French Revolution Vocabulary Ch 7 World History

Old Regime – In 1770’s France, the social and political system of feudalism left over from the Middle Ages.

estate – One of the three social classes in France before the French Revolution – The First Estate consisting of the clergy, the Second Estate of the nobility, and the Third Estate of the rest of the population.

Louis XVI – Became king of France in 1774, he inherited part of the debt (money owed) from his predecessors and complicated the problems by being indecisive.

Marie Antoinette – Member of the royal family of Austria, Married Louis XVI at the age of 14 and became unpopular because she was without child for many years and wasted a lot of money.

Estates-General – An assembly of representatives from all three estates or social classes in France.

National Assembly – a pledge (promise) made by the members of France’s National Assembly in 1789, in which they vowed (promised) to continue meeting unil they had drawn up a new constitution.

Tennis Court Oath – a pledge (promise) made by the members of France’s national Assembly in 1789, in which they vowed (promised) to continue meeting until they had drawn up a new constitution.

Great Fear – a wave of senseless panic (terror, loss of control) that spread through the French countryside after the storming (attack) of the Bastille in 1789.

Declaration of the Rights of Man – a statement of revolutionary ideals adopted by France’s National Assembly in 1789.

Legislative Assembly – A French congress with the power to create laws and approve declarations of war, established by the constitution of 1791.

émigrés – nobles and others who had fled France during the peasant uprising.

sans-culottes – “those without knee breeches” a radical group of poor and middle class who wanted a greater voice in government.

guillotine – a machine for beheading people.

Maximilien Robespierre – Leader of the French Revolution, represented the Third Estate in the Estates General, head (leader) of the committee of Public Safety. In the end he was arrested and guillotined with his closest followers.

Committee of Public Safety – a group formed during the French Revolution to identify (discover) “enemies of the republic.”

Reign of Terror – Time period when Robespierre ruled France and thousands of people, including ordinary citizens wee executed (killed).

Napoleon Bonaparte - French general who became emperor of the French ( )

Coup d’état – a sudden take over of political power in a nation.

plebiscite – a direct vote of a country’s people where they have the opportunity to approve or reject a proposal.

lycée – a government-run public school in France

concordat – a formal agreement especially between to parties (groups).

Napoleonic Code – a comprehensive (complete) and uniform (consistent) system of laws established for France by Napoleon.

Battle of Trafalgar – an 1805 naval battle in which Napoleon’s forces were defeated by a British fleet (navy).

blockade – The use of troops (soldiers) or ships to prevent communication and trade from entering or leaving a city or country.

Continental System – Napoleon’s policy (plan) of preventing trade between Great Britain and continental Europe, intended to destroy Great Britain’s economy.

guerrilla – loosely organized fighting force that makes surprise attacks on enemy troops.

Peninsular War – Conflict between where Spanish rebels and British troops fought to drive Napoleons’s French troops out of Spain.

scorched-Earth policy – the practice of burning crops and killing livestock (cattle) during wartime so that the enemy can’t live off the land

Waterloo - the battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat; Prussian and British forces under Blucher and the Duke of Wellington routed the French forces under Napoleon

Hundred days – The brief period during 1815 when Napoleon made his last bid for power, deposing the French King and made his last bid for power, deposing the French king and again becoming emperor of France.

Congress of Vienna – A series of meetings in , during which the European leaders sought (tried to get ) to established long-lasting peace and security

Klemens von Metternich – Austrian politician who helped form the Quadruple Alliance that ultimately defeated Napoleon I.

balance of power – a political situation in which no one nation is powerful enough to pose a threat to others.

legitimacy – the hereditary right of a monarch to rule.

Holy Alliance – league of European nations joined by the leaders of Russia, Austria, and Prussia after the Congress of Vienna.

Concert of Europe – A series of alliances among European nations in the 19th century, devised by Prince Klemens Von Metternich to prevent the outbreak of revolution