AP European History
Exam Review Questions – Volume 5
French Revolution
Louis XV (1715-1774)
1. Who was the famous mistress of Louis XV? Madame Pompadour
2. Why is she important? She exercised undue influence on him, controlling affairs of state
3. Louis XV allowed some government officials to purchase noble titles, thus making them more
loyal to him. What were they called? Nobility of the Robe
4. For what wars did Louis XV need to raise taxes? The War of Austrian Succession and the Seven
Years’ War
5. What country was the largest in the world in 1789? France
6. What was France’s population? 25 Million
7. What was the official language of diplomacy in 1789? French
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King Louis XVI
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What group composed the First Estate in the French Estates General? The Clergy
What percentage of the population was the Clergy? 1%, and yet they owned 20% of the land
How much did the clergy pay in taxes? Nothing. The clergy were exempt from taxes.
What group composed the second estate? The Nobility
What percentage of the population was the nobility? 2 – 4%, yet they owned 25% of the land
What manorial rights did the nobility have that dated back to medieval times? They could tax
peasants for their own profit
What group composed the Third Estate? A few rich merchants, the middle class, urban
artisans, and the mass of peasants
Which estate bore the vast majority of the tax burden? The Third Estate
What was the name of the land tax? The Taille
What was the name of the church tax equivalent to 10% of annual income? The Tithe
What was the name of the salt tax? The Gabelle
Peasants were obligated to work for nobles several days a year. What was that obligation
called? Corvees
How many votes did each estate get in the Estates General? One vote
Why was that unfair to the Third Estate? The First and Second Estates were both forms of
nobility. They voted together and got what they wanted. The Third Estate was always
outvoted 2-1.
What did the bourgeoisie demand regarding votes in the Estates General, prior to the
revolution? That votes and representation be based upon population
What documents allowed the king to imprison anyone without charges or trial? Letters of
Cachet
Causes of the French Revolution
25. Which revolution influenced the French Revolution? The American Revolution
26. How did the French learn from the American Revolution? French soldiers served in America
during the American Revolution
27. How did French aid to the Americas contribute to the French Revolution? It led to an increase
in the already huge French debt
28. Why was the French government so in debt? It paid for wars like the 7 Years War, the Palace
at Versailles was very expensive, the king and nobility wasted a lot of money.
29. What other problems were facing France in 1789? Grain shortages, poor harvests, and inflated
bread prices
30. Why couldn’t France deal with their debt? The nobles refused to pay taxes. The clergy paid no
taxes. France had no central bank and no paper currency. It had no means of creating credit.
31. Whom did Louis XVI hire as director of finance to raise taxes on the nobility? Jacques Necker
32. When the nobles refused to pay the taxes, what happened to Jacques Necker? He was
dismissed
33. Whom was Louis XVI forced to call upon to raise taxes? The Estates General
34. When the Estates General was called to raise taxes, they instead presented the king with a list of
grievances. What was the list called? Cahiers de Doleances
35. What did the list of grievances complain about? Letters of Cachet, and it complained about
how the 3 estates voted
36. Who was the leader of the 3rd Estate? Abbe Sieyes
37. What did Abbe Sieyes write? What is the Third Estate
38. What was the gist of Abbe Sieyes’ pamphlet? That the Third Estate should have power in
France
39. What did the 3rd Estate do when locked out of their chambers by Louis XVI? They met at an
indoor tennis court
40. What was it called when they swore to remain together until they made a constitution? The
Tennis Court Oath
41. When the 3rd Estate invited the other two estates to join them, forming the National Assembly,
how many troops did the King bring to Versailles Palace? 18,000
42. Because of the food shortages, unemployment, soaring bread prices, and the King’s 18,000
troops at Versailles, what did people of Paris do on July 14th, 1789? They Stormed the Bastille
43. What were they looking for in the Bastille? Gunpowder and weapons
44. Afterward, peasants attacked manor houses in effort to destroy legal records of their feudal
obligations. Chateaus were burned and nobles were killed. What was this event called? The
Great Fear of 1789
45. How did the nobility respond to the Great Fear, on the Night of August 4, 1789? The National
Assembly voted to abolish feudalism in France and declared equality of taxation for all classes.
They also ended serfdom, Corvees, and hunting rights for nobles
46. Which document said that “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights”? Declaration of
the Rights of Man and Citizen
47. Who wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen? Olympe de Gouges
48. Shortly later in England, a Vindication of the Rights of Woman was written. Who wrote it? Mary
Wollstonecraft
49. What did Vindication of the Rights of Woman say? It had ideas similar to de Gouges. It said
that women needed equal education
50. Who incited the Women’s march to Versailles? Jean-Paul Marat
51. Why were the women angry? Shortages of bread
52. What did the women do when they reached Versailles? Slaughtered bodyguards while
searching for Queen Marie Antoinette
53. What did they think Queen Marie Antoinette had? Stores of bread
54. What did the Women’s march force the King and Queen to do? Move to Paris to live at the
Tuleries palace
55. What document secularized religion, forced priest to take an oath to France, and confiscated
church property? The Civil Constitution of the Clergy
56. What were priests who refused to take the oath of loyalty to the state called? Refractory clergy
57. Instead of having old provincial boundary lines (i.e. counties), what did the National Assembly
create? 83 departments
58. What was the new system of weights and measures called? The metric system
59. What was the new paper currency called? Assignats
60. How did the National Assembly guarantee Assignats? It was backed by the value of the church
lands they confiscated with the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
61. When the king tried to escape France it was called… The Flight to Varennes
62. What happened during the Flight to Varennes? The King was captured and became prisoner of
the Parisian mobs
63. Who wrote a booklet which denounced the French Revolution? Edmund Burke
64. What was Edmund Burke’s book called? Reflections on the Revolution in France
65. What was the gist of Edmund Burke’s book? He predicted anarchy and dictatorship in France
66. Which group dominated the legislative assembly in 1791-1792? The Jacobins
67. What is the term for French nobles who fled France? Émigrés
68. Which declaration, issued by Austria and Prussia, threatened to destroy Paris of the royal family
was harmed? The Brunswick Manifesto
69. What happened in Paris as a result of the Brunswick Manifesto? Jacobins incited mobs to seize
power. The King’s place was stormed. He fled to the Legislative Assembly and was taken
prisoner
70. When mobs slaughtered over a thousand priests, bourgeoisie and aristocrats, many who were in
prison, it was called… The September Massacres
71. What was the slogan of the French Revolution? Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
72. Which party in the national convention was composed mostly of the working class and literally
means “without breeches”? Sans Culottes
73. What group was responsible for storming the Bastille, marching to Versailles, driving the king
from Tuileries, the September Massacres? The Sans-Culottes
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Who painted this Neo-Classical painting of Marat, the leader of the SansCulottes? Jacques Louis David
Who stabbed Marat? Charlotte Corday
Why did Charlotte Corday stab Marat in his bathtub? He was the leader of the Sans-Culottes.
He led the September Massacres. Charlotte Corday said that she killed 1 man to save 10,000.
Who was the leader of the Jacobins? Maximilian Robespierre
What government bureau was supposed to deal with the internal and external threats to the
revolution? The Committee of Public Safety
Who led the Committee of Public Safety? Maximilian Robespierre
What tool was used to execute 40,000 people throughout France? Guillotine
What types of people were executed during Robespierre’s Reign of Terror? Enemies of the
revolution
Who was safe from execution? No one. Not even close friends of Robespierre
What was Robespierre trying to create? A “Republic of Virtue”
Which deistic natural religion did Robespierre create to replace Catholicism? The Cult of the
Supreme Being
What was Notre Dame Cathedral renamed to? The Temple of Reason
What was it called when opposition to Robespierre mounted, and he was arrested and
executed? The Thermidorian Reaction
What ended the Reign of Terror? The Thermidorian Reaction
What is the name of the 5 member government which ruled France after Robespierre? The
Directory
Who protected the Directory from overthrow by firing grapeshot to clear the streets? Napoleon
What year was the French Revolution? 1789