World History Chapter 23 Vocab. – Flashcards
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Old regime
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The political and social system that existed in France before the French Revolution
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Estates
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One of the three social classes in France before the French Revolution
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First estate
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Clergy
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Second estate
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Nobles
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Third estate
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The rest of the population
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Louis XVI
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Wanted to improve life for the people but was not a good leader, queen gave him poor advice, increased debt, king of France
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Marie Antoinette
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Louis XVI's queen, spent a lot of money on herself and parties, from Austria, hated in France
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Estates-general
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An assembly of representatives from all three of the estates, or social classes, in France
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National Assembly
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A French congress established by representatives of the third estate on June 17, 1789, to enact laws and reforms in the name of the French people
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Tennis court oath
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A pledge made by the members of France's National Assembly in 1789, in which they vowed to continue meeting until they had drawn up a new constitution
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Great fear
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A wave of senseless panic that spread through the French countryside after the storming of the Bastille in 1789
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Legislative assembly
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A French congress with the power to create laws and approve declarations of war, established by the constitution of 1791
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Émigré
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A person who leaves their native country for political reasons, like the nobles and others who fled France during the peasant uprisings of the French Revolution
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Sans-culottes
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In the French Revolution, a radical group made up of Parisian wage-earners and small shop-keepers who wanted a greater voice in government, lower prices, and an end to food shortages
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Jacobins
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A radical political organization mainly involved in governmental changes in September 1792, a member
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Guillotine
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A machine for beheading people, used as a means of execution during the French Revolution
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Maximilien Robespierre
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Jacobin leader, set out to build a "republic of virtue" (wiping out every trace of France's past), created new calendar without a Sunday, thought religion was old fashioned, closed many churches, became leader of the Committee of Public Safety in 1793, governed France as a dictator
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Reign of terror
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The period, from mid-1793 to mid-1794, when Robespierre ruled France nearly as a dictator and thousands of political figures and ordinary citizens were executed
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Napoleon Bonaparte
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Born in Corsica, when revolution broke out, he joined the army of the new government, hailed throughout Paris as the savior of the French Republic, lead a French army against Austria and won, won in Italy, did not win in Egypt, seized political power, assumed powers of a dictator
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Coup d'état
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A sudden seizure of political power in a nation
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Plebiscite
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A direct vote in which a country's people have the opportunity to approve or reject a proposal
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Lycées
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A government-run public school in France
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Concordat
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A formal agreement - especially one between the pope and a government, dealing with the control of church affairs
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Napoleonic code
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A comprehensive and uniform system of laws established for France by Napoleon
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Battle of Trafalgar
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An 1805 naval battle in which Napoleon's forces were defeated by a British fleet under the command of Horatio Nelson
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Blockade
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The use of troops or ships to prevent commercial traffic from entering or leaving a city or region
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Continental system
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Napoleon's policy of preventing trade between Great Britain and continental Europe, intended to destroy Great Britain's economy
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Guerilla
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A member of a loosely organized fighting force that makes surprise attacks on enemy troops occupying his or her country
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Peninsular war
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A conflict, lasting from 1808 to 1813, in which Spanish rebels, with the aid of British forces, fought to drive Napoleon's French troops out of Spain
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Scorched-Earth policy
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The practice of burning crops and killing livestock during wartime so that the enemy cannot live off the land
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Waterloo
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Village in Belgium, attacked by Napoleon, British and Prussian forces drove French out
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Hundred days
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The brief period during 1815 when Napoleon made his last bid for power, disposing the French kind and again becoming emperor of France
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Congress of Vienna
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A series of meetings in 1814-1815, during which the European leaders sought to establish long-lasting peace and security after the defeat of Napoleon
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Klemens von Metternich
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Foreign minister of Austria, wanted things to stay the same, wanted to prevent future French aggression by surrounding France with strong countries, wanted to restore a balance of power so no countries were a threat, and wanted to restore Europe's royal families to the throne they had before Napoleon
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Balance of power
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A political situation in which no one nation is powerful enough to pose a threat to others
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Legitimacy
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The hereditary right of a monarch to rule
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Holy Alliance
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A league of European nations formed by the leaders of Russia, Austria, and Prussia after the Congress of Vienna
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Concert of Europe
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A series of alliances among European nations in the 19th century, devised by Prince Klemens von Metternich to prevent the outbreak of revolutions
