French Revolution

Question 1

Ancien Régime

Answer 1

Three Estates - Aristocracy, Clergy, and Bourgeoisie

King has absolute sovereignty over everyone

Question 2

France deeply in debt from funding the American Revolution

Answer 2

1789
King Louis XVI was spending half of his national budget to service the federal debt
France essentially declares bankruptcy
Hailstorms also ruined a year’s harvest, raising food prices and causing widespread hunger

Question 3

Louis XVI Calls the Estates General

Answer 3

June 1789
Had not met since 1614
Louis XVI wanted to raise taxes to solve dept
Third Estate leaves and forms new National Assembly

Question 4

Tennis Court Oath

Answer 4

June 1789

National Assembly agreed not to give up until a French constitution was established

Question 5

Storming of the Bastille

Answer 5

July 1789
Louis XVI sends troops to quell uprisings over food shortages
Provoked revolutionaries into seizing the Bastille prison on July 14th
Stormed the Bastille to get guns

Question 6

National Assembly

Answer 6

August 1789
August 4th – National Assembly abolishes most of the Ancien Régime
August 26th – National Assembly proclaims Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen
Laid out a system of rights applying to everyone

Question 7

Women’s March

Answer 7

October 1789
Rumor started that Marie Antoinette was hoarding grain in the Versailles Palace
Armed Peasant Women stormed the palace protesting economic and food problems
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette moved from Versailles to Paris

Question 8

French Revolutionary Wars Begin

Answer 8

1792
Kings of Austria and Prussia issue the Declaration of Pillnitz
Promised to restore French monarchy
National Assembly decides to invade Austria to get wealth and grain to help with food shortages
Prussia joins Austria in fighting France
Louis XVI encourages Prussians, making him an enemy to the French Revolution
In trial of Louis XVI, he is found guilty and executed by guillotine
Prussia and Austria can no longer restore monarchy in France

Question 9

The Terror

Answer 9

1793
Begins after the death of Louis XVI
Maximilien Robespierre
Leader of the Committee of Public Safety
Executes 16,000 enemies of the revolution
Includes Marie Antoinette and eventually Robespierre himself

Question 10

Coup d’etat

Answer 10

1799
Coup brings Napoleon Bonaparte to power as the First Consul of France
Granted almost unlimited executive power