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The Modern History of France
The french enlightenment and revolution
23
History
Undergraduate 2
01/27/2013

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Term
How many people were there in France in 1750?
Definition
22,000,000
Term
How many people were there in the nobility?
Definition
300,000
Term
How many peasants were there in 1750?
Definition
20,000,000
Term
What percent of the population were peasants?
Definition
77%
Term
Were all of the nobility rich?
Definition
No
Term
Could a person become nobility or were you stuck in the class you were born into?
Definition
People could purchase titles or marry into the nobility, so a persons class was changeable.
Term
In 1750, how much of the population was literate?
Definition
1/3
Term
Describe the changes effecting France in 1750
Definition
More prosperous, more intermingling between classes in society, more literacy meant the spread of ideas
Term
What year did the French revolution occur and to what year did it go until?
Definition
1789-1799
Term
What kind of a government was there in France in 1750?
Definition
Absolute Monarchy
Term
Describe an 'Absolute Monarchy'
Definition
Monarch took away power from separate cities and groups;
1614 the monarch stopped calling parliament;
King created a new bureaucracy that answered to him;
Controlled the army
Term
Define bureaucracy
Definition
A system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives.
Term
Who paid for the extravagance of the monarch?
Definition
The peasants
Term
What class in society was exempt from taxes?
Definition
Nobility
Term
How did the overspending monarchy attempt to make enough money?
Definition
-The sale of royal offices (the right to collect taxes)
-Attempt to demand higher taxes from the peasants
Term
Who was the first finance minister appointed by Louis XVI
Definition
Jacques Necker: called for the estates general, urged that the king must provide enough grain for the people of France
Term
Describe the beliefs of the nobility relating to character.
Definition
The aristocracy believed that character reflected social status. So because they were the highest class in society they had to be good, moral, gracious, polite, civil and honest. This was reflected in the clothes they wore and the way they acted.
Term
Who was the finance minister appointed by Louis XVI
Definition
Turgot: He favoured free trade, massive rioting from the people, Turgot fired.
Term
Name the three Estates in order
Definition
Clergy, Nobility, Everyone else. The first two occupied 3% of the pop, the rest were the 97% and yet each estate only gets one vote. This means the firs two would usually outvote the third.
Term
What was the Tennis Court Oath?
Definition
(June 20, 1789) Oath taken by deputies of the Third Estate in the French Revolution. Believing that their newly formed National Assembly was to be disbanded, the deputies met at a nearby tennis court when they were locked out of their usual meeting hall at Versailles. They vowed never to separate until a written constitution was established for France. Their solidarity forced Louis XVI to order the clergy and the nobility to join with the Third Estate in the National Assembly.
Term
Define the National Assembly
Definition
The elected legislature in France during the first part of the French Revolution, 1789–91.
Term
What was the monarchies reaction to the new National Assembly?
Definition
At first he went along with it, but it was just an act. 30,000 of the kings troops gathered to try and overthrow the National Assembly so the people form a new national guard, raiding the armouries for weapons to defend themselves but they still need gunpowder so they raid the bastille.
Term
Explain the significance of the Bastille
Definition
The Bastille represented the old monarchical rule and its power to impose unspeakable tortures and horror on the french people. With its fall at the hands of Frances people it marked the beginning of the revolution and the end of the monarchy. The people now realized they had the power to do something about the current state of affairs in France.
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