French Revolution Flashcards
2nd estate
- Nobles
- About 400,000 people
- Had power over peasants
- Wealthy landowners/advisors/generals
- Looked down on third estate
1st estate
- The clergy
- About 100,000 people
- Ran schools + hospitals
- Owned over 10% of land
- Very powerful
3rd estate
- Remaining 95% of population
- Commoners
- Poor workers/peasants
- Rich, educated members called bourgeoisie
Causes of the French Revolutions
- American Rev. influenced the French.
- People hate the queen.
- The third estate paid more than other estates.
- Enlightenment writers were influential and disagreed with powerful kings.
- France was bankrupt and wanted nobles to pay more. This led to Estates General, with its unfair voting system.
Estates general
A parliament that contained representatives of the three estates.
National assembly
What the people of the third estate called themselves when they broke away from the Estates General.
National Guard.
The army of the National Assembly
The Bastille
A prison where people who annoyed/criticised the king were sent.
Tennis court oath
The swore that the National Assembly made, saying they would continue meeting until their demands were met.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
A law passed by the National Assembly that gave the ordinary people of France more rights and freedoms.
Slogan of the revolutionaries
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
National Convention
The name of the French parliament during the Reign of Terror.
Committee of Public Safety
A committee of 12 members led by Robespierre set up to protect the revolution
Reign of Terror
What Robespierre’s rule of France was called.
Law of Suspects
A law passed in 1793 that set up a Revolutionary Tribunal to try anyone suspected of treason.
The Sans-Culottes
The poor people of France who supported the revolution.
The Directory
A more moderate government that came to power after the Reign of Terror.
Consequences of the French Revolution
- Many people in Europe agreed with the aims of Liber, Equality, and Fraternity and demanded that kings and queens share power with the people.
- The tricolour flag and the metric system of weights and measures were introduced.
- A new national anthem, the Marseillaise, was adopted. (This is the current national anthem today)
- Inspired by the Revolution, people like Wolfe Tone hoped to spread revolutionary ideas to Ireland.
- Many rulers were afraid that the revolution would spread to their countries and tried to prevent it.
- The Reign of Terror shocked many people and this lost a lot of support for the revolution in other countries.
- War broke out in Europe.
