The French Revolution Practice Test

These questions are part of the practice quiz. Start practicing

• Who was the radical leader during the French Revolution responsible for the Reign of Terror and who sought to create a Republic of Virtue?
• Which group formed the middle class within the Third Estate?
• Which estate paid the most taxes and had little political power?
• The rights described in the document relate to which concept?
• What was the role of the Committee of Public Safety in wartime policy and its planning?
• What was the slogan (battlecry) of the French Revolution?
• When was Louis XVI executed and what did it mean for the Revolution?
• What did the majority want to see changed as a result of the Revolution?
• How did revolutionary authorities address religious worship and public ceremonies?
• When each estate received one vote; this was favored by the First and Second Estates.
• Which estate included clergy and paid no direct taxes, making it financially privileged?
• What was the assignat and what economic problems did it cause?
• How did the National Assembly address feudal privileges and the structure of society?
• Which legislative body was elected into power, voted to start a war with Austria, and was forced to step down?
• Which estate represented the vast majority of the population?
• What was the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790) and why did it create a religious crisis?
• Which individual served as a key radical leader during the Revolution and later influenced the direction of events?
• What was the phase called in which large numbers (about 17,000) of French people were executed?
• The Clergy belonged to which estate and did not pay taxes?
• How did the Revolution change the political concept of citizenship and civic virtue?
• Which of the following was NOT a characteristic of the French state's evolution during and after the Revolution?
• Which instrument became the symbol of revolutionary justice and was used for beheadings?
• During the revolutionary period, which civic cults were promoted to replace traditional religious practices?
• How did Napoleon Bonaparte rise to power and which event secured his control?
• This legislative body ended feudalism, serfdom, taxes to the church, and the special privileges of the First and Second Estates. Which is it?
• Which codified set of laws from the Napoleonic era remains influential globally?
• Which policy describes the relationship between church and state after the Revolution?
• Marie Antoinette was from which country?
• What is the significance of the French Revolution for legal equality and civil rights in the modern world?
• Which statement about the assignats best describes their economic impact?
• They consisted of the bourgeoisie, the sans-culottes and the peasants; they paid high taxes and had no special privileges.
• What were the major challenges faced by the Directory regime?
• Who led France during the Reign of Terror?
• What was the Thermidorian Reaction and when did it occur?
• What impact did the Women's March on Versailles (1790) have on political power and royal authority?
• This group hated the king, wanted drastic and sweeping changes and advocated the use of violence in the name of the revolution.
• What did the Concordat of 1801 accomplish?
• How did the Revolution influence gender and civic participation?
• What was the Paris Commune's function and influence during 1793-1794?
• This group liked the king, wanted no more changes and was opposed to violence.
• What happened to primogeniture during the reforms of the National Assembly?
• They were the rural poor; they were the farmers who paid about half of their income in taxes to the nobles, the church and other agents of the king.
• What was the greatest legacy of the French Revolution?
• What was the Vendée uprising and how did the revolutionary government respond?
• Which reforms did the Revolution promote in measurement and time?
• What were the main reasons for Robespierre's fall from power?
• Which change did the Third Estate push for in the Estates-General that heightened tensions?
• What did Louis XVI's Flight to Varennes (1791) reveal about the revolution's direction?
• Which statement best describes the status of active and passive citizens under the 1791 Constitution?
• How did the Revolution contribute to nationalist sentiments across Europe?
• What is the date representing the symbolic start of the French Revolution as Parisians stormed the Bastille?
• What was the purpose of introducing the Cult of the Supreme Being during the Revolution?
• Which political position accepts some changes but not radical reforms?
• How did the Revolution affect the Catholic Church and religious policy in France?
• Who was the king of France at the start of the revolution, characterized as weak and indecisive?
• Why was France in significant debt before the Revolution?
• Which statement best describes the Directory's impact on stabilizing France after the most radical phase of the Revolution?
• What were some reasons for the Third Estate's dissatisfaction?
• Which estate included the majority of the population, including peasants and laborers?
• Which palace outside Paris housed Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette?
• Which group would push for sweeping reforms?
• Which queen was found guilty of treason and guillotined?
• They were the urban middle-class; they were the merchants/artisans and were well-educated and often wealthy.
• Which body drafted the declaration?
• What were the main features of the Constitution of 1791?
• What term described nobles who fled France hoping to restore the Old Regime?
• Olympe de Gouges authored which document?
• Which estate owned the largest share of land before the Revolution?
• Which radical faction was central to revolutionary politics and supported the abolition of the monarchy?
• During the Terror, which body centralized executive power, and who was its most influential leader?
• What rights and principles did the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) establish?
• What major change began in 1789 and ended the absolute monarchy?
• What was the Tennis Court Oath and why did it matter?
• What impact did the Haitian Revolution have on France and global revolutionary thought?
• Which term describes the rights identified as natural rights?
• Which group would oppose violence and prefer to keep existing order?
• Which philosophers influenced Louis XVI’s concessions?
• What did the Constitution of 1795 establish for the French government?
• Which action did the 1791 Le Chapelier Law prohibit?
• Robespierre's attempt to erase all traces of the monarchy, nobility, and the Catholic Church is known as which concept?
• Why were the majority upset before the Revolution?
• Sans Culottes were a radical group in Paris seeking greater voice in government.
• Under the 1791 Constitution, which body was established to govern the state?
• A medieval fort and prison in Paris used to store gunpowder
• Which group acted as the radical center among the early Revolution factions?
• How did the Revolution redefine the concept of national sovereignty?
• A machine used to behead people; it was supposed to make death quick and painless. What is it?
• What term described a social class in pre-revolutionary France?
• Which group advocated violence and drastic change?
• The rights described in the document are a form of what?
• What is the Napoleonic Code and why is it considered a lasting reform of the Revolution?
• Which groups composed the three estates in pre-revolutionary France?
• How did the revolution influence legal equality and property rights in the long term?
• How did the guillotine embody the Reign of Terror's approach to justice?
• Which group among the legislature opposed the monarchy and pursued sweeping governmental change?
• Which king originally built Versailles outside Paris?
• The coup that brought Napoleon to power established which form of government?
• What did the Law of Suspects (1793) do to civil liberties?
• Which radical Paris group was associated with the Paris Commune and sought greater voice in government?
• Which government followed the Reign of Terror and was governed by a five-member Directory?
• Who were the major factions in the early Revolution, and how did their aims differ?
• What is the term for the social classes in France before the Revolution?
• What was the period called when Maximilien Robespierre governed France?
• What factor contributed to poverty and malnutrition in pre-revolutionary France?
• The Bastille is located in which city?
• How did the Revolution affect the structure and function of the French state in the long term?
• They consisted of the Roman Catholic Clergy; they received special privileges and paid no direct taxes.
• The Thermidorian Reaction began with the downfall of Robespierre in which month and year?
• Which legislative body deposed the king, declared France a republic, and publicly executed the king and queen?
• Why did the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 become a symbol of the Revolution?
• Which best describes the new understanding of citizenship during the revolutionary period?
• What characterized the Enlightenment's influence on the Revolution?
• What actions did the National Convention take in 1792-1793 that cemented the Republic?
• Which group resisted the Civil Constitution of the Clergy by refusing to swear loyalty to the nation?
• They consisted of the Nobles; they received special privileges and paid no direct taxes to the king.
• Which economic problem contributed most to the Revolution?
• What does the term 'ancien régime' refer to?
• What was the new law-making body created by the 1791 constitution passed by the National Assembly?
• What was the Concordat of 1801 and its significance for church-state relations?
• What was the slogan of the French Revolution?
• How did revolutionary wars affect domestic policy like conscription and mobilization?
• France voted to declare war on which country to spread its revolutionary ideas?
• Which institution's name literally means 'a representative assembly of the three estates' and existed before the Revolution?
• Which of the following represents a lasting administrative influence of the revolutionary era in Europe?
• Which estate comprised about 2% of the population and owned about 25% of the land?
• The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is associated with which intellectual movement?
• Which body ended the special privileges of the First and Second Estates and abolished feudal dues?
• Which term refers to rights that are inherent and universal?
• Which body wrote the document?
• A group of five men who were given control of France following the Reign of Terror; Napoleon was one of the five men. What was this ruling body called?
• How did censorship and control of the press operate during the Terror?
• Who was the king of France whose inexperience helped spark the Revolution?
• Which estate included nobles and enjoyed many privileges and exemptions from taxes?
• What was the Law of 22 Prairial and how did it shape the Reign of Terror?
• Why were guillotine executions public events?
• Hundreds of hungry people stormed the prison in search of gunpowder; symbolic start of the revolution.
• The Haitian Revolution led to intensified debates about liberty and equality and increased fears of slave uprisings in the French empire. Which revolution had this influence?
• Which term describes the combination of the absolute monarchy and feudalism in France?
• Which of the following best summarizes the Revolution's impact on the idea of rights?
• What were the main economic and social factors destabilizing France before the Estates-General of 1789?
• Which device was used as a means of execution during the French Revolution?
• What changes did the Constitution of the Year VIII introduce in the French state after Napoleon's coup?
• The 3rd Estate comprised about 97% of the population and paid the most taxes.
• Which reform helped unify laws and spread civil equality beyond France?
• Why was the guillotine considered a more humane form of punishment?
• What was the Tennis Court Oath?
• Which voting method did the Third Estate favor in the Estates-General?
• The Third Estate left the Estates-General to form a new body of government; which estate did this?
• The excessively violent period of the French Revolution under the rule of Robespierre is called what?
• The Nobles belonged to which estate and owned about 25% of the land?
• What was the significance of the Thermidorian Reaction for revolutionary institutions?
• After the Reign of Terror, which body contained Napoleon among its members and ruled France?
• What happened to émigrés' property during the Revolution?
• Which document is associated with Enlightenment ideals of universal rights and liberal governance during the French Revolution?
• What was the legislative body that proclaimed an end to the absolute monarchy and started a representative government?
• What was the role of the émigrés during the Revolution?
• How did the Estates-General of 1789 lead to the formation of the National Assembly?
• Which group bore most of the taxation before the Revolution?
• After the Year VIII reforms, which office held the role of head of state?
• In September 1792, which major change did the revolutionaries implement?
• The right to vote.
• On what date did the Third Estate vote to leave the Estates-General and form a new body of government for the people of France?
• Which term refers collectively to the social groups in prerevolutionary France that were divided into First, Second, and Third estates?
• The legislative branch of the French government prior to the French Revolution; it could meet only with permission from the king (May 5th, 1789).
• How did the phrase Republic of Virtue relate to the revolutionary program?
• How did the Revolution end its early phase and transition into Napoleonic ascendancy?
• Which queen, Austrian wife of Louis XVI, spent money and was executed for treason?
• What pledge did National Assembly members take to stay together until a constitution was written?
• Which policy mobilized the population for total war and centralized authority during the revolutionary period?
• Which group made up the Third Estate?
• What event on August 10, 1792 marked a turning point for the monarchy?
• Which two chambers formed the bicameral legislature under the Constitution of 1795?
• What political direction followed the Thermidorian Reaction?
• Why did Louis XVI concede to some demands at first?
• The Napoleonic Code emphasizes which legal principles?
• Which date is also known as France's Independence Day?
• Which document identified the natural rights of the French citizens and their liberties?
• This group could live with or without the king, wanted some additional changes and supported violence only if it was justified.
• What role did the Enlightenment play in driving participation in the Revolution?
• Which radical political organization abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic in September 1792?