October 15, 2004

                                        Exam Review -
                           French Revolution and Napoleon

1. Why was France ripe for revolution in 1789?

2. How did Louis XlV of France gain absolute power?

3. How did the reign of Louis XlV harm France financially?

4. What were some of the abuses of the "Old Regime" of France before the revolution?

5. Why did Louis XVl call together the Estates General in May, 1789?

6. Why did the Third Estate object to the traditional voting procedures of the Estates-General?

7. How did the Third Estate win in its efforts to establish a National Assembly - and having all three estates voting together?

8. Why did the people of Paris arm themselves and storm the Bastille on July 14, 1789?

9. What was the "Great Fear" of 1789?

10. After the "Great Fear," what reforms did the National Assembly enact?

11. Why did National Assembly issue the Declaration of the Rights of Man, in August, 1789?

12. What reforms did the National Assembly put through by 1791?

13. How did the English conservative political thinker - Edmund Burke - react to the French Revolution?

14. Why were the workers of France and the small shop-keepers dissatisfied with the Constitutional phase of the French Revolution (1789-1791)?

15. How did Louis XVl lose the support of most of the French people?

16. Why did Austria and Prussia invade France in 1792?

17. When is it believed the second phase or radical phase of the French Revolution began?

18. Why was the Committee of Public Safety formed?

19. Why did Maximillian Robespierre institute a "Reign of Terror" in France in 1793 and 1794?

20. How did the "Reign of Terror" come to an end?

21. How did the government of France change after Robespierre's death?

22. Why did the French turn to Napoleon - after all their struggles to create a republic and democracy?

23. How did Napoleon take over the French government?

24. How did Napoleon gain the support of different social groups in France?

25. Why do you think Napoleon tried to conquer all of Europe?

26. Why did Napoleon fail in his effort to conquer Europe?

27. Did Napoleon carry out or destroy the ideals of the French Revolution?

28. How are the English and French Revolutions similar? How are they different?

29. How are the American and French Revolutions similar? How are they different?