French Society
This estate comprised 97% of the French population and included the bourgeoisie, peasants, and working class.
What is the Third Estate?
On July 14, 1789, revolutionaries stormed this prison fortress seeking weapons and to free political prisoners.
What is the Bastille?
This American conflict contributed significantly to France's financial crisis before the revolution.
What is the American Revolution?
This execution device became the symbol of the Reign of Terror.
What is the guillotine?
This military leader rose to power following the chaos of the French Revolution.
Who is Napoleon Bonaparte?
The Queen, who was criticized for her lavish lifestyle and famous for supposedly saying, "Let them eat cake."
Who is Marie Antoinette?
This oath, taken at a sports venue, was a pledge by members of the Third Estate to continue meeting until a new constitution was created.
What is the Tennis Court Oath?
This economic problem involving the cost of a staple food item rose dramatically, contributing to revolutionary sentiment.
What were bread prices?
This leader is most associated with the Reign of Terror, before eventually being executed himself.
Who is Maximilien Robespierre?
The French monarchy was abolished when this king was executed in 1793.
Who is Louis XVI?
These two estates, comprising less than 3% of the population, controlled about 30% of the land and were exempt from most taxes.
What are the First and Second Estates?
This body, formed by the Third Estate in 1789, declared itself the true representative of the French people.
What is the National Assembly?
When the Estates-General was called, this voting method, favored by the Third Estate, would have given them more influence than the traditional method.
What is voting by head (rather than by order)?
Approximately this many people were executed during the Reign of Terror.
What is 20,000?
The French Revolution transferred power from these two traditional institutions to the common people.
What are the monarchy and the Church?
The tax collected by the Church from the Third Estate, equal to one-tenth of income or harvest.
What is a tithe?
The revolutionary slogan consisting of three ideals that guided the movement for change in France.
What is "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"?
After abolishing the monarchy, France became a form of government that derives power from the people rather than a monarch.
What is a Republic?
This important document, similar to America's Bill of Rights, was created during the revolutionary period.
What is the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen?
The radical revolutionaries justified executing the king with this phrase, indicating the nation's survival required his death.
What is "Because the country must live, the king must die"?
Despite being part of the Third Estate, this specific group comprised only about 4-5% of the population and formed the backbone of the rural economy.
What are the peasants?
After the monarchy was abolished in 1792, France officially changed to this calendar system with new months and a different starting year to mark a break from the past.
What is the French Republican Calendar?
The Third Estate's representatives were denied access to their regular meeting place, which directly led to them relocating to this venue, where they made their famous oath.
What is the Tennis Court?
The Committee of Public Safety, which orchestrated much of the Reign of Terror, justified its actions by claiming to defend France against these two threats.
What are foreign enemies and domestic counterrevolutionaries?
This specific social institution was abolished by the National Assembly in August 1789, ending a system where peasants were bound to the land and owed services to lords.
What is serfdom?