french revolution

Influence of the American Revolution

Showed the French people that a revolution against a king was possible

Enlightenment

Ideas about reason, natural rights, freedom, and equality

Rise of the Bourgeoisie

Middle class gained wealth but wanted political power

Old Regime

France’s unfair social system with three estates

Estate System Discontent

Third Estate paid most taxes but had little power

Royal Financial Crisis

France was deeply in debt from wars and spending

Louis XVI’s Policies

Weak leadership and poor financial decisions

Marie Antoinette

Queen seen as wasteful and out of touch

National Assembly

Group formed by the Third Estate to make laws

Tennis Court Oath

Promise not to disband until a constitution was written

Storming of the Bastille

Attack on a prison symbolizing tyranny

Declaration of the Rights of Man

Document stating natural rights and equality

Great Fear

Panic where peasants attacked nobles

Flight to Varennes

King tried and failed to escape France

Legislative Assembly

Government that replaced the National Assembly

National Convention

Government that abolished the monarchy

Dissolution of the Monarchy

End of the French king’s rule

Girondins

Moderate revolutionaries

Jacobins

Radical revolutionaries

Montagnards

Most radical Jacobins

Sans-Culottes

Working-class revolutionaries

Radical Phase

Period of extreme violence and control

Reign of Terror

Mass executions of enemies of the revolution

Maximilien Robespierre

Leader of the Terror who used fear to control

Committee of Public Safety

Group that ran France during the Terror

Georges Danton

Early revolutionary leader executed during the Terror

Jean-Paul Marat

Radical journalist who supported violence

Republican Calendar

New calendar to remove religion

Cult of the Supreme Being

Robespierre’s state-sponsored religion

Thermidorian Reaction

Overthrow and execution of Robespierre

Directory

Weak government that ruled after the Terror

Talleyrand

Diplomat who helped France before and after Napoleon

Rise of Napoleon

Military leader who took power in 1799

Napoleon’s Reforms

Laws that improved education, economy, and equality

Napoleonic Code

Legal system ensuring equality before the law

Napoleonic Wars

Wars spreading revolutionary ideas across Europe

Confederation of the Rhine

German states controlled by Napoleon

Congress of Vienna

Meeting to restore monarchies after Napoleon

Hundred Days

Napoleon’s short return to power

Battle of Waterloo

Final defeat of Napoleon in 1815

Metternich

Started the Congress of Vienna