vingti�me tax
a tax on income for both nobles and commoners
Maupeou (Rev. of the Nobles)
Chancellor who wanted to make the vingti�me tax permanent and appealed to public opinion
Influential in opposition to the monarchy realization that parlements werent enough
Anne-Robert Turgot (Rev. of the Nobles)
French minister of finance who made reforms based on wanting to cut the hindering priveleges (tax exemptions/guilds/commerce of grain/peasant hardships) to make the monarchy more effiecient
-caused much opposition from those negatively effected
Old Regime
political and social system in France before the French Revolution
Necker (1700s)
France's Swiss minister of finance who arranged loans for colonists in America and believed that there was no need for financial reform or for raising taxes
kept being dismissed b/c was disliked by the court but many others liked him
Calonne (Rev. of the Noble)
French minister of finance who distrusted Necker but further indebted France
The Assembly of Notables/high clergy rejected him, wanting to keep their tax privileges
Estates-General
calling of which in 1789 was a revolutionary act-said king couldn't rule alone
body made up of representatives of the three estates
1st- Made up of clergy
2nd-Made up of nobles
3rd- Everybody else
bourgeoisie
France's middle-class who had no privileges and defined by wealth
Gained much influence in the 1st Revolution and regained influence in the Thermidorean Reaction
sans-culottes
France's unskilled laborers who worked in cities doing unskilled manual labor and were most affected by famine or inflation
Siey�s (influential throughout the Rev.)
French priest who was an avid supporter of the 3rd estate (which he thought should be the National Assembly) and denounced noble privileges
Later helped to overthrow the Directory
cahiers de dol�ances
Petitions to the king; a list of grievances made by local assemblies and the first two estates that was discussed by the third estate and many criticized monarchical absolutism, seigneurs, and the tax system as well as calling for a national rep. body
lettres de cachet
Documents issued by the king permitting arbitrary arrest and indefinite imprisonment without trial and was highly critized in the cahiers
Assembly of Notables (before the Estates-General is convoked in 1789)
Assembly used to deal with an emergency crisis that was used instead of Estates-General in order for Louis XVI to avoid losing power
made up of upperclergy/nobles-but they refused to make decisions and instead wanted the convocation of the Estates-General
National Assembly
France's revolutionary assembly driven by the bourgeoisis but made up of every estate that decides to make Paris a commune, create the National Guard, and make the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
Tennis Court Oath (beginning of 1st Rev.)
After being locked out of their meeting place by the king, the third-estate declared this, promising not to disband until a constitution was written to limit the king's authority
Storming of Bastille (beginning of 1st Rev.)
Uprising in France in which bourgeoisie Parisians thought that the king was going to attack them so they gets some arms and ammunition and rebel
Great Fear (beginning of 1st Rev.)
An uprising of peasants throughout France fueled by a rumor and probably their LSD rye bread in which they rise up against the nobles destroying their houses/feudal documents resulting in the abolition of feudal priveleges
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (beginning of 1st Rev.)
A document created by the National Assembly that declared universal principles; many ideas from philosophes-Rousseau's general will and others; also proclaimed progressive taxation and that the army is for the state not one person; educated about liberty
Marat (1st Rev.)
A revolutionary French journalist who's newspaper was "The Friend of the People"
He spurred the mob in the October Days
October Days (1st Rev.)
Uprising of sans-culotte and petite bourgeoisie women angered by the overpriced/lack of bread
They want for the National Assembly to go to Paris-they get a real sense of the key issues-food/bread; peasants need more land to be more productive-this results
assignats (1st Rev.)
paper currency backed by the proceeds of the Church's land but eventually led to inflation because the National Assembly used up the money
Civil Constitution of the French Clergy (1st Rev.)
Very controversial document that declared the Church a state Church-made priest swear an oath of loyalty to the Revolution; bishops elected by local assemblies
Constitution of 1791
French Constitution that proclaimed a constitutional monarchy rather than absolutist monarchy
Olympe de Gouges (1st Rev.)
Woman who demanded equal rights for women and published "The Rights of Women
Flight to Varennes (end of 1st Rev.)
Attempted flight of Louis XVI to support a counterrevolutionary army that failed.
Furthered the support for a republic
Georges-Jacques Danton
-1791
-popular orator
-critic
-denounced the idea of "active" and "passive" citizens
Le Chapelier Law
-june 14, 1791
-prohibited workmen from joining together to refuse to work for a master
Toussaint L'Ouverture
-1791
-Former slave who had fought in the French army
-led a rebellion of free blacks in the Caribbean against the French sugar plantation owners
National Convention (created in 2nd Rev.)
An assembly made up mainly of Jacobins that declared France a republic and claimed to support liberty
Girondins (2nd Rev.)
French club that called for economic liberalism, opposed centralization, wanted war, and wanted a limited republic
Jacobins (2nd Rev.)
French club backed by sans-culottes that wanted a centralized government, no external warfare, democratic republic, and wanted to continue the Revolution
sans-culottes
-stood against unearned property
flight to Varennes
-june, 1791
-Louis XVI and family tried to flee France
-failed
-turned public against him and strengthened support for a republic
-major turning point in revolution
3 revolutionary principles:
1) "liberty"
2) "equality"
3) "fraternity
Declaration of Pilnitz
-1791
-Emperor Leopold II and King Frederick William II
-expressed concern over plight of French monarchy
-wanted to see order restored in France
General Charles Fran�ois Dumouriez
-minister of foreign affairs
-1792: declared war on austria
Vende� (2nd Rev.)
A counterrevolutionary revolt in western France that resisted the Civil Constitution of the French Clergy
The Terror (end of 2nd Rev.)
Period in which the Jacobins terrorized counterrevolutionaries
it was monitored by the Commitee of Public Safety and led by Robespierre
Robespierre (2nd Rev.)
Leader of the Jacobins who supported the Terror as a way to defend democracy, liberty, and virtue
-late 18th century
-leading figure on the Committee of Public Safety
-wanted to establish a "cult of supreme being
de-christianization (2nd Rev.)
An unsuccessful aggressive campaign by radical revolutionaries that denounced religious institutions and symbols
enrag�s (2nd Rev.)
Radical sans-culottes who put down Girondists and wanted to intensify de-christianization
Brunswick Manifesto
-1792
-Austria and Prussia warned the French that they would be severely punished if the royal family were harmed
September massacres
-september 1792
-rumor went around that prisoners were planning to break out of prison and attack army
-mobs dragged prisoners from their cells and killed them
-over 1000 people killed
d�partements
-1790
-new division of land
-named topographically
lev�e en masse
-1793
-mass conscription by revolutionary govt.
-generated resistance due to unpopularity
Thermidorean Reaction (After the 2nd Rev.)
Phase of the French Revolution in which people who created terror become threatened-Jacobins are overthrown and Robespierre executed
Created bicameral legislature
Return of moderate bourgeois reformers to power
Directory (1795-9)
Phase of the French Rev. in which the National Convention established a five-member executive and was noted for its political instability, wars, and economic hardship
-created by Thermidorians
-part of new constitution of 1795
-comforts of the wealthy con
Napoleon Bonaparte (late 18th, early 19th century)
French general who fought the Austrians in Italy; overthrew French Directory with Siey�s and became consul for life
Lazare Carnot
-1753-1823
-talented military engineer
-brilliant administrator
-1 of the 12 members of Committee of Public Safety
-survived b/c opposed Robespierre
jeunesse dor�e or "gilded youth
-during the Directory, late 18th century
-drawn from the bourgeoisie and old nobility
-set social and cultural tone of the day
Fran�ois-No�l Babeuf
-1796
-plotted to overthrow the Directory