Deck 16: Overturning the Political and Social Order: The French Revolution and Napoleon, 1789-1815

Question 1

The French Revolution was in part precipitated

A) By the ambitions of Napoleon Bonaparte
B) By a conspiracy headed by Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau
C) By a major financial crisis that weakened monarchical government
D) By the defeat of the French army in America by George Washington

Answer 1

By a major financial crisis that weakened monarchical government

Question 2

The king of France at the beginning of the French Revolution was

A) Louis XVI
B) Louis IX
C) Henry IV
D) Charles V

Answer 2

Louis XVI

Question 3

The most important cause of the French financial crisis of the late 1780s was

A) Growing poverty caused by the collapse of trade with Canada
B) An inadequate taxation and banking system
C) A massive refusal to pay taxes, caused by the spread of Enlightenment ideas
D) All of these options are correct

Answer 3

An inadequate taxation and banking system

Question 4

On the eve of the French Revolution, the nobility, the middle classes, Enlightenment intellectuals and peasants all had disagreements with the monarch. Which of the following sets of disagreements is not accurately described?

A) The nobility resented the loss of their privileges and the ending of serfdom because of the enlightened absolutism of Louis XV and Louis XVI
B) The middle class, growing in size and wealth, wanted reforms and access to the offices and privileges enjoyed by the nobility
C) Enlightenment intellectuals, by popularizing words such as "nation," "citizen," and "general will" questioned long-established political and social institutions
D) Peasants (and many townsmen) were hurt by food shortages, high prices and growing unemployment

Question 5

Because of fiscal problems and rising discontent, Louis XVI of France was forced to summon

A) The Senate
B) The House of Commons
C) The Council of Trent
D) The Estates General

Question 6

The third estate at the Estates General of 1789

A) Cooperated fully with the nobility
B) Demanded that all three estates meet together and vote individually, assuring that the third would dominate the Estates General
C) Cooperated with the king in enacting needed fiscal reforms
D) Demanded that France be organized like England, with a House of Lords and a House of Commons

Question 7

Those in the Estates General who took the Tennis Court Oath vowed to

A) Elect one of their members mayor of Paris
B) Not to separate until they had written a constitution for France
C) To expel all nobles and clergy from the Estates General
D) All of these options are correct

Question 8

The Parisian fortress captured by the populace on July 14, 1789, was the

A) Notre Dame
B) Hotel Dieu
C) Bastille
D) Versailles

Question 9

In spite of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

A) Women did not receive political rights
B) Sovereignty still resided in the person of the king
C) Freedom of religion was still restricted
D) Press criticism of the national assembly was forbidden

Question 10

The famous motto of the French Revolution was

A) "Liberty, Democracy and Property"
B) "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity"
C) "Liberty, Freedom of Religion and the Pursuit of Happiness"
D) "Freedom, Equality and Constitution"

Question 11

The Constituent or National Assembly in France

A) Replaced the Catholic Church with the Protestant Church
B) Converted France into an enlightened absolutist monarchy
C) Converted France into a constitutional monarchy
D) Converted France into a republic

Question 12

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy

A) Was approved by the pope
B) Divided the French Catholic population
C) Established Protestantism in France
D) Was the idea of Napoleon Bonaparte

Question 13

The major accomplishments of the National Assembly [Estates General] during the French Revolution included

A) A written constitution
B) The abolition of monarchy
C) Voting rights for women
D) The adoption of a four-estate rather than three-estate division

Question 14

The Parisian sans-culottes

A) Joined with the aristocracy to oppose the Revolution
B) Were Girondins rather than Jacobins
C) Were the backbone of Parisian radicalism and egalitarianism during the French Revolution
D) Were strong supporters of the Enlightenment

Question 15

The war that broke out in 1792 between France and much of Europe was caused by

A) The threatening attitudes of European monarchs toward the Revolution, egged on by exiled French aristocrats
B) The belief of the French royal family that France's defeat would mean the restoration of the old monarchy
C) The hope of French radicals that the war would expose the inefficiency and disloyalty of the king, paving the way for a republic
D) All of these options are correct

Question 16

The immediate result of the major European war that broke out in 1792 was

A) The occasion for the overthrow of the monarchy in August, 1792
B) The crushing of Parisian radicalism by the victorious Prussians
C) That Napoleon Bonaparte used the chaos of this war to proclaim himself emperor
D) The French were able to prevent the partition of Poland

Question 17

The Jacobins and the Girondins

A) Opposed the proclamation of the Republic by the National Convention
B) Were rival revolutionary political factions in the National Convention
C) Supported the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
D) Were important religious movements in the eighteenth century

Question 18

Under the direction of the Jacobins of the Mountain, the National Convention

A) Expelled and arrested the leaders of the Gironde
B) Enacted the Law of the Maximum to control the price of bread and flour
C) Formed the Committee of Public Safety to carry out radical revolutionary programs
D) All of these options are correct

Question 19

The major purpose of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution was

A) To protect the new French Republic from its enemies and to satisfy the demands by the sansculottes for immediate action against those enemies
B) To enact the feminist program of Manon Roland and Olympe de Gouges
C) To favor the political ambitions of Danton and Robespierre
D) To secure the rule of Napoleon after he seized power

Question 20

The Republic of Virtue

A) Was an attempt to infuse all aspects of French life with revolutionary politics
B) Was a sham designed to hide the blatant dictatorship of Napoleon
C) Was another name for the United States during the eighteenth century
D) Abolished the committee of public safety

Question 21

Such developments in the French Revolution as the attack on the Catholic Church, new laws on marriage and divorce and the adoption of the Revolutionary calendar were part of the phase of the Revolution called

A) The Estates General
B) The Directory
C) The Republic of Virtue
D) The Gironde

Question 22

In the New World, the French Revolution inspired a major slave revolt in

A) South Carolina
B) Mexico
C) Brazil
D) St. Domingue (Haiti)

Question 23

A sign of growing discontent in France with the Reign of Terror and the Republic of Virtue was

A) The anti-Revolutionary revolt in the Vendée,
B) The assassination of Marat
C) Danton's advice that the Revolution take a more moderate course
D) All of these options are correct

Question 24

The "Thermidorian Reaction" during the French Revolution came when the Convention overthrew and executed

A) Danton
B) Robespierre
C) Marat
D) Madame Roland

Question 25

The Thermidorian Reaction

A) Was a chemical term from the Scientific Revolution
B) Was the result of Louis XVI's attempt to flee France in 1791
C) Was the overthrow and execution of Robespierre and the end of the Reign of Terror
D) Was Napoleon's seizure of power

Question 26

The immediate results of the overthrow of Robespierre were all of the following except

A) A successful counter-revolt by the sans-culottes
B) A reopening of many Catholic churches, especially in small towns and rural areas
C) A new constitution that established a five-man executive board, the Directory
D) A royalist uprising in Paris in May, 1795

Question 27

The French Revolutionary regime that followed the overthrow of Robespierre was called

A) The Estates General
B) The Civil Constitution of the Clergy
C) The Republic of Virtue
D) The Directory

Question 28

Napoleon Bonaparte made his early military reputation with victories in

A) A successful invasion of Great Britain
B) A successful repression of the Haitian slave revolt
C) A successful invasion of Italy followed by the Egyptian expedition
D) A successful invasion of Spain

Question 29

Upon seizing power in France, Napoleon Bonaparte

A) Consolidated his rule by employing and seeking support from a combination of Jacobins, Old Regime Officials, returning emigrant nobles and Catholics
B) Imposed ruthless military rule over all parts of France
C) Announced he was repudiating the French Revolution
D) Immediately invaded the British Isles

Question 30

As part of his effort to consolidate his rule in France, Napoleon Bonaparte did all of the following except

A) Enact the Napoleonic Code, which secured equal rights for all French men, but left women subordinate
B) Establish a Bank of France to handle government funds
C) Sign a concordat with the Papacy to end religious problems caused by the Revolution
D) Establish free, democratic elections

Question 31

In his military career, Napoleon invaded all of the following except

A) Russia
B) Spain
C) Austria
D) Britain

Question 32

The basic purpose of Napoleon's Continental System was

A) To promote the development of industry in Europe
B) To shut out potentially ruinous economic competition form the United States
C) To harm the British economy by preventing Britain from exporting its goods into continental Europe
D) To undertake the alliance of all European states against Great Britain

Question 33

A major uprising against Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte, who had been made king by Napoleonic decree, took place in

A) Austria
B) Portugal
C) Spain
D) Prussia

Question 34

Point out the incorrect reason for growing European resistance to Napoleonic rule.

A) Dissatisfaction with the Napoleonic Code because it embodied the principles of the French Revolution
B) Dissatisfaction with the growing number of annexations of traditionally independent areas such as Holland to France
C) Dissatisfaction with the rule of Napoleon's relatives such as Joseph in Spain
D) Dissatisfaction with the economic restrictions of the Continental System

Question 35

Napoleon's invasion of Russia failed for several reasons, including

A) Russia being a vast desert and his armies soon getting lost
B) His taking too few men into Russia, not even 100,000
C) His army being crushed by the Russian army at Borodino
D) A lack of adequate supplies and a hard, cold winter

Question 36

The military defeat of Napoleon was accomplished in 1813-1815 at the following battles:

A) Borodino-Saratoga
B) Leipzig-Waterloo
C) Hastings-Cannae
D) Trafalgar-Midway

Question 37

The major problem that led the king of France to convoke the Estates General was the threat of royal bankruptcy if nothing was done.

Question 38

A major factor in the social-political scene in France in 1789 was that the middle classes would not side with the monarchy against the aristocracy as they had often done in the past.

Question 39

The Tennis Court Oath was taken by the noble delegates to the Estate General, vowing to resist the demands of the third estate for a change in the voting procedure.

Question 40

Among the rights enumerated in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen were "Liberty, equal rights for women and resistance to oppression."

Question 41

The idea of equality in the French Revolutionary triad of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity meant full civil and political rights for women.

Question 42

The war that broke out between France and Austria and Prussia in 1792 was an important cause of the overthrow of the French monarchy.

Question 43

In the National Convention during the French Revolution the Jacobins sat on the right and the Girondins sat on the left.

Question 44

The committee of public safety during the French Revolution had two principal goals: to secure the republic against internal and external enemies and to carry out a program of revolutionary radicalism.

Question 45

As part of revolutionary radicalism, the French National Convention introduced a new calendar and the system of metric measurements.

Question 46

Robespierre and the Reign of Terror were overthrown in part because the defeat of both internal and external enemies of the French Revolution had led many persons to favor more moderate policies.

Question 47

The Directory, which succeeded the Republic of Virtue in France, soon had a firm and unchallenged control over the country.

Question 48

Napoleon's second victorious military campaign culminated with the defeat of the British at the Battle of the Nile.

Question 49

The Napoleonic Code, although written at the behest of an authoritarian, nonetheless affirmed such important Revolutionary gains as equality of all before the law.

Question 50

Napoleon believed that his power in France and in Europe could be maintained only by additional conquests.

Question 51

The year 1805 saw the French navy defeated at Austerlitz while Napoleon won a brilliant land victory at Trafalgar.

Question 52

The purpose of Napoleon's "Continental System" was to form a firm alliance with Great Britain.

Question 53

The application of the Continental System by Napoleon started to bring about a growing European dissatisfaction with the emperor.

Question 54

Only slightly more than half of the troops that marched with Napoleon into Russia returned to Western Europe.

Question 55

Napoleon's attempt to come back from exile in St. Helena led to his final defeat at Leipzig.

Question 56

The King of France at the time of the French Revolution was ________.

Question 57

Unable to obtain cooperation from the Notables or the Parlements, Louis XVI was forced to call the________.

Question 58

Vowing not to disband until they had written a constitution for France, the members of the third estate took the ________.

Question 59

The French Revolution took a violent turn in July, 1789, with the capture of the ________.

Question 60

In August, 1789, the National Assembly issued one of the most important documents of the Revolution, the ________, which expressed many of the ideas of the Enlightenment and the American Revolution.

Question 61

The woman writer and supporter of the revolution, ___________, argued that French women should have the same rights as men.

Question 62

The great motto of the French Revolution was "________."

Question 63

The most important radical political club in the French Revolution was the ________.

Question 64

Within the National Convention, two major factions struggled for control of the Revolution, the Jacobins and the ________.

Question 65

To further radical revolution, the National Convention established the Committee of Public Safety, dominated by ________.

Question 66

The policies of the Committee of Public Safety, in seeking out and punishing enemies of the Revolution, have been called the ________.

Question 67

A byproduct of the French Revolution was a major slave uprising in the Americas in ________.

Question 68

The sudden end of the Reign of Terror, climaxed by the execution of Robespierre, is termed the________.

Question 69

After the end of the Reign of Terror in France, a new constitution established a five-man executive board called the ________.

Question 70

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the Mediterranean island of ________.

Question 71

Napoleon's first major successful military campaign was his invasion of ________.

Question 72

To secure Catholic support for his new regime, Napoleon signed the ________ with the pope.

Question 73

The major legal reform undertaken by Napoleon was the Napoleonic-or ________-Code of 1804.

Question 74

In order to force Britain to make peace with France, Napoleon prohibited the importation into Europe of British manufactured goods, a program called the ________.

Question 75

___________ was known as "the Liberator" for his efforts to free South America from Spanish control.

Question 76

Napoleon's final defeat was by the British and Prussians at ________.

Question 77

How did the fiscal problems of old regime France lead to growing social tensions between the nobility and the third estate?

Question 78

To what extent did the blundering of Louis XVI lead not only to the onset of the Revolution but also to his dethronement?

Question 79

What happened in France to cause the French Revolution to take its radical turn between 1792 and 1794?

Question 80

Was the radical phase of the French Revolution successful? Discuss both events and results.