Origins Of The Revolution

Question 1

What were the 4 long term causes of the French Revolution? [4]

Answer 1

Structure of Royal Government
Taxation System
Structure of French Society
Enlightenment

Question 2

What is meant by Absolute Monarchy?

Answer 2

The monarch is not limited by any representative body, such as en elected parliament

Question 3

What position was in charge of Louis’ finances?

Answer 3

The Controller-General

Question 4

What were Intendants?

Answer 4

Officials directly appointed by and answerable to the Crown. Responsible for police, justice, trade and industry

Question 5

What were generalities?

Answer 5

The areas which France was divided into for the purpose of collecting taxes and other administrative functions

Question 6

How many generalities were there in France

Answer 6

34

Question 7

What was the problem with Louis XVI as an absolute monarch?

Answer 7

He was weak and indecisive

Question 8

What was tax farming and why was it inefficient?

Answer 8

A system where the government agrees a tax figure for an area which is then collected by a company that bids for the right to collect it.

Inefficient as these companies kept a lot for themselves

Question 9

What was the taille?

Answer 9

Land tax

Question 10

Who was appointed Controller General in 1774 and what did they try to abolish?

Answer 10

Turgot, tried to abolish guilds and the corvee

Question 11

Why was the first estate unpopular? [4]

Answer 11

Tithe
Plurality and absenteeism
Tax exemptions
Power over the people

Question 12

What was plurality?

Answer 12

Bishops holding more than diocese

Question 13

What did the Church pay instead of taxes?

Answer 13

Don Gratuit, around 5% of the Churches income

Question 14

How many nobles were there in 1789?

Answer 14

Between 110,000 and 350,000

Question 15

How could you join the nobility? [2]

Answer 15

Directly appointed by the King

Buying a venal office that came with a hereditary title

Question 16

How many venal offices were there?

Answer 16

12,000

Question 17

How many bourgeoisie were there by the end of the 18th century?

Answer 17

2.3 million

Question 18

Why did the bourgeoisie resent the political system?

Answer 18

They felt that their wealth and the amount of taxation they paid should be represented in the political system, but it wasn’t

Question 19

What % of the population did the peasants comprise?

Answer 19

85%

Question 20

How much did prices of food increase by between 1726 and 1789?
How much did wages increase by between 1726 and 1789?

Answer 20

65%

22%

Question 21

What was the enlightenment?

Answer 21

An intellectual movement of writers and thinkers. Challenges widely accepted concepts, such as religion, nature and absolute monarchy. Based on reason and rational thought

Question 22

What were the main short term causes of the revolution? [4]

Answer 22

Foreign policy
Financial crisis
Political crisis
Economic crisis

Question 23

When was the seven years war?

Answer 23

1756 - 1763

Question 24

When was the American War of Independence and why was it damaging for Louis XVI? [3]

Answer 24

1776-1783
Cost a lot of money
Exposed French soldiers to ideas of democracy

Question 25

Who declared that Louis’ government was on the verge of bankruptcy and when?

Answer 25

Calonne on 20th August 1786

Question 26

What was the government deficit of 1786?

Answer 26

£112 million livres

Question 27

What were the two main reasons for the financial crisis?

Answer 27

War - spending too much and having to raise loans

Tax - inefficient method of tax farming

Question 28

Who proposed financial reforms in 1786 and what were they?

Answer 28

Calonne

• Replace capitation and vingtieme with a single land tax
• Stimulate the economy by abandoning controls on grain and abolishing internal customs barriers
• Restore national confidence so short term loans could be raised

Question 29

Who looked over Calonnes reforms and when did they do it?

Answer 29

An Assembly of Notables in February 1787

Question 30

What did the Assembly of Notables rule in relation to Calonnes reforms?

Answer 30

Rejected them, claiming that only an Estates-General could approve them

Question 31

Brienne replaced Calonne as controller-general. What reforms did he propose? [5]

Answer 31

End to venal offices
New central treasury
Religious reform
Educational reform
Reforming the army to make it less expensive

Question 32

Who rejected Briennes reforms and what were the consequences?

Answer 32

Paris parlement, exiled to Troyes on 15th August

Question 33

In reaction to the Paris parlement being exiled, what size don gratuit did the Church vote?

Answer 33

Less than a quarter of the size requested by the crown

Question 34

When did Louis agree to summon the Estates General and for what date?

Answer 34

August 1788 for the 1st May 1789

Question 35

When did Brienne suspend all payments from the Crown treasury?

Answer 35

16tg August 1788

Question 36

What caused a bad harvest in 1788?

Answer 36

Very wet spring and freak hailstones

Question 37

What were the effects of a poor harvest in 1788? [2]

Answer 37

• lower demand for manufactured goods, as more money had to spent on food
• increase in the price of bread

Question 38

During the winter of 1788-9, what % of a daily labourers wage would be spent on bread?

Answer 38

88%

Question 39

How far did production in the textiles industry fall by?

Answer 39

50%

Question 40

What foreign negotiation had affected the textile industry?

Answer 40

The Eden Treaty of 1786 with Britain, which allowed imports of British goods,including textiles, at a reduced rate of import duties

Question 41

Who did ordinary people blame for food shortages?

Answer 41

Tithe-owners and landowners, who they thought were hoarding the grain

Question 42

What did the food shortages do to the 3rd estate in relation to their attitude towards politics?

Answer 42

Politicised them, meant they began to see how poorly Louis was dealing with the whole situation