Study Guide for French Revolution Free Essays

Study Guide for French Revolution * Brinton’s model of a revolution: * Symptomatic Phase- all social classes are unhappy (peasants are scared of change, bourgeoisie want change) * Moderate Phase- revolution begins in hopes of control (radicals feel like there isn’t ENOUGH change) * Radical Phase- a strong men from a radical group gains and assumes power * Convalescence Phase- revolution has a setback; moderate groups regain power * Estates: First Estate: Clergy (less than 1% of population) * Upper Clergy: noble by birth/bishops * Lower Clergy: peasant class/priests * Second Estate: Nobility (less than 2% of population) * Privileged class * Absolute monarch would cause them to lose power * Third Estate: Common People (97% of population) * They pay all the taxes for the country * Includes the bourgeoisie, urban workers, peasants and serfs * Sans-culottes: radical lower class workers Louis XVI: King of France during the revolution; he was slow to make decisions about the r evolution * Marie Antoinette: France disliked her from the minute she married Louis XVI because she was Austrian and did not have a child for the first 7 or 8 years, and disregarded the struggle the public was going through * Old Regime: the social and political system before the revolution began * Cahiers- nobility Estates-General: under the Old Regime there was a legislative assembly with representatives from each estate; this system is very unfair because the 1st and 2nd estates would usually agree with one another and the third estate (which was obviously much larger than the other estates) was left in the dust; Louis XVI called them together when he heard about the revolution * Abbe Sieyes: a priest that wrote a pamphlet about the 3rd estate, which created the revolution to some extent because it made the third estate think about how little power they have; also this pamphlet helped the Old Regime urn into the National Assembly * National Assembly: the new legislative system in which the amount of representatives from the third estate was doubled, but the voting didn’t change (so in the end it helped with nothing) * Tennis Court Oath: Louis XVI locks the National Assembly out of their meeting spot at Versailles, so they go to an inside tennis court that’s near; the National Assembly took an oath saying that they would not separate, but reassemble whenever certain situations required a reorganization, at least until the constitution of France was created * The Bastille: July 14th, 1789;a large group of people bombarded the royal prison; it was a symbol of tyranny * The Great Fear: riots and violence spread to the countryside of France; people went on a rampage because they were afraid the king was forming an army and was going to attack them; National Assembly takes action to keep things in order * The Law of the Fourth of August: National Assembly abolishes feudalism (on paper, but in reality it doesn’t actually stop) * Emigres: Frenc h term meaning someone who has left/migrated out of the country * Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen: influenced by Rousseau; not a radical document; only benefit wealthy men * â€Å"Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity†: French motto March of the Women to Versailles: the goal was to bring the King back to Paris, so people could speak to him about important situations whenever they wanted * Civil Constitution of the Clergy: a law created that made the State have control of Church; priests were forced to swear an oath of loyalty to the revolution * Olympe de Gouges- a girondist woman who created the Declaration of the Rights of Woman, which was after the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was created * Jacobins- the most radical group that wanted Paris to be the center of government; represented interests of sans-culottes * Girondists- another radical group that favored decentralized government; feared sans-culottes * Legislative Assembly: National Assembly vo ted themselves out of existence and created this new assembly; it lacked experience because there was a rule that said anyone from the National Assembly couldn’t be in the Legislative Assembly * The Marseillaise- France National Anthem; also it is an area in France * Flight to Varennes: the royal family tried to escape and flee to Austria to live with Marie’s family; unfortunately they were caught ecause common people knew Louis XVI’s face from the currency (money) in France; after this people saw Louis as a traitor * National Convention: the NEW government of France during the Reign of Terror (radical phase of the revolution) * Robespierre- radical Jacobin; dictator of the Radical Phase; led the Committee of Public Safety * Committee of Public Safety: a radical group that tried to eliminate anyone who was against the revolution; killed them using the guillotine * Danton- led/roused up the sans-culottes; Robespierre eventually executed him * Jean Paul Marat- bit ter, angry newspaper writer, who took his anger out on the revolution; killed by the girondist, Charlotte Corday * Universal manhood suffrage- every man can vote, class doesn’t matter * Reign of Terror- period of time (during the radical phase) were there was a lot of violence stirred up by conflicts between the Jacobins and the Girondists; over 25,000 people were killed * Republic of Virtue- Robespierre tried to create this as part of the de-Christianization in France * Guillotine- an enlightened, democratic, and humane way to kill people; it was equal for everyone and someone’s class didn’t change the way they were killed * Levee en Masse- a law that said that everyone should someone support the revolution; men could fight in battles, old men could sell things; and women could be nurses for the injured men * Directory- government of France after the Reign of Terror; very corrupt; their only success was creating a better army by increasing patriotism; people wh o were originally involved in the Reign of Terror were now being attacked in what is known as the â€Å"White Terror†; they revived Catholicism; ruled by rich bourgeoisie * Napoleon Bonaparte: short, but extraordinarily energetic man from the island of Corsica, who believed he was destined to do great. In order to succeed and get what he wanted, he would do anything (Machiavellian). He created a new government: consulate. We will write a custom essay sample on Study Guide for French Revolution or any similar topic only for you Order Now He tricked people into voting for him by making it seem like it was a democracy when he was going to dictate the country anyway; declared himself Emperor and crowned himself as a symbol of true power; he made sure that there was no freedom of speech for citizens and he restored Catholic Church * Josephine de Beauharnais: Napoleon’s first wife * Coup de’ etat: French term for overthrowing something * Plebiscite: everyone votes for something and someone simply counts to see how many greed or disagreed (very democratic) * Napoleonic Code: legal code that Napoleon created and brought everywhere; based on old Roman law and influenced modern day French law * Continental System: main goal was to hurt Great Britain economically, but it backfired on Napoleon * Duke of Wellington: the man who defeated Napoleon in his last battle (Battle of Waterloo) * Peninsular War: fought Portugal * Guerilla Warfare: hide and ambush * Russian campaign: on June 24th, 1812, Napoleon ignores the advice from his advisors and invades Russia; the weather randomly turned winter-like plus the unfamiliar size of Russia helped defeat Napoleon * Scorched-earth policy: Russians would burn everything in their path to create hardship for their enemies * Elba: an island that Napoleon was exiled to * Hundred Days: Napoleon came back to France after he was exiled, Louis XVIII was afraid so he fled, Napoleon was in control for 100 days * St. Helena: the second island Napoleon was exiled to; he died there * Klemens von Metternich: the Prince of Austria; also the President of the Congress * Congress of Vienna: a meeting in Austria; nobles who were in the Congress wanted everything to just go back to the way it was before the Revolution, which was reactionary * Balance of Power- a new diplomatic system that created an equal amount of power for different sections of government * Lord Castlereagh- British representative in the Congress of Vienna * Talleyrand- French representative in the Congress of Vienna * Principles of Peace Statement: * Legitimacy- if someone was legitimate or not, so they could rule * Compensation- something, typically money, awarded to someone as to make amends for loss, injury, or suffering * German Confederation- the Congress of Vienna voted to destroy the Holy Roman Empire and create the German Confederation, taking hundreds of miniscule states and creating 15 main states within the association How to cite Study Guide for French Revolution, Essay examples