18th Century (1700s)

Question 1

What caused the War of the Spanish Succession? (1701-1714)

Answer 1

• What It Was:
  
  • Conflict over the succession to the Spanish throne after the death of the childless Charles II of Spain.
  • France supported Philip V, Louis XIV’s grandson, as the heir, which other European powers opposed to prevent the union of France and Spain under one dynasty.

Question 2

What was the Treaty of Utrecht and its significance to France? (1713–1715)

Answer 2

• What It Was:
  
  • The Treaty of Utrecht ended the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713.
• Significance:
  
  • Marked the end of French expansionist policies under Louis XIV.
  • Resulted in territorial losses for France, including ceding territories in North America and Europe.

Question 3

Who was Louis XV and what is his significance? (r. 1715-1774)

Answer 3

• Who He Was:
  
  • Crowned King of France at age 5 after the death of his great-grandfather Louis XIV.
• Significance:
  
  • France’s power and influence began to decline under his long reign due to costly wars and financial mismanagement.
  • His reign contributed to the conditions that eventually led to the French Revolution.

Question 4

Who was the Regent during Louis XV’s underage years? (r.1715-1723)

Answer 4

Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

Question 5

Who was Voltaire and why is he significant? (c.1694-1778)

Answer 5

Who He Was:
A leading Enlightenment thinker, critic of the Church, and advocate for civil liberties.
Significant Works:
Letters on the English (1733), which praised British political systems and criticized French absolutism.
Candide (1759), a satire that critiques optimism and the injustices of society.
Significance:
Voltaire’s works laid the intellectual groundwork for the Enlightenment and challenged the status quo, influencing revolutionary ideas.

Question 6

What was the Enlightenment, and what is its significance to France? (17th-18th centuries)

Answer 6

• What It Was:
  
  • An intellectual and philosophical movement that emphasized reason, science, and individual rights over tradition and religious authority.
• Significance:
  
  • Includes key French figures like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu, whose works inspired revolutionary ideas.
  • Foreshadowed and shaped the ideological foundation of the French Revolution.

Question 7

What was the Seven Years’ War and its significance for France? (1756-1763)

Answer 7

• What It Was:
  
  • A global conflict involving the European powers, including France, Britain, and Prussia.
  • Battles fought in Europe, North America, and India over colonial rivalries, territorial disputes and power struggles.
• Significance:
  
  • France’s defeat weakened its global territories and contributed to the financial crises leading to the French Revolution.

Question 8

What was the Treaty of Paris and what was its significance for France? (1763)

Answer 8

• What It Was:
  
  • Treaty that ended the Seven Years’ War.
• Significance:
  
  • France cedes Canada and all its territories east of the Mississippi River to Britain as well as parts of India.
  • Signifies the end of French colonial prowess.

Question 9

What was the American Revolution and its significance for France? (1775-1783)

Answer 9

• What It Was:
  
  • A conflict between the American colonies and Britain, with France supporting the American cause.
• Significance to France:
  
  • France provided crucial military and financial support to the American colonies, motivated by a desire to weaken Britain.
  • The war further strained France’s finances and inspired revolutionary fervor at home.

Question 10

What was the Treaty of Versailles its significance for France? (1783)

Answer 10

• What It Was:
  
  • Treaty that ended the American Revolutionary War.
• Significance to France:
  
  • France regained some territories it had lost previously, including Tobago and Senegal.
  • The treaty marked a diplomatic success for France in weakening Britain, at great financial cost however.

Question 11

Who was Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and what was his significance, particularly in relation to the French Revolution? (c.1712-1778)

Answer 11

• Who He Was:
  
  • A Genevan philosopher, and political theorist whose works, including The Social Contract (1762), greatly influenced the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.
• Significance:
  
  • Advocated for the “general will,” emphasizing collective sovereignty and the absolute will of the people.
  • Inspired revolutionary leaders like the Jacobins to justify extreme, violent measures for a unified, more virtuous republic.
  • Provided intellectual justification for the Reign of Terror, where perceived enemies of the revolution were purged to achieve the ‘general will.’

Question 12

Who was Louis XVI, and what is his significance? (r. 1774 - Jan. 21, 1793)

Answer 12

• Who He Was:
  
  • King of France during the French Revolution.
• Significance:
  
  • Financial issues and attempted reforms were too little and too late for the revolutionaries
  • His death symbolized the definitive break from the old regime and the rise of the Republic.

Question 13

What was the Estates General of 1789 and why is it significant?

Answer 13

• What It Was:
  
  • An assembly of representatives from the three estates (clergy, nobility, and commoners) called by Louis XVI to address France’s financial crisis.
• Significance:
  
  • Marked the beginning of the French Revolution as the Third Estate broke away to form the National Assembly.

Question 14

What was the Third Estate and its significance to the French Revolution?

Answer 14

• What It Was:
  
  • The Third Estate represented the commoners of France, including peasants, artisans, merchants, professionals, and the sans-culottes (working-class revolutionaries).
• Significance in the French Revolution:
  
  • Played an igniting role in the Revolution by challenging the privileges of the First (clergy) and Second (nobility) Estates.
  • Formed the National Assembly which spearheaded demands for represenation.

Question 15

What was the Tennis Court Oath, and why is it significant? (June 20, 1789)

Answer 15

• What It Was:
  
  • An oath taken by members of the Third Estate after being locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General.
  • They met in a nearby tennis court and vowed not to disband until a new constitution for France was established.
• Significance:
  
  • The Tennis Court Oath symbolized the determination of the Third Estate to challenge the authority of the monarchy.
  • Eventually led to the formation of the National Assembly.

Question 16

What was the National Assembly of 1789, and why is it significant?

Answer 16

• What It Was:
  
  • Formed by the Third Estate in 1789 after breaking away from the Estates General.
• Significance:
  
  • It acted as the revolutionary government of France, initiating significant reforms, including the abolition of feudalism and the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Question 17

What was the Fall of the Bastille, and why is it significant? (July 14, 1789)

Answer 17

• What It Was:
  
  • The storming of the Bastille prison by Parisian revolutionaries, igniting the French Revolution.
• Significance:
  
  • The event became a symbol of the French Revolution.
  • The catalyst, or powder keg, for revolutionary activity across France.

Question 18

What was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and why is it significant? (Aug. 26, 1789)

Answer 18

• What It Was:
  
  • A foundational document of the French Revolution, adopted by the National Assembly, outlining individual rights.
  • Drafted in part by Thomas Jefferson, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
• Significance:
  
  • Influenced human rights.
  • It challenged the old regime and laid the ideological foundation for the revolution.

Question 19

What was the Women’s March on Versailles, and why is it significant? (Oct. 5, 1789)

Answer 19

• What It Was:
  
  • A march by Parisian women to the Palace of Versailles to demand bread and political reforms.
• Significance:
  
  • Forced King Louis XVI and the royal family to relocate to Paris, effectively placing them under control of the revolutionaries.
  • The march demonstrated the power of popular protest and further radicalized the revolution.

Question 20

What was the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, and what was its impact on France? (July 12, 1790)

Answer 20

• What It Was:
  
  • Law that brought the Catholic Church under state control, requiring clergy to swear allegiance to the revolution.
• Significance in France:
  
  • Deepened the divide between the revolutionaries and the Church, leading to resistance, especially in rural areas.
  • The Pope didn’t like it.

Question 21

What was the Flight to Varennes, and why is it significant? (June 20, 1791)

Answer 21

• What It Was:
  
  • An unsuccessful attempt by King Louis XVI and his family to escape Paris and find refuge.
• Significance:
  
  • The attempt shattered any remaining trust in the monarchy and led to calls for its abolition.
  • Marked a turning point in the revolution, leading to the king’s eventual trial and execution.

Question 22

What was the Declaration of Pillnitz and its significance? (Aug. 27, 1791)

Answer 22

• What It Was:
  
  • A statement issued by the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and King Frederick William II of Prussia threatening military intervention if the French monarchy was harmed.
• Significance:
  
  • Intended to intimidate the French revolutionaries, but instead backfired, leading to the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars.
  • Heightened tensions between revolutionary France and European monarchies, leading to a sense of external threat that united the revolutionaries.

Question 23

What was the Brunswick Manifesto and its significance? (July 25, 1792)

Answer 23

• What It Was:
  
  • A proclamation issued by the Duke of Brunswick, commander of the Allied armies (Austria and Prussia), threatening reprisals if the French royal family were harmed.
• Impact:
  
  • The manifesto inadvertently intensified revolutionary fervor in France and led to the storming of the Tuileries Palace, further radicalizing the revolution.

Question 24

What was the Legislative Assembly, and what was its role in the French Revolution? (Oct. 1, 1791- Sept. 20, 1792)

Answer 24

• Content:
  
  • The governing body of France after the National Assembly, tasked with enacting laws under the new constitution.
• Role:
  
  • Struggled to maintain order as France faced internal dissent and external threats.
    The Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria, marking the beginning of the radical phase of the revolution.

Question 25

What was the National Convention, and what is its significance? (Sept. 20, 1792 - Nov. 3, 1795)

Answer 25

• Content:
  
  • The revolutionary government that replaced the Legislative Assembly, leading France during the most radical phase of the revolution.
• Significance:
  
  • Abolished the monarchy and established the First French Republic.
  • Ordered the execution of Louis XVI and the Reign of Terror.

Question 26

When did the National Convention declare the First French Republic?

Answer 26

On September 21, 1792, one day after its formation, the National Convention declared France a republic, abolishing the monarchy.

Question 27

What was the Committee of Public Safety, and its role during the French Revolution? (Apr. 6, 1793 - Oct. 25, 1795)

Answer 27

Content:
* A powerful political body that governed France during the Reign of Terror, led by figures like Robespierre.

• Role:
  
  • Tasked with protecting the revolution from internal and external threats, often through violent means.
  • Led by key figures such as Maximilien Robespierre, it was responsible for implementing the Reign of Terror, during which thousands of perceived enemies of the Revolution were executed.
  • Played a decisive role in maintaining revolutionary fervor and enforcing radical policies, but its extreme measures eventually led to a backlash, resulting in the fall of Robespierre and the end of the Reign of Terror.

Question 28

What was the Reign of Terror, and what is its significance? (Sept. 5, 1793 - Jul. 27, 1794)

Answer 28

• Content:
  
  • A period of extreme violence during the French Revolution, led by the Committee of Public Safety and its member, Robespierre.
  • Tens of thousands were executed by guillotine, including many revolutionaries.
• Significance:
  
  • Ends with the fall of Robespierre and the Thermidorian Reaction.

Question 29

What was the Law of Suspects, and its significance in the French Revolution? (Sept. 17,1793)

Answer 29

• Content:
  
  • A decree passed by the National Convention during the Reign of Terror that broadened the definition of “enemies of the revolution” to include anyone suspected of counter-revolutionary activities or harboring anti-revolutionary sentiments.
• Significance:
  
  • The law intensified the Reign of Terror, creating an atmosphere of fear and paranoia that contributed to the eventual downfall of Robespierre and the radical Jacobins.

Question 30

Who was Marie Antoinette and what is her significance? (c.1755 - Oct. 16, 1793)

Answer 30

• Who She Was:
  
  • The Queen of France and wife of Louis XVI, criticized by some for her lavish lifestyle amid France’s financial crisis.
  • Marie Antoinette became a symbol of the excesses of the monarchy and was vilified by revolutionary propaganda.
• Significance:
  
  • She was executed by guillotine in October 1793, following her husband’s execution, further marking the Revolution’s radical phase.

Question 31

What were the Massacres in the Vendée and why are they significant? (1793-1796)

Answer 31

• Content:
  
  • The massacre of Vendeans by the Republic’s “infernal columns” during the brutal suppression of the royalist and Catholic uprising in the Vendée region.
  • General Louis Marie Turreau, leading the Republican forces, ordered the burning of villages and the extermination of the rebels, stating: “My purpose is to burn everything, to leave nothing but what is essential to establish the necessary quarters for exterminating the rebels.”
• Significance:
  
  • An estimated 200,000 inhabitants of the Vendée were massacred in one of the most brutal atrocities of the French Revolution.
  • Demonstrated the extreme measures taken by the revolutionary, Republican government to suppress dissent.

Question 32

What were the Drownings at Nantes, and why are they significant? (Nov. 1793 - Feb. 1794)

Answer 32

• Content:
  
  • A series of mass executions in the Vendée during the Reign of Terror, where counter-revolutionaries were drowned in the Loire River by revolutionary forces.

Significance:
* The drownings exemplified the extreme measures taken during the Reign of Terror to suppress dissent or opposition.

Question 33

What was the Cult of Reason and its significance in the French Revolution? (c.1793)

Answer 33

• Content:
  
  • An atheistic belief system established during the French Revolution as the first state-sponsored secular religion, promoting reason, liberty, and the rejection of traditional religious beliefs.
• Significance:
  
  • It was part of the Dechristianization campaign, a secular form of worship centered on human reason.
  • Eventually replaced by Robespierre’s Cult of the Supreme Being.

Question 34

What was the Festival of the Supreme Being and its significance? (May 7, 1794)

Answer 34

• What It Was:
  
  • A state-sponsored event organized by Robespierre to promote a new civic religion centered on the worship of the Supreme Being.
• Significance:
  
  • The Cult of the Supreme Being represented Robespierre’s attempt to unite the French under a new, revolutionary faith and to distance the revolution from the atheism of the Cult of Reason.
  • Alienated many and contributed to his eventual downfall during the Thermidorian Reaction.

Question 35

What was the Thermidorian Reaction and why is it significant? (July 27, 1794)

Answer 35

• What It Was:
  
  • A political shift that led to the fall and execution of Robespierre and the end of the Reign of Terror.
• Significance:
  
  • Marked the beginning of a more moderate phase of the revolution, leading to the establishment of the Directory.
  • The Thermidorian Reaction restored some but not all stability to France.

Question 36

What was the Directory, and why is it significant? (Oct. 26, 1795 - Nov. 10, 1799)

Answer 36

• What It Was:
  
  • A five-member executive body that governed France after the Reign of Terror the fall of the National Convention.
• Significance:
  
  • The Directory’s inadequacies led to its eventual overthrow by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Question 37

What was the Coup of 18 Brumaire and why is it significant? (Nov. 9 1799)

Answer 37

• What It Was:
  
  • The overthrow of the Directory by Napoleon Bonaparte, effectively ending the French Revolution.
• Significance:
  
  • Marked the beginning of Napoleon’s rise to power as First Consul and eventually Emperor of France.
  • It established a new government, the Consulate, and set the stage for the Napoleonic Era.

Question 38

What was the Conspiracy of the Equals and its significance? (May 1796)

Answer 38

• What It Was:
  
  • A revolutionary movement led by Gracchus Babeuf aiming to overthrow the Directory and establish a more egalitarian society.
• Significance:
  
  • One of the earliest attempts to implement socialist ideas, seen as a precursor to later communist movements.
  • In 1919, during the fifth session of the Third International’s First World Congress, Babeuf’s importance was recognized in the Manifesto of the Communist International by Trotsky as: “carrying on in direct succession the heroic endeavours and martyrdom of a long line of revolutionary generations from Babeuf to Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.”

Question 39

Who were the Jacobins, and what is their significance in the French Revolution?

Answer 39

• Who They Were:
  
  • The most influential and radical (major) faction during the French Revolution.
  • Key figures included Maximilien Robespierre, Georges Danton, and Jean-Paul Marat.
• Significance:
  
  • Orchestrated the Reign of Terror, significantly shaping the course of the Revolution.
  • Overthrew the monarchy and established the Republic.

Question 40

Who were the Montagnards, and what is their significance in the French Revolution?

Answer 40

• Who They Were:
  
  • A radical faction within the National Convention.
  • Allied with the Jacobins and led by figures like Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (the ‘Archangel of Terror’).
• Significance:
  
  • Played a central role in the Reign of Terror.
  • Advocated for revolutionary fervor during the Revolution’s most radical phase.

Question 41

Who were the Hébertists, and what is their significance in the French Revolution?

Answer 41

• Who They Were:
  
  • A radical far left-wing faction during the French Revolution.
  • Led by Jacques Hébert, they advocated for extreme measures like dechristianization, atheism and sanctioned terror.
• Significance:
  
  • Suppressed by the Jacobins in 1794, leading to the execution of Hébertists.
  • Highlighted internal conflicts/rifts within the revolutionary government.

Question 42

Who was Maximilien Robespierre and what is his significance? (c.1758-1794)

Answer 42

• Who He Was:
  
  • A leading figure of the French Revolution, Robespierre was a member of the Jacobin Club and a key architect of the Reign of Terror.
  • He led the Committee of Public Safety, which oversaw the arrest and execution of those accused of counter-revolutionary activities.
• Significance
  
  • Robespierre’s influence marked one of the Revolution’s most radical phases, but his extremism eventually led to his downfall and execution in 1794.

Question 43

Who was Georges Danton, and what led to his downfall? (c.1759-1794)

Answer 43

• Who He Was:
  
  • A leading figure in the early French Revolution, known for his role in the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the First French Republic.
  • Member of the Committee of Public Safety.
• Downfall:
  
  • Danton initially supported the Reign of Terror but later advocated for moderation and an end to the extreme violence.
  • His growing opposition to the excesses of the Committee of Public Safety led to his arrest and execution by guillotine in April 1794, orchestrated by Robespierre and his allies.

Question 44

Who was Gracchus Babeuf and what is his significance? (c.1760-1797)

Answer 44

• Who He Was:
  
  • A radical French revolutionary and journalist who is often regarded as an influence to modern socialists.
  • Babeuf led the Conspiracy of the Equals, a revolutionary movement aiming to overthrow the Directory and establish a literal socialist society.

Question 45

What was the War of the First Coalition and its significance? (1792-1797)

Answer 45

• What It Was:
  
  • A conflict between the First French Republic and a coalition of European monarchies, including Austria, Prussia, Britain and Spain
  • Aimed to prevent the spread of revolutionary violence and restore the French monarchy
• Significance:
  
  • The war ended with the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797, engraving France’s victory and establishing Napoleon Bonaparte as a prominent military leader.

Question 46

What was the War of the Second Coalition, and its significance? (1798-1802)

Answer 46

• Content:
  
  • The second major attempt by European monarchies (including Britain, Austria, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire) to defeat Revolutionary France and restore the monarchy.
  • The war saw significant battles across Europe, including Napoleon’s campaigns in Egypt and Italy.
• Significance:
  
  • France, under Napoleon’s leadership, managed to secure victories despite being outnumbered, culminating in the Treaty of Lunéville (1801) and the Treaty of Amiens (1802).
  • This war further boosted Napoleon’s reputation.

Question 47

Who was Joseph de Maistre, and why is he significant? (c.1753-1821)

Answer 47

Joseph de Maistre was a French philosopher and political theorist.
Details:

A key figure in counter-Enlightenment thought, he advocated for monarchy, tradition, and the Catholic Church.
His works influenced conservative and reactionary movements in the 19th century.

Question 48

Who was Montesquieu, and what is he significance? (c.1689-1755)

Answer 48

Montesquieu was a French political philosopher best known for his work The Spirit of the Laws.
Details:

His theory of the separation of powers influenced the structure of modern democratic governments, including the U.S. Constitution.