Nineteenth-Century and Modern France Revision Flashcards

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering Nineteenth-Century and Modern French history, literature, and film, including the Haitian Revolution, political instability, socialist movements, and colonial memory.

What are the two primary reasons the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) is considered unique in modern history?

It was the first successful slave revolt in modern history and it created the world's first independent Black republic.

Approximately how many times did the French government change between 1789 and 1875?

France changed government about twelve times through revolutions, coups, and wars.

In the nineteenth-century timeline, which government lasted from 1830 to 1848?

The July Monarchy under Louis-Philippe.

How did Napoleon Bonaparte, also known as Napoleon I, initially seize power in 1799?

He seized power through the Coup of 18 Brumaire.

What was the familial relationship between Napoleon I and Napoleon III?

Napoleon III was Napoleon I's nephew.

What event marked the end of the Reign of Terror and the execution of Robespierre?

The Thermidorian Reaction, specifically the coup of 9 Thermidor Year II (27 July 1794).

Who made up the bourgeoisie according to French historians, and why were they significant to Marxists?

They were the middle class (business owners, professionals, and merchants) who did not work with their hands; Marxists viewed the French Revolution as a bourgeois revolution.

What were the primary achievements of Baron Haussmann's transformation of Paris between 1853 and 1870?

Wide boulevards, parks, modern sewer systems, and improved water supply.

What is a 'flâneur' as associated with Charles Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin?

A detached urban observer who strolls through the city watching modern life, symbolizing anonymity in Haussmann's Paris.

What was the 'Bloody Week' (La Semaine Sanglante)?

The period when the radical revolutionary government known as the Paris Commune was crushed in 1871.

According to Zola's theory of heredity, what did the protagonist Étienne Lantier inherit in the novel Germinal?

He inherited tendencies toward violence and alcoholism from his family line.

Compare the political beliefs of Étienne, Rasseneur, and Souvarine in Germinal.

Étienne is a socialist/Marxist; Rasseneur is a moderate reformist who prefers negotiation; Souvarine is a revolutionary anarchist who believes violent destruction is necessary.

What year was the International Working Men's Association (The First International) founded?

$$1864$$

Who was the author of 'J'Accuse…!' and a leading naturalist writer?

Émile Zola.

What was revealed by the Dreyfus Affair regarding French society?

It exposed deep antisemitism, nationalism, military corruption, and weaknesses in French justice.

What was the Popular Front (Front Populaire) and who were its leaders?

A coalition of socialists, communists, and radicals led by Léon Blum, Édouard Daladier, and Maurice Thorez.

What were the ideological goals of Philippe Pétain's Vichy France?

To replace republican values with 'Work, Family, Fatherland' and restore conservative order through collaboration with Nazi Germany.

Who were the primary Resistance leaders inside and outside of France during WWII?

Jean Moulin led the Resistance inside France, while Charles de Gaulle led from the outside.

What were the 'tondues' and the 'épuration'?

'Les tondues' were women who had their heads shaved for 'horizontal collaboration,' while the 'épuration' was the post-war legal and extra-legal purge of collaborators.

What specific thirty-year period in French history is known as 'Les Trente Glorieuses'?

A period of economic growth and rising living standards following WWII, named after the 'Three Glorious Days' of 1830.

What historical event in 1961 is referenced in the film Caché as a suppressed memory of colonial violence?

The Paris massacre of 17 October 1961.