The French Revolution Flashcards
Who takes over after Louis XIV dies?
Louis XV
What happens during Louis XV’s rule?
Nobility comes back to power
Describe France at this time
France had the largest empire, military, and wealth.It had a good favorable balance of trade and was the cultural hub of Europe
What is the Old Regime?
it was a political system made up of the three estates.
Describe the First Estate.
They were the church officials and clergy
They owned 10% of the land in France and payed not taxes
1% of population
Describe the Second Estate.
Nobility
Owned 20% of the land in France, paid no taxes
2% of population
Describe the Third Estate
They were everyone else, the commoners. They were very diverse (both rich and poor)
Owned 70% of the land and paid ALL the taxes
97% of the population
Who were the Bourgeoisie?
Rich people in the Third estate that weren’t born into nobility or the clergy. They paid A LOT of the taxes
What idea did the Bourgeoisie support? Why?
They supported mercantilism (the idea that $=power), because they had the money, and wanted some power
What is the difference between Bourgeoisie and the Workers/Peasants?
The Bourgeoisie (middle class) were fancy, educated and wealthy, and basically they were like the nobles, except they paid taxes, agreed with the Enlightenment thinkers, and they were not born in Europe. The workers (urban) and peasants (rural) were the poor working classes that paid taxes as well.
What are three reasons France was in debt?
War expenses (Seven Years War and American Revolution), monarchs spent too much on luxuries, and Enlightenment Philosophers began to question government structure.
What are some reactions to these three reasons?
France was in debt and people were starving, so they started to fight each other for food. They would raid anyone on the streets for things such as bread and broke into bakeries.
Who were the monarchs of the French Monarchy in THIS time period?
King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette of Austria
What was the queen also known as? (Alias)
Madame Deficit, or The Austrian Whore.
What is the mythical/rumored quote that the queen said? (disproved by historians)
“Let them eat cake!”
What was the story behind this myth/rumor?
Poor peasants that were starving came to the palace to ask for food, so the butler said that he would check with the king and queen. The story says that the butler interrupted the party the king and queen were in and told the queen about the peasants, to which she laughed and replied “Ha, bread? Let them eat cake!” In reality, the butler probably would never interrupt the queen during a party to ask about peasants.
Who was Jacques Necker? Whose side was he on? What happened to him?
He was Louis XVI’s financial advisor. He was on the side of the people and sympathetic to the 3rd estate. He told Louis to slow his spending but Louis ignored Necker and fired him.
Why is Marie Antoinette known as Madame Deficit?
She spent too much money on luxuries and gambled a lot, though she was not very good at it. She spent a lot of time and money on outrageous hairstyles and fashion accessories
What meeting did Louis XVI call?
Louis XVI called the Convocation of the Estates-General.
What was the objective of The Meeting of the Estates General?
The objective of this assembly was to have representatives of each estate meet and make decisions for all of France by voting. Each estate got one vote, and most of the time the first and second estates’ votes were very similar so it would cancel out any vote the third estate had. This was an unfair system because all 3 Estates got the same number of votes even though the 3rd estate is 97% of the people.
Who usually voted the same?
The Clergy and the Nobles (the first and second estates)
Why is this true?
The clergy and nobles were very rich and didn’t pay taxes, which was very different from everyone else, who were poor and paid heavy taxes. Therefore, every time the third estate tried to make a reform, the first and second estate would vote together against their proposal
What did Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès say?
“What is the third estate? The third estate is everything! What are we treated like? Nothing! What is it we demand to be? Something!”
When was the last time the Convening of the Estates General was in session?
175 years ago (1614)
What was the third estate eventually called? What did they start doing?
The National Assembly of the People of France, They started to make laws and Louis eventually recognized them as a governing body.
What did the Tennis Court Oath say?
The National Assembly would not stop until they got the French Constitution that they wanted.
What did Louis XVI do in reaction to this? Did anyone notice?
Louis XVI called in troops to surround Paris. He didn’t say anything publicly but people did notice.
What was the Bastille?
A prison where political prisoners were held, but was in the process of being turned into a warehouse for weapons.
What happened on July 14, 1789?
Bastille Day - The people of France stormed the Bastille, a political prison, to release the 7 prisoners it held and to take the many weapons and ammunition stored in there.
On Bastille Day, how many died, how many were wounded, how many guards killed, and how many prisoners were there?
18 died total, 73 wounded, 7 guards killed, 7 prisoners released.
What happened about a week after this?
The rebels became paranoid about what might happen next. This was called The Great Fear.
What is the Great Fear?
The rebels who stormed the Bastille thought that the government would take action, and, to prevent that, the revolutionaries took action first and raided nobles.
How convinced were the people of the 3rd estate that the govt. would attack them?
They were so convinced that the government was going to try and make an attack on them that they took action before the government could.
What was the new tradition for killing a guard?
Putting their heads on a long stick or pike and parading it around for everybody to see
What was the rumor about Marie Antoinette?
She was hoarding grain in the palace of Versailles
What did this rumor cause?
A mob of peasant women stormed Versailles, thirsty for the queen’s blood.
What did they force the monarchs to do?
They forced the royal family to move to Paris so that Louis and Marie could see the poverty around them, and so that the people could keep an eye out on them.
What is the tri-color? (Tree-Colour)
The flag of the Revolution. The red and blue represented Paris and the white of the Bourbon family was a division.
What happened to the old Regime?
The old regime is completely gone.
What was the new French Constitution called?
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
This constitution was influenced by? (Two things)
The Enlightenment and the Declaration of Independence.
What was the next move for the people of France?
The National Assembly took over the Church (under the influence of Robespierre)
Why did they want to do this?
They do this to gain the churches land so that they can sell it and gain money to pay off the country’s debt.
Who is Olympe De Gouges (1745-1793)?
The woman who created The Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Citizen.
What did she have an issue with? Why?
She had an issue with the way women were treated, she believed women and men should be treated equally.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen did not give rights to women.
What did she write? (Timestamp)
The Declaration of The Rights of Women and of The Citizen (1791).
Was it successful?
No, and because she wrote it, she was guillotined two years after it came out.
What was the Civil Constitution of the Clergy?
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was issued by the National Assembly and it gave the NA power over the Church. This caused people to choose between church and government.
Why did they do this?
To pay off their debt. They would use the Church’s land
What are some reactions to this?
The Peasants didn’t like this because they didn’t want the National Assembly to have control of the church because they thought it would give the government too much power.
