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French Revolution
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Old Regime | social and political system in France before the Revolution |
| estates | one of the three social classes in France before the French Revolution. 1st = clergy, 2nd = nobility, 3rd = rest of the population |
| Louis XVI | King that spent money on extravagant things (wasted money) |
| Marie Antoinette | Queen that spent money leading to France’s debt |
| Estates-General | an assembly of representatives from all three estates |
| National Assembly | a French congress established by representatives of the Third Estate to make laws and reforms for 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 | wave of panic that spread through France after the storming of the Bastille in 1789 |
| Legislative Assembly | French congress with the power to create laws and approve declarations of war, established by the Constitution of 1791 |
| sans-culottes | radical group made up of Parisian wage-earners and small shopkeepers who wanted a greater voice in government, lower prices, and an end to food shortages |
| Jacobins | radical political organization that wanted governmental changes who tried Louis XVI for treason. Led by Robespierre |
| guillotine | machine for beheading people, used as a means of execution during the French Revolution |
| Maximilien Robespierre | Jacobin leader who gained power in 1793, set out to build a “republic of virtue” by wiping out France’s past. Led to Reign of Terror. |
| Reign of Terror | period from 1793-1794 when Robespierre ruled France nearly as a dictator and thousands of political figures and ordinary citizens were executed |
| Napoleon Bonaparte | great military genius who became leader of France after Revolution, created an empire complete with code of laws. |
| coup d'etat | sudden seizure of political power in a nation |
| plebiscite | direct vote in which a country’s people have the opportunity to approve or reject a proposal. |
| lycees | government run public school in France |
| Concordat | a formal agreement – especially one between the pope and a government, dealing with the control of Church affairs |
| Napoleonic Code | comprehensive and uniform system of laws established for France by Napoleon |
| Battle of Trafalgar | an 1805 naval battle in which Napoleon’s forces were defeated by a British fleet under the command of Horatio Nelson |
| blockade | use of troops or ships to prevent commercial traffic from entering or leaving a city or region |
| continental system | Napoleon’s policy of preventing trade between Great Britain and continental Europe, intended to destroy Great Britain’s economy |
| guerillas | loosely organized fighting force that makes surprise attacks on enemy troops occupying his or her country |
| Peninsular War | a conflict lasting from 1808 to 1813, in which Spanish rebels, with the aid of British forces, fought to drive Napoleon’s French troops out of Spain |
| scorched-earth policy | the practice of burning crops and killing livestock during wartime so that the enemy cannot live off the land |
| Waterloo | battle France lost to British/Prussian forces that ended Napoleon’s reign. |
| Hundred Days | brief period during 1815 when Napoleon made his last bid for power, deposing the French king and again becoming emperor of France |
| Congress of Vienna | a series of meetings in 1814-1815 during which European leaders sought to establish long-lasting peace and security after the defeat of Napoleon |
| Klemens von Metternich | Austrian Prince that wanted to prevent future French aggression by surrounding France with strong countries (balance of power), and restore Europe’s royal families to the thrones they held before Napoleon |
| balance of power | a political situation in which no one nation is powerful enough to pose a threat to others |
| legitimacy | the hereditary right of a monarch to rule |
| Holy Alliance | a league of European nations formed by the leaders of Russia, Austria, and Prussia after the Congress of Vienna |
| 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 |
Created by:
WGZimm
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