1789–1799 CE · constitutional, republican and imperial phases · Europe · Rights
Fiscal crisis, inequality and political conflict toppled the monarchy and produced declarations of rights, republic, terror and war.
Atlas dossier · Enlightenment & RevolutionsFree device narration · synchronized English captions · transcript available
Why it matters
The 1789–1799 range includes constitutional monarchy, republic, Terror, Directory and Bonaparte’s coup; it is not one stable regime. Declarations of rights, war, popular action and state violence changed meaning as authority shifted.
Library of Congress: French Revolution research collection ↗The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen framed liberty and equality in universal terms, while women, enslaved people and many colonial subjects did not receive equal political power. Revolution in Saint-Domingue exposed and transformed that contradiction.
Avalon Project: Declaration of the Rights of Man ↗Silent pan-and-zoom motion derivative of the French Revolution reconstruction; not archival footage.
Enlarge and examine the picturePrimary Atlas editorial reconstruction for French Revolution.
World History in Pictures · Public site artwork. This record does not grant third-party republication rights.
How Atlas classifies this artwork →
Enlarge and examine the pictureDetail crop from the same French Revolution reconstruction; not an independent historical record.
World History in Pictures · Same editorial artwork package
How Atlas classifies this artwork →
Enlarge and examine the pictureContext crop from the same French Revolution reconstruction; not an independent historical record.
World History in Pictures · Same editorial artwork package
How Atlas classifies this artwork →Supplemental archival visual
Prise de la Bastille, 1789 is presented as a period visual interpretation or documentary record. It does not independently establish the dossier’s chronology; use the linked item page and source trail for its provenance and reuse terms.
Open the item page and rights record ↗Prise de la Bastille, 1789 — Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houël; Public Domain; via Bibliothèque nationale de France / Gallica
Enlarge and examine the pictureInterpretation note
This dossier distinguishes the event’s basic chronology from later arguments about meaning, responsibility and legacy. When comparing religious, national, Indigenous or scholarly interpretations, consult the primary and institutional sources above alongside peer-reviewed historical work.
Elsewhere in the world
1791–1804 CE · uprising, emancipation and independence · AmericasHaitian RevolutionEnslaved and free people in Saint-Domingue fought colonial armies and internal rivals through revolution, emancipation and the establishment of independent Haiti.
1796–1980 CE · Jenner milestone to certified eradication · GlobalSmallpox vaccinationEdward Jenner’s experiment helped formalize vaccination, building on earlier variolation knowledge across Asia, Africa and the Ottoman world.
1799–1822 CE · discovery and decipherment milestones · AfricaThe Rosetta Stone unlocks hieroglyphsFrench soldiers found the trilingual Rosetta Stone at Rashid in 1799. British forces took it in 1801; in 1822 Jean-François Champollion announced a decisive advance built on Thomas Young’s work and earlier scholarship.