French Revolution

Abbe Sieyes answer to the question, "what is the third estate"

"What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been until now in the political order? Nothing. What does it demand? To become something therein..". The true strength of the French nation.

Napoleonic Code

French civil code promulgated in 1804 that reasserted the 1789 principles of the equality of all male citizens before the law and the absolute security of wealth and private property as well as restricting rights accorded to women by previous revolutionary laws.

second revolution

From 1792 to 1795, the second phase of the French Revolution, during which the fall of the French monarchy introduced a rapid radicalization of politics.

Main political difference between Mountain and Girondists?

Girondists wanted king alive; Mountains, more radical, wanted execution; Both groups were members of Jacobin club.

Why did Great Britain seek to raise taxes American colonies in the 1760s?

Great Britain expected the American colonies to help pay for the expenses incurred during the Seven Years' War, which protected the colonies from the French.

What was the political system of Napoleon?

Napoleon frequently violated civil liberties by censoring newspapers, creating a spy system, and arbitrarily arresting people suspected of subversive activities.

Hundred Days

Napoleon returned from exile to briefly rule France.

What the french military victories after the winter of 1793-1794 were due to?

Patriotism, the draft of soldiers.

Jacobin Club

Political club in revolutionary France whose members were well-educated radical republicans.

Strategy the Russians used to defeat Napoleon's Grand Army

Refused to give battle, retreated for 100's of miles, as retreated, burned their own villages and countrysides to keep Napoleon's army from finding supplies ...-When the Grand army reached Moscow, they found the city ablaze and lacking food and supplies. .....-Napoleon abandoned Moscow and started "the great retreat".

Republic of Virtue

Robespierre's attempt to erase all traces of the monarchy, nobility and the Catholic Church.

Olympe de Gouge

She wrote a declaration for the rights of women and was later beheaded.

The Battle of Trafalgar

The British navy blocked an attempted French invasion. Defeated the French amd their Spannish allies in this huge naval battle where the French lost many ships. The British lost none but their hero, admiral Nelson died in the battle.

What was the effect of the attack on the Bastille?

The king's plan to reassert his authority was stalled, permitting the Assembly to continue its work.

Sans-Culottes

The laboring poor of Paris, so called because the men wore trousers instead of the knee breeches of the aristocracy and a middle class; the word came to refer to the militant radicals of the city.

conflict between the monarchy and the Parliament after the Seven Years' War?

The monarchy sought to retain emergency taxes after the war ended.

Reign of Terror

The period from 1793 to 1794 during which Robespierre's committee of public safety tried and executed thousands suspected of treason and a new revolutionary culture was imposed.

Jacobins reaction to women's political activity

They banned all women's political activity fearing them a distraction to women's proper domestic role.

Why did members of the Convention turn against Robespierre on 9 Thermidor?

They believed Robespierre might soon have them arrested and executed.

How did the delagates to the Legislative Assembly that convened in October 1791 differ from the delgates to the Estates General/National Assembly?

They were younger and less cautious; many of them joined political clubs.

What was the goal of the Committee of Public Safety?

To use dictatorial powers to respond to threat to the French from without and within.

Continental System

A blockade imposed by Napoleon to halt all trade between continental Europe and Britain, thereby weakening the British economy and military

Constitutional Monarchy

A form of government in which the king retains his position as head of state, while the authority to tax and make new laws resides in an elected body.

Estates General

A legislative body in pre revolutionary France made up of representatives of each of the three classes or estates; it was called into session in 1789 for the first time since 1614.

Girondnists

A moderate group that fought for control of the French National Convention in 1793.

Thermidorian Reaction

A reaction to the violence of the Reign of Terror in 1794, resulting in the execution of Robespierre and the loosening of economic controls.

Countries in the Quadruple Alliance

Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain

Napoleon's background

Born in Corsica into a noble family in 1769. Left home and became a lieutenant in the French artillery in 1785. After fighting for Corsican independence he returned to France as French patriot and revolutionary. Was placed in command of French forces and won victories then lost in Egypt and then returned to France and saved his reputation.

Dechristianization

Campaign to eliminate Christian faith and practice in France undertaken by the revolutionary government

Maupeau parlements

Created by Rene de Maupeau, Louis XV's career official. Maupeau abolished existing parlements and exiled the members of the Parlement of Paris to the provinces. He created the Maupeau parlements and began to one again tax the privileged groups. The public decided with the old parlements.

Be able to identify these political groups in chronological order:

Estates General, National Assembly, National Constituent Assembly, Legislative Assembly, National Convention, Directory, Napoleon.

How did the reaction of kings and nobles in continental Europe toward the Revolution change over the Revolution's first two years?

Initially pleased by the Revolution's weakening of France, they came to feel threatened by its increasingly radical message.

Who Louis dismissed upsetting of Paris July 11, 1789

Jacques Necker.

The Mountain

Led by Robespierre, the French National Convention's radical faction, which seized legislative power in 1793.

How did Louis XV damage sacred authority?

Louis allowed his common-born mistresses to exercise tremendous influence culturally and politically, which led to scandalous depictions of the king and the court in pamphlets.

cahiers de doléances

Meaning "lists of grievances." Petitions for reforms submitted to the French crown when the Estates General met in 1789.

What was the economic effect of Napoleon's Continental System?

The French middle class suffered as they were economically harmed by the French blockade of Britain.

Who forced king and royal family to leave Versailles and return to Paris?

The Women's March on Versailles.

How did the French armies offer a mixed message to the people whom they conquered?

The armies presented themselves as liberators to the peasants and middle class, but also lived off of the land, requisitioning food and supplies and plundering local treasure.

What two fundamental principles of the Revolution were codified into the Napoleonic Code?

The equality of all male citizens before the law and the absolute security of wealth and property.

Great Fear

The fear of noble reprisals against peasant uprisings that ceased the French countryside and lead to further revolt.

National Assembly

The first French revolutionary legislature made up primarily of representatives of the 3rd estate and a few from the nobility and clergy, in session from 1789 to 1791.

Legislative Assembly

a French congress with the power to create laws and approve declarations of war, established by the constitution of 1791. Replaced the National Assembly

Declaration of Rights of Man

document that declared natural rights to French men.

Why was France unable to manage its debt even though it was smaller than Great Britain and Holland?

high unemployment rate, increase in inflation, poor harvest.

1780's, over 50% of France's annual budget was spent on this.

interest payments on the debt.

manorial rights

privileges of lordship; taxed peasantry, rights to hunt and fish, village monopolies on baking bread and pressing grapes for wine, fees for justice, etc.

Levee en masse

the People's army (army of the masses) that was drafted (conscripted) to fight against the Austrian/English army during the more radical phase of the Revolution. Many of these people were fighting for "France" or "the Revolution." Other armies at the time/history consists of conscripts or mercenaries.