Timeline of Kings and Queens, page 16
1762
Venice Marco Foscarini is elected doge. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth August III dies; his reign has seen the Seven Years’ War, involving all the major European powers and the refining of the plans of Prussia, Austria and Russia to partition the Commonwealth. Russia Empress Elizabeth dies; she is the last of the Russian Romanovs; future rulers will call themselves by the name of Romanov but, apart from Peter II, they are descended from the German Catherine II; the mentally immature Peter III becomes emperor in January; he is the son of Karl Friedrich, duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great; he immediately makes himself unpopular and is forced to abdicate in June; he is succeeded by his wife, Catherine II the Great, daughter of Christian August, prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, a Prussian general.
1763
Venice Alvise Giovanni Mocenigo is elected doge.
1764
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Stanisław II August Poniatowski is elected king; the last king of Poland and last grand duke of Lithuania, he is controlled by Russia and Prussia.
1765
Germany and Holy Roman Empire Joseph II becomes king and emperor; his mother, Maria Theresa, wields the real power.
1766
Denmark and Norway Christian VII becomes king; he may be schizophrenic and his reign is debauched and scandalous.
1767
Russia Catherine the Great commissions a new code of laws.
Montenegro Šćepan Mali claims to be Russian tsar Peter III, recently murdered by Catherine II of Russia; Sava II hands him power and he rules as an absolute ruler; he is actually a farmer from Dalmatia.
1769
Rome Cardinal Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli is elected pope as Clement XIV.
1770
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Stanisław II August Poniatowski is briefly dethroned and imprisoned by the Council of the Bar Confederation, an association of Polish nobles.
1771
Sweden Gustav III becomes king.
1772
Liechtenstein Josef Wenzel dies without surviving male issue; his nephew, Franz Josef I, becomes prince of Liechtenstein. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth In the First Partition, the Commonwealth loses about a third of its territory.
1773
Montenegro Šćepan Mali, who claims to be former Russian emperor Peter III, is killed by one of his own people.
1774
France Louis XV dies, having lost Canada and sold Louisiana during his reign; Louis XVI, grandson of Louis XV, becomes king.
“It is not a revolt, it is a revolution.”
King Louis XVI
1775
Rome Cardinal Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi is elected pope as Pius VI.
1777
Portugal Maria I, oldest of the four daughters of José I, becomes Portugal’s first queen regnant; her husband becomes king consort and is known as Pedro III; her first act is to dismiss the powerful head of government, the marquis de Pombal.
1779
Venice Paolo Renier is elected doge.
1780
Holy Roman Empire Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and co-ruler of Austria with his mother, Maria Theresa, becomes sole ruler on her death, beginning a 10-year period of important reforms; he also becomes king of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia.
1781
Liechtenstein Alois I, third son of Franz Josef I, becomes prince of Liechtenstein.
1782
Montenegro Petar I becomes prince-bishop; he becomes the most popular spiritual as well as military leader from the House of Petrović-Njegoš.
1785
Germany The League of German Princes is formed by Frederick the Great, against Austria.
1788
Spain Charles IV, second son of Charles III, becomes king; patron of Goya, he is closer to painters than to military and naval matters; the English will defeat him at Trafalgar in 1805.
1789
France The Estates-General meet at Versailles; the French Revolution begins; the Third Estate forms the National Assembly; the Bastille is stormed; the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen is issued. Venice Ludovico Manin is elected last doge of Venice.
1790
Holy Roman Empire Leopold II, younger brother of Joseph II, becomes emperor and ruler of the Habsburg lands of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia; his sister is Marie Antoinette, queen consort of France.
1791
France Amid the turmoil, Louis XVI and his family flee, but are captured; Louis accepts the new constitution.
1792
France is declared a republic; Louis XVI and his queen, the Austrian Marie Antoinette, are beheaded. Sweden Gustav III is assassinated at an Opera House Ball by an army captain named Anckarström; Gustav IV Adolf becomes king. Holy Roman Empire Franz II becomes the last Holy Roman Emperor, archduke of Austria and king of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Following the Second Partition, the Commonwealth is left with only about a third of its 1772 population.
1793
France Exiled French Royalists declare Louis XVII king. Monaco comes under French control until 1814.
1794
France The execution of Danton and Robespierre; the Reign of Terror draws to a close.
1795
France Louis XVII dies uncrowned, a prisoner in the Temple prison; the Directoire rules France. Russia Catherine ‘the Great’ dies, having taken countless lovers and expanded and modernized the Russian Empire; she died of a stroke. Paul I, son of Peter III and Catherine ‘the Great’, and a man of violent temper and capricious nature, becomes emperor. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth The Commonwealth ceases to exist, following the Third Partition of the territory which shares its remaining lands between Russia, Prussia and Austria; Poland and Lithuania become separate independent countries again; Stanisław August Poniatowski abdicates and, from this date on, Russian emperors assume the title of grand duke of Lithuania.
1796
France Napoleon Bonaparte, leading the French army, conquers most of Italy.
Napoleon Bonaparte
1769–1821
Napoleon Bonaparte was the emperor of France and is considered to be one of the greatest military leaders in history. He was educated in a military school and by 1796 had gained the position of commander of the French army in Italy.
Napoleon summed up his own career with the words:
‘I closed the gulf of anarchy and brought order out of chaos. I rewarded merit regardless of birth or wealth, wherever I found it. I abolished feudalism and restored equality to all regardless of religion and before the law. I fought the decrepit monarchies of the Old Regime because the alternative was the destruction of all this. I purified the Revolution.’
Napoleon’s brief reign ended after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. He was captured and imprisoned by the British on the remote island of St Helena. Napoleon died on the island on 5 May 1821.
1797
Venice Napoleon invades Venice; the doge is forced to abdicate; the city is incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy, under French rule, ending more than 1,000 years of independence.
1798
Rome The French occupy Rome, creating a Roman Republic; the pope is ordered to renounce his temporal authority and, refusing, is taken prisoner.
1799
France A coalition is formed of Britain, Austria, Russia, Portugal and the Ottoman Empire against the French; Bonaparte returns to France and becomes ‘First Consul’; the French are driven out of Italy. Portugal Queen Maria I’s mental instability – possibly caused by porphyria, the disease with which George III of Britain had been afflicted – renders her incapable of handling affairs of state; her son, Prince João, acts as prince regent.
1799
Naples and Sicily The Kingdom of Naples is abolished and replaced, for six months, by the Parthenopaean Republic; Ferdinand is restored to the throne.
Rome Pope Pius VI dies in captivity in Valence, in France; his pontificate is the longest in historical times at 24 years, 6 months and 15 days.
Rebellion and Revolution
1800-1918
1800
United Kingdom The Act of Union formally unites Great Britain and Ireland as the United Kingdom. Etruria Napoleon dispossesses Ferdinand, grand duke of Tuscany, and creates the Kingdom of Etruria; the crown prince of Parma is crowned Louis I. Rome Cardinal Count Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti Pius VII is elected pope. Holy Roman Empire The Treaty of Lunéville between France and Austria, marking the end of the Second Coalition, leads to the break-up of the Holy Roman Empire; the Austrian emperor has to renounce all claims to the empire. Bonaparte, meanwhile, has time to prepare his troops for greater triumphs.
1801
France Napoleon signs a concordat with the Catholic Church, seeking to reconcile the Catholics under his control. Spain Sup-ported by Napoleon, Spanish dictator Manuel de Godoy, prime minister of Portugal from 1792 to 1797 and known as the Prince of the Peace, unsuccessfully invades Portugal. Russia Emperor Paul I is assassinated by being strangled and stamped to death by a group of disgruntled army officers, annoyed by reforms disadvantaging the nobility; Alexander I becomes emperor.
1802
France Napoleon Bonaparte is created ‘First Consul for Life’.
1803
Etruria Louis II becomes king of Etruria.
1804
France Napoleon is crowned emperor of France; his civil code is created and adopted by many other countries. Austrian Empire Archduke Franz founds the Austrian Empire, consisting of all the Habsburg lands, including Austria, Lombardy and Venetia, Hungary, Croatia and Dalmatia, becoming Emperor Franz I.
1805
Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph, the elector of Bavaria, is rewarded by Napoleon for his support; the treaty of Pressburg makes Bavaria a kingdom, and Swabia and Franconia are added to its territory; Maximilian I becomes king. Liechtenstein Prince Alois I dies childless; his brother, Johann I Josef, becomes the last prince of Liechtenstein to rule under the Holy Roman Empire. Italy Napoleon takes control of much of the north of the country and becomes king of Italy.
1806
Netherlands Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, is named king of Holland, a puppet kingdom created by Napoleon. Liechtenstein Napoleon incorporates Liechtenstein into the Confederation of the Rhine and makes it a sovereign state. Württemberg becomes a kingdom, having been ruled by the same family for 700 years; Duke Frederick II assumes the title of King Frederick I, abrogates the constitution and unites old and new Württemberg; he marries Princess Charlotte, daughter of George III of Great Britain, and allies with Napoleon, deserting him for the Allied cause in 1813. Austrian Empire and Holy Roman Empire Emperor Franz II dissolves the Holy Roman Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz; he is left only with the titles emperor of Austria; king of Jerusalem, Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia and Lodomeria; archduke of Austria; duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Würzburg, Franconia, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola; grand duke of Cracow; grand prince of Transylvania; margrave of Moravia; duke of Sandomir, Masovia, Lublin, Upper and Lower Silesia, Auschwitz and Zator, Teschen and Friule; prince of Berchtesgaden and Mergentheim; princely count of Habsburg, Gorizia and Gradisca and of the Tyrol and margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and Istria. Naples and Sicily Napoleon I deposes Ferdinand, replacing him with his brother, Joseph Bonaparte.
Battle of Jena
14 October 1806
The Battle of Jena was a military engagement during the Napoleonic Wars and took place at Jena and Auerstädt in Saxony (modern Germany). On 14 October 1806, Napoleon attacked Prince Friedrich of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen and his force with his main army of over 56,000 men. It was a bitter conflict and throughout the night new units moved up to reinforce the French army. They used a parade ground formation, firing volleys into the enemy when ordered. The Prussian force under Marshal Lannes soon started to weaken and he sent for immediate reinforcements hoping to hold out until they arrived.
Unfortunately for Lannes, an impatient Marshal Ney launched an assault in the centre and neither side could believe his stupidity. It left the Prussian army completey exposed. At 1.00 p.m. Bonaparte ordered a general advance and within two hours the exhausted Prussians surrendered. Jena cost Bonaparte some 5,000 men; nothing compared to the staggering 25,000 Prussian casualties.
1807
Portugal refuses to join in the Continental Blockade of Britain; France and Spain invade; the entire Braganza dynasty flees to Brazil, where it sets up a court in exile in Rio de Janeiro; Rio will be capital of Portugal until 1821; Napoleon appoints as governor, French General Jean-Andoche Junot, 1st Duc d’Abrantès. Westphalia Napoleon creates the Kingdom of Westphalia from Hesse-Kassel, Brunswick and large areas of Russia, Hanover and Saxony; he names his brother, Jérôme Bonaparte, as king of what is effectively a French vassal state.
1808
Spain and Portugal Charles IV abdicates in favour of his son, who takes the throne as Ferdinand VII; France occupies Spain; Napoleon persuades Charles IV to rescind his abdication in favour of his son and change it to favour his brother Joseph, who is already king of Naples and Sicily, and becomes king of Spain; British General Arthur Wellesley, later the duke of Wellington, lands in Lisbon with a force, initiating the Peninsular War, which lasts until 1814. Rome The French take the Papal States and Pope Pius VII is taken prisoner; he is held for more than six years. Denmark and Norway Christian VII dies following a scandalous and unpopular reign; during the reign of his successor, Frederick VI, Denmark loses Norway. Etruria The Kingdom of Etruria is revoked by Napoleon; he restores the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and gives it to his sister Elizabeth, princess of Lucca. Naples and Sicily Napoleon names his brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, king as Joachim I.
1809
Sweden A military coup ousts Gustav IV Adolf; Charles XIII, second son of King Adolf Frederick and uncle of Gustav IV, becomes king.
1810
United Kingdom George III is declared insane; George, prince of Wales, becomes regent. Netherlands King Louis Napoleon has attempted to serve Dutch interests as well as his brother’s; he is forced to abdicate; his 5-year-old son, Napoleon Louis, succeeds him as Louis II; he reigns for just 10 days; Napoleon invades and dissolves the kingdom; the country is annexed and becomes part of the French Empire. Sweden Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, created marshal of France by Napoleon Bonaparte, is offered the throne partly because he will be acceptable to Napoleon; he becomes Charles XIV John of Sweden, first king of the House of Bernadotte; he never learns Swedish; the House of Bernadotte still reigns.
1811
Portugal The French are driven out of Portugal.
1813
France Napoleon is defeated in the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig; Allied forces invade France and enter Paris. Spain The French are driven out by Wellington; the House of Bourbon is restored and Ferdinand VII, son of Charles IV, becomes king, having been a prisoner of the French; he rules despotically and loses Spain’s South American colonies in 1820. Westphalia Following the Battle of Leipzig, the Kingdom of Westphalia ceases to exist; Jerome Bonaparte flees.
1814
France Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba; Louis XVIII (left), brother of beheaded Louis XVI, becomes king of France.
Lombardy The Congress of Vienna combines Lombardy, ruled by the Habsburgs since the 16th century, with Venetia into the Kingdom of Lombardy, under the rule of the Habsburgs; the former Holy Roman Emperor, Franz I, becomes king. Tuscany Grand Duke Ferdinand is restored; Lucca unites with Tuscany. Rome Pope Pius VI is freed by allied forces and returns to the Vatican; the Congress of Vienna restores the Papal States to Rome. Norway Christian VIII of Denmark is elected regent of Norway; after trying to unite Norway with Sweden – Norwegian forces are defeated by Swedish Crown Prince Karl-Hans – he abdicates; Norway forms a union with Sweden and Charles XIII of Sweden is elected Karl II of Norway. Hanover The Treaty of Vienna raises Hanover to the status of a kingdom; George-William-Frederick, George III of Great Britain and Ireland, becomes the country’s first king. Liechtenstein The Vienna Congress confirms Liechtenstein’s status as a sovereign state; Johann I Josef is restored as prince.
1815
France The hundred days war; Napoleon escapes from Elba and marches on Paris; at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon is defeated by Wellington and exiled to St Helena; Napoleon II, aged 4, becomes emperor of the French from 22 June until 7 July; Louis XVIII is restored to the French throne.
The United Kingdom of the Netherlands formally unites Belgium and Holland. Monaco becomes a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia under the Congress of Vienna; Honoré V becomes sovereign prince. Portugal Exiled in Brazil, Queen Maria I elevates Brazil to the status of a kingdom, and is proclaimed queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves; on the eventual defeat of Napoleon, she and her family remain in Brazil. Prussia King Frederick William III is restored and, following the Napoleonic wars, Prussia becomes the dominant state in Germany. Württemberg joins the German Confederation. Netherlands Prince William of Orange becomes William I. Luxembourg is promoted to a Grand Duchy, ; William I, king of the Netherlands, from the House of Orange-Nassau, becomes grand duke. Austria The Austrian monarchy is restored, with Franz I as emperor. Naples and Sicily Ferdinand III is restored to the throne, for a third time, with the Austrian victory at the Battle of Tolentino. Serbia The Serbs revolt against Turkish rule; Milosh Obrenovich becomes prince of Serbia; he is the first king of the House of Obrenovich that will reign until 1903 (apart from 1842 until 1858). Grand Duchy of Posen The territory formerly known as Greater Poland becomes an autonomous province of the Kingdom of Prussia, under Hohenzollern rule; the kings of Prussia assume the title grand duke of Posen, the first being Frederick William III.
