Events from the year 1792 in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Incumbents

*Monarch:

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

(until 21 September; monarchy abolished) *The Legislative Assembly (until 21 September) *The

National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

(from 21 September)

Events

March

*25 March – The Legislative Assembly agrees that the

guillotine A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at th ...

should be used for judicial executions.

April

*20 April – The Legislative Assembly declares war against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, starting the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

and

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the Kingdom of France (1791-92), constitutional Kingdom of France and then t ...

. *25 April **

Highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footp ...

Nicolas Pelletier becomes the first person executed by

in France, in what becomes the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville in Paris. ** ''

La Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

'', the French

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

, is composed by

Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (), sometimes spelled de l'Isle or de Lile (10 May 1760 – 26 June 1836), was a French army officer of the French Revolutionary Wars. He is known for writing the words and music of the ''Chant de guerre pour l'armé ...

June

*13 June –

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

declares war against France. *20 June –

Demonstration of 20 June 1792 The Demonstration of 20 June 1792 (french: Journée du 20 juin 1792) was the last peaceful attempt made by the people of Paris to persuade King Louis XVI of France to abandon his current policy and attempt to follow what they believed to be a mor ...

August

Siège des Tuileries, 1792, Musée de la Révolution française - Vizille

*10 August –

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

Insurrection of 10 August 1792 The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 was a defining event of the French Revolution, when armed revolutionaries in Paris, increasingly in conflict with the French monarchy, stormed the Tuileries Palace. The conflict led France to abolish the mona ...

– The

Tuileries Palace The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...

is stormed and

Louis XVI of France Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

is arrested and taken into custody. *20 August –

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun (french: Bataille de Verdun ; german: Schlacht um Verdun ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

– Prussia defeats France, opening a route to Paris. *21 August – Royalist Louis Collenot d'Angremont becomes the first person executed by

for political reasons, in the

Place du Carrousel The Place du Carrousel () is a public square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, located at the open end of the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, a space occupied, prior to 1883, by the Tuileries Palace. Sitting directly between the museum and the T ...

in Paris.

September

*2–19 September –

1792 French National Convention election The first election for the National Convention of France was held in 1792. It established the nation's first government without a monarch. The election of the deputies was held in early September and lasted three weeks; they were the first to be ...

. *2–7 September –

September Massacres The September Massacres were a series of killings of prisoners in Paris that occurred in 1792, from Sunday, 2 September until Thursday, 6 September, during the French Revolution. Between 1,176 and 1,614 people were killed by ''fédérés'', gua ...

– Rampaging mobs in Paris slaughter three

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

s and more than 200

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

s, together with at least 1,000 criminals. *9 September –

9 September massacres The 9 September massacres were two series of massacres of prisoners at Versailles on 9 September 1792 during the French Revolution. They occurred in the context of the September Massacres. Claude Fournier was accused of complicity in them. Those k ...

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

. *11 September – Six men steal some of the former

French Crown Jewels The French Crown Jewels (french: Joyaux de la Couronne de France) comprise the crowns, orb, sceptres, diadems and jewels that were symbols of Royal power between 752 and 1825. These were worn by many Kings and Queens of France as well as Emper ...

from a warehouse, where the revolutionary government has stored them. *14 September – Radical antimonarchist

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

flees from England to France, after being indicted for treason. He is tried ''in absentia'' during December and

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...

ed. *20 September –

Battle of Valmy The Battle of Valmy, also known as the Cannonade of Valmy, was the first major victory by the army of France during the Revolutionary Wars that followed the French Revolution. The battle took place on 20 September 1792 as Prussian troops comm ...

– The French revolutionary army defeats the Prussians under the

Duke of Brunswick Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

after a 7-hour artillery duel. Valmy Battle painting

*21 September –

: A

Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy During the French Revolution, the proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy (French: ''Proclamation de l'abolition de la royauté'') was a proclamation by the National Convention of France announcing that it had abolished the French monarchy ...

by the French Convention goes into effect, and the

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...

is established, effective the following day. *22 September –

: The

Era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

of the historical French Republican Calendar begins.

November

*6 November –

Battle of Jemappes The Battle of Jemappes (6 November 1792) took place near the town of Jemappes in Hainaut, Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium), near Mons during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. One of the first major off ...

– Austrian armies under the command of Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen are defeated in Belgium (at this time part of the Austrian Netherlands) by the French Army led by General

Charles François Dumouriez Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez (, 26 January 1739 – 14 March 1823) was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. He shared the victory at Valmy with General François Christophe Kellermann, but later deserted the Revo ...

. *19 November – The

passes a resolution pledging French support for the overthrow of the governments of other nations.

December

*26 December – The trial of

begins.

Ongoing

Full date unknown

Claude Chappe Claude Chappe (; 25 December 1763 – 23 January 1805) was a French inventor who in 1792 demonstrated a practical semaphore system that eventually spanned all of France. His system consisted of a series of towers, each within line of sight of ...

successfully demonstrates the first

semaphore line An optical telegraph is a line of stations, typically towers, for the purpose of conveying textual information by means of visual signals. There are two main types of such systems; the semaphore telegraph which uses pivoted indicator arms and ...

, between Paris and Lille. *

Barthélemy Catherine Joubert Barthélemy Catherine Joubert (, 14 April 1769 – 15 August 1799) was a French general who served during the French Revolutionary Wars. Napoleon Bonaparte recognized his talents and gave him increased responsibilities. Joubert was killed while ...

, future general, becomes sub-lieutenant.

Births

*21 May –

Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis (; 21 May 1792 – 19 September 1843) was a French mathematician, mechanical engineer and scientist. He is best known for his work on the supplementary forces that are detected in a rotating frame of reference, le ...

, engineer, scientist *1 August – Pierre Solomon Ségalas d'Etchépare, physician *9 August – Charles-François Lebœuf, sculptor *25 August – Jean-Baptiste Duvergier, lawyer *28 November –

Victor Cousin Victor Cousin (; 28 November 179214 January 1867) was a French philosopher. He was the founder of "eclecticism", a briefly influential school of French philosophy that combined elements of German idealism and Scottish Common Sense Realism. As ...

, philosopher

Deaths

*1 March –

Jean Godin des Odonais Jean Godin des Odonais (5 July 1713 Saint-Amand-Montrond, France - 1 March 1792 Paris) was a French cartographer and naturalist. Biography Godin des Odonais had joined the world's first geodesy expedition to the equator, led by Charles Marie de ...

, cartographer and naturalist *12 May –

Charles Simon Favart Charles Simon Favart (13 November 1710 – 12 May 1792) was a French playwright and theatre director. The Salle Favart in Paris is named after him. Biography Born in Paris, the son of a pastry-cook, he was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, a ...

, dramatist *29 July –

René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou (; 25 February 1714 – 29 July 1792) was a French lawyer, politician, and chancellor of France, whose attempts at reform signalled the failure of enlightened despotism in France. He is best known for ...

, Chancellor of France *23 August –

Arnaud II de La Porte Arnaud II de La Porte (born, Versailles, 14 October 1737; guillotined Paris, 23 August 1792) French statesman, Minister of the Marine, Intendant of the King's Civil List (Minister of the Royal Household). Early life and career Born at Versailles ...

, statesman (executed) *25 August –

Jacques Cazotte Jacques Cazotte (; 17 October 1719 – 25 September 1792) was a French author. Life Born in Dijon, he was educated by the Jesuits. Cazotte then worked for the French Ministry of the Marine and at the age of 27 he obtained a public office at Mar ...

, writer (executed) *3 September –

Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe Marie Thérèse Louise (; 8 September 1749 – 3 September 1792) was a member of the Savoy-Carignano cadet branch of the House of Savoy. She was married at the age of 17 to Louis Alexandre de Bourbon-Penthièvre, ''Prince de Lamballe'', the heir t ...

, princess, courtier to

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

(murdered during the French Revolution) *8 September – Charles d'Abancour, statesman *22 October –

Guillaume Le Gentil Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de la Galaisière (, 12 September 1725 – 22 October 1792) was a French astronomer who discovered several nebulae and was appointed to the Royal Academy of Sciences. He made unsuccessful attemp ...

, astronomer *7 December –

Marie Jeanne Riccoboni Marie-Jeanne Riccoboni (25 October 1713 in Paris - 7 December 1792 in Paris), whose maiden name was Laboras de Mézières, was a French actress and novelist. Early years She was born in Paris in 1713. Career In 1735, she married Antoine Fran ...

, novelist *Full date unknown –

Nicholas Adam Nicholas Adam (1716–1792) was a French linguist and writer. Born in Paris, he achieved distinction by authoring a grammar book which bore the title: ''La vraie manière d'apprendre une langue quelconque, vivante ou morte, par le moyen de la lan ...

, grammarian

References

{{Year in Europe, 1792 1790s in France