History - French Revolution 🍟 Flashcards
When the American Revolution was going on, which foreigners helped them the most to fund it?
The French.
In France, why was there so much disparity between the rich and the poor?
The upper class and the rich would spend their money on extravagant things, using all the money made from the poor people’s hard work and their taxes.
How did france get into financial debt?
They lost a war with Britain.
How many estates were there?
Three.
What estate was most of the population?
The Third Estate.
What people did the third estate consist of?
The Peasants, The Middle class, The lower class, and Everyone else.
What people did the second estate consist of?
The Nobility
What people did the first estate consist of?
The Clergy.
Who became the new king after the king died?
Prince Louis, who became King Louis the 16th (In May 1774)
Was King Louis a wise king?
NO. He was easily manipulated by the others helping him rule.
What did King Louis try to do to get revenge on the British? Did it work?
To try to get revenge on the british by trying to finance their American colony’s revolution. But, they didn’t give the money back. This put France into even more debt.
When France was in debt, did the nobility change their ways of living?
The nobility continued to use money as if nothing had changed, not noticing the 3rd estate’s poverty.
Who was the queen, and what nickname was given to her because of her lavish spending?
The queen was Marie Antoinette, She was given the nickname Madame Deficit. (She had boat hair)
As france went more into debt what did the king do?
Taxed the poor, there were taxes on everything.
What was the labor tax?
Peasants were required to work for their local lord without pay.
What did people hate about the tax rules?
They were inconsistent throughout the nation, And the first two estates had to pay very little taxes.
What sparked peasant riots?
Natural disaster - harsh summers and winters caused many harvests to be ruined, which made things like bread incredibly expensive, although the upper classes has stockpiles of it, which caused raids.
What was the tithe?
A 10% tax the 1st estate could impose.
What was the Estates General?
An advisory body, the closest thing france had to a government - that the king called during the natural disaster crisis.
What did the Estates General consist of?
It was made up of representatives from the 3 estates.
What was the voting system in the Estates General?
Each estate got one vote, although they varied in size.
Why did the Third Estate constantly get outvoted?
Since each Estate had one vote each, the first and second estate would agree on something, and the third estate would have no way to rebuttal.
Because of the unfairness of the Estates General, what did the Third Estate do?
They started their own government called the national assembly.
What was the tennis court oath?
The pledge the Third Estate met at their new building, a tennis court - where they agreed to continue meeting there until the king finally listened to them, and gave the country more equality.
Who were the two lawyers part of the National assembly?
Maximilien Robespierre, and Georges Danton.
The Jacobin Club was a radical party with some members from the national assembly. What did they want to do to the king?
They wanted to kill the king, Which caused fear among the first estates.
When the King discovered his position was under threat, what did he do?
He called the military to take position around paris. When the 3rd estate heard of the military force, they were terrified that the king would round them up and kill them.
What did the people of Paris do to arm themselves against the King’s military force?
They created the “Bourgeois Militia” - The National Guard, to defend themselves, and even some soldiers in the French military joined their side.
How did the Bourgeois Militia get rifles to fight?
In July 14th, 1789, a large crowd raided The “Hôtel les Invalides”, which was a military hospital from which they s̶t̶o̶l̶e̶ borrowed a lot of rifles.
What were the Bourgeois Militia missing once they got their rifles? How did they get that?
They were missing gunpowder to power the rifles so they raided The Bastille, a prison fortress, and once again s̶t̶o̶l̶e̶ borrowed stocks of gunpowder.
