Deck 19: A Revolution in Politics: The Era of the French Revolution and Napoleon

Question 1

During the era of the Directory, the economic regulations and controls adopted by the Committee of Public Safety were dropped in favor of more laissez-faire policies.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Prior to the revolution in France, the peasants constituted between 75 and 80 percent of the population and owned about 35 to 40 percent of the land.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Napoleon's greatest victory was over the Russians and the Austrians in 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The colonists won their war for independence due to

A)generous military and financial aid from various European states, especially France.
B)the collapse of the English colonial system.
C)apathy of the English military.
D)flaws in the English mercantile system.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 5

Because France became "a nation in arms," the French revolutionary armies were significant in the development of modern nationalism.

Question 6

The American Revolution affected Europeans by

A)proving that military force was the final diplomatic authority.
B)ending colonial expansion around the world.
C)proving that the new United States was the most powerful nation.
D)proving that the ideas of the Enlightenment could be realized politically.
E)proving that the patriotic shedding of vast amounts of blood could bring revolutionary change.

Question 7

In the fifty years before the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the French economy was

A)growing due to an expansion of foreign trade and industrial production.
B)stagnant due to foreign competition in industry and trade.
C)declining rapidly due to overuse of arable land.
D)ruined by the collapse of the textile industry.
E)entirely based upon agricultural production.

Question 8

In France, the First Estate was composed of

A)the nobility.
B)the clergy.
C)the peasants.
D)the military.
E)The nobility.

Question 9

​The clergy comprised the majority of the Second Estate.

Question 10

The American Revolution was greatly admired by most Europeans in the 1770s and 1780s because it established a republican form of government rather than a monarchy.

Question 11

The Bastille was a royal prison containing more than 300 prisoners in July 1789 when it was attacked by a Parisian mob.

Question 12

A key conduit of "enlightened" American political and moral ideas back to Europe came in the form of

A)returning British prisoners of war.
B)the hundreds of literate and influential French army and navy officers who had fought on the American side during the Revolutionary War.
C)European nobles returning from expeditions to the new American frontier.
D)missionary priests returning from evangelical campaigns deep in the U.S.back country.
E)official proclamations sent to the governments of Europe by George Washington.

Question 13

On July 4, 1776, the delegates of the Second Continental Congress approved

A)the Declaration of the Rights of the Man and the Citizen.
B)the Constitution.
C)the Declaration of Independence.
D)the Olive Branch Petition.
E)George Washington as commander of the Continental Army.

Question 14

The Civil Code (Code Napoléon) recognized the principle of equality among all citizens before the law, religious toleration, and the abolition of serfdom and feudalism.

Question 15

During the 1760s British policy makers sought to raise revenues from the American colonies for the purpose of

A)defraying costs of the British empire in India.
B)creating a new royal palace designed to rival Versailles.
C)contributing to Britain's extensive policies of poor relief.
D)building a new Mediterranean fleet.
E)paying for the expenses of the British army in its defense of the colonies.

Question 16

The most immediate cause of the French Revolution was

A)the government's failure to resolve its debts and other economic problems.
B)the blocking of attempted reforms by the French Parlements.
C)the radical calls of the philosophes for reform.
D)Louis XVI's rejection of the cahiers de doléances.
E)violent uprisings by the common people who were demanding political and economic equality.

Question 17

The Committee of Public Safety's campaign of Terror was directed almost exclusively against the Catholic clergy and members of the aristocracy and wealthy bourgeoisie.

Question 18

Female political activist Olympe de Gouges was the author of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

Question 19

When the Estates-General convened in 1789, the three estates unanimously agreed to vote by head.

Question 20

The Bill of Rights ratified by the new United States guaranteed

A)freedom of religion.
B)a prohibition of against firearms except by soldiers and officers of justice.
C)the end of the slave trade but did not free slaves already in America.
D)trials managed only by trained, professional judges, educated with a university degree.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 21

In July and August 1789, the king's attempt to halt the Revolution was thwarted by

A)the betrayal of the monarchy by high clergymen.
B)the defection of key nobles of the sword to the rebels.
C)the intervention of armed commoners, especially in urban uprisings.
D)the outside influence of mercenary troops paid by the rebels.
E)the intervention of Britain, whose constitutional monarch seemed threatened by upheaval in France.

Question 22

By the eighteenth century, the French bourgeoisie and nobility were

A)growing further apart in social status.
B)increasingly less distinguishable from each other.
C)rapidly losing social status to the Third Estate.
D)openly hostile and frequently involved in street battles.
E)almost completely dominated by the clergy of the First Estate.

Question 23

The French revolutionary slogan neatly evoking the ideals of the rebellion was

A)"Down with the aristocracy!"
B)"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!"
C)"Death to the king and queen!"
D)"Kill all priests and burn all churches!"
E)"The bourgeoisie will triumph!"

Question 24

By spring 1791 how many Jacobin clubs were affiliated with the Parisian Jacobin club?

A)50
B)125
C)300
D)650
E)900

Question 25

As one measure of the French crown's terrible financial predicament, by 1788 the interest payments on the state debt alone amounted to

A)one-fifth of total government spending.
B)one-quarter of total government spending.
C)one-third of total government spending.
D)one-half of all government spending.
E)two-thirds of all government spending.

Question 26

When the government called for the Estates-General to meet,

A)it abolished the Third Estate.
B)it halved the number of representatives from the Third Estate.
C)it doubled the number of representatives from the Second Estate.
D)it doubled the number of representatives from the Third Estate.
E)it kept the number of delegates for each of the estates at approximately 300.

Question 27

Sieyès wrote "What is the Third Estate?" to support the political demands of the

A)aristocrats.
B)foreign investors.
C)commoners.
D)clergy.
E)king.

Question 28

By summoning the Estates-General in 1789, the government

A)showed its autocratic strength, since it possessed absolute control over the representatives.
B)was following its obligation for regular meetings of the traditional representative assembly.
C)was merely looking for a way to solve the immediate financial crisis.
D)indicated its intentions to launch a major reform of the French political system.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 29

All of the following were accomplished by the National/Constituent Assembly EXCEPT the

A)Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.
B)Civil Constitution of the Clergy.
C)legal defense of seigneurial rights throughout the country.
D)reform of French voting procedures.
E)abolishment of divine right monarchy.

Question 30

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen guaranteed

A)free or affordable food for the poor.
B)equality under the law for all French men.
C)equality under the law for all French men and women.
D)a constitutional monarchy for France.
E)the right to vote for all French men.

Question 31

In regard to the Catholic Church, the National Assembly

A)left the institution alone.
B)increased its power slightly in France.
C)passed legislation that secularized church offices and clergymen.
D)abolished the faith in France.
E)recognized the Catholic Church as France's only legal religion.

Question 32

The National Assembly responded to the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen by Olympe de Gouges by

A)inviting her to become their first female member.
B)arresting and imprisoned her.
C)ignoring her demands.
D)immediately passing a series of laws guaranteeing female legal and political equality.
E)exiling her from France.

Question 33

The King's fortress in Paris, which a mob stormed on July 14, 1789, touching off a wave of riots throughout France, was

A)Chartres.
B)St.Denis.
C)the Bastille.
D)the Louvre.
E)the Tuileries.

Question 34

The Parlement of Paris sought to resolve the controversy over voting in the Estates-General by calling for the method used in 1614, which involved

A)each delegate casting a single vote.
B)groups of five delegates voting together, based on their status.
C)the First and Second Estates have vote by head but the Third Estate voting by order.
D)the Third Estate voting by head but the First and Second Estates voting by order.
E)each order voting separately and having veto power over the other two.

Question 35

In the French Constitution of 1791, who had the right to vote?

A)all men.
B)all men and wealthy women.
C)male citizens who met a tax qualification.
D)male citizens with noble titles.
E)all adults.

Question 36

The Third Estate was composed of all of the following EXCEPT

A)shopkeepers.
B)peasants.
C)the unemployed.
D)skilled craftsmen.
E)the lower aristocrats.

Question 37

In 1789, the Estates-General was

A)Louis XVI's primary advisory body, often consulted by the king on matters of state.
B)in unanimous agreement that only radical changes could solve France's problems.
C)dominated by the First Estate, composed mostly of urban lawyers.
D)unanimously in agreement about the necessity of immediately creating a new representative assembly.
E)divided over the issue of voting by orders or by head.

Question 38

Just prior to the Revolution in France, the number of the poor in France

A)declined significantly.
B)went up significantly.
C)increased very slowly.
D)remained fairly constant.
E)decreased very slowly.

Question 39

The cahiers de doléances called for

A)abolishing the fiscal privileges of the church and nobility.
B)the abolition of the Estates-General.
C)the royal execution of all rebels in France.
D)universal voting privileges for all French people.
E)the beheading of Louis XVI.

Question 40

In considering the revolutionary era, which of the following is NOT true?

A)The French Revolution was less complex, less violent, and far less radical than the American Revolution.
B)The American Revolution proved in the long run to be far less important in Europe than the French Revolution.
C)The French Revolution provided a model of revolution for Europe.
D)The American Revolution proved to many Europeans that the ideas of the Enlightenment were more than utopian ideals.
E)The French Revolution has been considered the political movement that inaugurated the modern political world.

Question 41

Sixty percent of the victims of the Reign of Terror were

A)nobles.
B)clergy.
C)middle class.
D)peasant and laboring classes.
E)the bourgeoisie.

Question 42

Which of the following statements best applies to Napoleon?

A)He was both a child of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.
B)He had a sense of moral responsibility to the people of France.
C)He advocated an invasion of Britain in the 1790s.
D)He was born the son of a Parisian merchant.
E)He was a successful military general but had no talent for civil administration and reform.

Question 43

During the early stages of the "Radical Revolution," the National Convention

A)was controlled by the Mountain, which defeated the less radical Girondins.
B)successfully resisted the Parisians' radical attempts to control the Convention.
C)favored ending the disastrous European war.
D)failed to create any kind of large standing army.
E)requested that Napoleon become dictator.

Question 44

The chief reason for Napoleon's fast rise to power was/were his

A)series of stunning victories over the enemies of France.
B)social programs that appealed to the masses.
C)promises to make France great again.
D)work with an inner clique of revolutionaries dedicated to the general.
E)secret support of disaffected members of the Bourbon family.

Question 45

In the Concordat of 1801, Napoleon made peace with

A)the Church.
B)the Directory.
C)Austria.
D)England.
E)the aristocrats.

Question 46

Napoleon was born in

A)Paris.
B)Corsica.
C)Rome.
D)Milan.
E)Tours.

Question 47

Which of the following statements best applies to Napoleon's domestic policies?

A)Much autonomy was given to the provincial departments, as the previous system of prefects was overhauled.
B)His "new aristocracy" was actually little different from the old, as it was based on privilege and wealth.
C)His Civil Code reaffirmed the ideals of the Revolution while creating a uniform legal system.
D)As a devout Catholic, he reestablished Catholicism as the official state religion.
E)He abolished most of the civilian bureaucracy, preferring to govern by military rule.

Question 48

In 1792 the Legislative Assembly declared war on

A)the peasantry.
B)counter-revolutionaries.
C)England
D)Austria.
E)the Papal States.

Question 49

The French Republic's army in the 1790s

A)received little backing from the home front.
B)was small, but effective in battle.
C)fueled modern nationalism and was raised through total mobilization of the population.
D)was totally defeated by foreign aristocratic forces.
E)got weaker and smaller as the decade went by.

Question 50

With regard to matters of religion, the National Convention adopted measures

A)to strengthen the Roman Catholic Church.
B)to allow for religious freedom for members of all Christian denominations.
C)to de-Christianize the new French Republic.
D)to secure the pope's leadership of the French Revolution.
E)to expel the Jews from France.

Question 51

All of the following were among the factors resulting in the defeat of Napoleon EXCEPT

A)the failure of the Continental System.
B)the defeat of the French navy at the Battle of Trafalgar.
C)mass reactions to his brutal suppression of local customs in the conquered countries.
D)the spread of nationalism in the conquered countries.
E)that most independent European states were united against him by 1814.

Question 52

The German philosopher who initially welcomed the French Revolution but turned against it, becoming instead an advocate of a German national spirit was

A)Goethe.
B)Fichte.
C)Hegel.
D)Kant.
E)Schiller.

Question 53

The head of the Committee of Public Safety who presided over the terror in France in 1793 and 1794 was

A)Babeuf.
B)Sieyès
C)Robespierre.
D)Marat.
E)Saint-Just.

Question 54

The government of the Directory in the period of the Thermidorean Reaction

A)primarily relied on the support of the royalists.
B)was unicameral and directly elected by active citizens.
C)was characterized by honest leadership and wise economic plans.
D)increasingly had to rely on military support for its survival.
E)abolished the radical reforms of the Public Safety, including the Revolutionary Calendar.

Question 55

Which of the following statements about Germaine de Staël is NOT true?

A)She was educated in Enlightenment ideals and set up a salon in Paris.
B)She wrote novels and political works that denounced Napoleon's rule as tyrannical.
C)Her books were banned in France.
D)Napoleon exiled her to the German states.
E)She died in London, having stopped writing as the result of her disenchantment with the despotism of Napoleon.

Question 56

A successful slave rebellion against French rule occurred in

A)the Vendée.
B)Batavia.
C)Jamaica.
D)Haiti.
E)the Cameroons.

Question 57

Napoleon's Continental System tried to defeat the British by

A)a massive invasion of Britain.
B)preventing British trade.
C)causing political unrest in Britain.
D)attacking the British colonies in North America.
E)isolating India from Britain.

Question 58

Which of the following is NOT true of the French revolutionary republican calendar?

A)Each month consisted of three ten-day weeks.
B)Most Christian holidays were kept.
C)No efforts were made to enforce it.
D)It was meant to signal a new beginning for the nation.
E)It was part of the government's program of de-Christianization.

Question 59

In September of 1792, the National Convention

A)established a constitutional monarchy.
B)abolished the monarchy and established a republic.
C)voted to preserve the life of Louis XVI.
D)was disbanded by Louis XVI.
E)was immediately replaced by the Directory.

Question 60

The chief accomplishment of the National Convention was

A)creation of the revolutionary calendar.
B)preservation of the revolution from being destroyed by foreign enemies.
C)creation of the Directory.
D)the establishment of the National French School System.
E)defeat of the counter-revolutionaries led by the Bourbon family in southern France.

Question 61

Compare and contrast Napoleon with the enlightened absolutists in eastern Europe.Was he more enlightened or more absolutist?

Question 62

In what ways did Napoleon's policies repudiate the accomplishments of the French Revolution? In what ways did his policies strengthen the accomplishments of the French Revolution?

Question 63

Napoleon said that perhaps the world would have been better off if neither he nor Rousseau had ever lived.What did he mean?

Question 64

What grievances caused the American Revolution, and how did they reflect Enlightenment attitudes? What impact did the conflict and its consequences have on Europe?

Question 65

Compare and contrast the French Revolution with previous revolutions in England and America.How did they differ in their causes, ideals, and impact?

Question 66

Does Napoleon's military record, as described in the text, support or challenge assertions that he was the greatest general of all time? What were his biggest military successes, and what were his biggest military failures? Do the successes outweigh the failures in assessing his reputation? Why or why not?

Question 67

How did the leaders of the Reign of Terror justify its violence, and what does the Reign of Terror indicate about the changing goals and practices of the French Revolution?

Question 68

Was the French Revolution caused by long-term problems, short-term crises, or both?

Question 69

How was France changed by the revolutionary events of 1789-1792? Who benefited the most from these changes?

Question 70

How did the French Revolution affect the roles of women in society? Did the Revolution and its consequences ultimately benefit or hurt female citizens? Did men win more out of this event than women? Why?

Question 71

Napoleon met his final defeat at the Battle of

A)Leipzig.
B)Borodino.
C)Trafalgar.
D)Austerlitz.
E)Waterloo.