History Study Guide

Absolutism, Enlightenment, French Revolution

How did the absolute monarchs justify their rule?

By divine right, the idea that God created the monarchy and that the monarch acted as God’s representative on earth

What where three causes of absolute monarchy?

1 - Religious and traditional conflicts created fear and uncertainty

2 - Growth of armies to deal with conflicts caused rulers to rise taxes to pay troops

3 - Heavy taxes led to additional arrest and peasant revolts

What were three effects of absolute monarchy?

1. Rulers regulated religious worship and social gatherings to control the spread of ideas
2. Rulers increased the size of their courts to appear more powerful,
3. Elers created bureaucracies to control their countries’ economies

What was the Enlightenment?

A new intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought and the power of individuals to solve problems

In Hobbes’s social contract, what do people do, and what do they gain?

They hand over their rights to a strong ruler, and they gain law and order in exchange.

What were three natural rights of every person, according to Locke?

1 - Life

2 - Liberty

3 - Property

According to Locke, what happens if a government fails to fulfill it’s purpose of protecting the citizens’ natural right?

Citizens have a right to overthrow it

What five concepts formed the core of philosophers’ belief?

* Reason
* Nature
* Happiness
* Progress
* Liberty

What was the effect of the success of the Scientific Revolution?

They gave people the confidence that human reason could solve social problems

Under France’s Old Regime, who were the members of the First and Second Estates?

1. Clergy
2. Nobles

Under France’s Old Regime, what three major groups made up the Third Estates?

1. Bourgeoisie
2. Urban workers
3. Peasants

How did the bourgeoisie differ from the urban workers and peasants?

* bourgeoisie (middle class)
* Merchants and artisans
* Well-educated
* Believed strongly in Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality
* Some were as rich as nobles, but paid high taxes and had no privileges
* urban workers
* Cooks, servants, etc.
* Often went hungry because of low wages and high unemployment
* Sometimes attacked carts of grain and bread to steal during hard times
* Peasants
* Over 80% of the population
* Paid half their income in dues to nobles, tithes to the church, and taxes to the king’s agents
* Paid taxes on basic staples such as salt

What were five economic problems that France experienced under the Old Regime?

* The population of France was expanding rapidly, along with trade and production
* People still couldn’t make a profit and build a business because of heavy taxes
* The cost of living rose
* Bad weather in  the 1780s caused widespread crop failures, resulting in a shortage of grain and doubling the price of bread
* Louis XVI inherited large debt from his predecessors and borrowed heavily to help the Americans win their revolution
* Bankers refused to lend France any more money in 1786

What was the Tennis Court Oath and why did the Third Estate make it?

Locked out of the meeting room, 3rd Estate met in the tennis court and made Tennis Court Oath to keep meeting until they could write a new constitution

Why did a mob in Paris storm the Bastille prison and kill its guards in July, 1789?

They were searching for gunpowder because there were rumors that Louis would soon attack citizens with foreign troops.

What happened during the Great Fear?

1. peasants broke into nobles' houses
2. Stole legal papers that bound them to feudal duties,
3. Sometimes burned down nobles’ houses

How did many Parisian women try to resolve the food crisis in late 1789?

1. They marched to Versailles
2. Broke into the palace
3. Killed two guards
4. Forced Louis to return to Paris with them

How did the National Assembly protect freedoms in 1789?

It adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

What was the slogan of the French Revolution?

* Liberty
* Equality
* Fraternity

What was the historical significance of Olympe de Gouges?

Declaration of the rights of women

How was the Catholic Church affected by actions taken by National Assembly?\`

It lost its lands and its political independence

1st group of the Legislative Assembly

Radicals

* Sat in the left, opposed the monarchy, and wanted sweeping changes in the government

2nd group of the Legislative Assembly

Moderates

* Sat in the center and wanted some changes in government

3rd group of the Legislative Assembly

Conservatives

* Sat on the right and upheld the idea of a limited monarchy with few changes in government

Who were the sans-culottes?

* Parisian wage-earners and small shopkeepers who wanted a greater voice in the government
* lower food prices
* End food shortage

Goals of the Jacobin Club

To remove the king and establish a republic

How did the National Convention treat Louis XVI after it made France a republic?

* Made Louis a private citizen
* Tried Louis for treason and sentenced him to death
* Executed him by guillotine in January 1793

What were two anti-Christians actions taken by the National Convention in order to eliminate all traces of monarchy and nobility?

* Abolished Sundays
* Closed all churches

What was the death toll of the Reign of Terror, mostly by guillotine?

About 40,000

Government of the Directory

* The two-house legislature would be dominated by the upper middle class
* An executive body of five men called the Directory would be chosen from moderates
* Although the Directory was corrupt, it brought order to France for a time

What was the result of Napoleon's expedition against Egypt?

* His army was pinned down in Egypt
* His naval forces were defeated by the British admiral Horatio Nelson.

What economic reforms did Napoleon make?

* He set up an efficient tax-collection system
* Established a national bank
* Assuring the government a steady supply of tax money
* Promoting sound financial management and better control of the economy.

What are three ways in which the Napoleonic Code limited liberty and individual rights?

* Freedom of speech
* Press was restricted rather than expanded
* Restored slavery in the French Caribbean

How did Napoleon benefit from the Louisiaha Purchase?

Gained money to finance operations in Europe and he punished his British enemies by promoting the US as Britain’s rival.

What were two major consequences of the French defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar?

* It assured the supremacy of the British navy for the next hundred years
* It also forced Napoleon to give up his plans of invading Britain.

How did Napoleon's power and military threats affect conquered peoples in Europe?

It made them more conscious of their loyalty to their own nations

Why should the Peninsular War be considered a failure for Napoleon?

Spanish guerrillas killed 300,000 French soldiers over five years, and Napoleon could not defeat them.

How did Russia weaken Napoleon’s army as he invaded?

Russians retreated toward Moscow and practiced a scorched-earth policy, which caused soldiers to desert the French army to search for scraps of food.

What happened to Napoleon after Waterloo

* He was exiled to St. Helena
* He lived for six years
* Writing his memoirs
* Died of a stomach ailment

What were Metternich’s three goals at the Congress of Vienna?

1. He wanted to prevent future French aggression by surrounding France with strong countries
2. He wanted to restore a balance of power so that no country would be a threat to others
3. He wanted to restore Europe's royal families to the thrones they had held before Napoleon's conquests

Why should the Congress of Vienna be considered a success?

Its settlements were fair enough for no country to be left bearing a grudge, so it did not sow the seeds of future wars. Also, for the first time, the nations of an entire continent were cooperating to control political affairs.

After the French Revolution, what was considered to be the best way for equity and justice to prevail for all people?

Democracy

One economic cause of the American Revolution?

One economic cause is taxes without representation. The stamp act attempted for the British to raise money by taxing the colonialist on official affairs. Colonialists complain cause they had no representation in parliament

One political cause of the American Revolution?

One political cause was the breaking of the social contract. Many Americans embraced the ideas of John Locke to protect their life, liberty, and property. Declaration of Independence was shown by Jefferson that England has invaded their rights

One political result of the American Revolution?

It was established by the Federal Republic. After winning the war, they set up a week of confederation. They soon changed it to a new federal republic under a new constitution. Give power to state and national government