THE ANCIEN REGIME
France was ruled by this type of monarch, meaning a king with unlimited power and no parliament to limit his authority.
What is an absolute monarch?
This Paris fortress, stormed on 14 July 1789, was a symbol of royal tyranny and its fall marked the turning point of the revolution.
What is the Bastille?
This radical Jacobin leader introduced the Cult of the Supreme Being, oversaw the Reign of Terror, and was guillotined in July 1794.
Who is Robespierre?
The Directory was governed by this many directors, supported by two legislative councils.
What is five?
Napoleon confirmed each step of his rise, First Consul, Consul for Life, and Emperor, through this type of public vote.
What is a plebiscite?
This finance minister proposed taxing the wealthy in 1786 and was dismissed when the Assembly of Notables rejected his plans.
Who is Calonne?
In October 1789, this group of people marched from Paris to Versailles demanding bread and forced the king to return to the capital.
Who are the women of Paris?
Approximately this many people were executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror between 1793 and 1794.
What is 16,000?
This radical Jacobin plot in 1796 aimed to overthrow the Directory and create a 'Republic of Equals' before being uncovered by police.
What is the Babeuf Plot?
This 1801 agreement between Napoleon and the Pope officially recognised Catholicism in France, made clergy state employees, and ended a major source of national division.
What is the Concordat?
These local lists of grievances, submitted by districts across France before the Estates General met, revealed deep public anger over taxation and injustice.
What are the cahiers de doleances?
Passed in August 1789, this document swept away feudalism, noble privileges, and the Church's provincial powers in a single night.
What are the August Decrees?
This working-class radical group, named after the trousers they wore, held enormous political influence in Paris during the Convention period.
Who are the sans-culottes?
In this September 1797 coup, the Directors nullified election results, imposed censorship, and removed moderate colleagues, fatally damaging their legitimacy.
What is the Coup of Fructidor?
Napoleon considered this unified legal code, replacing around 400 different regional systems, to be his greatest domestic achievement.
What is the Napoleonic Code (Code Napoleon)?
80% of the French population belonged to this social class, who farmed small plots, paid heavy taxes, and suffered frequent famines.
Who are the peasants?
In June 1791, Louis XVI and his family were captured at this small town in northern France while attempting to flee to the Austrian Netherlands.
What is Varennes?
This law, passed in June 1794, accelerated the Terror by allowing the Revolutionary Tribunal to convict on suspicion alone with no defence permitted.
What is the Law of 22 Prairial?
Napoleon's invasion of this country in 1798 ended disastrously when a British fleet under Nelson destroyed the French fleet, forcing him to abandon his army and return to France.
What is Egypt?
This merit-based award, introduced by Napoleon in 1802, replaced hereditary noble privilege as a way of recognising service to the state.
What is the Legion d'honneur?
This term describes the old system of government in France before 1789, covering not just political structures but the role of the Church and the social order.
What is the Ancien Regime?
This document, passed in August 1789, established 17 articles including liberty, equality, property rights, and popular sovereignty as the foundation of the new French state.
What is the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen?
This period of anti-Jacobin revenge in 1794–95, named after the colour worn by monarchists, saw former supporters of the Terror hunted down and killed.
What is the White Terror?
This former director and political schemer planned the coup of 18 Brumaire and recruited Napoleon to carry it out, believing he could control him, he was wrong.
Who is Sieyes?
Napoleon modelled his authoritarian but reform-minded rule on these European leaders of the previous century, who combined absolute power with enlightened domestic policies.
What are the enlightened despots?