French Revolution & Napoleonic Era – Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards cover major people, institutions, laws, taxes, events, and ideas from the French Revolution through the Napoleonic era, helping students master essential terms for exam preparation.

Bourbon Dynasty

Royal family that ruled France until the Revolution; its kings (e.g., Louis XIV, XV, XVI) claimed divine right and became symbols of absolutism.

Divine Right of Kings

Belief that monarchs derive authority directly from God, making their power unquestionable by earthly bodies.

Estates-General

French representative assembly of the three estates (clergy, nobility, commoners); convened in 1789 after 175 years.

First Estate

The clergy of pre-revolutionary France; enjoyed vast land, wealth, and exemption from taxes.

Second Estate

French nobility; held top military and governmental posts and paid virtually no taxes.

Third Estate

Everyone else in France—bourgeoisie, urban workers, peasants—about 97 % of the population, shouldering most taxes.

Tithe

One-tenth tax on agricultural produce paid by peasants to the Church.

Vingtième

A twentieth (5 %) income tax created in 1749; First and Second Estates could avoid it with gifts to the king.

Corvée

Unpaid compulsory labor owed by peasants for public works or noble estates.

Banalité

Fee peasants paid for compulsory use of the lord’s mills, ovens, or winepresses.

Banvin

Noble monopoly tax on wine produced within a lord’s territory.

Péage

Toll levied by nobles on bridges and roads crossing their lands.

Terrage

Harvest tax collected by lords from peasants’ crops.

Bourgeoisie

Wealthy, educated middle class (merchants, lawyers, bankers) who lacked political privilege and led calls for reform.

Sans-culottes

Working-class revolutionaries who wore long trousers (pantaloons) instead of aristocratic knee-breeches, symbolizing radicalism.

Phrygian Cap

Red cap worn by revolutionaries as a badge of liberty and freedom from oppression.

Physiocrats

18th-century French economists (e.g., Turgot, Quesnay) who promoted agriculture and free trade as sources of national wealth.

Voltaire

Enlightenment writer who attacked clerical privilege and championed freedom of speech and religion.

Montesquieu

Philosopher who advocated separation of powers into legislative, executive, and judicial branches (The Spirit of Laws).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Thinker whose Social Contract argued that sovereignty rests with the people; inspired revolutionary egalitarianism.

John Locke

English philosopher who rejected absolute monarchy and asserted natural rights to life, liberty, and property.

Assignat

Revolutionary paper currency backed by confiscated Church lands.

Tennis Court Oath

Pledge by Third Estate deputies (20 June 1789) to draft a constitution and not disband until accomplished.

National Assembly

Name adopted by Third Estate delegates, claiming to represent the French nation and launching constitutional reform.

Storming of the Bastille

Attack on a royal prison/armory on 14 July 1789; symbolic start of the French Revolution.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

1789 charter proclaiming liberty, equality, property, security, and popular sovereignty as universal rights.

Jacobins

Radical republican club that dominated the Convention and instituted the Reign of Terror.

Committee of Public Safety

12-member body led by Robespierre that directed wartime government and the Terror (1793-94).

Reign of Terror

Period of mass executions of ‘enemies of the revolution’ (1793-94) using the guillotine.

Guillotine

Execution device for swift beheading; became emblem of Revolutionary justice.

September Massacre

Killing of ~1,500 prisoners in Paris (Sept 1792) amid fear of royalist plots during foreign invasion.

Revolutionary Calendar

Secular calendar introduced in 1793 with 10-day weeks and Year I starting 22 Sept 1792.

Directory

Five-man executive (1795-99) that replaced the Convention but fell to corruption and a coup by Napoleon.

Napoleonic Code

Comprehensive civil law code (1804) abolishing feudalism, ensuring equality before law, and guaranteeing religious freedom.

Concordat of 1801

Agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII restoring Catholic Church status while keeping Church under state control.

Lyceé System

Network of state secondary schools founded by Napoleon to train civil servants and officers.

Bank of France

Central bank established by Napoleon (1800) to stabilize currency and credit.

Continental System

Napoleon’s blockade (1806-14) aimed at crippling Britain by prohibiting European trade with it.

Battle of Waterloo

Final defeat of Napoleon (18 June 1815) by British-Prussian coalition, ending his rule.

Congress of Vienna

1814-15 meeting of European powers led by Metternich to restore monarchies and balance of power after Napoleon.

Metternich

Austrian chancellor who dominated the Congress of Vienna and promoted conservative order.

Nationalism

Ideology asserting that a people with common identity should form an independent nation-state; strengthened by the Revolution.

Feudalism

Medieval socio-economic system of lord-serf obligations; legally abolished in France during the Revolution.

Universal Male Suffrage (1792)

Right extended by the National Convention giving all adult Frenchmen a vote, regardless of property.

Salon

Private gathering, often hosted by educated women, where Enlightenment ideas were discussed.

Marie Antoinette

Austrian-born Queen of France, criticized for extravagance; executed during the Revolution.

Mirabeau

Early moderate revolutionary leader who tried to reconcile monarchy with popular sovereignty.

Abbé Sieyès

Clergyman-politician who penned ‘What is the Third Estate?’ and helped engineer Napoleon’s 1799 coup.

Louis XVI

Last Bourbon king before the Revolution; executed for treason in 1793.

Olympia de Gouges

Playwright who authored Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791), demanding gender equality; executed in 1793.

Madame Jeanne Roland

Influential Girondin salonnière who advocated women’s political involvement; guillotined during the Terror.

Assignat Inflation

Severe devaluation of paper currency leading to economic turmoil during the Revolution.

Civil Constitution of the Clergy

1790 law making clergy state employees and requiring oath of loyalty to the nation.

Liberalism

Political philosophy emphasizing individual freedoms, constitutional government, and free markets—spread by the Revolution.

“Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité”

Slogan of the French Revolution meaning “Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood,” embodying its core ideals.

Coup of 18 Brumaire

Napoleon’s seizure of power on 9 Nov 1799 (18 Brumaire Year VIII), ending the Directory.

Consulate

Government established by Napoleon (1799-1804) with three consuls—Napoleon as First Consul—prior to his emperorship.

Metric System

Standardized system of weights and measures adopted during the Revolution to replace regional units.

University of France

Centralized body created by Napoleon to supervise education at all levels across the nation.

Emperor Napoleon I

Title assumed by Napoleon in 1804, marking transition from revolutionary republic to empire.