French revolution Flashcards
King Louis XVI (16) -
A king who inherited lots of debt from King Louis XIV (14). He married Marie Antoinette & after the third estate stormed the Bastille, he ran away. But he was caught at the border to Austria and was brought back and sentenced to death by the guillotine
Old Regime -
Feudalism in the Middle ages
Estates 1-2-3 -
1st- clergy (owned 10%, was 2% of population)
2nd- rich nobles (owned 20%, was 1%)
3rd- (97% of people) includes:
~ bourgeoisie: merchants/artisans, pretty rich but no family name, high taxes
~ workers: cooks, servants, ect., hungry
~peasant: 80% of people! half of their income went to taxes
Marie Antoinette -
“Madame Deficit” women who married Lou’s XVI & lost a lot of his money for France
Estates General -
Assembly of representatives from all three estates called to get approval for tax reform, but the clergy combined with the nobles would always outvote the third estate so the third estate got mad & created National Assembly (made of only third estate people)
National Assembly -
Collection of the third estate that passes laws and reform for the french people (government after battalion & King Louis XVI’s reign) Voting by delegates
Great fear -
Wave of senseless panic because they thought nobles hire people to terrorize peasants after the battalion when there was just about no control & no feudal documents so the National Assembly took over
Bastille -
Began the French Revolutuon, when the third estate took a jail and got gunpowder and eventually stormed castle
Declaration of the rights of man -
After the third estate took over & burned feudal papers & the national Assembly wrote a new constitution called the Declaration of the rights of man
Palace of Versailles -
Place that Louis XIV (14) lived & made super extravagant leaving no money for the third estate (symbol of corruption)
Guillotine -
Beheading machine used to kill Louis XVI that had a heavy knife that dropped on you & severed you head quickly. It was created as a more humane way of killing & doctors would see how long people could respond after death
Reign of terror -
When the committee of public safety (1783-1794), who was lead by Maximilian Robespiere controlled France (government after Louis, before “Directory”) they increased army and guillotined anybody who said anything bad about them
Maximilien Robespierre -
Lead the committee of public safety into terror
Napoleon Bonaparte -
Military genius, brilliant strategist, arrogant 5’7’ man who took France from Directory in a coup
Coup d’état
“Blow of state”, saying about when Napoleon took over France swiftly, also sometimes called a coup
Napoleonic code -
System of laws created by Napoleon, this code made the people from Saint Dominigue slaves which led to a report and loss of many soldiers
Toussiant L’Ouverture
Fought against Napoleon and freed the slaves creating the country of Haiti
Battle of Trafalgar -
Naval war: Britain: 19 boats vs french: 33 boats When the french gets destroyed by the British under Horatio Nelson on sea which is important because they lose control of the sea for 300 years and can’t invade Britain
Win: Britain
What are the reasons for Napoleons decline? -
Continental system, invasion of Portugal and invasion of Russia
Why is the continental system one of Napoleons mistakes ? -
Want to make France self-suffice not so Blockades Britain which creates no trade. This makes Russia mad, and Portugal continues to trade behind their back. Britain also puts an even stronger blockade on French
Why is the Invasion Portugal one of napoleons mistakes? -
French fins out Portugal is secretly trading with Britain so they come over to fight. The Spanish and Portuguese people don’t like the French very much because they combined church and state so all the citizens fight when no one can know who did it (guerrilla warfare = can’t see enemy) this eventually hurts the French army
Why is the invasion of Russia one of Napoleon’s mistakes ? -
While the French come to Russia, the Russians retreat while burning everything leaving nothing in their path, therefore the French take over some of Russia but they have no food. Consequently, they eventually turn around and lose and extensive amount of people on the journey