July 11: Louis XVI abruptly dismisses Necker.
Parisians respond by burning the unpopular customs barriers, and invading and looting the monastery of the Lazaristes.
 Skirmishes between the cavalrymen of the Régiment de Royal-Allemand of the King's Guard and the angry crowd outside the Tuileries Palace.
The Gardes Françaises largely take the side of the crowd.

July 13: The National Assembly declares itself in permanent session.
At the Hôtel de Ville, city leaders begin to form a governing committee and an armed militia.

July 14: Storming of the Bastille.
A large armed crowd besieges the Bastille, which holds only seven prisoners but has a large supply of gunpowder, which the crowd wants.
After several hours of resistance, the governor of the fortress de Launay, finally surrenders; as he exits, he is killed by the crowd.
The crowd also kills de Flesselles, the provost of the Paris merchants.

July 15: The astronomer and mathematician Jean Sylvain Bailly is named mayor of Paris, and Lafayette is appointed Commander of the newly formed National Guard.

July 16: The King reinstates Necker as finance minister and withdraws royal troops from the center of the city.
The new elected Paris assembly votes the destruction of the Bastille fortress.
Similar committees and local militias are formed in Lyon, Rennes, and in other large French cities.

July 17: The King visits Paris, where he is welcomed at the Hôtel de Ville by Bailly and Lafayette, and wears the tricolor cockade.
Sensing what is ahead, several prominent members of the nobility, including the Count of Artois, the Prince de Condé, the Duke of Enghien, the Baron de Breteuil, the Duke of Broglie, the Duke of Polignac and his wife become the first of a wave of émigrés to leave France.

July 18: Camille Desmoulins begins publication of 'La France libre', demanding a much more radical revolution and calling for a republic arguing that revolutionary violence is justified.

July 22: An armed mob on the Place de Grève massacres Berthier de Sauvigny, Intendant of Paris, and his father-in-law, accused of speculating in grain.

July 21-August 1: Riots and peasant revolts in Strasbourg (July 21), Le Mans (July 23), Colmar, Alsace, and Hainaut (July 25).

July 28: Jacques Pierre Brissot begins publication of Le Patriote français, an influential newspaper of the revolutionary movement known as the Girondins.

August
August 4: The King appoints a government of reformist ministers around Necker.
The Assembly votes to abolish the privileges and feudal rights of the nobility.

August 7:  Publication of "A plot uncovered to lull the people to sleep" by Jean-Paul Marat, denouncing the reforms of August 4 as insufficient and demanding a much more radical revolution.
Marat quickly becomes the voice of the most turbulent sans-culottes faction of the Revolution.

August 23: The Assembly proclaims freedom of religious opinions.

August 24: The Assembly proclaims freedom of speech.
July 11: Louis XVI abruptly dismisses Necker. Parisians respond by burning the unpopular customs barriers, and invading and looting the monastery of the Lazaristes.  Skirmishes between the cavalrymen of the Régiment de Royal-Allemand of the King's Guard and the angry crowd outside the Tuileries Palace. The Gardes Françaises largely take the side of the crowd.
July 13: The National Assembly declares itself in permanent session. At the Hôtel de Ville, city leaders begin to form a governing committee and an armed militia.
July 14: Storming of the Bastille. A large armed crowd besieges the Bastille, which holds only seven prisoners but has a large supply of gunpowder, which the crowd wants. After several hours of resistance, the governor of the fortress de Launay, finally surrenders; as he exits, he is killed by the crowd. The crowd also kills de Flesselles, the provost of the Paris merchants.
July 15: The astronomer and mathematician Jean Sylvain Bailly is named mayor of Paris, and Lafayette is appointed Commander of the newly formed National Guard.
July 16: The King reinstates Necker as finance minister and withdraws royal troops from the center of the city. The new elected Paris assembly votes the destruction of the Bastille fortress. Similar committees and local militias are formed in Lyon, Rennes, and in other large French cities.
July 17: The King visits Paris, where he is welcomed at the Hôtel de Ville by Bailly and Lafayette, and wears the tricolor cockade. Sensing what is ahead, several prominent members of the nobility, including the Count of Artois, the Prince de Condé, the Duke of Enghien, the Baron de Breteuil, the Duke of Broglie, the Duke of Polignac and his wife become the first of a wave of émigrés to leave France.
July 18: Camille Desmoulins begins publication of 'La France libre', demanding a much more radical revolution and calling for a republic arguing that revolutionary violence is justified.
July 22: An armed mob on the Place de Grève massacres Berthier de Sauvigny, Intendant of Paris, and his father-in-law, accused of speculating in grain.
July 21-August 1: Riots and peasant revolts in Strasbourg (July 21), Le Mans (July 23), Colmar, Alsace, and Hainaut (July 25).
July 28: Jacques Pierre Brissot begins publication of Le Patriote français, an influential newspaper of the revolutionary movement known as the Girondins.
August
August 4: The King appoints a government of reformist ministers around Necker. The Assembly votes to abolish the privileges and feudal rights of the nobility.
August 7:  Publication of "A plot uncovered to lull the people to sleep" by Jean-Paul Marat, denouncing the reforms of August 4 as insufficient and demanding a much more radical revolution. Marat quickly becomes the voice of the most turbulent sans-culottes faction of the Revolution.
August 23: The Assembly proclaims freedom of religious opinions.
August 24: The Assembly proclaims freedom of speech.
Timeline of the French Revolution