-year-old son, Louis, who ruled until 911 as Loius
III (The Child). He was the last of the Carloingian Kings.
13/1/888, With the
death of Charles the
Fat, the Frankish kingdom
was split again, and this time permanently. Odo, Count of
Paris became King of the Western Franks.
26/11/885, Paris was besieged and attacked by the Northmen but
they failed to take the city.
12/12/884, King Carloman of France died whilst out hunting and was
succeeded as King of the West Franks by Holy Roman Emperor Charles III (The Fat), son of the late Louis the
German.
5/8/882, Louis III, King of
France died,
aged 19. His brother Carloman succeeded him.
880, The Treaty of Ribemont transferred Middle France, also known as Lotharingia
(Lorraine, today) to East Francia (now, Germany).
10/4/879, King
Louis II (The Stammerer) of France died at Compeigne, aged 32, after a
reign of 18 months. He was succeeded jointly by his sons, Louis III and Carloman,
and divided the kingdom between them a few months later.
12/8/875, Holy Roman Emperor Louis II died in Brescia, aged 50.
8/8/870, The Treaty of Mersen was signed. Charles the Bald and his half-brother Louis the German divided the Kingdom of
their nephew Lothair II (died 869)
between them.
8/8/869, Lothair II, King of Lotharingia, died.
23/7/864, Edict of Pistres: Charles the Bald ordered defensive measures against the Vikings.
These four Treaties – Verdun, Prum, Mersen and Ribemont – effectively
created the modern States of France,
Germany and Italy out of the old Frankish Merovingian lands.
Click Here for map of France and
Germany – Transition from Merovingian lands to France, Germany.
29/9/855, Treaty of Prum. Holy Roman Emperor Lothair abdicated in Prum aged
60. He divided his kingdom between his three sons. 33-year-old Louis II
received Italy, which he had already governed since 844, and now ruled until
875. His brother Lothair II received
Austrasia, which he renamed Lotharingia, later, Lorraine A third son received Provence
and southern Burgundy.
22/8/851, Battle of Jengland. Erispoe, king of Brittany and son of Nominoe, defeated the Frank King Charles the Bald in
Jengland-Besle near Grand Forgery in
Brittany. This is considered as the
birth of the Breton state.
1/11/846, Louis II, King of France, was born.
28/3/845, Siege of
Paris ended when Paris was sacked by a Viking raiding fleet, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collected a huge
ransom in exchange for leaving. The Vikings also sacked Hamburg and Melun.
10/8/843, The Treaty of
Verdun divided the Holy Roman Empire into three equal
shares The imperial crown and central portion from Frisia to Italy went to Lothair. Louis
the German received Germany, and
Charles the Bald, son of Pepin, received France.
25/6/841, The Battle of Fontenoy (Carolingian Civil War).
5/5/840, One
of the sons of Charlemagne, Emperor Louis of Bavaria, died of fright during a solar eclipse. His other sons quarrelled, causing the division
of his empire into France, Germany, and Italy, see 843.
834, Louis I restored to the Frankish throne.
825, The Castle of Mammaburg was
constructed, between the Alster and Elbe Rivers. This was the start of the City
of Hamburg.
28/1/814, Charlemagne died of pleurisy, aged 71.
25/12/800, Charlemagne
was crowned first Holy
Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III.
782, Charlemagne conquered
West Saxony.
779, Failed Carolingian invasion
of Spain; siege of Saragosa.
15/8/778. Roland, (Count
Hruodland) a loyal ally of King Charles of the
Franks, or Charlemagne, was
killed in the Pyrenees in an ambush by the Basques. The Basques were never conquered even by the Romans. Roland was returning to France after a
successful campaign against the Arabs in Spain.
774, Charlemagne defeated Lombardy,
adding it to his Empire.
772, Charlemagne began the
conquest of East Francia (modern-day Germany).
4/12/771, Carloman I, King of the Franks, died, leaving
his brother Charlemagne sole king
of the now complete Frankish kingdom.
24/9/768, Pepin III, King of
the Franks, died.
759, Pepin III expelled the Arabs from Languedoc,
extending Frankish rule to the Pyrenees.
751, Pepin III was elected King of the Franks;
her was crowned in 754..
2/4/742, Charlemagne was born.
22/10/741. Death of Charles Martel (see 25/10/732) at his country
palace at Quierzy, aged 53. He divided his realm between his older son,
Carloman, and his younger son, Pepin (Pippin). Carlonan received the eastern
lands (now Germany) whilst Pepin received the west (France).
735, Charles Martel conquered Burgundy.
25/10/732. The Frankish General, Charles Martel, won a
major victory over the Arabs at Poitiers. In 718 an Arab siege of
Constantinople had been defeated. The Arabs had crossed the Pyrenees,
sacked Bordeaux and Poitiers, and were advancing on the wealthy monastery of St
Martin at Tours. Eudo, Duke of
Aquitaine, appealed to Charles who brought the Frankish army south to
help. The Arabs, their leader killed, retreated south, probably to put
down a Berber uprising in north Africa.
720, The Arabs
invading Spain
crossed the Pyrenees into France, and took Narbonne.
16/12/714, Pepin II, ruler of
the Franks, died.
639, Dagobert I, last Frankish King of the Merovingian Dynasty died (born 605,
ruled from 629).
629, Death of Chlothar II (born 584, ruled from 613).
15/10/614. Chlothar
II, now sole ruler of
the reunited Franks after the execution of Queen
Brunhild, issued the Edict of Paris, in an attempt to stamp out
corruption in his dominions.
29/11/561, King Chlothar I ("the Old"), son of Clovis I, died at Compeigne at age 64 (reigned from 558). The Merovingian Dynasty was continued by his four sons —Charibert I, Guntram, Sigbert I, and Chilperic I. Chlothar
I had reunited the realms of his father
Clovis but upon Chlothar’s death his lands were again divided amongst his four
sons. Charibert ruled the Paris region, Guntram received Burgundy, Sigbert
ruled Metz, and Chilperic ruled north of Soissons.
558, Chlothar I, son of Clovis, reunited the Kingdom of the Franks – see 27/11/511 and 29/11/561.
555, The
Kingdom of Bavaria was founded, as a
Germanic tribe known as the Bavuyars invaded and settled the region.
536, Provence,
formerly part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, came under the rule of the Franks.
534, The
Frankish Kings Chlothar I and Childebert I overthrew Godomar, King of
the Burgundians, taking over his
lands.
532, Battle of Autun. The Burgundians were
defeated by the Franks, leading to the Frankish
conquest of Burgundy.
27/11/511. Clovis, King of the Franks, son of Childeric I, Merovingian Dynasty, died aged 45 in Paris. His kingdom was divided up amongst his four sons, Theuderic in Reims, Chlodomer in Orleans, Childebert in Paris, and Clothar in Soissons.
Clovis had been a
pagan, one of the Franks, who unlike the other Germanic tribes, had not
converted to Christianity. But he had married a Burgundian princess, Clotilda, who was Christian. She sought to convert her husband. During the
Battle of Tolbiac (Zulpich, Germany), against the Alemanni, Clovis promised to convert if his wife’s
God would grant him victory. Although Clovis’ troops were on the
verge of defeat, the Alemanni King was killed and his army surrendered. Clovis was then baptised by ‘Saint’ Remigius in Reims Cathedral, perhaps on
25/12/496. Clovis failed to take
the Burgundian Kingdom to the south-east. However he did defeat the
Visigoths in southwest Gaul, in 507. In recognition of this victory, Clovis was granted an honorary consulship
by the eastern Roman Emperor, Anastasius. This gave Clovis a status above other western
kings, and legitimised his rulership among his Gallic-Roman citizens. When he
died in 511, Clovis was sole ruler of three quarters
of Gaul.
508, Clovis established Paris (Lutetia) as capital of the Frankish lands.
507, The
Franks defeated the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouille. The Franks conquered
Acquitaine and drove the remaining Visigoths into Spain.
498, Clovis was baptised a Christian.
495, Clovis conquered the Alemmanni Kingdom,
which at that time comprised modern day Alsace and parts of modern day
Switzerland. Their territory now formed part of the Frankish Kingdom.
486, Clovis of the Franks defeated Syagrius, the last Roman ruler in northern Gaul,
at the Battle of Soissons.
482, Accession of Clovis I on the death of Childeric I.
473, Gundobad became King of the Burgundians.
460, Cologne captured by the Franks.
457, Death of Merwig (Merovech), King of the Franks, 448-457. He
gave his name to the Merovingian Dynasty, whose fortunes were
established by his grandson, Clovis.
443, The Burgundians settled in the Rhone Valley
as Foederati (a people without Roman
citizenship but allied to Rome).
437, Death of Gunnar (Gunther, Gundicarus), born ca.
385, first recorded King of the
Burgundians. He was an ally of the Romans but was killed when his army was
heavily defeated by the Huns.
410, The
Franks settled in parts of Gaul (see also Roman Empire).
357, King Chomodomarius of the Alemmanni was taken
prisoner by Julian (later,
Roman Emperor), after the tribe was defeated at Strasbourg.
280, First
recorded mention of the Germanic Thuringii
Tribe.
272, The first
Bishop
of Paris, Saint Denis, was
beheaded along with two of his disciples on a hill near Paris, subsequently
called MontMartre, Martyrs Hill.
213, The
German tribe Alemanni were first
mentioned by the Roman historian Dio
Cassius. They lived along the River Main in modern-day Germany.
50, The city of Cologne was founded by the Romans as Colonia Agrippina, on the site
of Oppidum Ubiorum, capital of the Ubii tribe. Roman Emperoro Claudius fortified the settlement, where his
niece and bride Agrippina was born
in 15.
100 BCE, A
powerful Celtic state emerged in Gaul.
600 BCE, The old
port of Marseilles was founded by Greek
colonists as the port of Lacydon.
700 BCE, The Celts moved into France from eastern
Europe.