Revolution & Napoleon (1789–1815)

The 14th of July 1789 is the day that changed the world. The Storming of the Bastille — a relatively insignificant prison with only seven inmates — became a symbol of the people's uprising against tyranny. What followed was nothing less than the invention of modern politics.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen on August 26, 1789, proclaimed ideas that still hold today: liberty, equality, popular sovereignty, separation of powers. "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" — liberty, equality, fraternity — became the motto of the Republic and still stands above the portal of every town hall in France.

The Revolution devoured its children: The Reign of Terror (La Terreur) under Robespierre (1793–1794) sent thousands to the guillotine — including King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. The revolutionary tribunal worked in shifts; alone in Paris, over 2,600 people were executed. In the end, Robespierre himself ended up on the scaffold.

Napoleon Bonaparte

From the chaos arose a Corsican artillery officer: Napoleon Bonaparte. Through a coup, he came to power in 1799, crowned himself emperor in 1804, and in breathtaking campaigns, he subdued large parts of Europe. His military victories — Austerlitz (1805), Jena (1806), Wagram (1809) — are considered tactical masterpieces.

However, Napoleon's lasting legacy is of a civil nature: The Code Napoléon (Code Civil) of 1804 fundamentally modernized the legal system and still influences jurisprudence in over 70 countries worldwide. He created a unified system of measures (the metric system), reformed administration, and founded the educational system of the Grandes Écoles, which still shapes France today.

Napoleon's hubris led to his downfall: The disastrous Russian campaign of 1812, where only 100,000 of 600,000 soldiers returned, broke his power. After the defeat at Waterloo (1815), he was exiled to the Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he died in 1821. His tomb in the Invalides in Paris remains a pilgrimage site to this day.