French Revolution

• Old Regime


  The Political and Social system that existed in France before the French Revolution
• estate

  France's traditional national assembly with representatives of the three estates, or classes, in French society: the clergy, nobility, and commoners.
• Estates General

  An assembly of representatives from all three of the estates, or social classes, in France.
• National Assembly


  a French congress established by representatives of the Third Estate on June 17, 1789, to enact laws and reforms in the name of the French people
• Tennis Court Oath


  A pledge made by the members of France's National Assembly in 1789, in which they vowed to continue meeting until they had drawn up a new constitution
• Great Fear


  A wave of senseless panic that spread through the French countryside after the storming of the Bastille in 1789
• Legislative Assembly


  Assembly that replaced the National Assembly in 1791
• Guillotine


  A machine for beheading people, used as a means of execution during the French Revolution.
• Reign of Terror


  (1793-94) during the French Revolution when thousands were executed for "disloyalty"
• Coup d'etat


  A sudden overthrow of the government by a small group
• Napoleonic Code


  A comprehensive and uniform system of laws established for France by Napoleon
• Blockade


  a war measure that isolates some area of importance to the enemy
• Contintental System


  Trade agreement set up to block Britain from the rest of Europe
• Scorched Earth Policy


  Burning live stock and crops to prevent the enemy from living off the land
• Waterloo


  The site of Napoleon's defeat by British and Prussian armies in 1815, which ended his last bid for power
• Hundred Days


  The brief period during 1815 when Napoleon made his last bid for power, deposing the French King and again becoming Emperor of France
• Concordat


  the peace agreement made between Napoleon and the Pope following the chaos of the French Revolution.
• Directory


  the French Revolutionary government set up by the Constitution of the Year III, which lasted four years, from November 1795 to November 1799.
• Holy Alliance


  Alliance among Russia, Prussia, and Austria in defense of religion and the established order; formed at Congress of Vienna by most conservative monarchies of Europe.
• Concert of Europe


  a series of alliances among European nations in the 19th century, devised by Prince Klemens von Metternich to prevent the outbreak of revolutions
• Louis XVI


  King of France during the French Revolution
• Maximilien Robespierre


  Leader of the Jacobins.
• Napoleon


  French general who became emperor of the French (1769-1821)
• Duke of Wellington


  defeated Napoleon at Waterloo
• Klemens von Metternich


  The Foreign Minister of Austria; he had the most influence at the Congress of Vienna.