Honors World History Chapter 22-23 ID French Revolution, Napoleon and Enlightenment ID's

Napoleon Childhood

Born on the island of Corsica shortly after it was annexed by France. Napoleon grew up resenting French rule, especially because his father, Carlo, submitted to it.

Letizia Bonaparte

Napoleon's mother, whom he deeply admired and credited for his success. She raised eight children in poverty and represented resilience and strength in his life.

Napoleon's Nobility Childhood

The Bonapartes were "poor nobility," meaning they had noble status but little wealth. This shaped Napoleon's ambition and hunger for power.

Napoleon's Military Beginnings

At age 9, Napoleon entered a French military school. As a Corsican outsider, he faced discrimination but excelled in military studies, graduating at age 15.

Napoleon and Versailles

Napoleon's Dad visited Versailles and was awestruck by the luxury. The extravagant court became symbolic of the monarchy he would later oppose.

Return to Corsica

After the revolution began, Napoleon returned to Corsica, seeking political influence. He eventually clashed with local leader Paoli, forcing his family to flee.

Siege of Toulon

Napoleon's first major military success. His leadership during the siege earned him national recognition and a promotion to brigadier general.

Josephine de Beauharnais

Napoleon's first wife, a widow with elite connections. Their marriage helped him gain political leverage in Parisian society.

Napoleon's Italian Campaign

Napoleon's brilliant military strategy led to decisive victories in Italy. The Battle of Lodi especially confirmed his belief in his destiny.

Napoleon Propaganda and public image

Napoleon actively used propaganda to publicize his military victories in France, enhancing his popularity and political power.

Napoleon's egyptian campaign

Aimed at disrupting British trade routes. While it faced military and logistical failures, the campaign increased his mystique back in France.

Coup of 18 Brumaire

Upon returning from Egypt, Napoleon staged a coup to overthrow the French Directory and established himself as First Consul.

First Consul Reforms

As First Consul, Napoleon implemented major reforms—legal, administrative, and educational—to stabilize and centralize France.

Napoleon as Emperor

Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in a grand ceremony, symbolizing the peak of his power and transformation from revolutionary general to monarch.

Scientific Revolution

A period (1500s-1600s) when observation, experimentation, and reason began replacing traditional authority (like the Church) in understanding the natural world.

Nicholas Copernicus

Proposed the heliocentric model — the idea that the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun.

Galileo Galilei

Italian astronomer who improved the telescope and supported the heliocentric theory. His discoveries (like Jupiter's moons) provided strong evidence against the geocentric model. He was put on trial by the Catholic Church for his views.

Isaac Newton

English scientist who developed the laws of motion and gravity. His book Principia Mathematica unified earlier discoveries and marked a major step in using reason and observation to understand the natural world.

Francis Bacon

English thinker who promoted the scientific method—using observation and experimentation. He believed science should improve life and help humans gain control over nature.

Heliocentric Theory

Proposed by Copernicus, this model said the Earth orbits the Sun. It challenged the Church-supported geocentric model and inspired future scientists like Galileo and Kepler.

John Locke

English philosopher who argued people are born with natural rights (life, liberty, property). He believed governments should protect those rights, and if they don't, people can overthrow them. His ideas influenced democratic revolutions.

Voltaire

French Enlightenment writer who fought for freedom of speech, religion, and against injustice. His sharp criticism of the Church and monarchy helped spread Enlightenment values.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

French philosopher who believed government should follow the "general will" of the people. In The Social Contract, he argued for direct democracy and more equality in society.

Montesquieu

French thinker who promoted separation of powers into three branches of government. His ideas greatly influenced the U.S. Constitution and modern democratic systems.

Storming of Bastille

A mob in Paris stormed a prison seen as a symbol of royal power. It marked the start of the French Revolution and showed the power of the people.

Reign of terror

A violent phase of the Revolution led by Robespierre, where thousands were executed by guillotine for being "enemies of the revolution." It ended with Robespierre's downfall.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

A key document of the French Revolution that stated all men are equal and have rights like liberty, property, and resistance to oppression. It was inspired by Enlightenment ideas.

Maximilien Robespierre

Leader of the radical Jacobins during the Reign of Terror. He believed in a "Republic of Virtue" but used fear and executions to maintain control. He was eventually executed himself.

Johannes Kepler

German mathematician and astronomer who discovered the laws of planetary motion. He proved planets orbit the sun in ellipses, not perfect circles, refining the heliocentric model with mathematical evidence. Also worked under Brahe, accused of poisoning him, never confirmed. THis was because when he began to use Tyco's data and make discoveries, tyco took it away

Scientific Method

A systematic way of acquiring knowledge through observation, experimentation, and reasoning. Developed and promoted by thinkers like Francis Bacon and René Descartes, it became the foundation of modern science.

Rene Decartes

French philosopher and mathematician who emphasized reason over tradition. Famous for saying "I think, therefore I am," he believed knowledge should be based on logic and mathematics, not faith or superstition.

Nicholas Copernicus

Polish astronomer who proposed the heliocentric model in his work On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. His ideas laid the foundation for a new understanding of the universe, challenging centuries of Church-supported geocentrism.

Thomas Hobbes

English philosopher who wrote Leviathan, arguing that people are naturally selfish and need a strong absolute ruler to maintain order. Unlike Locke, he supported monarchy for stability.

Mary Wallstonecraft

British writer and early feminist who argued for women's education and rights in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. She challenged the Enlightenment's male-dominated ideas of reason and equality.

Dennis Diderot

French philosopher who edited the Encyclopédie, a massive work that collected Enlightenment ideas and spread knowledge on science, politics, and religion to the public, challenging traditional authority.

Salon

Informal social gatherings, often hosted by wealthy women in France, where Enlightenment thinkers met to discuss ideas. Salons helped spread revolutionary thoughts about rights, reason, and reform.

Estates General

The rigid social class system in pre-revolutionary France: First Estate (clergy), Second Estate (nobility), and Third Estate (everyone else). The Third Estate bore most of the tax burden despite having the least power, fueling revolution.

National Assembly

Formed by the Third Estate after being locked out of the Estates-General. Declared itself the true representative body of France and began drafting a constitution—an early step in breaking royal authority.

Tennis Court Oath

pledge made by members of the National Assembly not to disband until they created a new constitution for France. It marked the beginning of organized opposition to the monarchy.

The directory

A five-member committee that governed France after the fall of Robespierre. It was weak, corrupt, and unpopular, which paved the way for Napoleon's rise to power.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Military leader who took control of France in a coup (1799) and later crowned himself emperor. He preserved some revolutionary reforms (like legal equality) but ruled as a dictator and expanded France through conquest.

Tyco Brahe

Danish astronomer who collected detailed astronomical data using the naked eye. Though he still believed in a geo-heliocentric model, his precise observations helped Kepler prove heliocentrism mathematically.

Andres Vesalius

Flemish anatomist who published On the Fabric of the Human Body, correcting many of Galen's errors by dissecting human corpses. He laid the foundation for modern anatomy.

William harvey

English physician who discovered that blood circulates through the body, pumped by the heart. This contradicted Galen's theories and changed how scientists understood human biology.

Adam Smith

Scottish economist who wrote The Wealth of Nations. He argued for capitalism and the idea of the "invisible hand" guiding free markets. He opposed government interference in the economy (laissez-faire).

Enlightened Despots

Absolute monarchs (like Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catherine the Great of Russia, and Joseph II of Austria) who embraced Enlightenment ideas to reform society, but kept firm control of power.

Social Contracts

A political theory stating that people give up certain freedoms in exchange for protection from the government. Popularized by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, but each interpreted it differently.

Deism

A belief that God created the universe but doesn't interfere in it—like a clockmaker. Many Enlightenment thinkers were Deists, believing reason and observation should guide understanding of the world, not organized religion.

Jean-Paul Marat

Radical journalist and politician who stirred public anger through his newspaper L'Ami du Peuple. He was assassinated in his bathtub and became a revolutionary martyr.

George Danton

Popular leader of the early Revolution and a key figure in overthrowing the monarchy. He was later executed by Robespierre during the Reign of Terror for being "too moderate."

Constitution of 1791

Created by the National Assembly, this limited monarchy established a constitutional government. Though it kept the king, it severely restricted his power. Louis XVI reluctantly accepted it.

Comitee Of Public Safety

A powerful 12-member group led by Robespierre during the Reign of Terror. They were tasked with protecting the Revolution but used extreme measures, including mass executions.

Reign of terror

A period of violence where thousands of "enemies of the Revolution" were executed by guillotine. It ended when Robespierre was arrested and executed.

Tyco brahe

Danish astronomer who made extremely accurate observations of the stars and planets without a telescope. Although he rejected the full heliocentric model, his data helped Johannes Kepler develop the laws of planetary motion.

Great Fear

A wave of senseless panic that spread through the French cities and mainly paris after the storming of the Bastille in 1789. The aristocrats and other french higher ups thought that the peasents were burning down houses and killing people despite this not happening. This resulted in a wave of fear that caused thousands of higher ups to flee

Geocentric theory

the belief that the Earth was the immovable center of the universe and everything, including the sun and planets, revolved around it. Supported by Aristotle, Ptolemy, and the Church, this idea dominated European thought until challenged during the Scientific Revolution.

Evangelista Torricelli

Italian physicist and student of Galileo who invented the mercury barometer in 1643, a tool to measure atmospheric pressure and predict weather.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek

Dutch scientist who used a microscope to observe bacteria and red blood cells, advancing microbiology.

Gabriel Fahrenheit

German physicist who invented the first mercury thermometer in 1714 and developed a temperature scale where water freezes at 32°.

Andres Celsius

Swedish astronomer who created the Celsius temperature scale in 1742, with water freezing at 0°.

Edward Jenner

British physician who developed the world's first smallpox vaccine in the late 1700s by using cowpox, a safer alternative to older inoculation methods.

Robert Boyle

Founder of modern chemistry. His book The Sceptical Chymist (1661) challenged classical elements and proposed that matter is made of small particles. He formulated Boyle's Law regarding gas pressure and volume.

Natural Rights

the God-given rights to life, liberty, and property that Locke said all people have and governments must defend.

Philosophes

Enlightenment thinkers in France who believed in reason, liberty, progress, and reforming society through rational thought.

Social Contract(hobbes)

Hobbes' idea that people must surrender freedoms to an absolute ruler to avoid chaos and maintain peace.

Baroque

a grand and elaborate artistic style popular in the 1600s and early 1700s, seen in dramatic architecture and art like the Palace of Versailles, before it gave way to Enlightenment-influenced styles.

Neoclassical

art and architecture, inspired by ancient Greece and Rome, that reflected Enlightenment values of order, reason, and simplicity and replaced the earlier baroque style in the late 1700s.

Catherine the great(II)

an absolute ruler of Russia who read Enlightenment thinkers and tried to reform Russian law and society, but after a serf rebellion, she gave nobles more power and expanded her empire instead.

Enlightened Despot

an absolute ruler, like Frederick the Great or Joseph II, who embraced Enlightenment ideas to reform society but still held onto full power.

Frederick the great(II)

king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, embraced Enlightenment ideas by reforming laws, promoting religious tolerance, and improving education, though he kept serfdom to maintain support from nobles.

Joseph II

Austria, ruling from 1780 to 1790, was the most radical enlightened despot, introducing legal reforms, freedom of worship and the press, and abolishing serfdom, though many of his changes were undone after his death.

Social Contract

A political theory popularized by John Locke, stating that government power comes from the consent of the governed and that people have the right to overthrow a ruler who violates their natural rights. This idea inspired American colonists to rebel against British rule.

French and indian yar(7 years war)

A conflict between Britain and France in North America, part of the larger Seven Years' War. Britain's victory expanded its territory but also led to significant debt, prompting taxes on the colonies that fueled colonial unrest.

Checks and balances

A system incorporated into the U.S. Constitution that ensures no one branch of government (legislative, executive, or judicial) becomes too powerful. Each branch has powers that can limit the others, a concept derived from Montesquieu's political philosophy.

Federalists and anti federalists

The two groups debating the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Federalists supported a strong central government and wrote the Federalist Papers, while Anti-Federalists feared excessive national power and demanded a Bill of Rights to protect citizens.

Articles of the confederation

The first constitution of the United States, creating a weak central government with limited powers. Its inability to effectively manage national issues led to calls for a stronger federal government and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.

Federal system

the division of power between the national government and state governments established by the U.S. Constitution. This system was designed to balance authority and prevent tyranny, inspired by Montesquieu's ideas about separation of powers.

Old regime

the traditional social and political system of France before the French Revolution, characterized by a rigid class structure divided into three estates with the clergy and nobility enjoying privileges, including exemption from many taxes, while the vast majority of people (the Third Estate) had few rights and bore heavy tax burdens.

Woman's March on Versailles

In October 1789, thousands of angry Parisian women marched to the royal palace at Versailles to demand bread and force the king and queen to move to Paris, signaling the monarchy's loss of control and the power shift toward the people.

Storming of the Bastille

On July 14, 1789, a Parisian mob attacked the Bastille prison to seize weapons and gunpowder, an event that became a powerful symbol of the revolution and is celebrated annually as Bastille Day.

Economic struggles

By the 1780s, France faced financial crises caused by heavy debt from previous wars and royal spending, rising prices, crop failures, and a high tax burden on the Third Estate, leading to widespread hardship and unrest.

Louis 16

The King of France during the revolution, known for his indecisive leadership and inability to effectively address France's economic and political crises, which contributed to growing dissatisfaction and revolutionary sentiment.

Marie Antoinette

The unpopular queen of France, known for her extravagant spending and foreign Austrian origins, earning the nickname "Madame Deficit," and widely blamed for the monarchy's financial problems and disconnect from the people.

Bourgeoisie

The educated and often wealthy middle-class members of the Third Estate, such as bankers, merchants, and professionals, who embraced Enlightenment ideals and sought greater political power and social status commensurate with their wealth.

Legislative assembly

The new legislative body created by the Constitution of 1791, which had the power to make laws and approve or reject declarations of war, marking a shift to a constitutional monarchy in France.

Emigre

Nobles and others who fled France during the Revolution hoping to restore the Old Regime and undo revolutionary changes.

Sans-culottes

Radical working-class men and women in Paris who pushed for greater revolutionary change; their name means "those without knee breeches," indicating their lower-class status.

Jacobin

A radical liberal political club during the French Revolution known for its influence in the National Convention and its role in the Reign of Terror, advocating for the death of the king and sweeping revolutionary changes.

Coup d'etat

A sudden overthrow of a government. Napoleon seized power in 1799 by overthrowing the Directory and establishing the Consulate, with himself as first consul.

plebiscite

A direct vote by the people on a particular issue. In 1800, Napoleon held a plebiscite to approve a new constitution that gave him near-dictatorial powers.

Battle of Austerlitz

One of Napoleon's greatest military victories where he decisively defeated the combined forces of Russia and Austria, solidifying his dominance in Europe.

Louisiana Purchase

The sale of French territory in North America to the U.S., which provided Napoleon with funds for his European wars and created a strong rival to Britain.

Saint Domingue (Haiti) Revolution

A successful slave revolt in the French colony that thwarted Napoleon's ambitions in the Americas and led to the sale of the Louisiana Territory to the United States.

Battle of Tralfagar

A major naval battle in which the British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the combined French and Spanish fleets, ensuring British naval supremacy and ending Napoleon's plans to invade Britain.

Lycee

Government-run public schools established by Napoleon to train officials based on merit, rather than family connections.

Concordat

An agreement signed by Napoleon and Pope Pius VII to restore some influence to the Catholic Church in France, while keeping church and state separate.

Napoleonic Code

A comprehensive set of laws introduced by Napoleon that unified French law but restricted certain freedoms, such as freedom of speech and press, and restored slavery in colonies.

Continental System

Napoleon's policy of blocking British trade with continental Europe to weaken Britain's economy.

guierilla

Spanish peasant fighters who used hit-and-run tactics against French forces during the Peninsular War.

Penninsular War

Conflict in Spain and Portugal where Napoleon's attempt to enforce the Continental System led to widespread nationalist resistance and heavy French losses.