This site is 100% ad supported. Please add an exception to adblock for this site.

Revolutions

Terms

undefined, object
copy deck
Joseph Bonaparte
(1768-1844) - Napoleon's brother, made king of Spain (1808) but unable to control the Spanish and he abdicated (1813). His failure to control the Spanish led to the costly Peninsula War.
Marie Antoinette
(1755-1793) - Louis XVI's wife and sister of Leopold of Austria-executed.
Gabelle
Tax on salt during pre-revolutionary France-included in the Estate's list of grievances.
Louis XVIII
(r. 1814-24) - Tried to issue the Constitutional Charter of 1814, which accepted many revolutionary changes and guaranteed civil liberties
Thermidorean Reaction
A reaction against the violence of the Reign of Terror. Robespierre was executed.
Confederation of the Rhine
In 1806 Napoleon dissolved the archaic Holy Roman Empire. League of German States organized by Napoleon in 1813 after defeating the Austrians at Austerlitz. The league collapsed after Napoleon's defeat in Russia.
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.
Levée en Masse
Law that obligated all French men between certain ages to enlist in the army.
Castlereagh, Viscount
(1769-1822) - British representative at Congress of Vienna.
Robespierre
(1758-1794) - A very radical Jacobin and member of the National Assembly. He led the Mountains and created the Committee of Public Safety, which he led a dictator. He also began the Reign of Terror during which time he tried to eliminate all opposition. Executed in 1794 during the Thermidorian Reaction.
Jacques Louis David
(1748-1825) - Napoleon's painter: painted in the neoclassical style. He painted the famous portrait of Napoleon's coronation and other pictures that portrayed Napoleon in a heroic manner.
Peninsula War
France was forced to invade Spain after the failure of Joseph Bonaparte. Very costly for Napoleon who later claimed, "It was the Spanish ulcer that ruined me." The Duke of Wellington helped the Spanish.
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.
Encyclopedie
Collection of works compiled during the Enlightenment -explained many aspects of society.
Great Fear
Followed the storming of the Bastille-people were scared of outlaws and reprisals-fanned flames of rebellion.
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.
Louis XVI
(1774-1792) - King of France-executed for treason by the National Convention-absolute monarch-husband of Marie Antoinette.
Assignats
Paper currency, the French churches were used as collateral -the first French paper currency issued by the General Assembly.
First Estate
Clergy.
Ancien Regime
The old order before the Revolution in France
Second Estate
Nobility.
The Hundred Days
The time from Napoleon's return from exile on Elba (March 20) to defeat at Waterloo (July 8, 1815).
Jean le Rond D'Alembert
(1717-1783) - coeditor of the Encyclopedie
Third Estate
Peasants, artisans etc. Every one not in the First or Second Estate.
Sans-culottes
Petty laborers and laboring poor-wore pants not knee breeches-became a major political group in revolutionary France.
Napoleonic Code
(1807) - Laws, especially civil laws, passed by Napoleon. Took away many of the rights gained by women, aimed at reestablishing the "family monarchy". Modified after Napoleon's defeat, but still is the basis of continental law.
Trafalgar
Britain's Admiral Nelson destroyed the combined French and Spanish navies. Nelson was killed but invasion of Britain now became impossible.
Regicide
The killing of the king.
Tennis Court Oaths
(1789) - 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.
Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de
(1754-1838) - French representative at the Congress of Vienna and limited the demands of other countries upon the French.
Plebiscite
A vote of the people.
Rosetta Stone
Found by one of Napoleon's officers during the Egyptian campaign. Allowed people to decipher hieroglyphics.
The Grand Army
Combined French armies under Napoleon. Virtually destroyed during Napoleon's ill-fated Russian campaign.
Bastille
Medieval fortress that was converted to a prison stormed by peasants for ammunition during the early stages of the French Revolution.
Directory
(1975-1799) - Group of five men who served after Robespierre and the Assembly. It was created to remedy the abuses of Robespierre, but it was weak and ineffective form of government. Overthrown by Napoleon.
Danton
Led the Mountains with Robespierre-also executed with Robespierre.
Bougeoisie
Comfortable members of the 3rd estate. Basically middle class, wanted the privileges of the nobility and upper clergy.
Count Klemens von Metternich
(1773-1859) - was the Austrian foreign minister who basically controlled the Congress of Vienna. Wanted to promote peace, conservatism, and the repression of liberal nationalism throughout Europe.
Conspiracy of Equals
Led by "Gracchus" Babeuf an attempt to renew violent rebellion after the Thermidore reaction,-communistic.
Saint Helena
British island in the South Atlantic. Napoleon's final home after the Battle of Waterloo until his death in 1821.
Intendants
Created by Napoleon-kept watch over their own area of France -allowed Napoleon not to have to worry about petty problems.
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.
Reign of Terror
(1793-1794) - The attempt by the Convention, led by Robespierre, to suppress the counter revolution. Hundreds were executed including Danton and Marie Antoinette. Ended with the Thermidorian Reaction.
Mary Wollstonecraft
(1759-1797) - English feminist author who wrote Vindication of the Rights of Women. She went to Paris to witness the Revolution.
Continental System
(1806-12) - French economic plan to cripple Britain. Beginning with the Berlin Decree (1806) Napoleon closed all European ports to British ships. The Continental System was largely a failure since it hurt the European economy as well as the British economy. Napoleon trying to enforce the policy in Spain led to the Peninsula War and Russia's refusal to conform led to the Russian campaign.
Girondists
One of the two halves of the divided National Convention.
Berlin Decree
(1806) - Issued by Napoleon, instituted the Continental System, in the response to British blockade of commercial ports under French control.
Versailles
Site of palace outside Paris. Women marched there to demand action from Louis XVI.
Consulate
Form of government which followed the directory -established by Napoleon-ended when Napoleon was crowned emperor.
Guillotine
Fast and relatively humane-used for mass executions.

Deck Info

50

permalink