French Revolution History 2024-2025

Marie Antoinette

“Madame Deficit,“ had Austrian ties that worried revolutionary leaders in France

Women’s March on Versailles

Revolutionary event that forced the king to accept the National Assembly and agree to the Declaration of the Rights of Man (royal family taken hostage)

Bourgeoisie

Middle-class of France; members of the 3rd Estate

The Great Fear

After the storming of the Bastille, pleasant rebellions and rumors of foreign armies invading became part of a panic known as…

Republic

After abolishing the monarchy, the French National Convention’s first step was to establish France as this in 1792

Jacobins

Radical political organization that supported execution of Louis XVI; took control of government in 1793 and established a Reign of Terror, members included Marat and Robespierre

Thermidorian Reaction

An attempt by the National Convention to return France to normalcy after the Reign of Terror

Louis XVI

The King of France during the French Revolution; a weak absolute monarch

Third Estate

Social class which included the bourgeoisie as well as professionals, artisans, and peasants

Bastille

Paris prison and armory; the attack on this marked the beginning of the revolution (July 14, 1789)

Tennis Court Oath

A pledge made by members of France’s National Assembly in 1789 in which they promise to meet until they draw up a new constitution

Estates-General

Assembly of representatives from all three social classes; King summoned (after 175 years) to try to raise taxes

Reign of Terror

Period when thousands (40,000) of French political figures and citizens were executed

National Assembly

A French congress established mainly by representatives of the Third Estate

Maximilien Robespierre

Jacobin leader who set out to build a “republic of virtue“; “The Incorruptible“ was later beheaded

Girondins

Group of French citizens who favored keeping the king alive, lived in rural areas of France

Napoleon Bonaparte

Military leader who overthrew the Directory and later crowned himself leader of France

Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen

Charter of basic liberties that was based on the U.S. Constitution; supported rights for all men, not women

Taille

France’s chief tax; only paid by 3rd Estate

Paris Commune

Radical political group made up of the sans-culottes

Olympe de Gouges

Demanded equal political rights for women from the new French National Assembly; later guillontined

Legislative Assembly

Law-making body established by the Constitution of 1791

Republic of Virtue

The Committee of Public Safety tried to establish this, a democratic nation composed of good “citizens“

Gullotine

Used by the revolutionaries to execute opponents; believed to be a “humane” form of execution

Civil Constitution of the Clergy

Declared that bishops and priests were to be elected by the people; Church put under control of the State, not the Pope

Jean-Paul Marat

Journalist who wrote The Friend of the People, which condemned suspected “traitors“ of the revolution

Jacques Necker

Royal finance director who was popular with the French people and advocated that “The government had a duty to provide bread for all of its people.“

Charlotte Corday

Set a meeting with Marat, asserting to have a list of conspirators against the revolution, but then murdered him to bring “peace“ back to France

Georges Danton

Leader of the September Massacres in 1792 who was executed when he suggested the “Terror“ should end

Sans-culottes

Members of this political group were regular patriots without fine clothes; means “without breeches“

Committee of Public Safety

Group of 12 who were given broad powers to defend France from threats (internal and external) during the Reign of Terror

De-Christianization

Attempt to create a new order that reflected its belief in reason, the National Convention pursued this policy (which included a new calendar, changing street names, etc.)

Enlightenment

Belief in these kind of ideas, such as the influence of nature and human progress, was partly a cause of the French Revolution

Financial crisis (national debt)

French monarchy’s greatest problem, prior to the onset of the French Revolution

Bread

High prices for this commodity produced many riots throughout the winter and spring of 1789

1st Estate

Social class made up of the clergy

2nd Estate

Social class made up of the nobility

Abbe Sieyes

His pamphlet, “What is the 3rd Estate?,“ represented the views and spirit of the Third Estate

Flight to Varennes

Event where Louis XVI and the royal family tried to flee France, but were stopped before they could reach the Austrian border

Citizen

The Republic of Virtue preferred this title, instead of “mister/madame“ for people in society

Great Terror

Bloodiest period and last phase of the French Revolution (800 deaths per month)