Chapter 23 Test Review

With Definitions
(by you, the students!!)
These are the best ones provided. If I thought there was more than one definition that
was good or more than one definition combined more fully fleshed out the idea, I put
both (or three) as noted by the Def 1 and Def 2 in italics. The terms themselves are in
bold face.

1. Estates-General-
Def 1: an assembly of representatives from all three estates. Louis put off dealing with
cutting expenses and increasing taxes, so France soon faced bankruptcy. When he tried to
tax aristocrats, the Second Estate forces him to call a meeting of the Estates-General to
get approval for the tax reform.

Def 2: an assembly of representatives from the first, second, and third estate. The second
estate forced King Louis XVI to call a meeting with them in order to get approval for tax
reform. The meeting was held on May 5th 1789. First time it was called in 175 years.

2. First Estate:
Def 1: was formed by a clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, owned 10 percent of the
land in France. It provided education and relief services to the poor and contributed about
2 percent of its income to the government, scorned Enlightment ideas.

Def 2:
• Clergy of the Roman Catholic Church
• Owned 10% of the land in France
• Provided education and relief services to the poor
• Contributed 2% of income to the government
• 1% of the population.

3. Second Estate:
Def 1: was made up of rich nobles that was about 2 percent of the population, owned 20
percent of the land and paid almost no taxes, held highest offices in government and
disagreed about the Enlightment ideas.

Def 2:
• Made of rich nobles
• Made up 2% of population but owned 20% of the land
• Paid almost no taxes
Def 3: Social class consisting of rich nobles. This class held the highest offices and
authorities in the French monarchy and strongly disagreed with the ideas of
enlightenment. They were often resented by the Third Estate due to their high amount of
money-spending and lack of support for the less fortunate. This class only took up 2% of
the French population. They paid no taxes.

4. Third Estate:
Def 1: there were about 98 percent of the people, divided into three groups that differed
greatly in their economic conditions: the first group - the bourgeoisie who were well-
educated and believed strongly in the Enlightment ideals of liberty and quality; the
second group - the workers of France's cities; the third group was the largest group
consisted of peasants - more than 80 percent of France's 26 million people.

Def 2:
• 98% of the population
• 3 groups
• Bourgeoisie- rich as nobles, paid high taxes, lacked privalages
• Workers- low wages, usually out of work and hungry, would form mobs if the
cost of bread rose
• Pesants- largest group, 80% of the population, over taxed and very poor

Def 3: 98 percent o the people belonged to the third estate there was 3 groups that made
up this estate and they differed with their economic conditions.
• The first group was the bourgeoisie-merchants and artisans; they were well
educated and believed in the enlightenment ideas of liberty and equality some of
the bourgeoisie were as rich as boles but they still had to pay high taxes and laked
privileges that the other estates had ( 1st & 2nd)
• The second group was the workers of Frances cities- ( cooks,servants, and others)
they were poorer than the bourgeoisie and were paid low wages and a lot of the
time out of work and went hungry. When the price of bread rose the workers
would attack the bread carts and take what they needed.
• The third group in the third estate is the peasants - they were the largest group 80
percent of Frances population. they paid half of their income as dues to nobles,
tithes to the church and taxes to the kings agents also they even had to pay tax on
salt. they joined the urban poor in resenting the clergy and nobles for their
privileges

5. Louis XVI- became king in 1774. He inherited part of the debt from his predecessors.
Borrowed heavily in order to help the American revolutionaries in the war against Great
Britain and it doubled France’s debt. He was not a strong leader and allowed matters to
drift. Married his wife when he was 15. Put off dealing with Frances emergencies so
France faced bankruptcy.

6. Marie Antoinette - Member of the Austrian royal family. At age 14, she married King
Louis XVI of France but was instantly resented due to her country of origin, which had
been a long-time enemy of France. She later became known as Madame Deficit due to
the outrageous amounts of funds that she would spend on elaborate clothing, haircuts,
and gambling.

7. Old Regime - French system of feudalism remaining from the middle ages in 1770.
This system consisted of Nobles ruling large amounts of land with peasants working the
land for a daily living.

8. National Assembly - Delegates of the Third Estate that began to write and pass law
reforms in the name of the French people. This assembly was formed shortly after the
Estates General assembly due to its failing results of giving the Third Estate tax relief.

9. Abbe Sieyes - Powerful spokesman who argued for the Third Estate to have a voice in
the French government. This man was famed for this highly-acclaimed quote: "What is
the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been up to now in the political order? Nothing.
What does it demand? To become something herein." He also was the one who suggested
that the Third Estate call themselves the "National Assembly."

10. Bourgeoisie
• Part of the third estate
• Made up of merchants and aritsans
• Well educated and were pro-enlightenment
• Were as rich as some nobles but paid high taxes and lacked the privileges
of the other members of the Third estate

11. Tennis Court Oath- The pledge made by the delegates of the third estate when they
were locked out of the meeting room of the estates general, in which they'd been trying to
negotiate with the first two estates. They broke down the door to a tennis court and
pledged not to leave until a new constitution was drawn up, giving them greater rights
and power. They called themselves the national assembly, and their powerful oath forced
the king to act.

12. Great Fear- The wave of senseless panic that spread through France at the start of the
revolution. False rumors that had circulated through the country caused people to take
drastic action. Riots broke out across the country, nobles were attacked and killed, their
property burned, and even the royal family was attacked. The rebels attacked the palace
of the royals, forcing them to move to Paris, where the leaders of the revolution could
control them.

13. Legislative Assembly-The assembly created (in 1791) according to the new
constitution passed by the national assembly. This new assembly had the power to create
or abolish laws, as well as approve or prevent the king from declaring was on any other
countries.The king and his ministers still held the executive power to enforce laws, but
they no longer had any say in their making.
14. san-culottes- One of the fractions the legislative assembly split into due to
differences in opinions. The san-culottes were the most radical of the people, those who
wanted all vestiges of the old regime to be destroyed, and wanted the common people to
have all the power in the new government. They sat on the far left of the meeting hall,
and the group was made up of mostly Parisian workers and small shopkeepers. The word
'san-culottes' means 'those without knee-breeches', meaning those who didn't follow the
style made popular by the old regime.

15. National Assembly-The name the third estate chose for themselves when they
wanted revolution. Suggested by Abbe Sieyes in 1789, the assembly effectively put an
end to the French monarchy, and started a French representative government, which
would pass laws and make reforms in the name of the French people.

16. Robespierre-A revolutionary leader, one of the strongest supporters of reform. He

held the title of leader in the 'committee of safety', which is the title he used to send
hundreds of people who he claimed were traitors to the new government to face the
guillotine, and be killed. He was one of the guillotine's final victims.
• set out to build a "Republic of Virtue." He wanted to wipe out every trace of
France's past monarchy and nobility.
• He was instrumental in the period of the Revolutionary period, known as the
Reign of Terror, that ended with his arrest and execution in 1794.

17. Marat-One of the most prominent radical leaders who wanted a republic, he edited a
radical newspaper that demanded all those not 100%behindnd the new government be
execute immediately. He was stabbed to death by a young woman tired of the violence in
France.

18. National Convention- The new government created when the National Assembly
was dissolved in 1791. It was responsible for abolishing the monarchyhy entirely and
declaring France an official republic. In 1794, they sent Robespierre to the guillotine,
ending the terror in France with the death of the man who was responsible for it.

19. Coup d' etat- A french word meaning 'blow of state', it refers to a sudden seizure of
power, in this case, Napoleon's. Napoleon was placed in charge of the country with the
title of consul, along with two other men. When he took the power from them and
became the sole power in France, he performed a coup d'etat.

20. Plebiscite- A direct vote of the people where they have the power to approve or reject
a proposal. In 1800, this was held for the fourth time in eight years, to approve a new
constitution. The plebiscite was in favor of Napoleon and gave him complete power in
France.

21. lycees-
Def 1: government run public schools set up in order to reduce government corruption
and improve delivery of government services. Both wealthy and ordinary children
attended. Teachers were trained and appointed by public officials on the basis of merit
rather than family connections.

Def2: Napoleon used these government run public schools to reduce the corruption of the
government. Children of everyday people and the wealthy people, all attended the
schools. The officers that taught worked their way up to public office. They now had to
work for their position rather then getting their rank because of who they knew.

22. concordat-
Def 1: signed with Pope Pius VII to restore position of Church in France. The
government would appoint Bishops who would appoint priests. It gained Napoleon
support of the church as well as the majority of the French people.

Def 2: Agreement with Pope Pius VII trying to restore the church’s position in France.
The church’s influence was recognized but their involvement in national affairs was
denied. This agreement got the organized church and many of the French people to favor
Napoleon.

23. blockade-
Def 1: forcible closing of ports to prevent all trade and communications between Great
Britain and other European Nations as part of a policy called the Continental System.
Since it was not tight enough, smugglers brought cargo from Britain and Europe. It didn't
destroy Britain's trade either even though they still responded by closing it's own ports.
Their blockade worked better because than France because they had a better navy.

Def 2: The use of troops or ships as a force to prevent commercial traffic from entering or
leaving a city and to cut off communications between Great Britain and other European
countries. He used these to make continental Europe more self-sufficient and destroy
Great Britain’s money making economy(commercial and industrial).

24. guerrillas-
Def 1: bands of Spanish peasant fighters who struck at French armies in Spain; couldn't
be defeated by Napoleon in open battle; they were ordinary people who fought, then fled
into hiding.

Def 2: Groups of peasant fighters from Spain that attacked the French armies but then
went into hiding. Napoleon did not know how to fight a group like this. The Spanish were
then aided by Britain, making it tougher for Napoleon to fight back. This led to the
Peninsular War where Napoleon lost 300,000 men.

25. Scorched Earth Policy-

Def 1: Russians burned grain fields and slaughtered livestock as they retreated to
Moscow, leaving the French soldiers hungry.
Def 2: Method of the Russians used as they retreated toward Moscow. They burned grain
fields and slaughtered livestock so that the enemy would have nothing.

26. Battle of Waterloo-

Def 1: French vs. British army in Belgium, June 18,1815. Prussia helped British army.
His troops gave up after 2 days since British and Prussia chased them out. This ended
Napoleon's reign.

Def 2: French vs. Britain army in Belgium. Napoleon attacked, but Prussia had joined the
British. After two days Napoleon gave up, ending his reign in France.

27. Continental System-

Def 1: supposed to make continental Europe more self-sufficient and destroy Britain's
commercial and industrial economy by insuring a blockade. Instead it hurt Napoleon
more than its enemies because it weakened France's economies and other lands under his
control more than it damaged Britain.

Def 2: Napoleon’s use of blockades as a policy to prevent trade with Great Britain and to
destroy their economy. Napoleon’s blockade was not tight enough and only weakened
British trade. Great Britain came back with their own blockade which not only stopped
trade from Europe but from the U.S. also. Great Britain had a stronger navy to back them.

28. Declaration of the Rights of Man-

Def 1: a statement of revolutionary ideals that reflected the influence of Enlightenment
ideas and the Declaration of Independence; stated "all men are born and remain free and
equal in rights." and that "aim of all political association is the preservation of the
natural.. rights of man." These rights are liberty, property, security and resistance to
oppression. This however, did not apply to women.

Def 2: A statement of revolutionary ideas approved by the National Assembly. It was

very similar to our declaration of independence. The only difference was that it did not
apply to women, hence the “rights of men”. It stated that:
All men born equal
Right of liberty
Right of property
Right of security
Freedom of speech
Freedom of religion

29. Napoleon- born 1769, became lieutenant of artillery at age 16. Joined army when
revolution broke out. Defended delegates and became hero and savior of French
Republic. Appointed in 1769 to lead French army against Austria in Sardinia, won a
series of battles and managed to be known as the "general" throughout France. 1799, he
was put in charge of the military and drove out the members of one chamber of the
national legislature. He helped establish lycees, signed the concordat and came up with a
system of Laws called the Napoleonic Code. Then he crowned himself Emperor in 1804.
30. Congress of Vienna- a series of meetings to set up policies to prevent future French
aggression, restore a balance of power and the royal families back to their thrones. It
made weaker countries around France stronger. It had consequences beyond Europe, but
it left a legacy that would influence politics for the next 100 years.

One other thing:

31. What’s the Bastille?