How significant was the challenge posed by the Enlightenment to the ancien régime in France in the years 1774-89? (2018)

Question 1

1) challenge posed by the Enlightenment to the ancien régime in France in the years 1774–89 was significant

Answer 1

The Enlightenment ideas of the philosophes posed a fundamental challenge to the foundations of the ancien régime by questioning the authority of the Catholic Church and the divine basis of monarchy

Question 2

2) challenge posed by the Enlightenment to the ancien régime in France in the years 1774–89 was significant

Answer 2

Enlightenment ideas circulated among a receptive Third Estate in urban areas (through cheaply printed books and pamphlets), thereby radicalising informed opinion against the ancien régime

Question 3

3) challenge posed by the Enlightenment to the ancien régime in France in the years 1774–89 was significant

Answer 3

Enlightenment ideas also mobilised members of the younger nobility who were critical of the old system, e.g. the Duc d’Orléans who held pro- Enlightenment meetings and published Enlightenment pamphlets

Question 4

4) challenge posed by the Enlightenment to the ancien régime in France in the years 1774–89 was significant

Answer 4

Enlightenment criticism of the ancien régime resonated with French involvement in the American War of Independence, a conflict characterised as a struggle against monarchy, tyranny and despotism.

Question 5

1) challenge posed by the Enlightenment to the ancien régime in France in the years 1774–89 was not significant

Answer 5

Most Enlightenment thinkers, although critical of aspects of the ancien régime, were not specifically opposed to the monarchical system of government in France and thus were not revolutionary

Question 6

2) challenge posed by the Enlightenment to the ancien régime in France in the years 1774–89 was not significant

Answer 6

The spread of Enlightenment ideas was limited by low literacy rates, e.g. 63 per cent of the French population could not read or write in 1789; this affected rural areas in particular

Question 7

3) challenge posed by the Enlightenment to the ancien régime in France in the years 1774–89 was not significant

Answer 7

The government increased the number of censors to intercept such material and prosecuted authors, e.g. Rousseau fled to Britain to evade arrest and Voltaire was banned from Paris

Question 8

4) challenge posed by the Enlightenment to the ancien régime in France in the years 1774–89 was not significant

Answer 8

The Catholic Church continued to exert a conservative influence over the faithful by producing lists of banned books, including the works of Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau.