French Revolution historian quotes

Question 1

Enlightenment

Answer 1

“Enlightenment thought inspired the revolutionaries key political Innovations” - Doyle

Question 2

Salons

Answer 2

“Played a crucial role in the formation of public opinion” - Doyle

Question 3

Reforms on Fiscal system

Answer 3

“Programmed the revolution to explode from over inflated expectations” - Schama

Question 4

Compte Rendu

Answer 4

“Masterpiece of public relations but disaster for government finances” - Doyle

“Undermined the confidence when the truth came out” - Schama

Question 5

Attempts at Financial reform

Answer 5

“Became the fuse that ignited the Revolution” - Schama

“Met with resistance because the need was not recognised” - Doyle

Question 6

Assembly of Notables
22 February 1787 - 25 May 1787

Answer 6

“Highlighted aristocratic opposition to royal absolutism” - Furet

Question 7

Day of Tiles
7 June 1788

Answer 7

“Revealed the deepening alienation of the people … set the tone for the revolutionary violence to come” - Schama

Question 8

Cahiers
January - April 1789

Answer 8

” Revealed the nations shimmering resentment” - Schama

Question 9

Pamphlet wars

Answer 9

“Served as the battleground where political ideas formed” - Tackett

Question 10

What is The Third Estate?
January 1789

Answer 10

“Sieyes issued a ringing declaration of commoner capacity” - McPhee

Question 11

The Estates General
May 1789

Answer 11

“Alienated the Third Estate and provoked it into exploding all together” - Schama

“Set in a motion that the Monarchy could no longer control” - Furet

Question 12

Revellion Riots
27 April 1789

Answer 12

“Warning of the violent energy building within masses” - Schama

Question 13

Tennis Court Oath
20 June 1789

Answer 13

“Beginning of the organised opposition to royal absolutism” - Rude

“Representing a clear break with the Ancien Regime” - Soboul

Question 14

The Royal Session
23 June 1789

Answer 14

(Louis) “Incapable of facing the storm of revolution” - Schama

Question 15

Storming of the Bastille
14 July 1789

Answer 15

“Neither government nor the revolutionaries could control the force unleashed” - Schama

Question 16

Food shortages + Poor wages

Answer 16

“Symbol of wider economic malaise that characterised revolutionary France” - Schama

“Created a volatile environment in which th popular classes began to demand radical change” - Doyle

Question 17

The great fear

Answer 17

“Spontaneous reaction of the rural population” - Doyle

Question 18

The Night of Patriotic Delirium
4 August 1789

Answer 18

“panic reaction by the National Assembly to the Great Fear… hastened the dismantling of the Old Regime” - Lefebvre

Question 19

The August Decrees
5-11 August 1789

Answer 19

“Born out of panic but became the cornerstone of the revolutions social and political transformation” - Lefebvre

“Eliminating the social hierarchy of the Old Regime” - McPhee

Question 20

DORMAC
26 August 1789

Answer 20

“Statement of revolutionary principle and a political weapon against the old regime” - Doyle

Question 21

Women’s March to Versailles
5 October 1789

Answer 21

“Response to hunger” - Schama

“Dramatic assertion of the new revolutionary principle that people themselves could drive political events” - Doyle

Question 22

Civil Constitution of the Clergy and Clerical Oath of Loyalty
12 July 1790 + 17 November 1790

Answer 22

“By dividing the church it fractured French Society” - Furet

“Created a second large group of counter-revolutionaries where none had previously existed” - Schama

Question 23

Flight to Varennes
20 June 1791

Answer 23

“Betrayal of the revolutionaries ideals, revealing the incompatibility of the Monarchy” - Soboul

“[Louis XVI] became not just a prisoner but an enemy of the people and the revolution” - Doyle

Question 24

Champ De Mars Massacre
17 July 1791

Answer 24

“revealed fractions within the revolutionary momentum” - Doyle

Question 25

Jacobins

Answer 25

"Transported the revolution from a struggle for freedom into a dictatorship" - Furet

Question 26

Declaration of Pillnitz

Answer 26

"A bluff intended to intimidate the revolutionaries... only fanned the flames of revolutionary fever" - Lefebvre

Question 27

Constitution of 1791 August 1791

Answer 27

"This was a democracy for property owners" - Adcock "designed to consolidate the power of the Bourgeosie while keeping the popular masses at arms length" - Soboul

Question 28

International War

Answer 28

"Consolidation of power in the hands of the most uncompromising revolutionaries" - Lefebvre

Question 29

Storming of Tuileries 10 August 1792

Answer 29

"effective end of all attempts to preserve the old regime" - Rude "Not just the fall of a palace; it was the fall of the monarchy itself." - Schama

Question 30

September Massacres 2-6 September 1792

Answer 30

"Violence became a central component to revolutionary legitimacy" - Schama "Reflected the deep insecurity of the revolutionary regime" - Rude

Question 31

Destruction of Lyon October 1793

Answer 31

"Clear symptom of the revolution failing in uniting the entire country" - Furet "Genocide carried out by the revolutionary government" - Secher "an act of political necessity to revolutionary leaders" - Soboul

Question 32

Law of Maximum 29 September 1793

Answer 32

"answered the demand for regulation of prices" - Soboul "Its rigid enforcement only worsened the scarcity it was meant to alleviate" - Schama "alienate both the bourgeoisie and rural producers" - Schama

Question 33

The Terror + Benefit 1793-1794

Answer 33

"Violence was a motor of the revolution" - Schama "Used to contain the people" - Lefebvre "Inevitable response to the threats surrounding it" - Soboul Benefit: "saved France from invasion and civil war" - Rude "cleared the way for revolutionary changes in property and a reorganization of social power" - Soboul

Question 34

Girondin expulsion May 1793

Answer 34

"A collective disaster for all Girondins" - Schama "Lost their moral authority and public confidence as they resisted radical change" - Lefebvre

Question 35

Law of 22 Prairial 10 June 1794

Answer 35

"Every citizen vulnerable to arbitrary execution" - Soboul

Question 36

Execution of Danton, Herbert etc April 1794

Answer 36

"The revolution began to devour its own children" - Doyle

Question 37

Robespierre execution 28 July 1794

Answer 37

"The terror was Robespierre's brainchild, he became a victim of the machine he helped construct, his downfall marked a return to moderation" - Furet

Question 38

Thermidor reaction

Answer 38

"Rejection of extremism and desire for stability" - Doyle

Question 39

Constitution of year III August 1795

Answer 39

"Desire to avoid another terror overshadowed democratic principles" - Soboul "Beginning of a form of representative government but with little trust in the masses" - Furet