Chapter 21-The French Revolution

Question 1

Assembly of Notables

Answer 1

1. Late 18th Century, France.
2. King Louis XVI’s financial minister convinced the king to call an Assembly of Notables to raise support for new tax ideas.
3. The proposal received by the financial minister was a general tax on all landed property.
4. Provincial assemblies would be created to administer the tax.
5. Taxing landed property was hoped to help ease the pressure of a war-depressed economy.
6. Nobles disagreed with the tax, claiming it took away Noble Rights, forced a call of the Estates General (an assembly of clergy, nobles, and commoners) to voice their dissatisfaction.

Question 2

Reign of Terror

Answer 2

1. Late 18th Century, France during the French Revolution.
2. Courts set up under Robespierre’s Committee of Public Safety tried rebels and enemies of the revolutionary spirit.
3. Accusations were commonly unjustified.
4. Jacobin clubs (influential political party representing the lower classes) were in popular support of the trials.
5. Those persecuted and found guilty were either executed or sentenced to life in prison.
6. Was not directed against any single class of people.
7. Exemplified the breakdown of order in France, revolutionary ideals about liberty and rights were ignored in the face of extremism.

Question 3

Napoleon’s Grand Empire

Answer 3

1. Early 19th Century, France and other nations (Spain, German Confederation, Italy).
2. Was split into three parts.
3. The first part included the expansion of French territory over Belgium, Holland, and pieces of Northern Italy and much of Germany.
4. Second part included dependent satellite kingdoms (near France) which were ruled over by Napoleon’s family members who were appointed by Napoleon himself.
5. Third part included the independent (of France) but allied states of Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
6. Allowed Napoleon to maintain and spread his authority through the placement of heavy taxes, new French laws (Napoleonic Code), and the abolishment of serfdom and feudal dues (payment owed by serfs to nobles.)
7. Established the Continental System, a form of economic warfare against the British. No state under Napoleon would trade with Britain.
8. Napoleon was considered more of a tyrant than an enlightened liberator.

Question 4

The Declaration of Pillnitz

Answer 4

1. Late 18th Century, Austria and Prussia.
2. Was made by the monarchs of Austria and Prussia in response to the arrest and return of King Louis XVI (of France) and Marie Antoinette (his wife) after they were caught trying to flee France.
3. It was a statement declaring that Austria and Prussia were willing to intervene in France in certain areas.
4. It was issued to intimidate French revolutionaries.

Question 5

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Answer 5

1. Late 18th Century, France.
2. Issued by the National Assembly (delegates of the Third Estate) declaring the rights that citizens had under a monarch.
3. The rights declared were equality before the law, the presumption of innocence in criminal investigations, a representative government, and individual freedom.
4. This limited the possibility of unfair monarchical treatment of the citizens as well as lessened the kings authority.

Question 6

The Third Coalition

Answer 6

1. Early 19th Century, Britain, Austria, Russia, and Sweden against France.
2. Was an attempt to defeat the forces of the French.
3. French Navy was met by the British and destroyed in the Battle of Trafalgar, which established Britain as dominant in the seas.
4. Alexander I of Russia and Francis II of Austria banded together because they were convinced that Napoleon was a threat to their interests and to the European balance of power.
5. Early 19th Cen In the Battle of Austerlitz Austria allied by the Russians, were defeated by France and Austria suffered large territorial losses in order to maintain peace. This collapsed the Third Coalition.
6. With the end of the end of The Third Coalition, the Austrian king gave up the title of Holy Roman Emperor.
7. The Holy Roman Empire thereby becomes the Confederation of the Rhine, which is presided over by Napoleon who names himself the “protector” of the confederation. Germany is thereby closer to becoming unified.
8. Napoleon gained territory while defeating nations who have banded together to defeat France who became dominant.

Question 7

The Estates General

Answer 7

1. Late 18th Century, France.
2. Called together by King Louis XVI because of the financial crisis in France.
3. Was made up of representatives of the Three Estates in France.
4. The First Estate was comprised of the clergy – both noble clergymen and poor parish priests.
5. The Second Estate was comprised of French aristocrats – Nobles of the Sword (new money) and Nobles of the Robe who could trace their lineage back to the Middle Ages but were not always wealthy.
6. The Third Estate was comprised of everyone else – the urban poor and the Bourgeoisie (middle class).
7. Meant that the monarchy’s power was dwindling because the Estates had their say in the government.

Question 8

The Tennis Court Oath

Answer 8

1. Late 18th Century, France.
2. The Estates General (comprised of the Three Estates) normally held and equal number of representatives for each Estate; however King Louis XVI doubled the representatives for the Third Estate (containing the overwhelming majority of French citizens), causing the delegation to question the number votes allowed
3. It was decided that each Estate would receive only one vote which allowed the First and Second Estate to outvote the Third.
4. The Third Estate walked out and renamed themselves The National Assembly (King Louis XVI locked out of Estates General)
5. National Assembly swear to set up a new constitution for France.
6. This sparked the Revolution.

Question 9

The Continental System

Answer 9

1. Early 19th Century, France and Britain.
2. Napoleon’s plan to block all British goods from entering France.
3. Ultimately hurt France’s artisans and middle class due to Britain’s counter-blockade.
4. Caused Napoleon to seek a scapegoat and turn on Alexander I of Russia, who had openly rejected Napoleon’s Continental System.

Question 10

Storming of the Bastille

Answer 10

1. Late 18th Century, Paris, France.
2. Harvest failure and high bread prices left hundreds of thousands of people starving and without work.
3. The people of Paris wanted only steady work and enough bread, at fair prices, to survive.
4. On July 14th, angry crowds formed, seized weapons, and marched toward the Bastille to search for weapons and gunpowder.
5. The Bastille (a royal prison) was heavily guarded but fell the the storming crowd.
6. The governor of the prison, though ordering his troops not to fire and allowing the mob to pass through to avoid bloodshed, was killed.
7. In result, a committee of citizens appointed a new commander of the city’s armed forces (marquis de Lafayette), Paris was lost to the king, the finance minister was recalled, and the troops were dispersed.
8. The uprising broke the exclusive control of the royal army and thereby saved the National Assembly, which had been under attack under King Louis XVI’s orders because of their disbanding from the Estates General.
9. Many of France’s nobles began to leave Versailles.

Question 11

Women’s March on Versailles (MAYBE FIX)

Answer 11

1. Late 18th Century, France.
2. Women worked for wages (making luxury goods for the aristocrats and foreign buyers) bought the food, and managed their family’s limited resources.
3. After the fall of the Bastille, France’s nobles began to leave Versailles which resulted in an economic crisis due to the disinterest in buying local luxury goods.
4. The church was also unable to continue to give its traditional grants of food and money to the poor.
5. Thousands of hungry and unemployed women marched from Paris to Versailles to demand that action be taken to feed and employ the struggling poor.
6. The armed women invaded royal apartments and killed royal bodyguards in search for the queen (Marie Antoinette).
7. Only the intervention of Lafayette (the city’s armed forces) and the National Guard could stop the women; however, the women were appeased only when the royal family met their demand of living in Paris.
8. The National Assembly (under middle-class leadership) followed the king to Paris where they (after a few years work) abolished the nobility as a legal order and pushed for the creation of a constitutional monarchy.

Question 12

The Great Fear

Answer 12

1. Late 18th Century, France
2. Peasant rebellions, which included the ransacking of manor houses and the burning of feudal documents, were rampant.
3. The liberal nobles and middle-class delegates at Versailles feared calling the king to suppress the rebellions.
4. The duke of Aiguillon (one of France’s greatest noble landowners) urged equality in taxation and the elimination of feudal dues to put a stop to the chaos.
5. Feudal dues were henceforth abolished resulting in a stable and orderly peasantry force which already owned a small percentage of land.

Question 13

Jacobin Club

Answer 13

1. Late 18th Century, France.
2. Composed of well-educated middle-class men.
3. One of the three major groups in the new National Convention.
4. Gained influence under, Maximilien Robespierre, after the National Assembly (the Third Estate’s attempt to gain influence by walking out of the Estates General) was disbanded.
5. The Jacobins called for democratic solutions to France’s problems; speaking for the urban poor and French peasantry.
6. This call for democratic change led Robespierre to be concerned about counterrevolutionary threats to which he battled by instituting a period of public executions known as the Reign of Terror.

Question 14

Bourgeoisie

Answer 14

1. Mid 18th Century, France.
2. A term for the upper-middle class in the Third Estate (bankers, merchants, and manufacturers).
3. Were exasperated by the “feudal laws” restraining the economy.
4. Led the Third Estate in a social revolution that destroyed feudal privileges.
5. Established a capitalist order based on individualism (being self-reliant) and a market economy (relying on market forces to gather goods and set prices rather than being established by a monarch).

Question 15

Girondins

Answer 15

1. Late 18th Century, France.
2. Moderates in the National Assembly who controlled the legislative assembly for a time before being removed from control by the Jacobins.
3. They represented areas of France outside of Paris.
4. Were in favor of keeping King Louis XVI alive when he was arrested and tried for treason.

Question 16

Sans-Culotte

Answer 16

1. Late 18th Century, France.
2. Was the name for the laboring poor and the petty traders.
3. Were ill-clad and ill-equipped volunteers of the Revolutionary army.
4. Their immediate interests were mainly economic; focusing on the rapid inflation, unemployment, and food shortages weighing on poor families.
5. Took up an interest in politics and demanded that radical political action be taken to guarantee them their daily bread.
6. Were originally rejected by the Girondists and the Mountain.
7. In the face of military defeat, peasant revolt, and hate for the Girondists, the Mountain became sympathetic to sans-culottes appeals and joined the activists in the city government to engineer an uprising against the Girondists many of which were arrested for treason.
8. The Mountain was placed in control of the National Convention.

Question 17

National Convention

Answer 17

1. Late 18th Century, France.
2. Comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly of France who wished to draft up a constitution for France.
3. Contained three major groups of influence whose ideals differed – the Jacobins (under Robespierre), the Girondins, and the Mountain (also under Robespierre and named for where they sat in the assembly hall).
4. All of the members were Republicans who sought to fight against the oppressive rule of the king of France.
5. The National Convention proclaimed France a republic (power held by the people and their elected representatives).
6. Put forth radical changes in French society including adopting a new revolutionary calendar, eliminating saints’ days, and promoting democratic festivals.
7. They sought to redirect people’s traditional enthusiasm for Catholic religious celebrations to secular (having no religious basis) holidays instilling republican virtue and nationalism.
8. Was less successful in villages and more successful in cities (where popular interest in politics was greater and Catholicism weaker).
9. They convicted King Louis XVI of treason and put him to death by guillotine.
10. Quickly became oppressive to the poor and controlled their own army which Robespierre used to remove radical leaders and suppress commoner revolts.
11. Revolts were due to the National Convention’s allowance of the collapse of economic controls, a rise in prices, and the restriction of local political organizations (which gave the sans-culottes their strength).
12. The middle-class members drafted a constitution guaranteeing the economic position and political supremacy; placing men of substantial means in control.

Question 18

The Directory

Answer 18

1. Late 18th Century, France.
2. A five-man executive chosen by the National Convention’s new middle-class chosen assembly.
3. Supported the French military expansion.
4. War was no longer a crusade but a means to tackle the economic problems.
5. Large victorious French armies reduced unemployment and supplied homes with the plunder (stolen goods) from the territories they had conquered.
6. Favoring peace, many were dissatisfied with The Directory’s actions pushing the national elections toward a more conservative and even monarchistic view.
7. The Directory, to maintain control, used the army to disband elections and began to govern dictatorially.
8. Was ended by Napoleon Bonaparte in a coup d’etat (an overthrow) and substituted with a strong dictatorship.
9. The effort to establish a stable representative government had failed.

Question 19

The September Massacres

Answer 19

1. Late 18th Century, France.
2. Stories passed through the city that imprisoned counter-revolutionary aristocrats and priests were plotting with the allied invaders.
3. The stories evoked angry crowds to invade the prisons and kill half the men and women that they found.
4. Shows the irrationality and deep-rooted want for revolutionary change to be granted no matter the cost; and the fear of not being granted change.

Question 20

Napoleon Bonaparte

Answer 20

1. Late 18th Century to Early 19th Century, France.
2. Highly trained/schooled in militarism.
3. Was named first consul of the republic of France.
4. Came to the height of his control by disbanding The Directory who were the leaders of a weak dictatorship.
5. Goal was to maintain order and end civil strife.
6. Worked out unwritten agreements with the powerful groups in France who received favors in return for loyal service to Napoleon.
7. With the Civil Code of 1804, he reasserted the principles of equality of all male citizens before the law and the security of private property.
8. Was very traditional in terms of domesticate women; re-establishing a family monarchy where women are dependent on their husbands or fathers.
9. Appealed successfully to the peasants who gained land a status from the revolutionary changes.
10. Established the privately owned Bank of France, serving the interests of the state and the financial oligarchy.
11. Healed the religious division of the French clergy (those who supported the Revolution versus those who did not) with the Concordat of 1801 (with Pope Pius VII), allowing the French Catholics to practice their religion freely while placing Napoleon in political power over the church with government nominating bishops and paying the clergy.
12. Violated freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Question 21

Thermidorian Reaction

Answer 21

1.