French Revolution + Napoleon Lesson 1/2 Vocabulary Quiz

Old Regime

The social/political system of France where the people of France were divided into 3 different social classes.

Estates

The different social classes, the clergy, nobility, and peasants/serfs

Louis XVI

King of France. Put France into lots of debt due to his poor leadership. He was executed in via guillotine.

Marie Antoinette

Louis’ wife, queen of France. Her bad gambling habits/demands from Louis made France sink even more. Famously said: “Let them eat cake”

Estates General

An assembly of representatives from all 3 three estates to approve a new tax rule.

National Assembly

Third Estate delegates that passed the laws/reforms in the name of the French people

Tennis Court Oath

The Third Estate delegates breaking down a door to an indoor tennis court and pledging to stay until they had drawn up a new constitution.

Great Fear

A wave of senseless panic that spread throughout France when rumors of nobles hiring outlaws to terrorize peasants were spread.

Legislative Assembly

A new legislative body created by the National Assembly. They had the power to create laws, approve/reject declarations of war, etc.

Emigr

Nobles and others who fled France. They were the ones who opposed the Revolution and wanted to restore the Old Regime.

Sans-culouttes

Parisian workers and small shopkeepers who supported the Revolution. They exerted their power on France’s streets by rebelling.

Jacobin

Members of the radical political organization who had passions during the Revolution.

Guillotine

A machine made to execute people by making an angled blade fall on their neck, beheading them.

Maximillien Robspierre

A Jacobin leader who slowly gained power in 1793. He/his supporters set out to build a republic of virtue by wiping out France’s past and also became the leader of the Committee of Public Safety.

Reign of Terror

A period where Robspierre ruled as a dictator and many people were executed and lived in fear.