Deck 9: The French Revolution

Question 1

The Old Regime of pre-1789 Europe consisted of three estates, _____.

A) the monarchy, the bishops, and the knights
B) the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else
C) the clergy, the nobility, and the bourgeoisie
D) the clergy, the nobility, and the peasantry

Answer 1

the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else

Question 2

One reason for middle-class resentment of the French aristocracy was that:

A) the aristocracy paid no taxes, while the bourgeoisie paid heavily.
B) the bourgeoisie felt shut out of many government offices and honors.
C) the aristocracy was growing wealthier, while the middle class was stagnating or becoming poorer.
D) All of these are correct.

Answer 2

the bourgeoisie felt shut out of many government offices and honors.

Question 3

In France, the noble owner of a manor retained certain rights from the feudal age, including:

A) the right to hunt on the peasants' land.
B) a monopoly over the village mill, bakeshop, or wine press.
C) the right to certain annual rents.
D) All of these are correct.

Answer 3

All of these are correct.

Question 4

In France, on the eve of the revolution, land was:

A) almost entirely in the hands of the monarch and the church.
B) divided equally between aristocracy, bourgeoisie, and peasantry.
C) often leased in small parcels to peasants.
D) worked in large units, similar to plantations.

Question 5

All of the following are true with regard to the French philosophes except:

A) their ideas did not lead to the French Revolution.
B) they promoted the rights of the lower classes, the main participants in the French Revolution.
C) they contributed to new forms of criticism and debate.
D) they were mostly read by the nobility.

Question 6

The major factor in the financial collapse of the French government on the eve of the revolution was:

A) the enormous expense of building palaces like Versailles.
B) the extravagant lifestyle of queen Marie Antoinette.
C) the current upkeep of armies and navies and public debt.
D) huge welfare payments to the poor and needy.

Question 7

A major reason why the French national debt could not be carried was:

A) that the nation was too poor.
B) tax exemption and tax evasion of privileged elements.
C) that the peasants refused to pay their taxes.
D) corruption among tax collectors.

Question 8

When in September 1788, the noble-controlled Parlement of Paris ruled that the forthcoming Estates General should meet as three separate orders, the Third Estate saw this as:

A) a victory for the middle class.
B) a partial victory for themselves and the nobility.
C) a victory for the entire country and a blow to the monarchy.
D) an unprovoked class insult by the nobility against it.

Question 9

Which of the following is true of the Oath of the Tennis Court?

A) It meant that the Third Estate assumed virtually sovereign power for a body that had no legal authority.
B) It meant that the Third Estate would be capitulated to royal power.
C) It was supported by a majority of the nobility.
D) It was an oath that Louis XVI reluctantly signed under pressure from the nobles.

Question 10

The economic background to the French Revolution was:

A) a century of increasing poverty that finally drove the people to revolt.
B) a poor harvest in 1788, very high bread prices, business depression, and unemployment.
C) a decade of disastrous harvests.
D) deepening depression and impoverishment since the Seven Years' War.

Question 11

The king responded to the fall of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, by:

A) accepting the position of the self-styled National Assembly.
B) appointing the Marquis de Lafayette to command the guard in Paris.
C) forging a coalition of nobles and clergy in his support.
D) reinforcing the royal forces at Versailles.

Question 12

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was significant because it proclaimed all of the following except:

A) freedom of thought and religion.
B) no arrests or punishments except by process of law.
C) public offices were open to all.
D) taxes could be raised only by the king.

Question 13

Advocates of women's rights like Olympe de Gouges:

A) found support among most of the leaders of the revolution.
B) fought for the application of the Rights of Man and Citizen to women.
C) were repressed by the revolutionary government.
D) did not seek legal equality for women.

Question 14

The king's-Louis XVI's- flight in 1791 and his hostile attitude disoriented the revolution because it:

A) mandated, in effect, the creation of a strong executive.
B) left the country to be ruled by a debating society.
C) exposed the radicalism of the hotheads.
D) brought an end to the emigration of the aristocracy.

Question 15

To secure public debt and to pay the current expenses of government, the French Constituent Assembly:

A) repudiated the debt of the Old Regime.
B) confiscated all church property.
C) made forced tax collections from the middle classes.
D) None of these are correct.

Question 16

The 1790 Civil Constitution of the clergy provided for all of the following except:

A) the election of parish priests and bishops.
B) the abolition of monasteries and convents.
C) the requirement that the government give its permission for any papal decree to be published in France.
D) the funding of each clergyman's salary by his parish.

Question 17

One of the reasons France went to war against the Habsburgs in April 1792 was because:

A) the Girondin faction in the French assembly favored international revolution.
B) Leopold of Austria announced his plans to invade France.
C) an invasion of royalist émigrés was imminent.
D) Prussia secretly encouraged France, since the Prussian government wished to seize part of Poland while the Habsburgs were diverted in the west.

Question 18

In 1792-1793, the infant French Republic, at war with all of Europe, was saved because:

A) Britain and Holland had no land forces of consequence.
B) Prussia and Austria were too jealous of each other.
C) Prussia and Austria were too preoccupied with Poland.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 19

The organization appointed in 1793 by the French Convention to conduct the government of France was named:

A) the French cabinet.
B) the government of national resistance.
C) the Committee of Public Safety.
D) the Executive Committee.

Question 20

During the Reign of Terror:

A) about 40,000 people, mostly peasants and laborers, were executed.
B) ninety percent of the French aristocracy, approximately 350,000 people, was killed, along with many peasants and bourgeoisie.
C) nearly 500,000 were beheaded in Paris.
D) 10,000 people, about half of them aristocrats, were executed.

Question 21

The Committee of Public Safety did all of the following except:

A) impose a "general maximum" on all prices and wages.
B) proclaim mass conscription for the war effort.
C) relieve peasants from having to pay compensations for feudal obligations.
D) launch a program to suppress Christianity in France.

Question 22

The Terror came to an end largely because:

A) Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety liquidated the Hébertists, one of the most radical revolutionary groups.
B) of the attack on the revolutionary hero Danton.
C) Robespierre began Dechristianization of France.
D) the military successes of the French made them less willing to put up with dictatorial rule and economic regimentation.

Question 23

Which of the following is a result of the fall of Maximilien Robespierre?

A) It resulted in the granting of new, enlarged powers to the Committee of Public Safety.
B) It resulted in the end of the Terror and another attempt at constitutional government by members of the Convention.
C) It resulted in the end of inflation and price increases.
D) It resulted in France retreating from its war with Great Britain and the Habsburg Empire.

Question 24

Following the Thermidorian reaction of July 1794, all of the following occurred except:

A) the government secretly asked the brother of Louis XVI to return to France and become king.
B) the Jacobin Club was closed and the power of the Committee of Public Safety limited.
C) price controls were removed.
D) inflation resumed and prices rose, causing much discontent.

Question 25

Which of the following is true of the French Republic, known as the Directory?

A) The Directory was politically strong.
B) The government of the Directory was controlled by representatives of the working classes and the peasantry.
C) The government of the Directory was constitutionally in the hands of substantial property owners.
D) The Directory rested on an extremely broad social base.

Question 26

The French constitutional republic, known as the Directory, _____.

A) rested on an extremely broad social base
B) was politically weak and vulnerable
C) applied only to France
D) restricted the southern Netherlands from being constitutionally incorporated

Question 27

The Consulate, with Napoleon Bonaparte as the First Consul, may be thought of as:

A) a constitutional monarchy.
B) a form of enlightened despotism.
C) a totalitarian regime.
D) a democratic form of government.

Question 28

Which of the following is a result of Napoleon signing a concordat with the Vatican in 1801?

A) Napoleon became head of the French church.
B) The autonomy of the prerevolutionary Gallican Church came to an end.
C) Napoleon received the right to depose French bishops.
D) Publicity of Catholic worship, in such forms as processions in the streets, was banned.

Question 29

Which of the following is true of the Napoleonic codes?

A) They gave women equality with men in questions of property.
B) They granted important rights to minor children.
C) They repeated the ban of all previous regimes on organized labor unions.
D) They increased individual rights and limited the state's powers in criminal cases.

Question 30

Napoleon, as First Consul, combined what he considered the best aspects of the Revolution and the Old Regime, which led to all of the following reforms except:

A) careers in government service were determined by talent, not class.
B) the creation of the Bank of France and the establishment of a solid currency and public credit.
C) the codification of French law.
D) equal rights for women and female suffrage.

Question 31

The Napoleonic codes:

A) made France legally and judicially inconsistent.
B) revoked bans of all previous regimes on organized labor unions.
C) reflected much of French life under the Old Regime.
D) established a legally totalitarian French society.

Question 32

Describe the financial problems of the French monarchy before 1789. How did the government try to remedy the situation?

Question 33

Discuss the following statement: The outbreak and much of the course of the French Revolution should be understood as a struggle between the nobility and the middle class rather than between the king and the people.

Question 34

How crucial was the role of the peasants and working classes in the outbreak of the French Revolution? Did the lower classes gain any advantages from the revolution?

Question 35

Discuss the role of religious issues in determining the course of the French Revolution up to the year 1801.

Question 36

What measures did Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety take in 1793-94 to save the revolution? In your opinion, were these measures justified?

Question 37

The Directory (1795-1799) lasted longer than any other French revolutionary government before Napoleon. How do your account for its powers of endurance? What were its weaknesses?

Question 38

Napoleon Bonaparte was perhaps the last and most eminent of the enlightened despots. Compare and contrast his personal traits and political actions with those of earlier enlightened absolutists.

Question 39

Discuss Napoleon's reforms during the Consulate (1799-1804). In your opinion, did these reforms justify his repression of French political freedom?

Question 40

Compare and contrast the causes of the English Revolution and the French Revolution. Evaluate the impact of each revolution on government, economy, and society.

Question 41

How did the expansionist tendencies of the revolutionary government foment or discourage support within France for their policies?

Question 42

What role did Napoleon Bonaparte play in the creation of the dependent revolutionary republics?

Question 43

What were the economic and social resentments of urban residents and peasants in the decade preceding the revolution?

Question 44

What were the political implications of the storming of the Bastille?

Question 45

What was the impact of the French Revolution internationally? Consider both sympathetic and counterrevolutionary responses.

Question 46

Who did the sans-culottes represent? What role did they play in the course of the revolution?

Question 47

Trace the trajectory of Robespierre's revolutionary career. How did it end?

Question 48

How did Napoleon Bonaparte become First Consul? What aspects of his career made him an attractive ally to some of the leaders of the Directory?

Question 49

As First Consul, how did Napoleon establish peace?

Question 50

What were the main points of the Napoleonic codes? Did they transform French society or simply retrench many aspects of the Old Regime?