Word | Definition |
Jean le Rond D’Alembert | coeditor of the Encyclopedie |
Assignats | Paper currency, the French churches were used as collateral -the first French paper currency issued by the General Assembly |
Bastille | Medieval fortress that was converted to a prison stormed by peasants for ammunition during the early stages of the French Revolution |
Bougeoisie | Comfortable members of the 3rd estate. Basically middle class, wanted the privileges of the nobility and upper clergy |
Revolutionary Calendar | Created by the National Convention, it established after the French Revolution -day one was the first day of the French Republic |
Committee of Public Safety | Established and led by Robespierre, fixed bread prices and nationalized some businesses. Basically secret police and also controlled the war effort. Instigated the Reign of Terror |
Conspiracy of Equals | Led by "Gracchus" Babeuf an attempt to renew violent rebellion after the Thermidore reaction,-communistic in nature. |
Consulate | Form of government which followed the directory -established by Napoleon-ended when Napoleon was crowned emperor. |
National Convention | The third estate of the Estates General -broke from the Estates because they wanted the Estates to sit as a committee and not as segregated groups. |
Danton | Led the Mountains with Robespierre-also executed with Robespierre |
David | Napoleon’s painter-painted the famous portrait of Napoleon’s coronation |
Declaration of the Rights of Man | Written by the National Convention -declared all men could do anything as long as it did not harm others. |
Directory | Group of five men who served as liaisons between Robespierre and the Assembly. Overthrown by Napoleon |
Encyclopedie | Collection of works compiled during the Enlightenment -explained many aspects of society |
Estates General | Not called since 1614-finally called by Louis XVI at the advice of his financial minister-demanded control over the King’s finances -he refused and dismissed them-sat as three segregated groups. |
Gabelle | Tax on salt during pre-revolutionary France-included in the Estate’s list of grievances. |
Girondists | One of the two halves of the divided National Convention |
Great Fear | Followed the storming of the Bastille-people were scared of outlaws and reprisals-fanned flames of rebellion. |
Guillotine | Fast and relatively humane-used for mass executions |
Intendants | Created by Napoleon-kept watch over their own area of France -allowed Napoleon not to have to worry about petty problems |
Levee en Masse | Law that obligated all French men between certain ages to enlist in the army. |
Louis XVI | King of France-executed for treason by the National Convention-absolute monarch-husband of Marie Antoinette |
Marie Antoinette | Louis XVI’s wife -executed |
Robespierre | Member of the National Assembly-led the Mountains-began and led the Committee of Public Safety-began the Reign of Terror |
Sans-culottes | Petty laborers and laboring poor-wore pants not knee breeches-became a major political group in revolutionary France |
Tennis Court Oaths | Taken by the National Assembly-stated that they would not disband until they had made a new constitution. Met here because they were unable to go to their meeting place. |
First Estate | Clergy |
Second Estate | Nobility |
Third Estate | Artisans etc. Everyone not in the First or Second Estate |
Thermidorean Reaction | A reaction against the violence of the Reign of Terror. Robespierre was executed |
Ancien Regime | The old order before the Revolution in France |
Regicide | The killing of the king |
Versailles | Site of palace outside Paris. Women marched there to demand action from Louis XVI |
Mary Wollstonecraft | Wrote Vindication of the Rights of Man and A Vindication of the Rights of Women |
Berlin Decree | 1806-issued by Napoleon, instituted the Continental System, in the response to British blockade of commercial ports under French control |
Joseph Bonaparte | Napoleon's brother, made king of Spain but unable to control the Spanish which led to the costly Peninsula War |
Confederation of the Rhine | League of German States organized by Napoleon in 1813 after defeating the Austrians at Austerlitz. The league collapsed after Napoleon's defeat in Russia |
Continental System | 1806-12)French economic plan to cripple Britain. Russia's refusal to conform led to the Russian campaign |
The Grand Army | Combined French armies under Napoleon. Virtually destroyed during Napoleon's ill-fated Russian campaign. |
Louis XVIII | (1814-24) tried to issue a Constitutional Charter which accepted many revolutionary changes and guaranteed civil liberties |
Napoleonic Code | Passed by Napoleon. Took away many of the rights gained by women, aimed at reestablihing the "family monarchy". Modified after Napoleon's defeat |
Peninsula War | France was forced to invade Spain after the failure of Joseph Bonaparte. Very costly for Napoleon. The Duke of Wellington helped the Spanish. |
Plebiscite | A vote of the people |
Rosetta Stone | Found by one of Napoleon's officers during the Egyptian campaign. Allowed people to decipher hieroglyphics |
Talleyrand | French representative at the Congress of Vienna and limited the demands of other countries upon the French |
Saint Helena | South Atlantic island. Napoleon's final home after the Battle of Waterloo |
Castlereagh | British representative at Congress of Vienna |
The Hundred Days | The time from Napoleon's return from exile on Elba to defeat at Waterloo |
Trafalgar | (October 1805) Britain's Admiral Nelson destroyed the combined French and Spanish navies. Nelson was killed but invasion of Britain now became impossible. |
Metternich | Austrian foreign minister who basically controlled the Congress of Vienna. Wanted to promote peace, conservatism, and the repression of libaral nationalism throughout Europe |