French Revolution Study Guide Answers – Flashcards
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constitutional monarchy
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the rule of a monarch off of an official constitution or bill of rights for the people
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absolute monarchy
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a government in which the people essentially have no say. and the monarch holds all power
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republic
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government in which there is no monarch and power rests in the hands of the people as exercised through elected representatives
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First Estate
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social group made up of the clergy, which made up .5% of the population and owned 10% of the land
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Second Estate
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made up of nobles, who constituted 1.5% of the population and owned 25% of the land
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Third Estate
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made up of the bourgeoisie and peasants (90% of third estate); 98% of population
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bourgeoisie
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wealthy, educated commoners; the middle class of France
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Louis XV
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(r. 1715-1774) tried to raise taxes in order to pay debts from American Revolution and Seven Years War but failed; was regenerated as not a monarch but as a degenerate
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parlemants
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the high courts of France
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Madame de Pompadour
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mistress of King Louis XV, daughter of disgraced bourgeois financier; helped France's alliance with Austria in the mid 1750's
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Assembly of Notables
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aristocrats and high-ranking clergy who supported the ideas of the king
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Estates General
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a legislative body made up of 3 classes, or estates, of society
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Emmanuel Sieyès
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Catholic priest who condemned the system of privilege that lay at the heart of French society
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"What is the Third Estate?"
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written by Sieyès; argued that the 3rd estate is the most important because it IS France; condemned nobility and clergy and deemed them "foreigners"
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Louis XVI
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(r. 1774-1792) monarch of France; declared bankruptcy after trying to help pay French debts, invaded Austria and spud a bunch of other things that did not help France
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Marie Antoinette
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wife of Louis XVI; rumored to have been hoarding grain and spending French $$ on fancy things
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National Assembly
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the first French revolutionary legislature, made up primarily of representatives of the third estate and a few from the nobility and clergy, in session from 1789 to 1791
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Oath of the Tennis Court
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sworn by the National Assembly after they were ejected from the Estates General in 1789; pledged not to disband until a constitution was formed
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storming of the Bastille
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July 14, 1789; the National Assembly's storming of the Bastille, a French prison, in order to gain weapons and ammunition to fight
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Great Fear
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the fear of noble reprisals against peasant uprisings that seized the French countryside and led to further revolt
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August Decrees
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an order administered by the National Assembly in response to peasant uprisings that abolished serfdom, exclusive noble rights and tithes to Catholic church
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Declaration of Rights of Man
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declaration by the National Assembly that called for equality before the law, representative government and individual freedom
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women's march on Versailles
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October 5, 1789; a bunch of angry peasant women thought Marie Antoinette was hoarding grain and stormed the palace, demanding the royal family move to Paris and hand over their bread
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Civil Constitution of the Clergy
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(1790) established a French national Catholic church with priests chosen by voters
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assignat
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Paper currency
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Constitution of 1791
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limited the kings' power, gave males the right to vote and established a lawmaking body; essentially a constitutional or limited monarchy; first constitution
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Legislative Assembly
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created in 1791; the French representative body, made up of Jacobins and Girondins
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National Convention
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replaced the Legislative body in 1792 and proclaimed France as a republic
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"second revolution"
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from 1792-1795, during which the fall of the French monarchy introduced a rapid radicalization of politics
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September Massacres
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in response to the ejection of the French monarchy, angry crowds stormed the prisons and killed jailed priests and aristocrats
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Jacobins
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members of a political club in France whose members were well-educated radical republicans; bourgeoise, Robespierre
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Girondists
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a moderate group that fought for control of the French National Assembly in 1793; bourgeoise
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the Mountain
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led by Robespierre, the french radical faction, which seized legislative power in 1793
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sans-culottes
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the laboring poor of Paris, so called because the men wore trousers instead of the knee breeches of the aristocracy and middle class; the word also came to refer to the militant radicals of the city
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Maximilian Robespierre
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French provincial lawyer and delegate; later became the head of the Committee of Public Safety; killed during the Reign of Terror
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Georges Danton
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leader of the Mountain along with Robespierre
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Committee of Public Safety
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led by Robespierre, it held dictatorial power, allowing it to use whatever force necessary to defend the revolution; attempted to fix French economic crisis but was responsible for the Reign of Terror
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total war
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the "war against the tyranny", in which the Mountain and Girondists condemned the French crown to the guillotine
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Reign of Terror
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(1793-1794) the period during which the COPS tried and executed thousands suspected of treason and a new revolutionary culture was imposed.
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guillotine
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considered a humane and painless way of death, reserved only for nobles until the French Revolution (off with ur head)
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nationalism
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the power of dedication and sense of loyalty from citizens to state
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Thermidorian Reaction
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(1794-1795) a reaction to the violence of the Reign of Terror in1794, resulting in the execution of Robespierre and the loosening of economic controls
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Directory
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(1795-1799) an executive power made up of 5 corrupt leaders who were granted power by the new Assembly; continued to support wars even though France was out of cash
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Napoleon Bonaparte
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(1769-1821) French military leader who later became the first counsel of the French republic under a new constitution; civil code of March 1804; expanded French territory
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coup d'etat
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Napoleon's coup that ended the Directory in 1799, which paved the way for Napoleon's leadership
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plebiscite
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a direct vote by eligible voters to decide an important public question, such as a change to the constitution, secession, or a similar issue of national or regional importance.
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Civil Code of 1804
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(Napoleonic Code) a French civil code that reasserted the 1789 principles of the equality of all male citizens before the law and the absolute security of wealth and private property, as well as restricting women's rights
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Concordat of 1801
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signed between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII; gave the papacy the right for French Catholics to practice their religion freely, but gave the French govt power over nominating bishops and paying the clergy
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Battle of Trafalgar
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1805 battle between Britain, Austria, Russia and Sweden and France and Spain; Britain defeated France - end of French hopes to invade Britain
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Battle of Waterloo
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1815 battle that finally defeated Napoleon; Nap sent to exile in St. Helena
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Grand Empire
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the empire over which Napoleon and his allies ruled, encompassing virtually all of Europe except GB and Russia (sent his family to be rulers)
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continental system
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a blockade imposed by Napoleon to halt all trade between continental Europe and Britain, thereby weakening the British economy and military
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Hundred Days
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a frantic period in which the allies tried to defeat the second rise of Napoleon after his abdication
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Louis XVIII
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(r. 1814-1824) first ruler of France after Napoleon under the Bourbon dynasty; promised peace and issued the Constitutional Charter
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Constitutional Charter
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(1814) issued by King Louis XVIII that accepted many of the French revolutionary changes and guaranteed civil liberties.
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Edmund Burke
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(1729-1797) conservative British statesman and author of "Reflections on the Revolution in France", in which he glorified British parliament and predicted that reform in France would lead to chaos
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Mary Wollstonecraft
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(1759-1797) author of "A Vindication of Rights of Man" and "A Vindication of Rights of Women", which attacked Burke's writing and demanded equal rights for women
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Olympe de Gouges
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(1748-1793) protestor of slavery and women's injustice; author of "Declaration of Rights of Women", which advocated for equal rights for women
