Investigate the major players and the ways in which they influenced the French Revolution. Explore the fascinating history of this revolutionary era, from Marie Antoinette through Maximilien Robespierre. In our in-depth guide, find more about the leaders and their influence on the revolutionary cause.
| Figure | Role |
| Louis XVI | King of France |
| Marie Antoinette | Queen of France |
| Maximilien Robespierre | Leader of the Committee of Public Safety |
| Georges Danton | Revolutionary leader, orator |
| Jean-Paul Marat | Political theorist, journalist |
| Napoleon Bonaparte | Military general, later Emperor |
| Charlotte Corday | Assassin of Jean-Paul Marat |
| Olympe de Gouges | Women’s rights advocate |
| Jacques-Louis David | Neoclassical painter |
| Jean-Jacques Rousseau | Philosopher, influential thinker |
| Marquis de Lafayette | Military officer, key supporter of the Revolution |
| Camille Desmoulins | Journalist, leader in the early Revolution |
| Louis Antoine de Saint-Just | Revolutionary leader, politician |
| Louis-Philippe II | Duke of Orléans, later King of the French |
| Georges Couthon | Member of the Committee of Public Safety |
| Jacques Necker | Finance minister, key reformer |
| Antoine Lavoisier | Chemist, prominent scientist |
| Madame de Staël | Writer, salonnière |
| André-Jacques Garnerin | Balloonist, made first parachute descent |
| Toussaint Louverture | Leader of the Haitian Revolution |
| François-Noël Babeuf | Political theorist, advocate of egalitarianism |
| Charles-Maurice Talleyrand | Diplomat, key negotiator |
| Théroigne de Méricourt | Women’s rights advocate, political activist |
| Jean-Baptiste Carrier | Revolutionary leader, known for the Noyades |
| Germaine de Staël | Writer, political theorist |
| Louis XVIII | King of France, Bourbon restoration |
| Abbé Sieyès | Clergyman, key figure in the early Revolution |
| Madame Roland | Political activist, salonnière |
| Abbé Grégoire | Clergyman, advocate of religious and racial tolerance |
| François-Marie Arouet | Philosopher, known as Voltaire |
| Louis-Philippe I | King of the French, July Monarchy |
| Louis XV | King of France |
| Napoleon III | Emperor of the French |
