38 Questions
What was the outcome of Louis and his family's attempt to flee to Metz?
They were recognized and their flight was halted in Varennes
What announcement did the leaders of the National Constituent Assembly make regarding the king's flight?
They announced the king had been abducted from the capital
What did Emperor Leopold II and King Frederick William II promise in the Declaration of Pillnitz?
To intervene in France to protect the royal family and preserve the monarchy
Why was the Declaration of Pillnitz considered practically meaningless at the time?
Great Britain would not have given its consent for the intervention
Who were the sans-culottes?
Shopkeepers, artisans, wage earners, and some factory workers seeking relief from food shortages and rising prices
What did the Paris Commune do to influence the Legislative Assembly?
Compelled the Legislative Assembly to call for the election of a new assembly to write a democratic constitution
Who dominated the Convention and the revolution?
The Mountain, a faction of the Jacobins
What was the chief political vehicle for the sans-culottes?
The Paris Commune
What did the sans-culottes intensely resent?
Social inequality and the aristocracy
Who sought a community of small property owners and were strongly republican?
The Parisian tradespeople and artisans
Who were the republicans seeking representative government but were not wholly compatible with the goals of the sans-culottes?
The Jacobins
Who were unable to win the war or suppress the enemies of the revolution at home?
The Girondists
What did the Convention declare France on September 21, 1792?
A republic
What did the cooperation between the Parisian sans-culottes and the Paris Commune lead to?
The overthrow of the monarchy
What event led to new hostility toward the revolutionary government across Europe?
August massacre of the Swiss guards and imprisonment of the royal family
Who were the faction that faced a royalist revolt in the Vendée?
The Girondists
Who composed The Rights of Man in direct response to Burke and in defense of the revolutionary principles?
Thomas Paine
What did Burke condemn as the application of blind rationalism in Reflections on the Revolution in France?
Reconstruction of the French administration
What did Burke forecast as the possible outcome of the revolution?
The revolution ending in military despotism
What was the chief political vehicle for the sans-culottes?
Paris Commune
What did Paine's volume, The Rights of Man, sell more copies of in England at the time?
Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France
Who declared, 'From what we now see, nothing of reform on the political world ought to be held improbable'?
Thomas Paine
What did the other European monarchies recognize, along with Burke, by the outbreak of the war with Austria in April 1792?
The danger of both the ideas and the aggression of revolutionary France
What did Washington insist that the new republic must resist throughout his presidency?
Foreign entanglements
What was Edmund Burke's main criticism of the French Revolution?
It ignored the historical realities of political development
What did Thomas Paine defend in response to Burke's arguments?
Revolutionary principles
What did Burke predict would be the outcome of the French Revolution?
The revolution would end in military despotism
How did Burke's ideas influence people in Europe?
They became a handbook of European conservatives
Why did Washington refuse to offer support to France during his presidency?
He insisted that the new republic must resist foreign entanglements
How did the increasing radicalism of the French Revolution affect foreign statesmen?
It alienated even those foreign statesmen initially sympathetic to its early reformist impulses
What was the main theme of Thomas Paine's work, The Rights of Man?
Defense of human rights and revolutionary principles
How did European monarchies view the danger of revolutionary France by 1792?
They recognized the danger of both the ideas and the aggression of revolutionary France
What group pressed for a republic and drew inspiration from radical Enlightenment thought, particularly Rousseau's emphasis on equality and popular sovereignty?
The Jacobins
Who assumed leadership of the Legislative Assembly and opposed counterrevolutionary forces, leading to the declaration of war on Austria in 1792?
The Girondists
Which event effectively ended the constitutional monarchy in France in August 1792?
The large crowd invading the Tuileries palace
What was the outcome of the September Massacres in 1792?
Execution of about 1,200 people in city jails
Which group acted as the protector of the gains of the revolution against internal and external enemies?
The Paris Commune
What did the war radicalize in French politics, leading to demands for the right to bear arms and the participation of women in the National Guard?
The declaration of war on Austria
Study Notes
The French Revolution: The Rise of the Sans-Culottes and Jacobins
- August massacre of the Swiss guards and imprisonment of the royal family led to new hostility toward the revolutionary government across Europe
- The Paris Commune compelled the Legislative Assembly to call for the election of a new assembly to write a democratic constitution
- The Convention, meeting on September 21, 1792, declared France a republic
- The sans-culottes, comprising shopkeepers, artisans, wage earners, and some factory workers, sought relief from food shortages and rising prices through price controls
- The sans-culottes were intensely hostile to the aristocracy and resented social inequality
- The Parisian tradespeople and artisans sought a community of small property owners and were strongly republican
- The Paris Commune organized in the previous summer was the chief political vehicle for the sans-culottes
- The Jacobins, republicans seeking representative government, were not wholly compatible with the goals of the sans-culottes
- More extreme Jacobins began to cooperate with the Parisian sans-culottes and the Paris Commune to overthrow the monarchy
- The Mountain, a faction of the Jacobins, dominated the Convention and the revolution
- Louis XVI was put on trial, convicted, and executed in January 1793
- The revolution found itself at war with most of Europe and faced a royalist revolt in the Vendée, while the Girondists had led the country into the war but were unable to win it or suppress the enemies of the revolution at home
The French Revolution: 1791-1792
- The National Constituent Assembly completed the reconstruction of the government and administration of France in September 1791.
- The resistance to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, the king's flight, and the Declaration of Pillnitz posed challenges for the new Legislative Assembly.
- The Jacobins, a politically advanced group, pressed for a republic and drew inspiration from radical Enlightenment thought, particularly Rousseau's emphasis on equality and popular sovereignty.
- The Girondists, a group of Jacobins, assumed leadership of the Legislative Assembly and opposed counterrevolutionary forces, leading to the declaration of war on Austria in 1792.
- The war radicalized French politics and led to demands for the right to bear arms, the participation of women in the National Guard, and challenges to traditional social roles.
- The Paris Commune, an independent political force, gained dominance and acted as the protector of the gains of the revolution against internal and external enemies.
- In August 1792, a large crowd invaded the Tuileries palace, leading to extensive violence and the imprisonment of the royal family, effectively ending the constitutional monarchy.
- The September Massacres in 1792 saw the Paris Commune execute about 1,200 people in city jails, including aristocrats, priests, and common criminals, under the assumption that they were all counterrevolutionaries.
Test your knowledge of the French Revolution's pivotal moments with a quiz on the rise of the Sans-Culottes and Jacobins. Explore the key events, factions, and societal dynamics that shaped this revolutionary period in France.
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