French revolution

    Cards (18)

    • In 1774 Louis XVI ascended the throne of France. At the age of 20, he was married to the princess of Austria, Marie Antoinette.
    • There were 3 estates created. The clergy, nobility and commoners. The society of estates was part of the feudal system.
    • Clergy- consisted of the Roman Catholic Church.
    • Nobility- The upper class of the medieval society, who were the rulers of the country.
    • Commoners- The lower classes of people who had no power or influence over the government.
    • The Estates General met every few years but they did not have any real power as their decisions could be vetoed by the king.
    • On May 5th 1789, the Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly and began writing a new constitution for France.
    • The Third Estate wanted more representation but the First and Second estate refused to give them what they wanted.
    • In June 1789, the Bastille prison was stormed by angry mobs demanding bread.
    • The Storming of the Bastille marked the beginning of the French Revolution
    • The Reign of Terror lasted from July 1793 - July 1794
    • Tithe- A tax levied by the church, comprising 10% of the agricultural produce.
    • Taille- tax to be paid directly to the state.
    • Subsistence crisis- an extreme situation where the basic means of livelihood are endangered.
    • John Locke put forward his book, Two Treatises of Government. He sought to refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch.
    • Jean Jacques Rousseau carried the idea forward, proposing a form of government based on a social contract between people and their representatives.
    • Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary in his book, The Spirit of Laws.
    • The National Assembly was led by Mirabeau and Abbe Sieyes. Mirabeau was a noble but knew the importance of a society without a feudal privilege. Abbe Sieyes was originally a priest.