French Revolution Terms

Elba

Napoleon's first place of exile

St.Helena

Napoleon's second place of exile

Napoleonic Code

equality of all citizens before the law, the right of the individual to choose a profession, religious toleration, and abolition of serfdom and all feudal obligations / made divorce more difficult / did NOT allowed children (including daughters) to inherit property on equal basis

King Louis XVI

executed during the French Revolution / efforts to abolish serfdom, remove the taille, and increase tolerance toward non-Catholics / supported the North American colonists / wife, queen Marie Antoinette

Olympe de Gouges

feminist, women's right's activist, writer / wrote The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen

Louisiana Purchase

the acquisition by the United States of America in 1803 of 828,000 square miles of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana / total price = $15 million

Marie Antionette

wife of Louis XVI / "Madame Deficit" / spent large amounts of money on parties, clothing, and theater productions, had extravagant hairstyles

Louis XVIII

"the Desired" / ruled as King of France (1814 to 1824) except for period in 1815 known as Hundred Days / spent twenty-three years in exile (1791 to 1814) during French Revolution and First French Empire, and again in 1815, during period of the Hundred Days, upon the return of Napoleon I from Elba

Tennis Court Oath

3rd Estate was locked out of the Estates General meeting / moved to nearby tennis court and swore to continue meeting until they had a new constitution

Maximilien Robespierre

French lawyer and politician / one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution / opposed the death penalty, advocated abolition of slavery, supported equality of rights, and establishment of a republic / founder of French democracy

Holy Alliance

a coalition created by the monarchist great powers of Russia, Austria and Prussia.

Estates General

a legislative assembly of the different classes (or estates) of French subjects / summoned in 1789 by Louis XVI

scorched-earth policy

a military strategy of burning or destroying buildings, crops, or other resources that might be of use to an invading enemy force

peasant

a poor person or farmer of low social status who owns or rents a small piece of land for cultivation

plebicite

a popular vote

Continental System

the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars / as response to naval blockade of French coasts enacted by British gov. on 16 May 1806, Napoleon issued Berlin Decree on 21 November 1806, which brought into effect large-scale embargo against British trade

The Directory

the government of France during the second to last stage of the French Revolution / five directors exercised power / operated following the National Convention and preceding the Consulate / lasted from 2 November 1795 until 10 November 1799, a period commonly known as the "Directory era" / overthrown by Napoleon.

Battle of Trafalger

(1805) naval engagement fought by the Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies, during the War of the Third Coalition (1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) / Twenty-seven British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord Nelson defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the line under French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve off the southwest coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar

July 14, 1789

Storming of the Bastille / when Parisian workers stormed and raided the Bastille / dismantled it brick by brick

Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by the armies of the British, under the command of the Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian army.

Duke of Wellington

led the combined British and Prussian armies during the Battle of Waterloo (1815) / defeated Napoleon

Great Fear

The Great Fear was a general panic that occurred between 17 July and 3 August 1789 at the start of the French Revolution / peasants rebel

Peninsular War

The Peninsular War (1807-1814) was a military conflict between the First French Empire and the allied powers of the Spanish Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars.

Klemens von Metternich

a politician and statesman of Rhenish extraction and one of the most important diplomats of his era, serving as the Austrian Empire's Foreign Minister from 1809 and Chancellor from 1821 until the liberal revolutions of 1848 forced his resignation / One of 1st tasks was to engineer a détente with France, included the marriage of Napoleon to the Austrian archduchess Marie Louise / engineered Austria's entry into the War of the Sixth Coalition on the Allied side, signed Treaty of Fontainebleau that sent Napoleon into exile and led Austrian delegation at Congress of Vienna, divided post-Napoleonic Europe between the major powers

National Assembly

a revolutionary assembly formed by the representatives of the Third Estate of the Estates-General

lycées

a secondary school in France that is funded by the government

coup d'état

a sudden overthrow of the gov.

blockade

an act or means of sealing off a place to prevent goods or people from entering or leaving

concordat

an agreement or treaty, especially one between the Vatican and a secular government relating to matters of mutual interest

1st Estate

clergy / 1% of pop. / owned 10% of land / did not have to pay taille (chief tax)

bourgeoisie

middle class / included in 3rd Estate / merchants, bankers, manufactures, lawyers, public officials, doctors, journalists / 8% of pop. / owned 20% of land / drawn to Enlightenment

2nd Estate

nobles / 1% of pop. / owned 20% of land / held leading positions in gov., military, court, and church / did not have to pay taille (chief tax) / advisers to the king / lived with king at Versailles

3rd Estate

peasants, city workers, farmers, and bourgeoisie (middle class) / forced to pay high taxes / peasants did not have enough to eat

Hundred Days

period between Emperor Napoleon of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815 (a period of 111 days).

The Reign of Terror

period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution / incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins / marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution"

Jean-Paul Marat

radical journalist and politician during French Revolution / journalism became renowned for fierce tone, uncompromising stance toward new leaders and institutions of the revolution, and advocacy of basic human rights for the poorest members of society

nationalism

sense of unique identity of a people

Legislative Assembly

the legislature of France from 1791 to 1792 during the years of the French Revolution / provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention

Old Regime

the monarchic, aristocratic, social and political system established in the Kingdom of France from approximately the 15th century until the later 18th century

Admiral Horatio Nelson

was a British flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars / Of his several victories, the best known and most notable was the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during which he was shot and killed