Absolute Monarchy

The rise of absolute monarchies dates back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when several monarchs in western and eastern Europe increased the power of their central governments. In doing so, these kings, emperors, or sultans secured their position as the supreme ruler and possessor of all power. They surrounded themselves with followers and advisors who were strong advocates of royal absolutism. For those that opposed their behavior and seizure of power they replied that they had been granted the divine right of kings.

In several countries an absolute monarchy appeared to be the only viable solution to dealing with the problems that plagued it.France, for example, had been torn apart from religious wars, the citizens had no respect for law and order, the feudal nobility had seized control and the finances of the central government were in chaos. Furthermore, French prestige was at an all time low and when Henry of Navarre became king he was determined to change all of this. Once in power he restored the authority of the central government, curtailed the power of the nobility, launched a comprehensive program of economic reconstruction and dealt with the religious turmoil that had been tearing the country apart. His goal was to strengthen France and then have it become the supreme power in Europe. Unfortunately, he was never able to fulfill these dreams because he was assassinated as he was preparing for war. His vision for the future, however, was not entirely lost.

After the death of Henry IV, his wife and son, Louis XIII, became the new rulers of France. Although they proved to be very incapable leaders a prominent figure did emerge during their reign, Cardinal Richelieu. Similar to Henry IV, he sought "to make the royal power supreme in France and France supreme in Europe"(Sullivan 422). He followed this policy strictly and crushed any perceived threats to royal absolutism. However, it was not until the rule of Louis XIV that the French monarchy was able to secure formidable power. It was also during this time that the idea of divine right monarchy emerged. It was argued that the royal monarch was not only inspired by God, but also the image of God and was therefore only accountable to God. This idea soon spread throughout Europe and remained dominant during the late seventeenth and much of the eighteenth centuries.

Although quite different from western Europe, this same pattern became evident in eastern Europe. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most of the countries in eastern Europe were economically less developed than their western counterparts, the landed aristocracy was the dominant power, serfdom was more harsh than ever, and most areas lacked the strong central governments that were prevalent thorughout much of western Europe by this time. All of this made the idea of an absolute monarchy even more favorable, especially in countries such as Prussia, Austria, and Russia. These countries strengthened their standing armies, gained new territories, improved commerce, dealt accordingly with religious problems, and made important compromises with the nobility and aristocracy. This was all made possible after the development of a strong national government and powerful monarchy in each of these countries.

Mongol Empire
biggest land empire in history

1279 - 1368

Mongol Empire was the biggest land empire in history. Its territory extended from the Yellow Sea in eastern Asia to the borders of eastern Europe. At various times it included China, Korea, Mongolia, Persia (now Iran), Turkestan, and Armenia. It also included parts of Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, and Russia.

The Mongols, who eventually became known as the Tatars, were the most savage conquerors of history. But this vast empire helped increase contacts between peoples of different cultures. Migrations fostered these contacts and promoted trade. Roads were built to connect Russia and Persia with eastern Asia. Many Europeans came to China, and Chinese went to Russia and other parts of Europe. Printing and other Chinese inventions such as paper, gunpowder, and the compass may have been introduced to the West during Mongol times.

The Mongols originally consisted of loosely organized nomadic tribes in Mongolia, Manchuria, and Siberia. They lived in felt tents called yurts, and raised ponies, sheep, camels, oxen, and goats. They ate mainly meat and milk. Every Mongol man was a soldier and learned to ride and use a bow and arrow skillfully.

Early empire

Genghis Khan. In the late 1100's, Temujin, a Mongol chieftain who later became known as Genghis Khan, rose to power as khan. He began to unify and organize the scattered Mongol and other nomadic tribes into a superior fighting force. Genghis Khan was shrewd, ruthless, ambitious, and a strict disciplinarian. After he became the undisputed master of Mongolia, and "lord of all the peoples dwelling in felt tents," he set out on a spectacular career of conquest.

Genghis Khan aimed to train the best-disciplined and most effective army of his time. As part of his military strategy, he formed an officer corps from Mongols who were trained in military tactics. These men were then stationed with various tribes as a training force. The Mongol tribes specialized in the art of siege. They used storming ladders and sandbags to fill in moats. Besiegers approached fortress walls under the protection of gigantic shields. Each tribe prepared a siege train, which consisted of special arms and equipment.

Invasions. Genghis Khan wanted to conquer China. He attacked first Xi Xia, a state along the northwestern border of China. Xi Xia represented the Chinese military pattern, with Chinese-trained armies and Chinese-built fortresses. In this campaign, Genghis Khan could evaluate his armies and train them for war against China.

The Mongols subdued Xi Xia, and then turned to North China. There the Ruzhen tribe of the Manchu people had established the Jin dynasty. Genghis Khan chose spring for his assault on China, so that his horses would have food when crossing the Gobi Desert. Warriors carried everything they needed on the march, and each rider had a spare horse. The hordes drove herds of cattle for food in the desert. The Mongol conquest of North China took several decades. It was not completed until 1234, after Genghis Khan's death.

In 1218, Genghis Khan broke off his attack on China and turned west toward central Asia and eastern Europe. His armies charged into the steppes of Russia and the Muslim lands, including Persia. They came within reach of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and destroyed much of Islamic-Arabic civilization.

All along their routes, the Mongol armies ruthlessly eliminated any resistance. They spread terror and destruction everywhere. When conquered territories resisted, the Mongols slaughtered the population of entire cities.

Genghis Khan died in 1227. The Mongols pushed into Europe under Ogotai, a son of Genghis Khan. In 1241, about 150,000 Mongol riders laid waste a large part of Hungary and Poland, threatening the civilization of western Europe. Ogotai died in the midst of this campaign. His death forced the Mongol generals to break off the campaign and return to Mongolia to elect a new khan.

Later empire

Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, completed the conquest of China in 1279, after attacking the Song dynasty in South China. Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty lasted until 1368. He established the Mongol winter capital at Cambaluc (also spelled Khanbalikh), the site of present-day Beijing. Further attempts to extend the Mongol Empire to Japan were unsuccessful. Mongol warriors fought unsuccessfully at sea and in the tropical climate of Southeast Asia.

The Mongols under Kublai Khan had a reputation for greater tolerance than that shown under earlier Mongol rulers. Kublai permitted the existence of various religions. He enlisted the services of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and Taoists. He supported Confucianism and Chinese political ideas, though he avoided having too many Chinese in high offices. In Persia and other Islamic lands, many Mongols adopted Muslim customs and the Muslim faith.

European contacts. Marco Polo was one of the most famous Europeans to travel to the Orient at this time. His travel records contain much interesting information about the Mongols. His reports of beautiful Chinese cities and the riches of the country he called Cathay did much to arouse the interest of Europeans in exploring the possibilities of trade with the Orient. Many Europeans, including Christopher Columbus, then sought to go to the Orient by the sea route.

The Khan expressed a desire to have more missionaries sent to China. Dominican and Franciscan missionaries were welcomed by the Khan in Cambaluc. A Franciscan, John of Montecorvino, built a church in the capital and converted many people to Christianity.

Decline. The Mongol Empire did not last long, because it was too big and had no unity of culture. Actually, it began to disintegrate shortly after it reached its peak of expansion in the late 1200's. The Mongols were dauntless fighters, but had little experience in administration. They relied upon other peoples to look after their affairs. They brought foreigners into China to avoid total reliance on the Chinese. The Mongols temporarily suspended the Chinese civil service system to allow these other peoples to assume positions.

Corrupt government and incompetent administration resulted in revolts in different parts of the empire. Even before the fall of the Yuan dynasty in China, the Mongols had lost control of many of their conquered lands. In some areas, they had never succeeded in firmly establishing their rule after their military conquests. Even at the peak of his power, Kublai Khan's authority did not extend to such distant places as Persia and Russia. The Mongols also lacked a firm hold in Southeast Asia.

Breakup. When Kublai Khan died, his empire broke up into several parts. These smaller empires were the Golden Horde on the steppes of southern Russia and the Balkans, the Mongolian-Chinese Yuan Empire, and the realm of the Ilkhans in western Asia. A revolution in China in the 1300's ended the Yuan dynasty and restored Chinese rule in the form of the Ming dynasty.

The great Timur, or Tamerlane, a descendant of Genghis Khan, joined some of the Mongol empires together again and extended his rule over much of Asia in the late 1300's. A descendant of Tamerlane named Babar established a powerful Mongol state in India in 1526. Babar's realm was called the Kingdom of the Great Moguls. The term Mogul comes from the Persian word mughul, meaning a Mongol. A Mogul emperor, Shah Jahan, built the beautiful Taj Mahal in the early 1600's. The British destroyed the Mogul kingdom after it had begun to break up in the 1700's.

Additional resources

The Mongol Conquests: Time Frame AD 1200-1300. Time-Life Bks., 1989.

Morgan, David. The Mongols. Basil Blackwell, 1986.

Nicolle, David. The Mongol Warlords. Firebird Bks., 1990.

SOURCE: IBM 1999 WORLD BOOK

In 1237, Batu, a grandson of the conqueror Genghis Khan, led between 150,000 and 200,000 Mongol troops into Russia. The Mongols destroyed one Russian town after another. In 1240, they destroyed Kiev, and Russia became part of the Mongol Empire. It was included in a section called the Golden Horde. The capital of the Golden Horde was at Sarai, near what is now Volgograd.

Batu forced the surviving Russian princes to pledge allegiance to the Golden Horde and to pay heavy taxes. From time to time, the Mongols left their capital and wiped out the people of various areas because of their disloyalty. The Mongols also appointed the Russian grand prince and forced many Russians to serve in their armies. But they interfered little with Russian life in general. The Mongols were chiefly interested in maintaining their power and collecting taxes.

During the period of Mongol rule, which ended in the late 1400's, the new ideas and reforming spirit of the Renaissance were dramatically changing many aspects of life in Western Europe. But under Mongol control, Russia was to a great extent cut off from these important Western influences.

History

Origins

The Ottoman state began as one of many small Turkish states that emerged in Asia Minor during the breakdown of the empire of the Seljuk Turks. The Ottoman Turks began to absorb the other states, and during the reign (1451–81) of Muhammad II they ended all other local Turkish dynasties. The early phase of Ottoman expansion took place under Osman I, Orkhan, Murad I, and Beyazid I at the expense of the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria, and Serbia. Bursa fell in 1326 and Adrianople (the modern Edirne) in 1361; each in turn became the capital of the empire. The great Ottoman victories of Kosovo Field (1389) and Nikopol (1396) placed large parts of the Balkan Peninsula under Ottoman rule and awakened Europe to the Ottoman danger. The Ottoman siege of Constantinople was lifted at the appearance of Timur, who defeated and captured Beyazid in 1402. The Ottomans, however, soon rallied.

The Period of Great Expansion

The empire, reunited by Muhammad I, expanded victoriously under Muhammad's successors Murad II and Muhammad II. The victory (1444) at Varna over a crusading army led by Ladislaus III of Poland was followed in 1453 by the capture of Constantinople. Within a century the Ottomans had changed from a nomadic horde to the heirs of the most ancient surviving empire of Europe. Their success was due partly to the weakness and disunity of their adversaries, partly to their excellent and far superior military organization. Their army comprised numerous Christians—not only conscripts, who were organized as the corps of Janissaries, but also volunteers. Turkish expansion reached its peak in the 16th cent. under Selim I and Sulayman I (Sulayman the Magnificent).

The Hungarian defeat (1526) at Mohács prepared the way for the capture (1541) of Buda and the absorption of the major part of Hungary by the Ottoman Empire; Transylvania became a tributary principality, as did Walachia and Moldavia. The Asian borders of the empire were pushed deep into Persia and Arabia. Selim I defeated the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, took Cairo in 1517, and assumed the succession to the caliphate. Algiers was taken in 1518, and Mediterranean commerce was threatened by corsairs, such as Barbarossa, who sailed under Turkish auspices. Most of the Venetian and other Latin possessions in Greece also fell to the sultans.

During the reign of Sulayman I began (1535) the traditional friendship between France and Turkey, directed against Hapsburg Austria and Spain. Sulayman reorganized the Turkish judicial system, and his reign saw the flowering of Turkish literature, art, and architecture. In practice the prerogatives of the sultan were limited by the spirit of Muslim canonical law (sharia), and he usually shared his authority with the chief preserver (sheyhülislam) of the sharia and with the grand vizier (chief executive officer).

In the progressive decay that followed Sulayman's death, the clergy (ulema) and the Janissaries gained power and exercised a profound, corrupting influence. The first serious blow by Europe to the empire was the naval defeat of Lepanto (1571; see Lepanto, battle of), inflicted on the fleet of Selim II by the Spanish and Venetians under John of Austria. However, Murad IV in the 17th cent. temporarily restored Turkish military prestige by his victory (1638) over Persia. Crete was conquered from Venice, and in 1683 a huge Turkish army under Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa surrounded Vienna. The relief of Vienna by John III of Poland and the subsequent campaigns of Charles V of Lorraine, Louis of Baden, and Eugene of Savoy ended in negotiations in 1699 (see Karlowitz, Treaty of), which cost Turkey Hungary and other territories.

Decline

The breakup of the state gained impetus with the Russo-Turkish Wars in the 18th cent. Egypt was only temporarily lost to Napoleon's army, but the Greek War of Independence and its sequels, the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29 (see Adrianople, Treaty of), and the war with Muhammad Ali of Egypt resulted in the loss of Greece and Egypt, the protectorate of Russia over Moldavia and Walachia, and the semi-independence of Serbia. Drastic reforms were introduced in the late 18th and early 19th cent. by Selim III and Mahmud II, but they came too late. By the 19th cent. Turkey was known as the Sick Man of Europe.

Through a series of treaties of capitulation from the 16th to the 18th cent. the Ottoman Empire gradually lost its economic independence. Although Turkey was theoretically among the victors in the Crimean War, it emerged from the war economically exhausted. The Congress of Paris (1856) recognized the independence and integrity of the Ottoman Empire, but this event marked the confirmation of the empire's dependency rather than of its rights as a European power.

The rebellion (1875) of Bosnia and Herzegovina precipitated the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, in which Turkey was defeated despite its surprisingly vigorous stand. Romania (i.e., Walachia and Moldavia), Serbia, and Montenegro were declared fully independent, and Bosnia and Herzegovina passed under Austrian administration. Bulgaria, made a virtually independent principality, annexed (1885) Eastern Rumelia with impunity.

Sultan Abd al-Majid, who in 1839 issued a decree containing an important body of civil reforms, was followed (1861) by Abd al-Aziz, whose reign witnessed the rise of the liberal party. Its leader, Midhat Pasha, succeeded in deposing (1876) Abd al-Aziz. Abd al-Hamid II acceded (1876) after the brief reign of Murad V. A liberal constitution was framed by Midhat, and the first Turkish parliament opened in 1877, but the sultan soon dismissed it and began a rule of personal despotism. The Armenian massacres (see Armenia) of the late 19th cent. turned world public opinion against Turkey. Abd al-Hamid was victorious in the Greco-Turkish war of 1897, but Crete, which had been the issue, was ultimately gained by Greece.

Collapse

In 1908 the Young Turk movement, a reformist and strongly nationalist group, with many adherents in the army, forced the restoration of the constitution of 1876, and in 1909 the parliament deposed the sultan and put Muhammad V on the throne. In the two successive Balkan Wars (1912–13), Turkey lost nearly its entire territory in Europe to Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and newly independent Albania. The nationalism of the Young Turks, whose leader Enver Pasha gained virtual dictatorial power by a coup in 1913, antagonized the remaining minorities in the empire.

The outbreak of World War I found Turkey lined up with the Central Powers. Although Turkish troops succeeded against the Allies in the Gallipoli campaign (1915), Arabia rose against Turkish rule, and British forces occupied (1917) Baghdad and Jerusalem. In 1918, Turkish resistance collapsed in Asia and Europe. An armistice was concluded in October, and the Ottoman Empire came to an end. The Treaty of Sèvres (see Sèvres, Treaty of) confirmed its dissolution. With the victory of the Turkish nationalists, who had refused to accept the peace terms and overthrew the sultan in 1922, modern Turkey's history began.

The first Khmer kingdom, known as Chenla, adopted the entire culture of Funan for itself. Chenla did not have a strong government, though; it prospered in the 7th century, but in 706 it split into two states, known as "Land Chenla" (Laos) and "Water Chenla" (Cambodia). Land Chenla retained some measure of unity, but constant intrigues for the throne shattered Water Chenla into no less than five smaller states. At the end of the 8th century all of Water Chenla came under the domination of one of Java's Sailendra monarchs.

The incident that caused the Javan conquest also started the Khmers on the road to greatness. It involved a rash young king, whose name we do not know. According to the Arab traveler who provided this account, one day the young king and his prime minister were discussing what to do about Java, the strongest naval power in the region. The king said, "I have one desire I would like to satisfy."
"What is this desire, O King?" his councilor asked.
"I want to see before me on a plate the head of the king of Java."

When the king of Java heard about the Khmer monarch's wish, he led a fleet of a thousand ships up the Mekong River and routed the Khmers defending the capital. Capturing the young king, he said, "You have manifested the desire to see before you my head on a plate. If you had also wished to seize my country or only ravage part of it, I would have done the same thing to Khmer. As you have expressed only the first of these desires, I am going to apply to you the treatment you wished to apply to me, and I will then return to my country without taking anything belonging to the Khmers . . . My victory will serve as a lesson to your successors." He then lopped off the king's head and said to the Khmer prime minister, "Look now for someone who will make a good king after this fool, and put him in the place of the latter."

The new king picked by the prime minister was an excellent choice: Jayavarman II, a distant relative of the late king who had been living in Java to escape the troubles at home. In the course of his long reign (795?-850), he reunited Water Chenla and gave it a new name: Kambujadesa (the origin of the modern names Cambodia and Kampuchea). Despite his success he seems to have been an insecure monarch; he waited until 802 to have his coronation, and before 819 he changed the location of his capital no less than five times. At his last capital, he finally found peace of mind by taking part in a sacred Hindu ceremony that consecrated him as an avatar of the god Shiva and declared him and his kingdom independent of any foreign power, especially Java.

The next important Khmer king was Yasovarman I (889-900). A few miles north of the Tonle Sap he built a new city, called it Yasodharapura, and it became Cambodia's capital for the next five centuries (now it is called Angkor, meaning simply "city"). Most of Angkor's impressive buildings were built later on, but Yasovarman left his mark by constructing an excellent system of canals and reservoirs around the city, using the technology perfected in the age of Funan. Those canals would later be used to feed the large number of laborers used in Angkor's massive building projects. Fortunately for historians, Yasovarman was a great braggart (all Khmer monarchs were), and he left numerous inscriptions boasting of his achievements: "The best of kings . . . unique bundle of splendors", and "In all the sciences and all the sports . . . in dancing, singing, and all the rest, he was as clever as if he had been the first inventor of them." Then came the ultimate boast: "In seeing him, the creator was astonished and seemed to say to himself, `Why did I create a rival for myself in this king?'"

For the 10th and 11th centuries our only source of information is the inscriptions, but it was a time of growth, in size, power, and cultural sophistication. Land Chenla submitted peacefully to Angkor's rule, and it appears that the states in Thailand and Malaya did the same, during the reign of Suryavarman I (1002-50). Suryavarman's son, Udayadityavarman II (1050-66), fought an inconclusive war with the Burmese, who thought the Khmers were getting too close to Thaton. Suryavarman II (1113-50) conquered Champa and campaigned against the Vietnamese; at one point there was a Khmer army in Thanh Hoa, just 80 miles south of Hanoi.

Back at home Suryavarman II built the masterpiece of Khmer civilization. This was a temple to the Hindu god Vishnu so enormous that it was known as Angkor Wat, the "temple city." Using an estimated 455 million cubic yards of stone, this structure was built with five gilded peaks to resemble the mythical Mt. Meru. The entire structure was covered with endless reliefs showing battles, scenes from Hindu epics, and events in everyday Khmer life. The central peak of the structure was also a mausoleum, where Suryavarman's ashes were placed when he died.

The cost of building Angkor Wat and fighting wars abroad drained the treasury. After Suryavarman II was gone the Chams successfully revolted, and in 1177 they sailed up the Mekong River and plundered Angkor itself. Four years of anarchy followed, but remarkably, the best years of Cambodia's history were yet to come. Royal authority was reestablished by Jayavarman VII, a middle-aged prince who had refused the throne when it was first offered to him years before. Jayavarman routed the Chams, drove them back to their home, and was crowned the new king of Angkor. Champa would be a Khmer vassal, not the other way around.

A man of uncommon vigor, Jayavarman spent the rest of his reign (1181-1219, he lived into his 90s) building more monuments than all of the other Khmer kings put together. Chief among these was a remodeled capital city, now called Angkor Thom ("big city"), which was so big and elaborate that only nearby Angkor Wat could rival it. A convert to the Mahayana Buddhist sect, he erected Buddhist shrines and images all over the city (the sculptors used Jayavarman as the model for statues of Buddha), and converted the temples of his Hindu predecessors into Buddhist ones. Around the country he built and maintained 102 hospitals because, as one inscription put it: "He suffered from the sickness of his subjects more than from his own; for it is the public grief that causes the grief of kings, and not their grief."

Some historians believe that Jayavarman's building projects exhausted the kingdom. None of the kings after him built anything important; they lived in luxury, performed their god-king rites, but accomplished little. Champa declared independence as soon as it heard the news of Jayavarman's death, and in the west the Menam River valley was lost to newcomers in the region, the Thais. At the same time Theravada Buddhism became the most popular religion, undermining the god-king cult. In the middle of the 13th century the Khmer king himself converted to Theravada Buddhism, perhaps because of the success of the Thais, who were Theravadists already. In 1296 a Chinese visitor, Zhou Daguan, visited Angkor and took home a glowing report of the city; to him Cambodia was still the strongest state in Southeast Asia. Angkor remained Cambodia's glittering capital until 1431, but long before that time the political initiative passed to its neighbors.

The Khmer or Angkor Civilization came into existence during the period from 802 to 1431 A.D. and stretched as far as the modern Thailand-Burma Border in the West and Wat Phou of Laos in the North during its peak.

Its emergence lies in the fact that the ancient Khmer rulers adopted a right political doctrine of its time, which enforce the unity among people. Moreover, they had developed an intelligent irrigation system to control the water of the great Mekong River for agricultures, which enhanced its prosperity. The Khmer Civilization had long been perished over 5 centuries ago, but it left outstanding monuments such as the great Khmer temples of Angkor Wat and Bayon and numerous unique sculptures like Apsara.

The word "Angkor" is derived Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language, of "Nagara" which means "City". Angkor Wat literally means "City of Temple" and Angkor Thom "The Magnificent City".

No doubts, the ancient Khmers were great masters of stone carving. As we can see today the unarguable evidences of various Angkor temples lying on the vast plain of Siemreap, or even beyond its present-day border to the Preah Vihear at Dangrek Mountain, Phnomrung and Phimai in Thailand and Wat Phu in Laos. All these were created and carefully crafts by the ancient Khmers in successive centuries. This seems to contradict with the normal and easy-going life of the local Khmer people and villagers of their time. What drive them to put such an extraordinary efforts and time will be explained in the next chapters.

The study of Khmer civilization in depth is not easy and pain-taking by the historians and archaeologists. Most of the writing, found after the excavation of Angkor, were carved in the stones which became the unperishable materials against time. Although these evidences are important for us to understand the basic constituency of Khmer society and its chronology, they were mainly concerned with religious rituals, King's praise, and literature of Indian epics of "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata". There were little things saying about the ordinary life of the local people.

Interestingly, we learn about the daily way of life of the ancient Khmers, not from the Khmer themselves, but from the Chinese annals. In the middle of 13th century during Chinese Yuan Dynasty, a Chinese ambassador named Zhou Daguan traveled to Angkor, stayed with the local villagers, and explored this empire for a year before his return. He wrote in his Chinese chronicle about this amazing empire, and explain vividly how the people lives with the clear portrayal of the Khmer society during those days.

The center of the Khmer Civilization is at the Angkor Wat area which is situated on the plain of present-day Siemreap province north of the Great Lake of Tonle Sap. Throughout the course of Khmer history, the kingship was frequently attained by violent means with bloodshed throne. There were successive capitals built by different kings in the region, not far from each others; these capitals are at area of Angkor Wat and Roluos with the different names such as Harihalara, Yasodharapura, Jayendanagari, Angkor Thom and a few unknown names.

Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and several other Khmer temples are undoubtedly the relics of the past Khmer Civilization. In order to help travelers as well as readers to get a clearer picture of Cambodia and these temple complexes, we have put up several articles on Khmer Civilization which covers the historical background, successive eras from the beginning till the end, reasons of rise and fall of this civilization and a chronology.

n 1867/68, the Tokugawa era found an end in the Meiji Restoration. The emperor Meiji was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo which became the new capital; his imperial power was restored. The actual political power was transferred from the Tokugawa Bakufu into the hands of a small group of nobles and former samurai.

Like other subjugated Asian nations, the Japanese were forced to sign unequal treaties with Western powers. These treaties granted the Westerners one-sided economical and legal advantages in Japan. In order to regain independence from the Europeans and Americans and establish herself as a respected nation in the world, Meiji Japan was determined to close the gap to the Western powers economically and militarily. Drastic reforms were carried out in practically all areas.

The new government aimed to make Japan a democratic state with equality among all its people. The boundaries between the social classes of Tokugawa Japan were gradually broken down. Consequently, the samurai were the big losers of those social reforms since they lost all their privileges. The reforms also included the establishment of human rights such as religious freedom in 1873.

In order to stabilize the new government, the former feudal lords (daimyo) had to return all their lands to the emperor. This was achieved already in 1870 and followed by the restructuring of the country in prefectures.

The education system was reformed after the French and later after the German system. Among those reforms was the introduction of compulsory education.

After about one to two decades of intensive westernization, a revival of conservative and nationalistic feelings took place: principles of Confucianism and Shinto including the worship of the emperor were increasingly emphasized and taught at educational institutions.

Catching up on the military sector was, of course, a high priority for Japan in an era of European and American imperialism. Universal conscription was introduced, and a new army modelled after the Prussian force, and a navy after the British one were established.

In order to transform the agrarian economy of Tokugawa Japan into a developed industrial one, many Japanese scholars were sent abroad to study Western science and languages, while foreign experts taught in Japan. The transportation and communication networks were improved by means of large governmental investments. The government also directly supported the prospering of businesses and industries, especially the large and powerful family businesses called zaibatsu.

The large expenditures led to a financial crisis in the middle of the 1880's which was followed by a reform of the currency system and the establishment of the Bank of Japan. The textile industry grew fastest and remained the largest Japanese industry until WW2. Work conditions in the early factories were very bad, but developing socialist and liberal movements were soon suppressed by the ruling clique.

On the political sector, Japan received its first European style constitution in 1889. A parliament, the Diet was established while the emperor kept sovereignty: he stood at the top of the army, navy, executive and legislative power. The ruling clique, however, kept on holding the actual power, and the able and intelligent emperor Meiji agreed with most of their actions. Political parties did not yet gain real power due to the lack of unity among their members.

Conflicts of interests in Korea between China and Japan led to the Sino-Japanese War in 1894-95. Japan defeated China, received Taiwan, but was forced by Russia, France and Germany to return other territories. The so called Triple Intervention caused the Japanese army and navy to intensify their rearmament.

New conflicts of interests in Korea and Manchuria, this time between Russia and Japan, led to the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-05. The Japanese army also won this war gaining territory and finally some international respect. Japan further increased her influence on Korea and annexed her completely in 1910. In Japan, the war successes caused nationalism to increase even more, and other Asian nations also started to develop national self confidence.

In 1912 emperor Meiji died, and the era of the ruling clique of elder statesmen (genro) w

The Chinese people tell a legend to explain their beginning. According to this legend, the creator, P'an Ku made a glorious people in the Huang He (Yellow River) valley. Scientific evidence is scarce, but remains of a people-" erectus"-have been found near Beijing. These remains date back 460,000 years. There is evidence that rice farming existed since 5500 BC and there is also proof of the pottery cultures of Yang-shao and the Lung-shan. Whatever the truth, there is no doubt that China is one of the world's oldest and greatest civilizations.

It is said that Xia was the first hereditary Chinese dynasty. Unfortunately no evidence of this exists, and as far as we know, the Shang dynasty was the first dynasty. The Shang dynasty ruled what is today the north central region of China. They were an aristocratic society with a complex system of government. They had domesticated animals and were proficient in bronze-work. The Shang dynasty fell when the ruler, corrupted by power, was overthrown by the young king of Zhou.

The Zhou expanded the border to cover most of its current northern territory. They established a feudalistic society with land and power delegated to vassals or lords. These vassals ruled their land and all the people who lived there. The Zhou were mainly an agricultural society.

China was invaded by barbarians and divided in half. Its eastern part still belonged to the Zhou. They continued to develop learning iron-work and inventing the ox-drawn plow, which in addition to improving irrigation techniques increased agricultural yields. This increased the population growth in the vassal-controlled states which became very powerful and took the power from the Zhou. The land was now divided between seven of the main states. Peace between the states did not last and the society was thrown into anarchy.

In this chaotic state several schools of philosophy emerged. A man by the name of K'ung Fu-tzu known as Confucius, said that order can only be achieved by creating a benevolent government which would teach by its own example. Another idea was Taoism which heralded a return to simpler times in which government would not interfere in man's relationship with nature. The third group called legalists propagated a strict impersonal set of laws governing all human activity: to have an all powerful ruler who would see that the laws are carried out, and to create social order with a centralized government based on a healthy economy. These people gave rise to the great Chinese empire.

The French revolution paved the way for the secular system of governance that we now see governing most of the countries of the world. From the perspective of freeing the people from unjust monarchist regimes that committed all sorts of crimes under the banner of religion it can be seen as a successful and valiant effort on the part of the people. But the fact that the whole movement was tainted with a hatred for religion and a will to supersede the will of God has- as some would argue- made the revolution a stepping stone towards the moral degeneration of the people. What the revolutionaries failed to notice was that by abandoning the idea of God altogether they would in effect only be moving in circles only to end up as a system in which man rules over man.

Meeting of the Estates Summary

The nature of the internal affairs in France made it an ideal stage for a revolution to take place. The deteriorating economy as the result of fiscal mismanagement and the long years of feudal oppression had long been testing the public’s patience. With subsequent unsuccessful attempts to restore the taxation problem the King was forced to call on the ancient assembly of three states representing all the classes in France. This resulted in the first break away from the oppressive regime as the third class, which consisted of the only tax paying class chose to declare itself sovereign as it consisted of the vast majority of the people of France. This revolutionary assembly attracted many members from the other assemblies who decided to join it in opposition to the existing governing constitution.

Short Summary French Revolution

After the Tennis Court Oath it was clear that the revolutionary movement was going to be a no holds barred movement which would stop at nothing to topple the monarchy. From here onwards began the civil disobediences that would eventually pave the way for the revolutionary regime to get noticed and put the changes in effect. The storming of the Bastille prison in the East of Paris on the 14th of July is regarded as being the landmark event that led to the social disorder. This was done in the attempt to gain arms and ammunitions from the prison. Inspired by this event the peasants revolted against there feudal lords eventually freeing themselves of the unfair contracts that they were signed into.

Brief Summary after the French Revolution

In the events that were to follow the national assembly did frame a constitution which could restore the social unrest but differences within the assembly over whether to retain the monarchy or completely abolish it led to further mishaps. The Girondin led assembly declared war against Austria and Prussia due to the hostile stance that they took against France. The Girondin led National party was overthrown by the Jacobins who were led by Robespierre who wreaked havoc over the next 7 weeks. This period is known as the reign of terror as many executions were held and all efforts were taken to curb any counter revolutionary activities. Robespierre was executed by his own men which paved the way for the Thermidorian Reaction which was eventually overthrown by means of a military coup under the leadership of Napolean Bonaparte who put an end to the revolution by declaring himself the ‘First consul’ of France.

vents preceding but pertinent to the French Revolution

• The Enlightenment, which led to many European writers criticising the Monarchy and espousing democratic, liberalist, nationalist and socialist ideas.

1756

• Start of the Seven Years' War, which compounded the debt situation.

1774

• Coronation of Louis XVI at Reims.

1775

• Start of the American War of Independence (1775–1783)

1778

• France declares war against Great Britain in support of the American colonies. The subsequent war worsens the debt situation further.

1781

• February: Jacques Necker releases his 'Compte Rendu', leading ordinary French to believe that the economic situation was ok.

• The Segur Ordinance prevents those without a patrilineal century of nobility from entering the army officer corps.

1783

• Laki eruption in Iceland and colder climate of the Little Ice Age combined with France's failure to adopt the potato as a staple crop contributes to widespread famine and malnutrition.
• Treaty of Paris ends the war. The success of the American colonists against a European power increases the ambitions of those wishing for reform in France.

1785

• The Diamond Necklace Affair results in the discrediting of Marie Antoinette.

[edit] Financial crisis and Assembly of Notables

1786

• August 20: Finance minister Calonne informs Louis that the royal finances are insolvent
• December 29: The Assembly of Notables is convoked

1787

• February 22: First Assembly of Notables meets against a background of state financial instability and general resistance by the nobility to the imposition of taxes and fiscal reforms.
• March: Calonne's publication of his proposals and the intransigence of the Notables leads to a public clash and impasse
• April 8: Louis dismisses both Calonne and the keeper of the seals, or minister of justice, Miromesnil, in an attempt to break the impasse
• April 13: Louis appoints Lamoignon keeper of the seals
• April 30: The Archbishop of Toulouse and vocal leader of the higher clergy, Loménie de Brienne is appointed chief minister of state
• May 25: The first Assembly of Notables is dissolved
• June: Brienne sends edicts for tax reform legislation to the parlements for registration
• July 2: Parlement of Paris overwhelmingly rejects the royal legislation
• August 6: Legislation passed at a lit de justice. Subsequently the parlement declares the registration was illegal. Supported by public opinion, it initiates criminal proceedings against the disgraced Calonne
• August 15: Louis dismisses the Parisian parlement and orders the parlementaires to remove themselves to Troyes
• August 19: Louis orders the closure of all political clubs in Paris
• September: Civil unrest in the Dutch republic leads to its invasion by the Prussian army, and increases tensions in Paris. Brienne backs down with his legislative demands, settling for an extension of the vingtième tax, and the parlementaires are allowed to return to Paris.
• November 19: A royal session of the Paris parlements for registration of new loans turns into an informal lit de justice when Louis doesn't allow a vote to be taken
• November 20: The vocal opposition of the duc d'Orléans leads to his temporary exile by lettres de cachet, and the arrest and imprisonment of two magistrates

1788

• May 6: Orders for the arrest of two Parisian parlementaires, d'Eprémesnil and Goislard, who are most implacably opposed to the government reforms, are issued; the parlement declares its solidarity with the two magistrates
• May 7: d'Eprémesnil and Goislard are imprisoned
• May 8: Judicial reforms partly abolishing the power of parlements to review legislation are forced through the parlements by Lamoignon in a lit de justice timed to coincide with military sessions
• June 7: Day of the Tiles in Grenoble - a meeting called to assemble a parlement in defiance of government order put down by soldiers.
• June: Outcry over the enforced reforms ensues, and courts across France refuse to sit
• July 5: Brienne begins to consider calling an Estates-General
• July 20: Meeting of the Estates of Dauphiné, known as the Assembly of Vizille and led by Jean Joseph Mounier, to elect deputies to the Estates-General, adopts measures to increase the influence of the Third Estate.
• August 8: After being informed that the royal treasury is empty, Brienne sets May 1, 1789 as the date for the Estates-General in an attempt to restore confidence with his creditors
• August 16: Repayments on government loans stop, and the French government effectively declares bankruptcy
• August 25: Brienne resigns, and Jacques Necker replaces him as Minister of Finance; de Lomenie, Archbishop of Toulouse is made chief minister.
• September: Necker releases those arrested for criticising Brienne's ministry, leading to a proliferation of political pamphlets
• September 14: Malesherbes resigns
• November 6: Necker convenes a second Assembly of Notables to discuss the Estates-General
• December 12: The second Assembly of Notables is dismissed, having firmly refused to consider doubling the representation of the Third Estate
• December 27: Prompted by public controversy, Necker announces that the representation of the Third Estate will be doubled, and that nobles and clergymen will be able to stand for the same

1789

• April 27 - The Réveillon Riots in Paris, caused by low wages and food shortages, led to about 25 deaths by troops.
• May 5: The Estates-General meets for the first time since 1614
• June 20: Tennis Court Oath of dismissed Estates-General members who refuse to adjourn
• July 12: Camille Desmoulins gives a speech in the gardens of the Palais Royale, urging the citizens of Paris to take up arms.
• July 14: Storming of the Bastille

[edit] Estates-General and Constituent Assembly

• May 5: Meeting of the Estates-General - voting to be by Estate, not by head
• May 28: The Third Estate (Tiers Etat) begins to meet on its own, calling themselves "communes" (commons)
• June 9: The Third Estate votes for the common verification of credentials, in opposition to the First Estate (the clergy) and the Second Estate (the nobility)
• June 13: Some priests from the First Estate choose to join the Third Estate
• June 17: The Third Estate (commons) declares itself to be the National Assembly
• June 20: Third Estate/National Assembly are locked out of meeting houses; the Third Estate chooses to continue thinking King Louis XVI has locked them out and decides upon a declarative vow, known as the "serment au Jeu de Paume" (The Tennis Court Oath), not to dissolve until the constitution has been established
• June 22: National Assembly meets in church of St Louis, joined by a majority of clergy
• June 23: Two companies of French guards mutiny in the face of public unrest. Louis XVI holds a Séance Royale, puts forward his 35-point program aimed at allowing the continuation of the three estates.
• June 24: 48 nobles, headed by the Duke of Orléans, side with the Third Estate. A significant number of the clergy follow their example.
• June 27: Louis recognises the validity of the National Assembly, and orders the First and Second Estates to join the Third.
• June 30: Large crowd storms left bank prison and frees mutinous French Guards
• July 1: Louis recruits more troops, among them many foreign mercenaries
• July 9: National Assembly reconstitutes itself as National Constituent Assembly
• July 11: Necker dismissed by Louis; populace sack the monasteries, ransack aristocrats' homes in search of food and weapons
• July 12: Camille Desmoulins announces the dismissal of Necker to the Paris crowd. The Karl Eugen, Prince von Lothringen-Lambesc appears at the Tuilleries with an armed guard - a soldier and civilian are killed.
• July 13: National Guard formed in Paris, of middle class men.
• July 14: Storming of the Bastille; de Launay, (the governor), Foulon (the Secretary of State) and de Flesselles (the then equivalent of the mayor of Paris), amongst others, are massacred.
• July 15: Lafayette appointed Commandante of the National Guard.
• July 16: Necker recalled, troops pulled out of Paris
• July 17: The beginning of the Great Fear, the peasantry revolt against feudalism and a number of urban disturbances and revolts. Many members of the aristocracy flee Paris to become émigrés. Louis XVI accepts the tricolor cockade.
• July 18: Publication of Desmoulins' La France libre favouring a republic and arguing that revolutionary violence was justified.
• August 4: Surrender of feudal rights: The August Decrees
• August 27: The Assembly adopts The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
• September 11 The National Assembly grants suspensive veto to Louis XVI; Louis fails to ratify the August acts of the National Assembly.
• October 5-6: Outbreak of the Paris mob; Liberal monarchical constitution; the Women's March on Versailles
• October 6 Louis XVI agrees to ratify the August Decrees, Palace of Versailles stormed.

King Louis and the National Assembly removed to Paris.

• November 2: Church property nationalised and otherwise expropriated
• November: First publication of Desmoulins' weekly Histoire des Révolutions ...
• December: National Assembly distinguishes between 'active' (monied) and 'passive' (property-less) citizens - only the active could vote
• December 12 Assignats are used as legal tender

1790

• January: Former Provinces of France replaced by new administrative Departments.
• February 13 Suppression of monastic vows and religious orders
• March 5: Feudal Committee reports back to National Assembly, delaying the abolition of feudalism.
• March 29: Pope Pius condemns the Declaration of the Rights of Man in secret consistory.
• May National Assembly renounces involvement in wars of conquest.
• May 19 Nobility abolished by the National Assembly.
• July 12 The Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Demands priests to take an oath of loyalty to the state, splitting the clergy between juring (oath-taking) and non-juring priests.
• July: Growing power of the clubs (including: Cordeliers, Jacobin Club)
• July: Reorganization of Paris
• August 16 The parlements are abolished
• September: First edition of radical newspaper Le Père Duchesne printed by Jacques Hébert.
• September: Fall of Necker

1791

• January 1: Mirabeau elected President of the Assembly
• February 28: Day of Daggers; Lafayette orders the arrest of 400 armed aristocrats at the Tuileries Palace
• March 2: Abolition of trade guilds
• March 10: Pope Pius VI condemns the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
• April 2: Death of Mirabeau- first person to be buried in Pantheon, formerly the church of Sainte-Geneviève
• April 13: Encyclical of Pope Pius VI, Charitas, condemning the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the unauthorised appointment of Bishops is published
• April 18: Louis and Marie-Antoinette prevented from travelling to Saint-Cloud for Easter
• June 14: Le Chapelier law banning trade unions is passed by National Assembly
• June 20–25: Royal family's flight to Varennes
• June 25: Louis XVI forced to return to Paris
• July 10: Leopold II issues the Padua Circular calling on the royal houses of Europe to come to his brother-in-law, Louis XVI's aid.
• July 14: Second anniversary of the fall of the Bastille is celebrated at the Champ de Mars.
• July 15: National Assembly declares the king to be inviolable and he is reinstated.
• July 17: Anti-Royalist demonstration at the Champ de Mars; National Guard kills fifty people.
• July: Remains of Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire reburied in Pantheon.
• August 14: Slave revolts in Saint Domingue (Haiti)
• August 27: Declaration of Pillnitz (Frederick William II and Leopold II)
• September 13–14: Louis XVI accepts the Constitution formally
• September 30: Dissolution of the National Constituent Assembly

[edit] Legislative Assembly

• October 1: Legislative Assembly meets - many young, inexperienced, radical deputies.
• November 9 All émigrés are ordered by the Assembly to return under threat of death
• November 11 Louis vetoes the ruling of the Assembly on émigrés and priests.

1792

• January – March: Food riots in Paris
• February 7: Alliance of Austria and Prussia
• March 20: Guillotine adopted as official means of execution.
• April 20: France declares war against Austria
• April 25: Battle Hymn of the Army of the Rhine composed by Rouget de Lisle. First execution using the guillotine.
• April 28: France invades Austrian Netherlands (Belgium).
• July 5: Legislative Assembly declares that the fatherland is in danger (La Patrie en Danger).
• July 25: Brunswick Manifesto - warns that should the royal family be harmed by the popular movement, an "exemplary and eternally memorable revenge" will follow.
• July 30: Austria and Prussia begin invasion of France.
• July: The tricolor cockade made compulsory for men to wear. La Marseillaise sung by volunteers from Marseilles on their arrival in Paris.
• August 1: News of the Brunswick Manifesto reaches Paris - interpreted as proof that Louis XVI was collaborating with the foreign Coalition.
• August 9: Revolutionary commune took possession of the hôtel de ville.
• August 10–13: Storming of the Tuileries Palace. Swiss Guard massacred. Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody, along with his family. Georges Danton becomes Minister of Justice.
• August 16: Paris commune presents petition to the Legislative Assembly demanding the establishment of a revolutionary tribunal and summoning of a National Convention.
• August 19: Lafayette flees to Austria. Invasion of France by Coalition troops led by Duke of Brunswick
• August 22: Royalist riots in Brittany, La Vendée and Dauphiné.
• September 3: Fall of Verdun to Brunswick's troops.
• September 3–7: The September Massacres of prisoners in the Paris prisons.
• September 19: Dissolution of Legislative Assembly.

[edit] National Convention

• September 20:National Convention. French Army stops advance of Coalition troops at Valmy.
• September 21: Abolition of royalty and proclamation of the First French Republic.
• September 22: First day of the French Revolutionary Calendar (N.B.: calendar introduced in 1793).
• December 3: Louis XVI brought to trial, appears before the National Convention (11 & 23 December). Robespierre argues that "Louis must die, so that the country may live".
• December 4 : A Belgian delegation is received at the National Convention to claim independence from Belgium.

1793

• January 21: Citizen Louis Capet guillotined, formerly known as Louis XVI.
• March 7: Outbreak of rebellion against the Revolution: War in the Vendée.
• March 11: Revolutionary Tribunal established in Paris.
• April 6: Committee of Public Safety established.
• May 30: A revolt breaks out in Lyon.
• June 2: Arrest of Girondist deputies to National Convention by Jacobins.
• June 10: Jacobins gain control of the Committee of Public Safety.
• June 24: Ratification of new Constitution by National Convention, but not yet proclaimed. Slavery is abolished in France until 1802 (Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte).
• July 13: Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday.
• July 27: Robespierre elected to Committee of Public Safety.
• July 28: Convention proscribes 21 Girondist deputies as enemies of France.
• August 23: Levée en masse (conscription) order.
• September 5: Start of Reign of Terror.
• September 9: Establishment of sans-culottes paramilitary forces - revolutionary armies.
• September 17: Law of Suspects passed.
• September 22: A new calendar is introduced, denoting September 22, 1792 as being the start of year I.
• September 29: Convention passes the General Maximum, fixing the prices of many goods and services.
• October 10: 1793 Constitution put on hold; decree that the government must be "revolutionary until the peace".
• October 16: Marie Antoinette guillotined.
• October 21: An anti-clerical law passed, priests and supporters liable to death on sight.
• October 24: Trial of the 21 Girondist deputies by the Revolutionary Tribunal.
• October 31: The 21 Girondist deputies guillotined.
• November 3: Olympe de Gouges, champion of rights for women, guillotined for Girondist sympathies.
• November 8: Madame Roland guillotined as part of purge of Girondists.
• November 10: Celebration of the Goddess of Reason at Cathedral of Notre Dame which was re-dedicated as the Temple of Reason.
• December: First issue of Desmoulins' Le Vieux Cordelier.
• December 4: Law of 14 Frimaire (Law of Revolutionary Government) passed; power becomes centralised on the Committee of Public Safety.
• December 23: Anti-Republican forces in the Vendée finally defeated and 6000 prisoners executed.

1794

• February: Final 'pacification' of the Vendée - mass killings, scorched earth policy.
• March 13: Last edition of Jacques Hébert's Le Père Duchesne produced.
• March 19: Hébert and his supporters arrested.
• March 24: Hébert and leaders of the Cordeliers guillotined.
• March 28: Death of philosopher and mathematician Marquis de Condorcet in prison.
• March 30: Danton, Desmoulins and their supporters arrested.
• April 5: Danton and Desmoulins guillotined.
• May 7: National Convention, led by Robespierre, passes decree to establish the Cult of the Supreme Being.
• May 8: Antoine Lavoisier, chemist, guillotined as traitor.
• June 8: Festival of the Supreme Being.
• June 10: Law of 22 Prairial - the Revolutionary Tribunal became a court of condemnation without the need for witnesses.
• June 26: French forces defeat Austrians at the Battle of Fleurus.
• July 25: André Chenier, poet, guillotined for conspiring against the Revolution.
• July 27-28: Night of 9-10 Thermidor - Robespierre arrested, guillotined without trial, along with other members of the Committee of Public Safety. Commune of Paris abolished. End of the Reign of Terror. Also called The Thermidorian Reaction.
• Latter half of 1794: The White Terror - reaction against remaining Jacobins.
• November 11: Closure of Jacobin Club.

1795

• May 31: Suppression of the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal.
• July 14: Marseillaise accepted as the French National Anthem.
• August 22: 1795 Constitution ratified - bicameral system, executive Directory of five.
• October 5: 13 Vendémiaire - Napoleon's "whiff of grapeshot" quells Paris insurrection.
• October 26: National Convention dissolved.

[edit] The Directory

• November 2: Executive Directory takes on executive power.

1796

• March 9: Marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine.
• May 10: Battle of Lodi (Napoleon in Italy)
• June 4: Beginning of the Siege of Mantua

1797

• April 18: Preliminary Peace of Leoben
• July 8: Cisalpine Republic established
• September 4: Coup d'état of 18 Fructidor revives Republican measures
• October 17: Treaty of Campo Formio

1798

• February: Roman Republic proclaimed
• April: Helvetian Republic proclaimed
• May 11: Law of 22 Floréal Year VI - Council elections annulled, left wing deputies excluded from Council.
• July 21: Battle of the Pyramids
• August 1: Battle of the Nile - Nelson's victory isolates Napoleon in Egypt.
• December 24: Alliance between Russia and Britain

1799

• June 17–19: Battle of the Trebia (Suvorov defeats French)
• June 18: Coup of 30 Prairial Year VII - removed Directors, left Sieyès as dominant figure in government.
• August 24: Napoleon leaves Egypt.
• October 9: Napoleon returns to France
• October 22: Russians withdraw from coalition
• November 9: The Coup d'État of 18 Brumaire: end of the Directory
• December 24: Constitution of the Year VIII - leadership of Napoleon established under the Consulate. French Revolution may be considered ended.