The following is a timeline of the French Revolution.
1788 – The royal treasury is empty; Prelude to the Revolution
June 7: Day of the Tiles in Grenoble, first revolt against the king. July 21: Assembly of Vizille, assembly of the Estates-General of Dauphiné. August 8: The royal treasury is declared empty, and the Parliament of Paris refuses to reform the tax system or loan the Crown more money. To win their support for fiscal reforms, the Minister of Finance, Brienne, sets May 5, 1789, for a meeting of the Estates General, an assembly of the nobility, clergy, and commoners (the Third Estate), which has not met since 1614. August 16: The treasury suspends payments on the debts of the government. August 25: Brienne resigns as Minister of Finance, and is replaced by the Swiss banker Jacques Necker, who is popular with the Third Estate. French bankers and businessmen, who have always held Necker in high regard, agree to loan the state 75 million, on the condition that the Estates General will have full powers to reform the system. Necker was labelled an "author of the revolution" by Napoleon. December 27: Over the opposition of the nobles, Necker announces that the representation of the Third Estate will be doubled and that nobles and clergymen will be eligible to sit with the Third Estate.
1789 – The Revolution Begins; the Estates-General and the Constituent Assembly
January 1789
January: The Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès publishes a pamphlet, What is the Third Estate? he writes; "What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been until now in the political order? Nothing. What does it demand to be? Something." The pamphlet is widely distributed. January 24: King Louis XVI convokes elections for delegates to the Estates-General April 1789 April 27: Riots in Paris by workers of the Réveillon wallpaper factory in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Twenty-five workers were killed in battles with police. May 1789 May 2: Presentation to the King of the Deputies of the Estates-General at Versailles. The clergy and nobles are welcomed with formal ceremonies and processions, the Third Estate is not. May 5: Formal opening of the Estates-General at Versailles. May 6: The Deputies of the Third Estate refuses to meet separately from the other Estates, occupy the main hall, and invite the clergy and nobility to join them. May 11: The nobility refuses to meet together with the Third Estate, but the clergy hesitates, and suspends the verification of its deputies. May 20: The clergy renounces its special tax privileges, and accepts the principle of fiscal equality. May 22: The nobility renounces its special tax privileges. However, the three estates are unable to agree on a common program. May 25: The Third Estate deputies from Paris, delayed by election procedures, arrive in Versailles.