July 14, 1789
Storming of the Bastille. Coincidentally, also happened to be Bastille Day in France.
French Revolutionaries tore down the Bastille, a famous prison in Paris, in order to get guns and gunpowder to take up arms against troops loyal to King Louis XVI.
la Bastille
Parisian prison which housed most of the city's gunpowder, famously stormed by French commoners on July 14, 1789.
July 4, 1776
Start of the American Revolution.
French support pushed France further into debt, causing even higher taxation for the Third Estate (and still none for the clergy or nobility), and thus making the old regime ever more unpopular. Also, the ideas of the Ame
Natural Rights
Rights that the philosophes argued all men had by virtue of birth. They are:
-Right to life, liberty, and property
-Freedom of speech and religion
-Equality before the law
Yorktown
Site of a decisive American victory in the American Revolution, after which the British army finally surrendered. Important because of France's participation in the American Revolution (see July 4, 1776).
Constitution of 1789
The modern American Constitution.
The ideas in it -- especially secularism, populism, and equality -- influenced French popular thought.
Marquis de Lafayette
French nobleman, who led the French forces in the American Revolution.
Important because he was a nobleman, and thus had an expensive and tax-free lifestyle, and also because of his expensive adventures against the English in America.
First and Second Estates
The Clergy and the Nobility, respectively.
Notable for having money, land, and power, and paying no taxes on any of it.
the taille
France's chief tax.
Imposed only on the Third Estate (though the First agreed to pay a 'voluntary' contribution to the French state every five years).
Third Estate
The French laypeople, 75-80% of the population.
Important for undertaking the Revolution against the monarchic establishment.
The Bourgeoisie
Property-owning commoners. French middle-class.
Owned 20-25% of the land.
French Parliaments
Regional legislative and judicial bodies in pre-Revolutionary France.
vote by order or by head?
Vote by Order was the established method for deciding things in the French Parliaments. Each estate would have one vote.
The representatives of the Third Estate proposed Vote by Head, which meant that representation would be based on population and that e
Abbe Sieyes
French Catholic cleric and political writer. Famously asked, "What is the Third Estate?"
Important leader of the French Revolution. Also helped form the French Consulate and the Napoleonic Empire.
The National Assembly
The representatives the Third Estate in the French Estates-General. When they proposed that the other two Estates payed taxes and that the populace get greater representation in the Estates General, they were banned from the Estates-General. They then dec
Tennis Court Oath
The National Assembly's declaration of that they wouldn't cease protesting until France had a national constitution. The official start of the French Revolution.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
French Revolutionary constitution. Based on Enlightenment principles like populism and Natural Rights.
Olympe de Gouge
French female feminist writer. Insisted that French women should have all the same rights as French men.
We are bringing back the baker...
Chant of Revolutionaries participating in the Women's Rights, who stormed the palace storehouses for grain and flour and insisted that the king return from Versailles to Paris. The king obliged.
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
New document outlining rights of the clergy. Bishops and priests were to be popularly-elected and nationally-funded.
Condemned by the Pope and most of the high clergy.
Because it attacked the clergy, it made the National Assembly less popular.
Jacobins
The most radical Revolutions, who demanded France be a Republic instead of just a Constitutional Monarchy.
Escape to Varennes
The monarchy's attempted flight from Paris, the Revolution, and the Revolutionaries to monarch-aligned Varennes.
Important because it made the French populace feel betrayed by the king, leading to the eventual abolition of monarchy and Louis XVI's executi
Declaration of Pillnitz
A Declaration issued by Austrian Emperor Leopold II and Prussian King Frederick William II, which began foreign opposition to the Revolution. The French Revolution, many monarchs feared, would make Europe unsafe for monarchy.
Paris Commune
The Revolutionary government of Paris. Was made up of the sans-culottes. Was notably more radical and more powerful than the National Assembly.
sans-culottes
The common people, who did not wear the fine clothes of the French aristocracy and played an important role in the radical phase of the Revolution.
Georges Danton
The Paris Commune's Minister of Justice, as chosen by the sans-culottes. Led the Paris Commune. Insisted on populism and led those demanding revenge against the monarch for his opposition to populism. Massacred thousands of presumed traitors. Solved the p
National Convention
The French Revolutionary administration. Dominated by lawyers, professionals, and property-owners, but popularly elected.
Abolished the monarchy and finally installed a French Republic.
Girondins and the Mountain
The Girondins were moderate members of the Jacobin club who opposed the execution of the French Monarch.
The Mountain represented the interests of the city of Paris and was very popular and very radical.
When the National Convention was to decide the fate
The Vendee
Counterrevolutionaries from the province of Vendee.
Launched a failed anti-Revolutionary revolution to re-install the old regime.
Committee of Public Safety
A committee formed by the National Convention to curb counterrevolutionary activity, keep the French state united, and mobilize the French populace against the threat of foreign invaders.
Maximilien Robespierre was an important member.
Instituted the Reig
Reign of Terror
A period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the Revolution". The death toll ranged in the t
the guillotine
A machine with a heavy blade sliding vertically in grooves, used for beheading people.
Used widely during the Reign of Terror, and became a symbol of the Revolution and the Revolutionary cause. It was favored by the Committee of Public Safety because it w
Law of General Maximum
A Revolutionary law which attempted to control prices of first necessity (that is, things like clothing and food and drink and fuel).
Failed to work, because the Revolutionary government hadn't the resources to enforce it. However, it is an important exam
Temple of Reason
A temple for a new Revolutionary religion to replace Christianity, which was seen as un-Enlightened and irrational. Was prior, and is currently, the Notre-Dame cathedral.
Important example of the attempted de-Christianitzation of France.
Maximilien Robespierre
French lawyer, politician, and one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution.
Was the de-facto leader of the Committee of Public Safety, the Reign of Terror and the de-Christianization movement.
Toussaint L'Ouverture
Black leader of the Haitian Revolution. Led a slave rebellion and advocated for racial equality and the abolition of slavery. His rebellion was brutal and cruel, but so was the white retaliation. Seized control of all of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominica
Thermidorean Reaction
A revolt in the French Revolution against perceived excesses of the Reign of Terror. Triggered by the execution of Robespierre, leader of the Reign of the Terror.
Ended the most radical phase of the French Revolution. The National Convention lessened the
Directory
The post-Thermidorean Reaction executive legislature of France. Notoriously ineffective and corrupt, it was later overthrown in favor of the Consulate.
Gracchus Babeuf
French Jacobin who wanted to overthrow the Directory. Inspired by the plight of the poor, Babeuf led a rebellion to completely abolish private ownership of property, like Marxism. His rebellion failed.
Napoleon Bonaparte
French military and political leader who dominated French and European politics from 1799 to 1815. Napoleon rose through the ranks and showed great military talent. He defended the National Assembly from an attacking mob, and led the French forces against
Italian and Egyptian campaigns
Napoleon's first major military campaigns.
In Italy, he established his reputation through his charisma and military brilliance, and became very popular with his soldiers. He successfully won the Italian campaign against the Austrians.
Napoleon attempted
First Consul and Emperor
Titles used by Napoleon. As Consul, Napoleon reigned as dictator of France. As Emperor, Napoleon still ruled with absolute power, but also proclaimed himself monarch and France an Empire, and became more...um...imperial.
the Concordat
An agreement between the pope and Emperor Napoleon.
Catholicism was allowed to return to France, but would not be France's state religion. The clergy would be publicly subsidized, but so would Protestant clerics.
The Civil Code
Napoleon's new code of laws for France.
It stated that all people were equal before the law, individuals were allowed to choose their professions, religious toleration, and serfdom and feudalism would be abolished. Property rights would be carefully prote
Germaine de Stael
French female writer who refused to accept Napoleon's despotism. She wrote books decrying Napoleon as a tyrannical dictator. Napoleon had her books banned and had her exiled to Central Europe, where she would continue to write. After Napoleon's fall, she
Austerlitz and Trafalgar
The Battle of Austerlitz was a decisive Napoleonic French victory against Russia and Austria. Effectively ended the Third Coalition -- an international organization dedicated to quelling Napoleon's ambitions. It established French dominance of the land.
B
fraternitie
Literally, "brotherhood." Was used to establish French national identity during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. Nationalism evolved from this idea.
The Grand Army
The army Napoleon had assembled on the French coast of the English Channel for the proposed invasion of Britain. It never achieved its primary goal, as Napoleon had to re-deploy it east in order to eliminate the threat of Austria and Russia, which were pa
Elba and Saint Helena
After Napoleon's first defeat, he was exiled to Elba.
After his second and final defeat, he was exiled to Saint Helena.