The French RevolutionPart B

1. In addition to the government’s financial crisis and agricultural crisis, what other factor undermined the authority of the ancien regime?

• The ideas of the Enlightenment, namely the Enlightenment’s emphasis on individual rights, individual liberty, and individual conscience

2. Enlightenment ideas about science, liberty, and human equality were not a good fit with what system of government?• A monarchy, and a larger social system

dominated by aristocrats (The Nobles).

3. On what date did the Estates-General open at Versailles?• May 5, 1789

4. Because each estate voted as a collective bloc, it followed that the Clergy (First Estate) and the Nobles (Second Estate) could out vote whom?• The Deputies who represented the Third Estate

5. Which Estate represented the vast majority of the French people?• The Third Estate

6. On June 17, 1789, the deputies of the Third Estate declared themselves to be what?• The National Assembly

7. What did the the deputies of the Third Estate (Henceforth the National Assembly) want to do?• Create a Constitution from which to govern

France

8. What happened on June 20, 1789?• After being locked out of their normal meeting

place, the National Assembly re-convened in a Versailles Tennis Court (or handball court), and the deputies formally vowed not to disband until they had drafted a constitution for France

9. What did this vow become known as?• The Tennis Court Oath

10. What happened on July 14, 1789?• In response to reports that Louis XVI would

suppress the National Assembly, common people in Paris took to the streets

11. What was the Bastille?• A medieval fortress in Paris that housed a few

political prisoners, and perhaps a few weapons, and some gunpowder

12. What did these Parisians do at the Bastille on July 14, 1789?• They stormed the Bastille• They executed the commander of the Bastille, a building

that was symbolic of royal authority

13. Why was The Storming of the Bastille so important?• It symbolized the power of the people, and the people’s

ability to overthrow traditional authority• The French Revolution had begun

14. What became of the Bastille itself?• The Parisians dismantled it, stone by stone• Pieces of the Bastille became souvenirs, holy

relics of the growing revolution

15. In the countryside, in the wake of the Storming of the Bastille, what happened?• Revolts spread against royal authority

16. What was the Great Fear?• A widespread concern that France’s neighbor’s might

invade France in order to restore order

17. What happened on the Night of August 4, 1789?• The National Assembly, in conjunction with some

members of the First and Second Estates, voted to abolish what remained of French feudalism

• Titles of nobility were abolished, though the office of King remained in place…for the time being.

18. On August 26, 1789, inspired in part by the creation of the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States, the National Assembly issued what?• The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the

Citizen

19. What were some of the components of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen?• It affirmed the “natural and imprescriptible

rights of man” to “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.”

• It affirmed equal rights of all men, equal opportunity to pubic office, and more equitable taxation, plus freedom of speech and freedom of the press

20. How did King Louis XVI initially react to the decrees of the National Assembly?• He rejected them

21. What happened on October 5, 1789?• A mob (with many women participants)

marched to Versailles, and addressed to the king their distress over the lack of bread

22. What else happened just after October 5, 1789?• Louis XVI and the royal family were “escorted”

back to Paris by the armed Parisian mob• Wagonloads of flour were brought back to Paris

as well• Louis XVI and the royal family now lived in Paris

as virtual prisoners, though, in theory, the King still reigned…and sort of ruled.

23. Whose lands did the National Assembly seize, and in many cases, sell?• Lands in France that belonged to the Catholic

Church

24. In time, who controlled the Catholic Church in France?• The National Assembly

25. In 1791, what did the National Assembly issue?• A Constitution

26. Under the 1791 Constitution, what became the new ruling body of France?• The Legislative Assembly

27. Basically, by 1791, what had been destroyed in France?• The Ancien Regime, that is, The Old Order

28. In June 1791, what did Louis XVI and the royal family try to do?• Flee France• They were recognized, caught, and were forced to

return to Paris

29. In October 1791, what held its first session?• The Legislative Assembly

30. What two countries demonstrated an interest in restoring Louis XVI back to full power?• Austria and Prussia

31. Queen Marie Antoinette (the wife of Louis XVI) was from what country, and from what family?• Austria• She was from the ruling family of Austria, the

Hapsburgs

32. In the Spring of 1792, what did the Legislative Assembly do?• Declared war on Austria and Prussia

33. How did the French Revolutionary armies do in the initial phases of fighting?• They did poorly, and it looked as if the French

Revolution would be snuffed out

34. In August 1792, what rose up in Paris?• The Paris Commune, a radical group

35. What did the Paris Commune of 1792 do?• It took the King captive and forced the

Legislative Assembly to call for a National Convention to determine the future form of the French Government.

36. On September 20, 1792, what happened at the Battle of Valmy?• French Revolutionary forces stopped a

Prussian military force, thus saving Paris from conquest

• It was a major French victory that perhaps saved the French Revolution

37. The very next day after the French victory at Valmy, what did the National Convention do on September 21, 1792?• It abolished the monarchy (there would no

longer be a King of France) and established France as a Republic

• Thus the First Republic of France was born, officially on September 22, 1792

38. In December 1792, Louis XVI was put on what?• Trial…for treason• He was found guilty

39. What happened on January 21, 1793?• Louis XVI was executed by beheading• A Guillotine was used to behead the former King

of France.