French Revolution and Napoleonic Era Vocabulary Flashcards

A set of vocabulary flashcards based on the study notes covering the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Congress of Vienna.

Consulate

A dictatorship government headed by an absolute ruler, set up after Napoleon helped overthrow the Directory.

Napoleonic code

A code of law instituted by Napoleon that limited freedom of speech and press, and took away rights from women.

Reign of Terror

A period from July 1793 to July 1794 in which the Jacobins set out to crush their opposition, resulting in seventeen thousand people being killed.

Directory

An executive council of five men set up by the new constitution that ruled with a bicameral (two house) legislature.

Battle of Trafalgar

A naval battle where British Admiral Lord Nelsen defeated the French fleet, removing the possibility of a French invasion of Great Britain.

Continental System

An economic warfare system created by Napoleon that ordered all countries he had conquered to stop trading with Great Britain.

Scorched Earth Policy

A strategy used by the Russians during Napoleon's invasion where they retreated to central Russia and burned everything.

Elba

The island to which Napoleon was forced to surrender and exiled in March 1814.

Louis XVIII

The ruler who was put on the throne of France after Napoleon was exiled to Elba.

Hundred Days

The period starting March 1, 1815, when Napoleon returned to France and ruled again.

Waterloo

The location where armies of Prussia, Great Britain, and the Netherlands met and defeated Napoleon.

St. Helena

The location where Napoleon was put under house arrest for the rest of his life.

National Convention

The government in France that met from 1792 to 1795 and wrote France's first democratic constitution.

Jacobins

Radical revolutionaries led by Danton and Robespierre who felt the French Revolution had not gone far enough.

Girondists

A faction during the French Revolution who felt the revolution had gone too far.

Plain

The group of undecided members in the National Convention.

Committee of Public Safety

A committee formed to direct the war effort, which used conscription to raise an army and crushed domestic revolts.

Conscription

A military draft used by the Committee of Public Safety to raise an army.

Congress of Vienna

A meeting presided over by Metternich to restore political balance in Europe and settle future disputes.

Buffer states

Neutral territories created around a country by the Congress of Vienna.

Quadruple Alliance

An alliance made up of Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia.

Holy Alliance

An alliance created by Russian Tsar Alexander the 1st that called for Christian rulers in Europe to work together.

Concert of Europe

An organization where all of the alliances met together to settle international problems.