The French Revolution

Flashcards covering the French Revolution and related events.

What was the outcome of the French Revolution?

Led to the end of monarchy in France and a new system of governance.

What key idea was announced in the Declaration of the Rights of Man during the French Revolution?

The idea that all individuals had rights and could claim equality.

What did the Russian Revolution seek to change?

Sought to change society by raising the question of economic equality and the well-being of workers and peasants.

What was the politics of Nazism?

Denied various minorities a right to live and waged a battle against democracy and socialism.

What event on July 14, 1789, marked a turning point in the French Revolution?

The storming of the Bastille.

Who was the King of France in 1774?

Louis XVI of the Bourbon family.

Why did Louis XVI find an empty treasury upon his accession?

The cost of maintaining an extravagant court at Versailles and helping the American colonies gain independence.

Which estates in French society enjoyed privileges by birth, including exemption from paying taxes?

Clergy and the nobility.

What is a subsistence crisis?

An extreme situation where the basic means of livelihood are endangered.

What did the emerging middle class in the 18th century believe about social position?

That a person’s social position must depend on his merit.

Name two philosophers who put forward ideas for a society based on freedom, equal laws, and opportunities.

Locke and Rousseau.

What political body did Louis XVI call together to pass proposals for new taxes?

The Estates General.

What did the third estate declare themselves as after walking out of the Estates General assembly?

The National Assembly.

Who led the National Assembly?

Mirabeau and Abbé Sieyès.

What contributed to the turmoil in France while the National Assembly was drafting a constitution?

A severe winter and the exploitation of the situation by bakers.

What did the Assembly abolish on the night of August 4, 1789?

The feudal system of obligations and taxes.

What was the main object of the Constitution of 1791?

To limit the powers of the monarch.

What three institutions were the powers of the monarch assigned to under the Constitution of 1791?

Legislature, executive, and judiciary.

What ‘natural and inalienable’ rights were established in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen?

Rights such as the right to life, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, and equality before law.

How were important ideas communicated since most people could not read or write?

Through images and symbols.

Which countries did the National Assembly declare war against in April 1792?

Prussia and Austria.

What was the name of the most successful political club during the French Revolution?

Jacobins.

Who was the leader of the Jacobins?

Maximilian Robespierre.

What were the Jacobins who wore long striped trousers known as?

Sans-culottes.

What was the newly elected assembly called after the elections in which all men of 21 years and above got the right to vote?

The Convention.

When did the newly elected assembly abolish the monarchy and declared France a republic?

On 21 September 1792.

What is the period from 1793 to 1794 referred to as?

The Reign of Terror.

What was one of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime?

Abolition of slavery in the French colonies.

Who rose as a military dictator after the political instability of the Directory?

Napoleon Bonaparte.

In which year did women in France win the right to vote?

1946.

Name one of the most important of the politically active women in revolutionary France.

Olympe de Gouges.

What important law came into effect soon after the storming of the Bastille in the summer of 1789?

The abolition of censorship.

In what year Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France?

1804.

Where and When Napoleon was finally defeated?

Waterloo in 1815.