Significant Figures
Someone with a penchant for framing their political rivals. The death of this person marked the end of the Reign of Terror.
Who is Maximilien Robespierre?
A 12-person committee that originally started out as a subset of the National Convention before surpassing them in power and exercising quasi-dictatorial control over France.
What is the Committee of Public Safety?
This phrase was first recorded during the Reign of Terror and is the current motto of France.
What are "liberty, equality, fraternity"?
A political faction of people, led by Maximilien Robespierre, that were in favour of executing the king and enforcing a maximum price on bread.
Who were the Jacobins?
Nicknamed "Monsieur Deficit" by the people, this person was one of King Louis XVI's many financial ministers.
Who is Charles Alexandre de Calonne?
A meeting convened by the king of elected representatives from each social class: the nobility, the clergy and the commons, each estate with one collective vote, usually in extraordinary circumstances.
What is an Estates-General?
Something that the First and Second Estates were entirely exempt from, which led to the entirety of it being shouldered by the Third Estate.
What are taxes?
A political faction of people, led by Jacques Pierre Brissot, who opposed executing the king, were in favour of free market policies and whose arrests were demanded by the Parisian public.
Who were the Girondins?
King Louis XVI's financial minister who was so popular with the public, the king had no choice but to rehire them.
Who is Jacques Necker?
A group of high-ranking religious, political and aristocratic figures handpicked by the Crown to discuss a specific matter of extraordinary national importance.
What is an assembly of notables?
A law that was passed by National Convention that kicked off the Reign of Terror. It decreed anyone could be arrested on suspicion of being an anti-revolutionary and could only be killed or acquitted at the end of their trial.
What is the Law of Suspects?
A political faction, led by Georges Danton, that condemned the Reign of Terror and the Law of Suspects.
Who were the Indulgents?
A journalist who was affiliated with the political subgroup called the Indulgents. Their pamphlet has the oldest known record of the current French motto.
Who is Camille Desmoulins?
A meeting of elected representatives from each social class: the nobility, the clergy and the commons, each representative with one individual vote, usually to address matters of extreme importance.
What is a National Assembly?
A power the king of France held where he could enforce whatever he desired regardless of the approval of the parlements.
What is a lit de justice?
A political faction led by Jacques-Rene Hebert, whose leaders were sent to trial alongside a group suspected of conspiring in a foreign plot by Maximilien Robespierre.
Who were the Hebertists?