final exam whis

• First Estate


  • Clergy
  • 0.5% of population
  • Owned 10% of land
  • Didn't pay taxes
  • People had to pay tithe to church
• Second Estate


  • Nobility
  • 1.5% of population
  • Had 30% of land
  • Didn't pay taxes
  • Nobility of the sword (older noble families, military)
  • Nobility of the robe (recent noble families, administrative positions)
• Third Estate


  • Peasants
  • Worst situation
  • 80% of population
  • Lived in countryside, paid taxes and tithe
  • Urban workers
  • Unskilled workers, poor food and living conditions, taxed
  • Bourgeoisie
  • Paid taxes
  • Could ascend to nobility of the robe
  • Growing middle class
• King Louis XVI was disliked and known for his lavish spending
• Taxes fell upon the Third Estate (poorest estate)
• The Third Estate decided to take out the privileges of nobles of not being taxed
• This led to the Estates General
• After the Black Plague, Europe had become more wealthy and people were living longer, leading to more people and more demand for food
• Bad harvest of 1787-1788 made food shortage harder and people were suffering from starving
• Nobles were at odds with the monarchy and didn't like that the king had unlimited power
• The Third Estate was increasingly angry, starving and poor
• Queen Marie Antoinette was also disliked for her lavish life
• Estates General


  Parliamentary/representative body in France that could only be called by the king
• The Third Estate moved to create a more equal system in the Estates General
• The National Assembly & Tennis Court Oath

  1. 1789 king called Estates General to solve problems

  2. Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes motivated Third Estate to take action

  3. Third Estate declared they would create their own government = National Assembly

  4. National Assembly represented the true power and will of people

  5. Those who did not support tried to avoid them meeting

  6. National Assembly met at the Tennis Court and made an agreement to not disband until they created a new constitution
• The storming of the Bastille on July 14th, 1789 is considered the start of the revolution
• King Louis accepted several demands, wearing a tri-colour symbol, which gave hope to the National Assembly
• The Great Fear


  Peasants in the countryside saw the storming of the Bastille and started burning down manors, ripping up noble contracts, and killing nobles to get revenge on the Second Estate, made worse by rumours of the king and nobility making a famine on purpose
• On August 4th, the National Assembly officially abolished many of the privileges of the Nobility, ending the Ancien Regime
• Declaration of the Rights of Man


  Document stating that men are born and remain free and equal in rights, and that every man is equally eligible to all honours, places, and employments, without any other distinction than that created by their virtues and talents
• The Declaration of the Rights of Man contained many Enlightenment ideas such as natural rights, purpose of governments, and equality of opportunity
• The sale of all church lands helped pay France's debts, making 10% of the land available
• The Civil Constitution of the French Clergy made the church part of the government, with clergy having to take an oath of loyalty to the revolution
• The Pope denounced the acts of the revolution, and half to two-thirds of parish priests refused to take the oath of loyalty
• People who supported the revolution started using violence against the priests who didn't take the oath
• Radical groups


  • Jacobins
  • Sans-Culottes
  • Royalists
  • Emigres
• France declared war on Austria and Prussia as they wanted to help the imprisoned King Louis XVI, seen as a threat to the continuation of the revolution
• The September Massacre in 1792 saw over 1200 people murdered in Paris for being suspected of being against the revolution
• The Sans-Culottes helped turn the tide of the war, saving the revolution
• King Louis XVI was executed for treason against the revolution after it was discovered he was conversing with the Austrians
• Radical revolution took full control after the execution of the king, with no way of going back
• Maximilien Robespierre


  Leader of the Jacobins who wanted people to be scared of him so the revolution was protected
• Robespierre was executed in 1794 by the same force and violence he had used against others
• The Maximum


  The setting of the price of bread
• Committees of Public Safety


  Centralised executive branch of government which oversaw enforcement of revolution ideas
• The Law of Suspects


  Series of laws that called for the arrest of certain people whose allegiance to the revolution was suspect
• The Directory


  New executive branch of French government, more moderate than the Jacobins
• Napoleon Bonaparte successfully took over the Directory in a coup d'etat on the 18th of Brumaire
• National Convention


  Napoleon gained popularity by defending it, which was considered the saviour of the revolution
• Coup d'etat


  Napoleon's successful takeover of the Directory