French Revolution historian quotes Flashcards
Enlightenment
“Enlightenment thought inspired the revolutionaries key political Innovations” - Doyle
Salons
“Played a crucial role in the formation of public opinion” - Doyle
Reforms on Fiscal system
“Programmed the revolution to explode from over inflated expectations” - Schama
Compte Rendu
“Masterpiece of public relations but disaster for government finances” - Doyle
“Undermined the confidence when the truth came out” - Schama
Attempts at Financial reform
“Became the fuse that ignited the Revolution” - Schama
“Met with resistance because the need was not recognised” - Doyle
Assembly of Notables
22 February 1787 - 25 May 1787
“Highlighted aristocratic opposition to royal absolutism” - Furet
Day of Tiles
7 June 1788
“Revealed the deepening alienation of the people … set the tone for the revolutionary violence to come” - Schama
Cahiers
January - April 1789
” Revealed the nations shimmering resentment” - Schama
Pamphlet wars
“Served as the battleground where political ideas formed” - Tackett
What is The Third Estate?
January 1789
“Sieyes issued a ringing declaration of commoner capacity” - McPhee
The Estates General
May 1789
“Alienated the Third Estate and provoked it into exploding all together” - Schama
“Set in a motion that the Monarchy could no longer control” - Furet
Revellion Riots
27 April 1789
“Warning of the violent energy building within masses” - Schama
Tennis Court Oath
20 June 1789
“Beginning of the organised opposition to royal absolutism” - Rude
“Representing a clear break with the Ancien Regime” - Soboul
The Royal Session
23 June 1789
(Louis) “Incapable of facing the storm of revolution” - Schama
Storming of the Bastille
14 July 1789
“Neither government nor the revolutionaries could control the force unleashed” - Schama
Food shortages + Poor wages
“Symbol of wider economic malaise that characterised revolutionary France” - Schama
“Created a volatile environment in which th popular classes began to demand radical change” - Doyle
The great fear
“Spontaneous reaction of the rural population” - Doyle
The Night of Patriotic Delirium
4 August 1789
“panic reaction by the National Assembly to the Great Fear… hastened the dismantling of the Old Regime” - Lefebvre
The August Decrees
5-11 August 1789
“Born out of panic but became the cornerstone of the revolutions social and political transformation” - Lefebvre
“Eliminating the social hierarchy of the Old Regime” - McPhee
DORMAC
26 August 1789
“Statement of revolutionary principle and a political weapon against the old regime” - Doyle
Women’s March to Versailles
5 October 1789
“Response to hunger” - Schama
“Dramatic assertion of the new revolutionary principle that people themselves could drive political events” - Doyle
Civil Constitution of the Clergy and Clerical Oath of Loyalty
12 July 1790 + 17 November 1790
“By dividing the church it fractured French Society” - Furet
“Created a second large group of counter-revolutionaries where none had previously existed” - Schama
Flight to Varennes
20 June 1791
“Betrayal of the revolutionaries ideals, revealing the incompatibility of the Monarchy” - Soboul
“[Louis XVI] became not just a prisoner but an enemy of the people and the revolution” - Doyle
Champ De Mars Massacre
17 July 1791
“revealed fractions within the revolutionary momentum” - Doyle
Jacobins
“Transported the revolution from a struggle for freedom into a dictatorship” - Furet
Declaration of Pillnitz
“A bluff intended to intimidate the revolutionaries… only fanned the flames of revolutionary fever” - Lefebvre
Constitution of 1791
August 1791
“This was a democracy for property owners” - Adcock
“designed to consolidate the power of the Bourgeosie while keeping the popular masses at arms length” - Soboul
International War
“Consolidation of power in the hands of the most uncompromising revolutionaries” - Lefebvre
Storming of Tuileries
10 August 1792
“effective end of all attempts to preserve the old regime” - Rude
“Not just the fall of a palace; it was the fall of the monarchy itself.” - Schama
September Massacres
2-6 September 1792
“Violence became a central component to revolutionary legitimacy” - Schama
“Reflected the deep insecurity of the revolutionary regime” - Rude
Destruction of Lyon
October 1793
“Clear symptom of the revolution failing in uniting the entire country” - Furet
“Genocide carried out by the revolutionary government” - Secher
“an act of political necessity to revolutionary leaders” - Soboul
Law of Maximum
29 September 1793
“answered the demand for regulation of prices” - Soboul
“Its rigid enforcement only worsened the scarcity it was meant to alleviate” - Schama
“alienate both the bourgeoisie and rural producers” - Schama
The Terror + Benefit
1793-1794
“Violence was a motor of the revolution” - Schama
“Used to contain the people” - Lefebvre
“Inevitable response to the threats surrounding it” - Soboul
Benefit:
“saved France from invasion and civil war” - Rude
“cleared the way for revolutionary changes in property and a reorganization of social power” - Soboul
Girondin expulsion
May 1793
“A collective disaster for all Girondins” - Schama
“Lost their moral authority and public confidence as they resisted radical change” - Lefebvre
Law of 22 Prairial
10 June 1794
“Every citizen vulnerable to arbitrary execution” - Soboul
Execution of Danton, Herbert etc
April 1794
“The revolution began to devour its own children” - Doyle
Robespierre execution
28 July 1794
“The terror was Robespierre’s brainchild, he became a victim of the machine he helped construct, his downfall marked a return to moderation” - Furet
Thermidor reaction
“Rejection of extremism and desire for stability” - Doyle
Constitution of year III
August 1795
“Desire to avoid another terror overshadowed democratic principles” - Soboul
“Beginning of a form of representative government but with little trust in the masses” - Furet
