French Revolution Flashcards
Marie Antoinette
From Austria
Louis XVI’s wife
Not well-liked by people of France
Executed by Guillotine
Ancien Régime
Old diet
French society before revolution
3 estates
First: clergy
Second: nobility
Third: peasants/everyone else
First estate
0.5% of population Owned 10% of land Collected tithes Paid no taxes Lived very well
Tithe
Church taxes
10% of your salary
Second estate
1.5% of population
Owned 25% of land
Received top jobs in gov, army, courts, and Church
Paid no taxes
Third estate
98% of population
Owned 65% of land
Paid taxes (only estate to do so)
Diverse: Bourgeoisie, peasant farmers, urban farmers
Bourgeoisie
Lawyers, merchants, doctors, … of third estate
Start revolution
Deficit spending
Spend more than you take in
Jacques Necker
King’s financial advisor
Proposed cutting back on Louis’ spending and taxing all 3 estates (**because of this, first and second estates demanded Louis remove Necker)
Estates General
1st gov during revolution
French parliament
Cahiers
(Grievance) notebooks
Shows boiling class resentments
Estates: first & second are very thin, third is much more thick and brings up more problems than just taxation
National Assembly
Second gov during revolution
Third estate had enough of the unfairness in the estates general so they declared themselves to be the National Assembly
Met at an indoor tennis court because meeting hall was not available
King accepted it, but his royal troops gathered around Paris
Tennis court oath
National Assembly would keep meeting until they created a Constitution
Bastille Day
July 14, 1789
800 Parisians stormed Bastille (a royal prison) looking for guns and weapons
Symbolized revolt against king’s abuses
“Great Fear”
Rumors of gov attacks on towns and seizures of crops
Peasants set fire to manor records and steal grain
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Modeled on our Declaration of Independence
All MEN “born and remain free and equal in rights”
Natural rights of France
Taxes levied according to income
“Liberty, equality, fraternity”
Natural rights of France
Liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression
“Liberty, equality, fraternity”
Slogan of the revolution
Tuileries Palace
King was forced to leave Versailles and come here under house arrest
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Ended Pope’s control of the French Church
Bishops and priests were elected
Clergy was punished for opposing
Constitution of 1791
Established a new government
Limited monarchy created
Legislative Assembly replaced National Assembly
Revolution is not yet complete
Legislative Assembly
Third gov during revolution
Replaced National Assembly in Constitution of 1791
Government that is doomed from start because no member of National Assembly could serve in Legislative Assembly
Émigrés
People that fled France during revolution
Typically nobles
Sans-culottes
Without breeches (without underwear) Radical revolutionaries who wore long pants
Jacobins
VERY VIOLENT radical revolutionary political club
Gained support from sans-culottes in Legislative Assembly
Radical
Wanted to overthrow government
Jacobins
Liberal
Wanted lots of change
Ex Democrats
Moderates
Want a little change
Conservative
Want no change
Ex republicans
Reactionary
Want to go back in time 30+ years
Ex KKK, Nazis, people who wanted absolute monarchy back
“September Massacres”
Citizens attacked prisons holding nobles and priests
National Convention
Created French Republic Kind and Queen executed Nobles' titles and lands gone Fourth gov and more radical Completely abolish monarchy (no limited)
Committee of public safety
12 members
Followed Marat’s assassination
Used terror to create a “republic of virtue”
Reign of terror
Attacked Catholicism (ex new calendar and Goddess of Reason)
Robespierre
Jean-Paul Marat
Radical writer
Assassinated by Charlotte Cordet
Levée en Masse
Military draft
COPS
Successes of COPS
Defeated Netherlands and invaded Italy
Crushed rebellions in France
Maximilien Robespierre
Lead of COPS
At first, his executions were for good, but the it ended up in killing for no good reason
Reign of Terror
Defined by guillotine (actually, more people were killed by being shot than by guillotine so haha screw that contraption of death)
300,000 arrested
17,000 executed for being anti-revolutionary
Last victim was Robespierre
Guillotine
National razor
Defined Reign of Terror
Directory
Fifth gov of revolution
Replaced National Convention
5 leaders + 2-house legislature
Problems of directory
War continued
Inflation still increasing
Many wanted to return to monarchy
Napoleon
Directory turned to him for help, but instead Napoleon made himself sole ruler
Louis XVI
Didn’t want to be King
King of France during French Revolution
Executed by Guillotine
Explain the problems and their causes that were plaguing France prior to the revolution
Many financial problems, including deficit spending. This debt came from France borrowing money for wars such as American Revolution and bad harvests causing prices to rise (inflation). The economic reform promoted by Jacques Necker fails, and the debt issue is not taken care of properly.
How did the firing of Jacques Necker and the inherent inequality within the Estates General directly lead to the revolution?
Necker proposed that all three estates are taxed to settle financial issues, second and first estates disagreed and demanded that Louis removed Necker and call estates general to meet to discuss this tax situation. First and second would team up against third, and third wanted votes to be counted by head. King then proposed that 1st and 2nd would get 300 voted apiece and 3rd gets 600, this is still unfair. Third estate separates and declares themselves the National Assembly
How did Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette contribute to their own downfall?
Louis XVI gave 300 votes to 1st and 2nd estates and 600 to 3rd, and this didn’t solve the darkness issue in the estates. Marie Antoinette spent a lot of money on superficial things for her and did nothing for the people of France. People of France also didn’t like her at all because of this and her origin from Austria.
What was the status of the Church in French society before the Revolution? How did this status change through the different phases of the revolution?
Church was well-represented before revolution, placed under state control as it unfolds (Constitution of the Clergy), and was attacked during radical days of revolution.
Draw and label the political spectrum. Where would the governments of the French rev fall on it if viewed from 1788?
Estates General: conservative National Assembly: liberal Legislative Assembly: liberal National Convention: radical Directory: (opinion) reactionary because Napoleon's reign was similar to Louis XIV's rule 30+ years ago
Was the French Revolution successful? Explain
The French Revolution was successful in killing many people and abolishing the monarchy. However, it resulted in a lot of violence and many deaths, and in the end, France was once again ruled by an absolute ruler (Napoleon), proving the French Revolution as not very successful.
Estates General events
Society is divided in 3 estates
Only 3rd estate paid taxes
Conservative
National Assembly events
Constitution of 1791 Storming of the Bastille Declaration of Rights of Man Great Fear Tennis Court Oath Civil Constitution of the Clergy Liberal
Legislative Assembly events
“September Massacres”
King caught attempting to flee
Was declared on Austria, Prussia, and Britain
Liberal
National Convention events
Created Committee of Public Safety The Reign of Terror begins Executed King and Queen Led by Robespierre Radical
Directory events
Ask Napoleon to join government
Reactionary (opinion)
