Nationalism in France and the French Revolution

Vocabulary flashcards covering French nationalism, the Ancien Regime estate system, economic instability, and early events of the French Revolution.

French Revolution

The late 18th-century event in France where nationalism was born.

Revolution

A major change, typically involving the overthrow of a government by people who want a different kind of government.

Absolute Monarchy

A political system in which a single King or Queen rules a society with absolute power, is not elected, cannot be removed from power, and in France was responsible only to God.

Republic

A form of government in which the citizens, not a monarch or a dictator, hold the power.

Ancien Regime

The ruling system of France that existed since the Middle Ages, featuring three distinct social classes ruled by an absolute monarch.

First Estate

The social class in France made up of Roman Catholic clergy (about 250,000 people, mostly men) who paid no taxes and held large political power, with only the King above them.

Second Estate

The social class made up of about 250,000 nobles and lords across France who owned land, controlled serfs, paid no taxes, and held political power at the local level.

Third Estate

The poorest and largest social class of about 25,000,000 people—including serfs, peasants, merchants, artisans, workers, and bourgeoisie—who had no political power and paid heavy taxes.

Bourgeoisie

Well-educated merchants belonging to the Third Estate who earned money but had to pay most of it to the French crown in taxes, leading to frustration and resentment toward the First and Second Estates.

Estates-General

The closest thing France had to a democracy prior to the revolution, where each estate received one vote; called by King Louis XVI in 1789 for the first time since 1614.

National Assembly

A body created by representatives of all three estates who joined together after the failure of the Estates-General meeting to take a stand against King Louis XVI.

Tennis Court Oath

The oath sworn on a nearby tennis court by the newly formed National Assembly after being locked out of their meeting space, promising not to disband until France had a Constitution.

The Bastille

A royal fortress and prison in Paris seen as a royal symbol, near which King Louis XVI assembled royal troops amidst rumors of an planned attack.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quote (1762)

"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they."