1. The Storming of the Bastille, as depicted by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand (1790)

2. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1788Financial crisis in France. The French government declared bankrupt. 1789April: Riots in Paris, caused by low wages and food shortages. May: The Estates-General (parliament) is summoned for the first time since 1614 June: The Third Estate (commons) declares itself to be the National Assembly. When they are locked out of the meeting house – they believe by the king – they take on oath not to dissolve until a constitution has been established: The Tennis Court Oath.

3. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1789Increasing unrest and rioting in Paris. July 14: The Fall of the Bastille. July/Aug: Peasantry revolt against feudalism, which the National Assembly abolishes. Many aristocrats flee France. National Assembly adopts ‘The Declaration of the Rights of Man’ October: Paris mob storm the Palace of Versailles stormed. King Louis XVI moved to Paris.

4. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1790Suppression of religious orders. Abolition of nobility. Growing power of the Jacobin club. Nov: Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France. Wollstonecraft responds with A Vindication of the Rights of Men. JA writes Love and Freindship. 1791June: Royal family's flight to Varennes. Louis XVI forced to return to Paris. August: Slaves revolt in the French controlled island of St. Domingo (Haiti). Feb/March: Paine publishes The Rights of Man Part 1. April: Parliament rejects Wilberforce’s bill to abolish the slave trade. Charles Austen enters naval academy.

5. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1792Food riots in Paris. Other European monarchies begin to mobilize against France. Guillotine adopted as official means of execution. April: France declares war against Austria July: The Brunswick Manifesto - warns that should the French royal family be harmed by the popular movement, revenge will follow. Austria and Prussia begin invasion of France. August: Storming of the Tuileries Palace. Swiss Guard massacred. Louis XVI of France arrested. Jan: Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. JA writes the last of her ‘Juvenilia’.

6. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1792Sept: First session of National Convention, which replaces the Legislative Assembly. This immediately abolishes the monarchy and declares France a republic. 1793January 21: Louis XVI (Citizen Louis Capet) guillotined. April-June: Committee of Public Safety established. The Jacobins quickly seize control. July: Robespierre elected to Committee of Public Safety. Feb: Britain declares war on France. Henry Austen becomes a lieutenant in the Oxford- shire militia.

7. James Gillray, The Blood of the Murdered Crying for Vengeance (Feb. 1793)

8. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1793Sept: Start of Reign of Terror. Between 20,000 and 44,000 are executed over the following year. October: Marie Antoinette guillotined. Anti-clerical law passed (priests and supporters now liable to death on sight). 1794July: Robespierre arrested and guillotined without trial, along with other members of the Committee of Public Safety. End of the Reign of Terror. May: Parliament suspends habeas corpus. Nov: Treason Trials. All three accused are acquitted. Feb: Eliza de Feuillide's husband guillotined in Paris. JA probably writes Lady Susan.

9. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1794Sept: Charles Austen leaves the Royal Naval Academy and enters active service. 1795The National Convention is dissolved. The Directory replaces it (5 ‘directors’ who held executive power). Oct: Royalists attempt a coup. The young General Napoleon Bonaparte makes his name suppressing it. Oct: King George III’s coach is attacked by a mob calling for ‘Bread’ and ‘Peace’. Dec: British government passes the ‘Gagging Acts’. JA writes Eleanor and Marianne.

10. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1796Napoleon assumes command of French army in Italy. Dec: Failed French landing at Bantry Bay, West Cork, Ireland JA begins writing First Impressions. 1797Prussia and Austria cease hostilities with France. Britain now fighting France alone. April–June: Naval mutinies occur at Spithead and the Nore. JA revising Elinor & Marianne; First Impress- ions rejected by publisher 1798Aug: Battle of the Nile. Nelson’s fleet defeats Napoleon’s in Egypt. Spring: Invasion scare in England. May-Sept: Irish Rebellion, led by the United Irishmen. JA writing Susan (eventually becomes Northanger Abbey).

11. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1799Napoleon Bonaparte named ‘First Consul’: now the effective dictator. 1801Act of Union unites Britain and Ireland, creating UK. c Austens move to Bath 1802Treaty of Amiens. Hostilities cease.Winter: JA revises Susan. 1803Napoleon imprisons all British males on French soil and re-engages Britain, breaking the Treaty. Susan sold to publisher with HA’s aid 1804Napoleon made Emperor.JA writing The Watsons.

12. James Gillray, Buonaparte, 48 Hours after Landing (July 1803)

13. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1805Oct: Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson killed.JA’s father dies 1807British parliament abolishes the slave trade (not slavery). 1810 George III declared insane. 1811The Prince of Wales becomes Prince Regent. Luddites riots: protests against industrialization. JA begins work on Mansfield Park. Oct: S & S anonymously published.

14. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1812June: Napoleon invades Russia. Oct: Napoleon’s defeated army retreats from Russia. United States declares war on GB. 1813British invasion of France.Jan: Pride and Prejudice published. 1814Allies enter Paris. Napoleon overthrown and exiled to the island of Elba. The French monarchy is restored under Louis XVIII. Aug: GB forces take control of Washington DC & burn the White House. Dec: Treaty of Ghent ends war between GB and the US. Jan: JA begins writing Emma. May: Mansfield Park published.

15. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1815March-July: ‘The Hundred Days’. Napoleon escapes from Elba and returns to Paris, where he regains power. June: Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon finally defeated by Prussian and British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena (where he dies in 1821). Aug: JA begins writing Persuasion. Dec: Emma published. 1816 Post-war economic depression. Popular political unrest calling for reform. JA buys Susan back from publisher.

16. FRANCEBRITAINAUSTEN 1817Jan-March: JA works on novel later published as Sanditon. 18 July: JA dies. Dec: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are published with Henry's ‘Biographical Notice of the Author’.