Chapter 18 French Revolution and Napoleon Vocab

estate

Status group division in France since the Middle Ages

taille

Major French tax

estate

Status group division in France since the Middle Ages

taille

Major French tax

bourgeoisie

French middle class, including merchants, industrialists, and professional people

sans-culottes

Radical revolutionary group of Parisian wage-earners and small shopkeepers who wanted a greater voice in government, lower prices, and an end of food shortages

Louis XVI (16th)

King of France during the French Revolution, executed by guillotine

Tennis Court Oath

A pledge made by the members of France's National Assembly in 1789 to continue meeting until they had drawn up a new constitution

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the

Citizen

Passed August 26, 1789 by the National Assembly giving rights to all Frenchmen

Marie Antoinette

Unpopular Queen of France (wife of Louis XVI) known for her extravagance and opposition to reform; guillotined along with the king

Paris Commune

Paris radicals who tried to form their own government and resist the conservative leaders

French Constitution of 1791

Set of laws establishing a Constitutional Monarchy to limit the king's power and creating a Legislative Assembly to make the laws

Bastille

Prison stormed by peasants for ammunition during the first stage of the French Revolution.

Estates-General

An assembly of representatives from all three of the French estates

French National Assembly

Self-created breakaway group from the Estates-General by the Third Estate

Great Fear

Peasant rebellions that spread through the French countryside after the storming of the Bastille in 1789

Women's March

Armed revolutionary women marched in protest of food shortages and high prices at the royal palace of Versailles

Civil Constitution of the Clergy

Document issued by the National Assembly in July 1790 that broke off from the Catholic Church and established a national church system in France of clergy elections

Storming of the Tuileries

Paris workers and provincial troops stormed the Tuilieries Palace, massacred the Swiss Guard, and imprisoned the king and queen

Universal male suffrage

the right of all males aged 25 or older to vote in elections, independent of property-ownership

Committee of Public Safety

Established and led by Robespierre to fix (set) bread prices and institute the Reign of Terror

Reign of Terror

Thousands of anti-revolutionaries were executed for "disloyalty"

elector

Georges Danton

minister of justice who led the sans-culottes revolutionaries

electors

qualified voters in the National Convention

coup d'état

Overthrown the current government to replace it

Jacobins

Radical pro-republic faction led by Maximilien Robespierre

Girondins

Moderate pro-republic faction that wanted to extend the Revolution beyond France's borders

republic

Form of government where leaders are voted into office by citizens

Constitutional Monarchy

Form of government where a ruler's power is limited by law and balanced by a legislative body of citizens

factions

Political groups who members agree on political goals and policies

Republic of Virtue

Robespierre's attempt to control and create a new French society

de-Christianization

Eliminate religious influence by legislating secular Enlightenment ideals

Directory.

executive committee of five men

Constitution of 1795

Established a national legislative assembly consisting of two legislative houses:

1. a lower house, the Council of 500 ,who drafted legislation, and

2. the Council of Elders, an upper house of 250 married or widowed men over age 40

Napoleon Bonaparte

Defeated Italy, Papal States, overthrew The Directory in 1799, and became emperor of France in 1804

Thermidorian Reaction

Backlash against revolutionary radicalism, ended the Reign of Terror, and executed Robespierre

consulate

Form of government following The Directory, established by Napoleon-ended when Napoleon was crowned emperor.

nationalism

sense of unique identity of a people based on common language, religion, and state symbols; one of the most important forces of the 1800s

Napoleon Bonaparte

Overthrew the French revolutionary government (The Directory) in 1799 and became emperor of France in 1804

Civil Code

Code of laws established by Napoleon preserving many of the ideals of the French Revolution but harmed women

Anne-Louise-Germaine de Staël

prominent writer during Napoleonic France whose books were banned

Duke of Wellington

British soldier and statesman who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815