World History 9
Chapter 23, Section 2 – “Revolution Brings Reform and Terror”
Setting the Stage and The Assembly Reforms France:
1. What did the nobles join the National Assembly in eliminating?
Getting rid of the feudal privileges of the 1st and 2nd estates (tax exemption, govt positions)
2. What was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen? What rights did it claim all men
were born with? What rights did it guarantee? What other guarantees did it give the citizens?
Statement of revolutionary ideals; stated men are born and remain free and equal in rights
(including liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression); equal justice, freedom of speech,
freedom of religion)
3. What was the slogan of the revolution?
Liberty, equality, fraternity (n.b. not women)
4. What actions did the National Assembly take against the Church? Why?
Took over Church lands and said officials and priests to be elected and paid as state officials (wanted
to sell Church lands to pay off debt)
5. What was the reaction of the peasants to the assembly’s actions regarding the Church?
Peasants not happy; wanted independent church; caused many peasants to oppose assembly reforms
6. What happened when Louis and his family tried to escape from France?
Captured; increased the influence of more radical enemies
7. What kind of government was created by the National Assembly in September, 1791?
Limited constitutional monarchy
Divisions Develop
8. What new legislative body was created and what powers did it have?
Legislative Assembly; power to create laws and approve or reject declarations of war.
9. What were the 3 groups within the Legislative Assembly and what did each group want?
Radicals (left) – opposed idea of monarchy; wanted big change
Moderates (center) – want some change but not as much as radicals
Conservatives (right) – upheld idea of monarchy and wanted few changes in government
10. What were two other groups outside of the Legislative Assembly who also wanted to influence the
direction of the new government?
Emigres – nobles who had fled France; hoped to undo Revolution and restore Old Regime
Sans-culottes – Parisian workers and small shopkeepers, wanted Revolution to bring even greater
change; had no political power in assembly, but exerted power in streets
War and Execution
11. How did the monarchs and nobles of other European countries react to the changes taking place in
France? Why?
Austria and Prussia urged France to restore Louis as absolute monarchy; feared that revolutionary
ideas would spread to their countries
12. Who did France declare war on in April 1792 and why?
Austria and Prussia: didn’t want them to interfere with Revolution
13. What were the September Massacres?
Rumors spread that king’s supporters were going to break out of prison and take control of Paris;
angry mobs broke into prisons and murdered 1000 prisoners (nobles, priests, and royalist
sympathizers)
14. The National Assembly was replaced in 1791 by what new governing body? What actions did this
new governing body take?
National Convention; abolished monarchy and declared France a republic, adult males given right to
vote and hold office (not women)
15. What were the Jacobins?
Radical political organization; some called for death for all who continued to support Louis
16. What did the National Convention do to Louis?
Reduced him to common citizen; tried him for treason and executed him.
17. How did the French respond when many other European countries joined Austria and Prussia in
the war against France?
Drafted citizens (even women) to fight (800,000 people by 1794)
The Terror Grips France
18. What were the groups who were enemies of the Jacobins?
Peasants, priests, and rival leaders
19. Who was Robespierre and what were some actions he took?
Jacobin leader; set out to build a “republic of virtue” by wiping out any trace of France’s past;
calendar with no Sundays, closed churches,
20. What was the chief task of the Committee of Public Safety?
Protect the revolution from its enemies
21. What was the Reign of Terror. How did Robespierre justify the use of terror?
` Period of time when all “enemies” of the revolution were quickly tried and executed; he claimed it
helped French citizens remain faithful to the ideals of Revolution
22. Who did Robespierre consider the “enemies of the Revolution?”
Fellow radicals who challenged his leadership, anyone less radical than him
23. About how many people were executed during the Reign of Terror? Describe the different types
of people executed.
40,000 executed; 85% were urban poor or middle class (those Revolution was supposed to help);
Marie Antoinette, kid who chopped down tree planted as symbol of liberty,
24. Read about the Guillotine on page 659. Also look at the pie chart. From which class were most of
the victims of the guillotine from?
Third estate
End of the Terror
25. How did the Reign of Terror end?
When members turned on Robespierre and he was executed
26. Describe the government that emerged after the Terror.
Moderate leaders drafted new plan, power in hands of upper middle class, had two-house legislature
with a 5 man executive body called the Directory