All flashcards
Flashcard 1: What was the primary cause of the financial crisis in France before the Revolution?
Answer: Excessive debt and taxation. War expenses and inefficient tax collection created an unsustainable fiscal burden.
Flashcard 2: What was the outcome of the Battle of Valmy in 1792?
Answer: A victory for the French revolutionary army. First major victory proved French revolutionary armies could defeat European monarchies.
Flashcard 3: What was the main goal of the Thermidorian Reaction?
Answer: To end the Reign of Terror and moderate the revolution. Reaction against extremism that executed Robespierre and restored moderate policies.
Flashcard 4: What event in 1799 marked the end of the French Revolution?
Answer: Napoleon's coup d'état. Military takeover that established Napoleon's dictatorship and ended revolutionary idealism.
Flashcard 5: Identify the group that represented the Third Estate during the Estates-General of 1789.
Answer: Commoners. Made up 98% of the population but lacked political power despite carrying the tax burden.
Flashcard 6: Who was the king of France during the French Revolution?
Answer: King Louis XVI. Indecisive monarch whose attempts at reform failed to prevent revolutionary upheaval.
Flashcard 7: Which radical group led by Robespierre imposed the Reign of Terror?
Answer: The Jacobins. Radical republican faction that used violence to eliminate perceived enemies of the revolution.
Flashcard 8: What device became a symbol of the Reign of Terror?
Answer: The Guillotine. Efficient execution device that became synonymous with revolutionary justice and terror.
Flashcard 9: What was the primary goal of the Women's March on Versailles in October 1789?
Answer: To demand bread and force the royal family to move to Paris. Economic crisis motivated women to march 12 miles, forcing royal accountability to Paris.
Flashcard 10: What alliance sought to restore the French monarchy during the Revolution?
Answer: First Coalition. European monarchies united to prevent revolutionary ideas from spreading beyond France.
Flashcard 11: Who were the members of the First Estate in pre-revolutionary France?
Answer: Clergy. Religious officials who owned vast lands and paid no taxes in the old regime.
Flashcard 12: Identify the 1791 royal attempt to flee France that ended in failure.
Answer: Flight to Varennes. Royal family's failed escape attempt that destroyed remaining trust in constitutional monarchy.
Flashcard 13: Which revolutionary group was primarily composed of moderate members?
Answer: The Girondins. Bourgeois faction favoring constitutional government and free-market economic policies.
Flashcard 14: What was the Le Chapelier Law of 1791?
Answer: A law prohibiting workers' associations and strikes. Banned guilds and unions to promote free-market capitalism over worker organization.
Flashcard 15: Who was the radical journalist assassinated in 1793?
Answer: Jean-Paul Marat. Radical publisher whose death by Charlotte Corday symbolized revolutionary martyrdom.
Flashcard 16: What was the Law of 22 Prairial in 1794?
Answer: It expedited the processing of political prisoners. Streamlined revolutionary justice by removing legal protections for accused counter-revolutionaries.
Flashcard 17: Which social class in France was most affected by the Revolution?
Answer: The Third Estate. Commoners gained political rights, land ownership, and social mobility through revolutionary changes.
Flashcard 18: What role did the sans-culottes play in the French Revolution?
Answer: Radical working-class militants supporting the revolution. Urban poor who pushed for radical measures and direct democracy during the revolution.
Flashcard 19: Which period of the French Revolution was marked by mass executions?
Answer: The Reign of Terror. 1793-1794 period when revolutionary tribunals executed thousands of suspected enemies.
Flashcard 20: Identify the 1791 assembly that replaced the National Constituent Assembly.
Answer: The Legislative Assembly. Constitutional monarchy's legislature that declared war and radicalized the revolution.
Flashcard 21: What was the purpose of the Festival of the Supreme Being in 1794?
Answer: To celebrate deistic beliefs promoted by Robespierre. Robespierre's attempt to replace Christianity with a revolutionary civic religion.
Flashcard 22: What was the significance of the September Massacres in 1792?
Answer: Mass killing of prisoners in Paris. Spontaneous violence against prisoners suspected of counter-revolutionary plotting.
Flashcard 23: What was the Brunswick Manifesto of 1792?
Answer: A declaration to protect the French monarchy by foreign powers. Threatened Paris if the royal family was harmed, escalating revolutionary radicalism.
Flashcard 24: Identify the moderate revolutionary faction that opposed the Jacobins.
Answer: The Girondins. Moderate republicans who favored war but opposed radical domestic policies.
Flashcard 25: What was the Law of Suspects during the French Revolution?
Answer: A law allowing the arrest of suspected enemies of the revolution. Enabled mass arrests without evidence, escalating the Terror's scope and intensity.
Flashcard 26: What sparked the insurrection of 10 August 1792 in France?
Answer: Storming of the Tuileries Palace. Popular uprising that overthrew constitutional monarchy and established the republic.
Flashcard 27: Who was the prominent revolutionary leader executed in 1794?
Answer: Maximilien Robespierre. His execution on 9 Thermidor ended the Terror and began moderate reaction.
Flashcard 28: Which 1795 constitution established the French Directory?
Answer: Constitution of Year III. Established the Directory system with bicameral legislature and limited executive power.
Flashcard 29: What was the Directory in the context of the French Revolution?
Answer: A five-member committee governing France from 1795-1799. Weak executive system that led to political instability and eventual military coup.
Flashcard 30: What was the main goal of the Thermidorian Reaction?
Answer: To end the Reign of Terror and moderate the revolution. Reaction against extremism that executed Robespierre and restored moderate policies.