French Revolution & Napoleon Flashcards
Banalities
Fees that peasants paid landlords
Ancien Regime
Old regime; France prior to the Revolution
Bastille
Medieval prison and armory stormed on July 4, 1789 by Parisians worried about the Kings concentration of troops at Versailles
Cahier de Doleance
Lists of grievances from each estate to bring to the king during the meeting of the Estates General
Code Napoleon (civil code of 1804)
Codification and condensation of laws assuring equality and uniformity
Committee of Public Safety
Leaders under Robespierre who organized the defenses of France conducted foreign policy and centralized authority from 1792-1795
Concordat
(1801) Napoleon agreed with pope pius II to heal religious division within France with church appointed bishops
Continental System
Napoleons System to block trade with England
Corvees
Roadworks; obligation of peasants to landowners
Coup d’état
Overthrow of those in power
Declaration of Pillnitz
(1791) Austria and Prussia agreed to invade France if other nations aid them
Directory
(1795-1799) five man executive committee that ruled France as a republic after Robespierre
Estates General
Summoned on 1789 to remedy the financial crisis and correct the abuses of the ancien regime
Great Fear
Panic and insecurity that struck French peasants in the summer of 1789
Jacobins
Dominant group of national convention of 1793 who replaced Girondists. Headed by Robespierre
Law of the maximum
Fixing of prices of bread and essentials under Robespierre
Levee en masse
Under the Jacobins, a citizen army with support from young and old
Napoleon Bonaparte
(1769-1821) consul then emperor of France who established reforms and conquered much of Europe
Night of August 4, 1789
Declaration of liberal noblemen of National Assembly to abolish feudal regime
Parlement
Law court staffed by nobles that could register or refuse to register a kings edict
Peninsular war
(1808-1813) napoleons long and drawn out war with Spain
Robespierre
(1758-1794) jacobin leader during the Reign of Terror
Sans culottes
Reference to Parisian workers who wore trousers rather be hay breeches
Taille
Direct tax from Middle Ages that nobles were exempt from
Tennis court oath
Declaration by members of the third estate not to disband until they drafted a new constitution
Treaty of Tilsit
(1807) agreement between Napoleon and Czar Alexandrite I in which Russia became an ally of France and Napoleon took over Prussia west of the Elbe
