2. Ancien Regime
• Who: French
• What: old order; outdated social system
where society was divided into 3 classes
• Where: France
• When: 1789
• Why: The 3 estates (classes) were separated
in this system- Clergy= enormous wealth &
privilege; 3rd
estate didn’t agree w. taxing =
Enlightenment ideas that questioned
inequalities = Revolution against the Ancien
3. Estate
• Who: French
• What: divided social classes
• Where: France
• When: 1700s
• Why: under Ancien Regime everyone in
France fell into 1 of 3 Estates: 1st
- Clergy; 2nd
-
Nobles; 3rd
- everyone else (vast majority of
pop)
4. Bourgeoisie
• Who: Bankers, merchants, manufacturers
• What: the middle class, the wealthy 3rd
estate
members
• Where: France
• When: 1700s
• Why: this group was the wealthiest of the 3rd
estate; the inequalities they experienced from
the other estates led this group to starting the
revolution
5. Deficit spending
• Who: Louis XVI & Jacques Necker
• What: when a gov’t spends more than it takes
in
• Where: France
• When: 1700s
• Why: the king lived super fancy = the Govt
borrowed more & more $$; ½ the gov’t’s
income from taxes went to paying interest on
the enormous debt; the economics issues =
social unrest & heightened tension=
6. Louis XVI
• Who: king of France
• What: pursued pleasure before serious gov’t
matters = drove up debt
• Where: France
• When: 1715-1774
• Why: he was weak & indecisive; lived
extravagantly & spent France’s $$, did not call
on the Estates- General = made French MAD;
his abuses = revolution; his was guillotined in
the radical part of the revolution
7. Jacques Necker
• Who: financial advisor to King Louis XVI
• What: he urged the king to reduce
extravagant spending, reform the govt, &
abolish burdensome tarriffs
• Where: France
• When: 1789-1815
• Why: he proposed taxing the 1st
& 2nd
estate=
nobles & high clergy dismiss him; crisis
worsened = pressure for reform mounted =
revolution
8. Estates-General
• Who: Representatives of the 3 Estates
• What: the Legislative body consisting of reps
from the 3 estates; King summons them for
changes to be made
• Where: France
• When; 1700s
• Why: the King hadn’t called on them for 175
years b.c. he feared the nobles would take
back power; E-G is mad = refuse to cooperate
w. King
9. Cahier
• Who: members from the 3 estates
• What: notebooks that listed their grievances
to the king
• Where: France
• When: 1788
• Why: these complaints called for reforms such
as fairer taxes, freedom of the press, regular
mtgs of the Estates-General = these showed
the boiling class resentments against the
monarchy
10. Tennis Court Oath
• Who: Members of the 3rd
Estate
• What: a constitution written by the 3rd estate
that declared their rights & was against the
inequalities of the old order
• Where: France
• When: 1789
• Why: the 3rd
Estate was locked out of their
meeting place by the 1st
and 2nd
= they met on a
tennis court = claiming to represent the ppl of
France, the 3rd
Estate declared themselves the
National Assembly = the revolutionary gov’t
11. Bastille
• Who: Louis XVI; Parisians
• What: a grim medieval fortress used as a
prison for political and other prisoners
• Where: Paris, France
• When: 1789
• Why: the Parisian crowd demanded weapons & gunpowder
that they thought were stored in the prison; they killed the
guards & released the prisoners; it was a symbol of the abuse
of the monarchy; the storming & fall of Bastille = wake up call
to king b.c. it was a challenge to his regime; today= French
celebrate this as their independence day
13. Faction
• Who: French
• What: dissenting groups of people
• Where: France
• When: 1789
• Why: these groups competed to gain power;
Moderates fought the Radicals who replaced
the royal gov’t; these fights = whole
neighborhoods into protest = furthers the
revolution = some demanded end to
monarchy, others no = complex Revolution-
14. Marquis de Lafayette
• Who:
• What: headed the National Guard & the
moderate dissenting group of the revolution
• Where: France
• When: late 1700s
• Why: he led the Moderate faction group
against the royals in the revolution; competed
against the Radical grp (Paris Commune) for
power of France
15. Olympe de Gouges
• Who: Female journalist
• What: demanded equal rights for women in
her “Declaration of the Rights of Women &
the Female citizen”
• Where: France
• When: 1791
• Why: became one of the 1st
women’s rights
activists; later in the revolution, women met
resistance 4 expressing their views in public =
imprisoned & executed
16. Marie Antoinette
• Who: wife of King Louis XVI, queen of France
• What: she lived a life of great pleasure &
extravagance
• When:
• Why: her extravagant living = put France in
debt = the French disliked her; in the
Women’s March to Versailles- the women
captured Marie & took her to Paris- she was
eventually guillotined w. her husband for
putting France into debt
17. Emigre
• Who: Nobles, Clergy, others who had fled
France
• What: person who fled France from the
Revolutionary forces
• Where: Europe, France
• When: 1789-1815
• Why: these ppl fled to other European
countries & told stories about the revolution =
made European absolute monarchs nervous
that revolutions would occur in their countries
18. Sans-Culottes
• Who: working class men & women
• What: “without breeches”; those that were
working class that pushed the revolution into
the radical phase
• Where: France
• When: 1792
• Why: they wore long trousers instead of the
fancy knee britches that upper class men
wore; this group demanded a republic (govt
ruled by elected reps) instead of a monarch
19. Republic
• Who: Sans-Culottes
• What: a govt that is ruled by elected
representatives instead of a monarch
• Where: France
• When: 1791
• Why: the Sans-Culottes (the radicals) wanted
this type of govt after the French Revolution
20. Jacobins
• Who: middle class lawyers or intellectuals
• What: a revolutionary political club that
supported the Sans-culottes
• Where: France
• When: 1791
• Why: this group used newspapers & pamplets
to advance the republican cause; they were a
radical faction that wanted a Republic, not a
monarchy
22. Suffrage
• Who: French revolutionary radicals
• What: the right to vote
• Where: France
• When:1792
• Why: after the execution of King Louis XVI, the
radicals called for an election of a new legis.
Body- Nat’l Convention; also called for
suffrage for all male citizens, not just prop
owners
23. Robespierre
• Who: Maximilien Robespierre, lawyer &
politician
• What: leader of Committee of Public Safety,
led the Reign of Terror
• Where: France
• When: 1793-1794
• Why: believed terror was necessary to achieve
the goals of the revolution; he was eventually
arrested & executed himself= the end of Reign
of Terror
24. Reign of Terror
• Who: the Committee of Public Safety,
Robespierre
• What: Revolutionary courts conducted hasty
trials & executed those who were suspect of
resisting the revolution
• Where: France
• When: Sept 1793-July 1794
• Why: 300,000 ppl were arrested, 17,000 were
executed by the Guillotine; many were victims of
false identity & falsely accused; radical part of the
revolution= too radical= ended the reign & started
the moderate 3rd
stage
25. Guillotine
• Who: Dr. Joseph Guillotin
• What: a more humane method of beheading
than an ax w. a falling blade that extinguished
life instantly
• Where: France
• When: 1793-1794
• Why: this was the engine of terror for the
Reign of Terror; quickly became a symbol of
horror
26. Nationalism
• Who: French revolutionaries
• What: a strong feeling of pride in and
devotion to one’s country, spread throughout
France
• Where: France
• When: 1800s
• Why: Revolution & war gave ppl a strong
sense of national identity; sense of loyalty had
shifted from monarch to the nation itself; the
French attended festivals & celebrated the
nation & revolution
27. Marseilles
• Who: French
• What: port city
• Where: France
• When: 1793
• Why: troops marched through here with a
nationalistic song- “La Marseillaise” which
later became the French Natl anthem
28. Napoleon Bonaparte
• Who: popular military hero, dictator of France
• What: overthrew the Directory & set up 3 man
Consulate; took the title 1st
Consul then took
the title Emperor & became dictator of France
• Where: France
• When: 1799-1815
• Why: (next slide- there’s a lot)
29. Why:
• Consolidated his power by strengthening the
Central govt
• Restored economic prosperity
– Controlled prices, encouraged new industry, built
roads, canals; set up system of schools
• Made peace with the Catholic church
• Won support across class lines
– Encouraged emigres to return; opened jobs to
everyone
• New code of laws- Napoleonic Code
• Created a vast French Empire
31. Plebiscite
• Who: Napoleon
• What: popular vote by ballot
• Where: France
• When: 1799-1804
• Why: Napoleon held a plebiscite on each of
his steps to power so he was popularly elected
into power- he then took control as dictator
32. Napoleonic Code
• Who: Napoleon
• What: one of Nap’s reforms; a code of laws
that embodied Enlightenment
• When: 1801-1815
• Why: one of Nap’s most lasting reforms;
consolidated many changes of the revolution;
ensured equality before the law, religious
toleration, & abolition of feudalism; women
lost their newly gained rights & couldn’t
exercise rights of citizenship
33. Annex
• Who: Napoleon
• What: incorporating lands into an empire
• Where: France
• When: 1804-1812
• Why: as part of his vast empire building, Nap
annexed Netherlands, Belgium, parts of Italy
& Germany into France under his control
34. Continental System
• Who: Napoleon
• What: a blockade system in Europe that shut
off ports to keep ppl & goods from moving
in/out
• When: 1805-1812
• Where: Europe, Great Britain
• Why: Nap couldn’t invade GB successfully &
he wanted it in his empire so he waged
economic warfare on the British through this
system that closed European ports to British
goods= War of 1812 w. America
35. Guerrilla Warfare
• Who: Spanish patriots
• What: hit and run raids, means “little war”
• Where: Spain vs. France
• When: 1812
• Why: in resisting Nap’s rule in Spain- Small
bands of guerillas ambushed French supply
trains/troops & retreated to countryside; kept
large numbers of French soldiers tied down in
Spain while Nap needed them = encouraged
Austria to resume fighting French
36. Scorched-earth policy
• Who: Napoleon
• What: a war strategy where Russians
retreated eastward, burning crops & villages
as they went
• Where: Russia
• When: 1800-present
• Why: this russian war defensive strategy left
the French hungry & cold when trying to
invade Russia = French retreated & could not
invade Russia; this policy is used in WWI and
37. Abdicate
• Who: Napoleon
• What: step down from power
• Where: France
• When: 1814
• Why: Napoleon failed to take Russia =
weakened France = he abdicated & was exiled
to Elba (an island in Meditearranean) = they
brought back a king
38. Congress of Vienna
• Who: European diplomats & heads of state;
Klemens von Metternich
• What: a meeting of leaders to discuss
restoring stability & order in Europe after
Napoleon
• Where: Vienna, Austria, Europe
• When: Sept 1814-June 1815
• Why: (on the next slide)
39. WHY:
• Wanted to create a lasting peace by est. a
balance of pwr & protect monarchy
• “Holy Alliance” of christian monarchs to
suppress future revolutions
• Redrew the map of Europe- took land away
from France
• Principle of Legitimacy- restored monarchs
• Created Concert of Europe
40. Legitimacy
• Who: European monarchs
• What: after the fall of Napoleon, the
hereditary monarchies of Europe were
restored to their thrones
• Where: Europe
• When: 1815
• Why: The Congress of Vienna restored the
monarchs to their thrones to restore order to
Europe; Louis VIII was king of France- time
known as “Restoration”
41. Concert of Europe
• Who: European rulers
• What: a system where the rulers would
periodically meet to discuss any probs
affecting the peace of Europe
• Where: Europe
• When: 1815
• Why: The Congress of Vienna created this
alliance in order to ensure & maintain peace
throughout Europe; to avoid another
Napoleon from taking over the whole
continent
