French Revolution and Napoleon Quiz #2

Women's March to Versailles

An uprising led largely by working-class women protesting the high price and shortage of bread. Thousands marched to Versailles, forcing Louis XVI and the royal family to move to Paris, where they could be monitored by the people.

Charlotte Corday

A young woman who assassinated radical Jacobin journalist Jean-Paul Marat in July 1793. She believed Marat was responsible for encouraging revolutionary violence and hoped his death would stop the bloodshed.

Théroigne de Méricourt

A prominent female revolutionary who advocated women's political participation and supported the Revolution. She became associated with radical revolutionary activism.

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

A 1790 work criticizing the French Revolution.He defended tradition, monarchy, and established institutions, arguing that sudden revolutionary change would lead to violence and instability.

Civil Constitution of the Clergy

A law that reorganized the Catholic Church in France, making clergy employees of the state and requiring them to swear loyalty to the Constitution. It divided the clergy and created conflict between revolutionary authorities and Catholics.

Massacre on the Champs de Mars

An event in which National Guardsmen fired on a crowd of protesters demanding the removal of Louis XVI after his attempted escape. It revealed growing divisions between moderates and radicals.

Jacobin Club

A radical political organization that supported the Republic and increasingly advocated strong measures against enemies of the Revolution. Its influence grew under leaders such as Robespierre.

Sans-culottes

Working-class urban revolutionaries, particularly in Paris, who demanded lower food prices, economic equality, and political action against enemies of the Revolution. Their name referred to their rejection of aristocratic knee-breeches.

Declaration of War on Austria

France declared war on Austria on April 20, 1792, partly because revolutionaries feared foreign monarchies would intervene to restore the French monarchy. The war intensified revolutionary tensions and contributed to the monarchy's downfall.

Second Revolution

The overthrow of the French monarchy, when armed revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace on August 10. Louis XVI was suspended and later imprisoned, marking the end of constitutional monarchy.

September Massacres

Violent killings of prisoners in Paris by revolutionary crowds who feared that imprisoned counterrevolutionaries would join foreign invading armies. The massacres demonstrated the growing violence and fear within the Revolution.

Battle of Valmy

A major French victory against Prussian forces that stopped the invasion of France. It boosted revolutionary morale and helped protect the new revolutionary government.

Declaration of the French Republic

The National Convention officially abolished the monarchy and established the French Republic, ending centuries of Bourbon royal rule.

Nicolas de Caritat Marquis de Condorcet

An Enlightenment philosopher, mathematician, and revolutionary who supported republican government, education, equality, and women's rights. He opposed the growing radicalism of the Revolution and eventually became a victim of revolutionary persecution.

Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just

A close ally of Robespierre and an influential Jacobin revolutionary. He supported the Republic, revolutionary virtue, and the use of terror against enemies of the Revolution.

Death of Louis XVI

Louis XVI was executed by guillotine after being convicted of treason against the French nation. His execution made reconciliation with European monarchies more difficult and intensified foreign opposition to France.

Federalism

A political movement that favored greater political independence for France's provinces rather than centralized control by Paris. During the Revolution, federalist revolts challenged the authority of the Jacobin government.

The Vendée

A region in western France where a major counterrevolutionary uprising began in 1793. The rebellion was driven by opposition to revolutionary policies, particularly conscription and attacks on the Catholic Church.

Girondins vs. Jacobins

The Girondins were relatively moderate republicans who opposed the growing power of Parisian radicals. The Jacobins, particularly the Mountain faction, supported stronger centralized revolutionary government and increasingly radical policies. The Jacobins ultimately drove the Girondins from the Convention in 1793.

Conscription

The government required citizens to serve in the military to defend France against foreign enemies and internal rebellions. The February 1793 levy called for 300,000 recruits; the broader levée en masse of August 1793 mobilized the nation for war.

Committee of Public Safety

An executive committee established in April 1793 to defend the Revolution and direct the war effort. Under leaders including Robespierre, it gained enormous power and became the central governing authority during the Terror.

Purge of the Convention

An uprising by Parisian sans-culottes and National Guardsmen that forced the arrest of leading Girondin deputies. This strengthened Jacobin control of the National Convention.

Jean-Paul Marat

A radical revolutionary journalist who published the newspaper L'Ami du peuple (The Friend of the People). He encouraged action against enemies of the Revolution and was assassinated by Charlotte Corday in July 1793.

Georges Danton

A prominent revolutionary leader and early member of the Committee of Public Safety. He initially supported revolutionary violence but later called for moderation and an end to the Terror. He was executed in April 1794.

Make Terror the Order of the Day

A revolutionary declaration from September 1793 calling for the systematic use of terror against enemies of the Republic. It reflected the government's determination to eliminate counterrevolutionary threats.

Bertrand Barére

A leading member and spokesperson of the Committee of Public Safety. He defended revolutionary policies and helped communicate and justify the government's use of terror.

The Terror

A period of intense political repression in which the revolutionary government used executions, imprisonment, and surveillance to eliminate perceived enemies of the Republic. It ended with the fall of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor.

The Law of Suspects

A law that allowed revolutionary authorities to arrest people suspected of opposing the Revolution. Its broad definition of suspicion made it possible to imprison thousands of people.

The Law of 22 Prairial

A law that simplified Revolutionary Tribunal procedures and severely restricted defendants' rights. It limited legal defenses and expanded the possibility of execution, intensifying the Terror.

The Temple of Reason

A former Catholic church, particularly Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, that was converted into a center for the revolutionary Cult of Reason during dechristianization.

Festival of Reason

A revolutionary celebration held at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris that honored Reason instead of Christianity. It symbolized the dechristianization movement and the attempt to replace traditional religious practices.

Dechristianization

A movement during the Revolution that attempted to eliminate the influence of Catholicism and traditional Christianity. It included closing churches, removing religious symbols, and promoting revolutionary alternatives to religion.

Revolutionary Calendar

A new calendar introduced in 1793 that replaced the traditional Christian calendar. It began with the founding of the Republic in September 1792 and renamed months according to nature and the seasons.

Décadi

The tenth and final day of the revolutionary ten-day week. It replaced Sunday as the official day of rest and helped distance French society from traditional Christian practices.

The Maximum

A set of economic controls introduced in 1793 that established maximum prices for essential goods, especially food, and maximum wages. It was intended to control inflation and prevent food shortages.

Death of Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette, the former queen of France, was executed by guillotine after being convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal. Her execution symbolized the destruction of the old monarchy.

Camille Desmoulins

A journalist and revolutionary who helped encourage the early Revolution in 1789. Later, he criticized the excesses of the Terror and called for moderation. He was executed alongside Danton in April 1794.

Ça ira

A popular revolutionary song whose title means "It will be fine" or "Things will work out." It expressed revolutionary enthusiasm and support for the overthrow of the old social and political order.

La Carmagnole

A popular revolutionary song and dance associated with the sans-culottes. It mocked the monarchy and celebrated the revolutionary movement.

La Marseillaise

The French revolutionary national anthem, originally written in 1792 as a military marching song. It encouraged French citizens and soldiers to defend the Revolution against foreign enemies.

Principles of Political Morality

A speech delivered by Robespierre on February 5, 1794. He argued that revolutionary government should be based on virtue and that terror was necessary to defend the Republic and eliminate its enemies.

Festival of the Supreme Being

A celebration organized by Robespierre that promoted a new civic religion based on belief in a Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul. It represented Robespierre's attempt to replace Catholicism and the Cult of Reason with a form of deism.

9 Thermidor

The date of Robespierre's downfall. He and his allies were arrested and executed shortly afterward, bringing the Reign of Terror to an end and weakening Jacobin political power.