A Timeline of the Revolution

Joseph François Foullon, a royal financial administrator who briefly served as controller-general of finances and was killed during the Paris unrest of July 1789, was born in Saumur on 25 June 1715.

Giovanni Angelo Braschi, the pope whose conflict with revolutionary France ended in captivity and exile, was born in Cesena on 25 December 1717.

Pierre Victor, baron de Besenval de Brünstatt, the Swiss Guards officer who commanded the troops around Paris at the opening of the Revolution, was born in Solothurn on 14 October 1721, the son of Jean-Victor-Pierre II de Besenval, a Swiss Guards colonel and diplomat, and Katarzyna Bielińska.

Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes was born in Paris on 6 December 1721, the son of Guillaume de Lamoignon de Blancmesnil and Anne Elisabeth Roujault. A former royal censor and reforming minister, he later defended Louis XVI before the National Convention.

Charles Aimé de Royrand, a veteran officer who became the oldest senior commander among the royalist insurgents in the Vendée, was born in Saint-Fulgent on 14 March 1726.

Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel was born in Thann on 1 September 1727, the son of an advocate before the Sovereign Council of Alsace; his uncle was the bishop of Basel. During the Revolution he became the state-recognised archbishop of Paris and publicly renounced the priesthood amid a wider campaign against organised Christianity.

Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne, an archbishop who served as Louis XVI's principal minister during the monarchy's financial and political crisis of 1787–88, was born in Paris on 9 October 1727.

Edmund Burke, the Anglo-Irish parliamentarian whose Reflections on the Revolution in France became a major contemporary critique of the Revolution, was born in Dublin on 12 January 1729.

Louis Henri François de Marcé, a French revolutionary general who led an early government column against the royalist uprising in the Vendée in 1793, was born in Chinon on 12 June 1731.

François de Lyrot de La Patouillère, a commander of the royalist insurgency in western France who organised forces south of the Loire, was born in Nantes on 26 August 1732.

Jacques Necker, Louis XVI's finance minister, whose dismissal in July 1789 helped ignite the Paris insurrection, was born in Geneva on 30 September 1732, the son of Karl Friedrich Necker and Jeanne Marie Gautier.

Charles Alexandre de Calonne was born in Douai on 20 January 1734, the son of Louis de Calonne. As Louis XVI's chief financial minister, he proposed a programme of fiscal reform that was presented in 1787 to an Assembly of Notables, a council of prominent men selected by the king.

Jean-Marie Roland de La Platière, an inspector of manufactures who became interior minister and was associated with the loose group of deputies known as the Girondins, was born in Thizy on 18 February 1734. His ministry helped circulate political writings in support of the new republic.

Étienne Clavière, the Genevan financier who served twice as the Revolution's minister of finance, was born in Geneva on 27 January 1735.

François Christophe de Kellermann, a veteran general whose forces helped halt the Prussian-led invasion of France at the Battle of Valmy in 1792, was born in Strasbourg on 28 May 1735. He came from an Alsatian family of Saxon lesser nobility.

Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, the Prussian field marshal who commanded the Prussian and Austrian invasion of France in 1792, was born in Wolfenbüttel on 9 October 1735, the son of Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia.

Alexis Chalbos, a veteran general repeatedly sent against royalist insurgent forces in the Vendée in 1793, was born in Cubières in the Gévaudan on 6 March 1736. He was the son of Joseph Chalbos and Magdeleine de Mazel de Fayet, both of whom died while he was young.

Marc-Guillaume-Alexis Vadier, a former magistrate who became a leading member of the Committee of General Security, the National Convention's principal policing body, was born in Pamiers on 17 July 1736. He supported proceedings against Danton's associates and later opposed Robespierre.

Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé, the prince of the blood who led an army of French royalist exiles against revolutionary France, was born in Paris on 9 August 1736, the son of Louis-Henri de Bourbon and Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg.

Jeanne-Michelle-Ambroise Talour de La Cartrie de Sapinaud de Boishuguet, a royalist memoirist whose account describes civilian experiences during the civil war in the Vendée, was born in Angers on 17 August 1736. She was one of fourteen children of Guy-Barthélemy Talour de La Cartrie and Jeanne Ollivier.

Jean-Sylvain Bailly, an astronomer who became the first president of the National Assembly formed by deputies in 1789 and the first mayor of Paris, was born in Paris on 15 September 1736, the son of Jacques II Bailly and Cécile Guichon.

Guy Joseph de Donnissan, a veteran royal officer who administered territory held by royalist insurgents during the civil war in the Vendée, was born in Bordeaux on 7 February 1737. He was the father of Victoire de Donnissan, the future Marquise de La Rochejaquelein and author of one of the best-known memoirs of the Vendée wars.

Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense, Rights of Man and The Age of Reason, was born in Thetford on 9 February 1737.

Louis Bénigne François Bertier de Sauvigny, the intendant of Paris whose murder with his father-in-law Foulon became an early act of revolutionary violence, was born in Paris on 23 March 1737, the son of Louis Jean Bertier de Sauvigny.

Louis Antoine Vimeux, a career soldier who commanded French republican forces in the defence of Nantes and against the royalist uprising in the Vendée, was born in Amiens on 13 August 1737.

Jean-Baptiste Joly, an estate steward who became a commander of the insurgents in Lower Poitou during the War in the Vendée, was born in Le Cateau-Cambrésis on 18 January 1738.

Jacques Coquille, dit Dugommier, the Guadeloupe planter and colonial officer, later the Republican general who captured Fort Saint-Elme, was born on the family plantation at Trois-Rivières, Guadeloupe on 1 August 1738, the son of Germain Coquille, a planter and royal councillor in Guadeloupe, and Claire Laurent.

Jacques-Nicolas Fleuriot de La Freulière, a former royal cavalry officer who succeeded François de Charette as commander of the remaining insurgents in the Vendée, was born in Ancenis on 30 October 1738.

Louis Sapinaud de La Verrie, a court officer later chosen to command the insurgents in the central Vendée, was born at the Château de Bois-Huguet in Saint-Hilaire-de-Mortagne on 6 November 1738.

Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez, a French general who helped defeat invading forces at Valmy and Jemappes in 1792, was born in Cambrai on 26 January 1739.

François Claude Amour, marquis de Bouillé, the royal general who helped organise Louis XVI's failed attempt in 1791 to escape Paris and reach the loyal garrison at Montmédy, was born at the Château du Cluzel on 19 November 1739, the son of Guillaume Antoine de Bouillé and Marie Albertine Josèphe Amour de Clavières de Saint-Agrève.

Adam-Philippe, comte de Custine, the general whose victories on the Rhine were followed by defeat and recall, was born in Metz on 4 February 1740, the son of Philippe François Joseph Albert Eugène de Custine, Comte de Custine and Anne-Marguerite Maguin, Comtesse de Roussy.

Pierre Victor Malouet, a colonial administrator and conservative deputy, was born in Riom on 11 February 1740. In the assembly that drafted France's first written constitution, he led the monarchiens, deputies who favoured a strong constitutional monarchy.

Jean-Baptiste Camille de Canclaux, a French republican general whose defence of Nantes halted an advance by insurgents from the Vendée in June 1793, was born in Paris on 2 August 1740.

Jean-François Berruyer, a general recalled after commanding an early republican campaign against the uprising in the Vendée in 1793, was born in Lyon on 25 October 1741, the son of Louis Berruyer and Anne Bréchet.

Jean-Baptiste Treilhard, a lawyer who presided over the National Convention during Louis XVI's trial and later joined the five-member executive known as the Directory, was born in Brive-la-Gaillarde on 3 January 1742.

Toussaint Louverture, the formerly enslaved commander, governor-general of Saint-Domingue and leading figure of its revolution, was born on the Bréda plantation at Haut-du-Cap, Saint-Domingue around 1743, the son of Hippolyte, an enslaved Allada man, and Pauline, an enslaved Aja woman.

Jean-Paul Marat, a physician and journalist who used his newspaper L'Ami du Peuple to advocate popular political participation and denounce alleged enemies of the Revolution, was born in Boudry on 24 May 1743.

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, the chemist who transformed the study of combustion and helped create the modern language of chemistry, was born in Paris on 26 August 1743, the son of Jean-Antoine Lavoisier and Emilie Punctis.

Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet, the mathematician and philosopher who championed public education, abolition and equal political rights for women, was born in Ribemont on 17 September 1743. He belonged to a provincial noble family but was orphaned when he was young and educated by a clerical uncle.

Jean-Baptiste de Couëtus, who served as François de Charette's deputy and chief of staff among the Vendéan insurgents of Lower Poitou, was born in Nantes on 20 October 1743.

Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne, a Protestant pastor and deputy who argued for religious equality during the debates that produced the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, was born in Nîmes on 14 November 1743. He was the son of the Protestant pastor Paul Rabaut and Madeleine Gaidan.

Claude Fauchet, a former royal preacher who became a constitutional bishop and a deputy associated with the Girondins, was born in Dornes on 22 September 1744.

Frederick William II, who ruled Prussia when it allied with Austria and went to war against revolutionary France in 1792, was born in Berlin on 25 September 1744, the son of Prince Augustus William of Prussia and Duchess Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Rosalie Jullien, the republican observer whose extensive letters recorded political life in revolutionary Paris, was born in Pontoise on 9 September 1745.

Jean-Jacques Duval d'Éprémesnil, a magistrate in the Parlement of Paris, a high court rather than a representative legislature, was born in Pondicherry on 5 December 1745. His opposition to royal reforms made him a prominent critic of the monarchy's ministers before 1789.

Louis-Jérôme Gohier, a deputy and justice minister who became the last president of the Directory, France's five-member executive government from 1795 to 1799, was born in Semblançay on 27 February 1746.

Jacques-Guillaume Thouret, a Norman lawyer and influential contributor to the administrative and judicial reforms adopted by the National Constituent Assembly, which drafted France's first written constitution, was born in Pont-l'Évêque on 30 April 1746.

Jean-Baptiste-Robert Lindet, a member of the Committee of Public Safety, the Convention's central wartime executive body, who organised wartime provisioning, was born in Bernay on 2 May 1746, the son of a timber merchant at Bernay.

Jean-Nicolas Pache, a war minister and mayor of Paris associated with the city's radical revolutionary government and with supporters of the journalist Jacques Hébert, was born in Verdun on 5 May 1746.

Gaspard Monge, the mathematician who created descriptive geometry and helped found the École polytechnique, was born in Beaune on 9 May 1746, the son of Jacques Monge, a Savoyard merchant and craftsman, and Jeanne Rousseaux, from Burgundy.

Antoine-Quentin Fouquier de Tinville, who served as public prosecutor before the Revolutionary Tribunal, the court that tried political cases in Paris during the period usually known as the Terror, was born in Foreste on 10 June 1746.

Jean-Siffrein Maury, a prominent preacher and deputy who defended the authority of the Catholic clergy and the monarchy in the National Constituent Assembly, was born in Valréas on 26 June 1746.

Augustin Tuncq, a French republican general whose victory at Luçon halted an advance by insurgents from the Vendée in August 1793, was born in Conteville on 27 August 1746.

Armand Louis de Gontaut, duc de Biron and formerly duc de Lauzun, was born in Paris on 13 April 1747. After serving in the American War of Independence, he became a general of revolutionary France and commanded the Army of the Rhine.

Louis-Philippe-Joseph d’Orléans, duc d’Orléans, a wealthy prince who adopted the name Philippe Égalité and served as a deputy during the Revolution, was born in Paris on 13 April 1747. In January 1793 he voted for the execution of his cousin Louis XVI.

Leopold II, the reforming Grand Duke of Tuscany, Holy Roman Emperor and brother of Marie Antoinette, was born in Vienna on 5 May 1747, the son of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa of Austria.

Roger Ducos, a deputy in the National Convention who later joined the five-member Directory, was born in Dax on 25 July 1747. After the coup of 9 November 1799, known in the revolutionary calendar as 18 Brumaire, he briefly served as one of the three provisional consuls.

Jean-François Reubell, an Alsatian lawyer who served in the Directory, France's five-member executive government from 1795 to 1799, was born in Colmar on 6 October 1747.

Edmond-Louis-Alexis Dubois-Crancé, a deputy in the National Convention who helped introduce the reorganisation that combined volunteer battalions with regular army units, was born in Charleville-Mézières on 14 October 1747.

Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, a clergyman and political writer whose 1789 pamphlet What Is the Third Estate? argued that the common people constituted the nation, was born in Fréjus on 3 May 1748. He later helped plan the coup of 9 November 1799, known as 18 Brumaire, which brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power.

Marie Gouze, known as Olympe de Gouges, the playwright and political writer who demanded equal citizenship for women and opposed slavery, was born in Montauban on 7 May 1748. Her baptismal record names Pierre Gouze, a butcher, and Anne-Olympe Mouisset as her parents; contemporaries also attributed her paternity to Jean-Jacques Lefranc de Pompignan, but this remains unproved.

Louis-Antoine-Léon de Saint-Just, the youngest Convention deputy and member of the Committee of Public Safety, was born in Decize on 25 August 1767, the son of Louis-Jean de Saint-Just de Richebourg, a retired cavalry officer, and Marie-Anne Robinot.

A military commission condemned Vendéan commander François Athanase de Charette and he was shot at Nantes. His death marked the collapse of the principal organised Vendéan commands, although western resistance did not disappear altogether.