The French Revolution

What happens during the *Great Terror*?

It's the period at which the tempo of executions really starts to increase in which the atmosphere of paranoia, particularly in Paris but really across the country, starts to increase exponentially

Why did Louis marry *Marie Antoinette*? What problems does Marie have when she comes to Versailles?

Louis's marriage is a political union between Austria's royal family, the Hapsburgs, and his own, the Bourbons -she didn't know a great deal about the country she was coming to, she didn't know about the customs, she didn't know about the court, she was certaintly a headstrong girl, a very lively girl, but she was still a girl

What is "The Friend of the People"? Who is *Jean Paul Marat*?

The resulting free-press is spearhanded by L'Ami du Peuple, the People's Friend, a fiery newspaper full of vitriolic rants and provocation

What happened in *Lyon* and the *Vendee* region?

-Comittee of Public Safety sets a brutal example, hundreds of rebels are tied up, marched into fields, and mowed down rebels and priests are tied together and packed onto boats that are then mercilessly sunk, up to 100,000 people are killed in the Vendee alone

Why does *Charlotte Corday* kill Marat? How do people respond to his assassination?

-he became a martyr, he became a kind of almost religious figure, you had people people offering up prayers that went "heart of Jesus, heart of Marat,"

Why did the women march on Versailles? Why are Louis and Marie forced to travel to Paris?

-the only way the women can be pacified is for the royal family to agree to go to Paris because once they're there in Paris, then they can ultimately be made to do what the people of Paris want

Why are prisoners in Paris massacred in September of 1792? How does Europe respond to this event? How does Robespierre react?

-when word of the September massacre spreads throughout Europe, enemies of the revolution are sickened -even Robespierre understands that things have gone too far, that the people cannot manage the revolution on their own, they need guidance,

Why did people think the *Estates-General* was unfair?

A lot of people felt it was very unfair for this third estate, which was most of the population, to only have one-third of the deputies

Why were conditions so bad in France in the late 1700s?

After a succession of bad harvests, deregulation has raised the cost of flour, leading to a shortage of the very heart of the French diet, bread

Why are the early victories of the revolution described as "paper victories"?

All of these early victories that take place at Versailles are largely paper victories, and they had no teeth to back them up

What was the background on *Maximilien Robespierre* and what was his early career like?

An orphan from the provinces, Robespierre had risen to academic prominence on a prestigious scholarship, becomming an elegant speaker, prim in appearance, with never a hair nor a phrase out of place

How does the lack of an heir for the first seven years of their marriage affect views of Louis and Marie?

And during that time, the people ciriticized, people are dissatisfied, people say the king should never had married this Austrian archduchess and now she can't even produce an heir to the throne

Who are the *sans-culottes*?

As a symbol of their rejection of aristocratic tradition, ordinary citizens refuse to wear the knee-britches, or culottes, of the aristocrats, they call themselves the san-culottes, those without knee-pants

Why are Danton and his followers executed?

Danton will start organizing a group to argue that we should end the Terror, Robespierre will see this as a direct threat to the government, he will not see it as just a difference of opinion about the direction of policy, he will see it as potential treason

How does Louis react to being crowned king after the death of his grandfather, Louis XV?

Despite his insistance on the grandeous coronation, Louis is all too aware that he is wholly unprepared for the job

How did the revolution change Marie? Why was she "doomed from the start"?

From 1788-89, she got thinner, her hair went white, she abandoned all her pretty things, she became emaciated, when she arrived for her trial, she was unrecognizable

What do historians think about how the revolution "ended"?

Historians disagree over the end of the revolution, some believed it died with the rise of Napolean, others maintain that the revolution lived on into the 19th century and beyond

How did people view the *Bastille*?

In the center of Paris, there lies a massive stone dungeon, notorious as a symbol of feudal rule, the Bastille

What was young *Louis Capet* (the future king Louis XVI) like?

Just 15 years old on the eve of his wedding, Louis Capet is bashful and hesitant, with few of the characteristics expected of a future king, much less a husband

What is life at Versailles like for Marie? Why is she called "Madame Deficit?"

Life at Versaille is a neverending routine of ritual and formality -as her expenses accumulate Marie earns the nickname Madame Deficit

What role does France play in the American Revolution? What effects does this have on France?

Louis commits to the cause a total of 2,000 million livre, enough to feed and house 7 million French citizens for a year -his investment will mark the beginning of financial collapse for France

Why does Louis try to flee France in 1791? What are the effects of his failure to escape France?

Louis had decided by 1791 that he needed to regain control of his country and he knew he could only do that with the help of a foreign army, so the idea was to make a break from the Tweelery Palace and to head for the nearest border

What does the *tricolor* represent? What do its colors stand for?

On July 14, crowds banned together identified themselves with a small caucade, red and blue for the colors of Paris, separated by white, the color of the House of Bourbon

What is the *Jacobin Club*?

Robespierre appears frequently at the assembly and at the Jacobin Club, a debating society named for the former Jacobin monastery where they gathered

What role does *Georges Danton* play in the early years of the revolution?

Robespierre concentrates on the internal crisis, but his friend, the Minister of Justice George Danton, motivates men young and old to join the war on the frontier

What is the *Festival of the Supreme Being*? How does this affect people's views of Robespierre?

Robespierre has declared a new religious holiday, the Festival of the Supreme Being, the goddess of reason

Why does the Convention turn on Robespierre?

Robespierre makes a tactical error, he comes in and announces that he has a new list of enemies of the republic, but he won't give the list, , he is arrested before he can speak

What happened under "*de-Christianization*"?

Streets carrying the word "saint" are renamed, religious icons are destroyed and replaced with tributes to the new saint, Marat

Why was the *guillotine* used? How did it reflect revolutionary ideals?

THe French revolutioners believe in humane values, they believe that unnecessary suffering should not be caused,

What does Robespierre see as the relationship between terror and virtue?

Terror without virtue is disasterous, but virtue without terror is powerless, he associates terror with virtue, terror at that moment in his thinking becomes an instrument with which you create virtue

How does the *Enlightenment* contribute to the unrest in France?

The Enlightenment is a movement which says don't trust authority, don't trust anything that you've been told by anybody else at all, think it out for yourself, test it for yourself

What is the debate between the *Girondins* and the Jacobins about the fate of the king?

The moderates, the Girondin, call for sparing Louis' life which isolates them in the convention, but the Girondin are outnumbered by the Jacobin call for blood

What leads to the start of the *Terror*? What did the revolutionaries see as the purpose of the Terror?

The people of Paris are seized by a fear that the victory of the counter-revolution will lead to a bloodbath -the reign of Terror was conceived as an emergency government, what they understood by Terror was striking terror into the hearts of the enemies of the republic so that they would either be scared straight as it were or arrested and disposed of

What question is raised by the French Revolution?

The question raised by the French Revolution is how much violence is justified in achieving a better society, do people have the right to overthrow what they see as an unjust system to replace it with what they are convinced in their hearts is a more just system,

How has the revolution changed Robespierre by the year 1793?

The revolution has hardened Robespierre, once a passionate supporter of the free press, he now reinstates censorship, a vestige of the old regime, and with the Church already under attac

Why does the National Assembly want to go to war with Austria? How does Robespierre feel about the plan to go to war?

There is a fear that members of the extended royal family who fled to Austria will launch an armed counter-revolution -Robespierre is one of the lonely voices who is opposing war because he thinks the enemy will win,

Why did Louis XIV make his capital at Versailles?

To put some distance between himself and his subjects, Louis XIV transplanted the capital of France to this small town 12 miles west of Paris, where he had built the most magnificent palace in all of Europe

How does the Terror end?

Turns out that there is a great deal of enthusiasm for ending the Terror, no one can figure out how to do it, and what turns out to be the case is that the only thing that will end the Terror, and apparently the only thing they can all agree upon is the fall of Robespierre

What does the *Declaration of the Rights of Man* do?

Under this daring new document, daring class distinctions are to be abolished and all men considered truly equal

What problems was France experiencing during the 1700s?

Years of mismanagement by the monarchy have left the French people deprived and hungry

What is the *Brunswick Manifesto*? What effect does it have?

manifesto threatening the destruction of Paris if any harm comes to their royal majesties, the king and queen -the king flees to safety in the Assembly, Louis is officially stripped of his title, the French republic is born

How to the Girondins respond to the escalating violence of the revolution at the end of 1792? How does Marat contribute to the growing violence?

more and more violent means, but the Girondin, representing the people of the French countryside, want to slow the ascending violence, for fear it will lead to civil war -their most vocal opponent, Jean Paul Marat, strikes back at the Girondin with furious tyrades in his newspaper,

What led to the *Tennis Court Oath*? Why was it such an important event?

new constitution saw that they really could defy France's king

Why is it significant that the deputies in the National Assembly do not immediately condemn the violence against the guards at the Bastille?

they accept it, and it was this acceptance of popular violence that in some people's view created a pattern that was to have catastrophic consequences for the unfolding of the Revolution

Why is the *Committee of Public Safety* formed? What role does Robespierre play?

they form a 12 man council and call it the Committee of Public Safety -with his masterful words and revolutionary vision, Robespierre soon emerges as the committee's fiercest guiding voice