Comprehensive Bullet-Point Notes on the French Revolution

The Silk Road

A vast network of trade routes established during the Han Dynasty of China that connected the East to the West, named after silk, its most valuable commodity.

The French Revolution

A transformative event (1789-1815) in France that dismantled monarchy and birthed modern notions of citizenship.

The Russian Revolution

A transformative event (1917) in Russia that re-imagined society around economic equality and workers’ welfare, later curtailing political liberties.

The Rise of Nazism

A transformative event (1919-1945) in Germany that demonstrated how modern politics could descend into violent dictatorship, racism, and genocide.

Louis XVI

The French king who inherited a depleted treasury in 1774 at age 20, belonging to the Bourbon dynasty.

The Three Estates

The three social classes in pre-revolutionary France: Clergy, Nobility, and the Third Estate.

Clergy

The first estate in pre-revolutionary France, exempt from taxes and collecting tithes.

Nobility

The second estate in pre-revolutionary France, exempt from taxes and enjoying feudal dues and forced labour.

Third Estate

The third estate in pre-revolutionary France, comprising about 97% of the population, which alone paid direct and numerous indirect taxes.

Livre

A pre-1794 French currency.

Tithe

A one-tenth tax on produce collected by the Church.

Taille

A direct state tax paid only by the Third Estate in pre-revolutionary France.

Subsistence Crisis

An extreme threat to basic livelihood, often caused by food shortages and high prices.

John Locke

An Enlightenment philosopher who wrote 'Two Treatises of Government' and refuted the divine right of kings.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

An Enlightenment philosopher who wrote 'Social Contract,' arguing that sovereignty resides in the people.

Montesquieu

An Enlightenment philosopher who wrote 'Spirit of the Laws,' advocating for the separation of powers (legislative, executive, judiciary).

Estates-General Convenes

The first meeting of the Estates-General since 1614, convened on May 5, 1789, by Louis XVI to approve new taxes.

Tennis Court Oath

An oath taken by the Third Estate on June 20, 1789, in a tennis court, forming the National Assembly.

Mirabeau

A key figure who led the National Assembly and was a prominent orator during the French Revolution.

Abbé Sieyès

A clergyman and political theorist who supported the Third Estate and helped lead the National Assembly.

Storming of the Bastille

The event on July 14, 1789, when a Parisian crowd stormed a fortress-prison, symbolically destroying absolutism.

Great Fear

A period of rural unrest and panic in 1789, where peasants burned châteaux and manorial records.

Constitution of 1791

A constitution adopted in 1791 that established France as a constitutional monarchy with separation of powers.

Active citizens

Men aged ( \ge ) 25 who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days' wages and were eligible to vote under the 1791 Constitution.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

The Declaration issued in 1789, proclaiming natural, inalienable rights such as life, liberty, property, and security.

Jean-Paul Marat

A journalist and radical who warned that the laws served the rich and predicted further upheaval.

La Marseillaise

The French national anthem, sung by volunteers marching to Paris after the Assembly declared war on Austria and Prussia in April 1792.

Jacobin Club

A radical political club during the French Revolution, composed mainly of artisans, shopkeepers, and wage-earners.

Maximilien Robespierre

The leader of the Jacobin Club and a key figure during the Reign of Terror.

Sans-Culottes

Urban radicals during the French Revolution who wore long trousers, breaking with aristocratic knee-breeches, literally meaning 'without culottes'.

Reign of Terror

The period from September 1793 to July 1794, when Robespierre's Committee of Public Safety acted against 'enemies' of the revolution.

Guillotine

An execution device, symbol of equality in death, widely used during the Reign of Terror.

Directory

A five-member executive body (1795-1799) established under a new constitution to prevent one-man rule, but marked by corruption and instability.

General Napoleon Bonaparte

A French general who staged a coup in 1799, became First Consul, and then crowned himself Emperor in 1804.

Civil Code/Code Napoléon

A comprehensive code of laws introduced by Napoleon, establishing legal equality, property rights, secular education, and the metric/decimal system.

Waterloo

The battle in 1815 where Napoleon was decisively defeated.

Emancipation

The act of freeing, often referring to the freeing of slaves.

Suffrage

The right to vote.

Olympe de Gouges

A prominent feminist writer and activist during the French Revolution, who wrote the 'Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen' in 1791 and was guillotined for 'treason'.

Tipu Sultan & Raja Rammohan Roy

Indian anti-colonial leaders who adapted French ideas in their struggles against imperial rule.