The document provides background information on key events and figures of the French Revolution from the late 1700s. It summarizes the social inequalities under the Ancien Regime that divided French society into estates and led to resentment. As economic issues mounted and Enlightenment ideas spread, various groups opposed the monarchy and absolute rule, leading to revolutionary unrest and the overthrow of the king. Key events included storming of the Bastille prison and the establishment of a republic. The revolution then grew more radical under figures like Robespierre before moderating again under Napoleon, who crowned himself emperor.

1. Chapter 18 French Revolution
Sec.1

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• What: old order; outdated social system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

12. Sec.2

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

21. Sec.3

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

30. Sec.4

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