CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE


STUDY QUESTIONS
  1. Aside from the incompetence of the royal court, what characteristics of the French government in the eighteenth century prepared the way for revolution?
  2. In what ways was tension among French upper and middle classes a contributing factor in the social breakdown that produced revolution?
  3. Why is it problematic to speak of "class consciousness" when referring to the French bourgeoisie prior to the revolution?
  4. How did the grievances of the peasants differ from those of the middle class in pre- revolutionary France?
  5. What were the causes of the deepening financial crisis in eighteenth-century France?
  6. Describe taxation in France prior to the revolution. What were the most glaring defects in the tax system?
  7. In what ways did Louis XVI try to be an "enlightened" monarch. Why did he fail?
  8. In what ways were political and economic factors interrelated as causes of the French Revolution?
  9. What do you regard as the immediate cause of the Revolution?
  10. In the first weeks of the meeting of the Estates General in 1789 how did the Third Estate make its strength felt?
  11. What was the "Great Fear"? What role did it play in the Revolution?
  12. Summarize the changes produced by the French National Assembly and Legislative Assembly.
  13. In what way did the Civil Constitution of the Clergy alter the French Church?
  14. What were the chief features of the Constitution of 1791? Did it establish a democratic government?
  15. Who were the "winners" of the first stage of the French Revolution? What is the evidence for this?
  16. What factors account for the shift of the French Revolution in 1792 from moderate reform to radicalism?
  17. How did the Jacobins differ from the Girondists in membership and program?
  18. How and why did European reactions to the French Revolution change during its course?
  19. What were the achievements of the second stage of the French Revolution?
  20. In what sense did the rule of the Committee of Public Safety represent a "second" revolution? What were the causes of the Committee's eventual downfall?
  21. Show how the Constitution of 1795 was a conservative document.
  22. Compare and contrast the first and second stages of the Revolution from the standpoints of leadership, basic objectives, and permanent effects.
  23. Describe the government under Napoleon's Constitution of 1799. What democratic devices did it employ?
  24. What were Napoleon's chief nonmilitary achievements?
  25. How did the Code Napoleon reflect uniformity? How did it reflect individualism?
  26. What was the significance of the Concordat of 1801?
  27. What were the major parts (including dependencies) of Napoleon's empire at its peak?
  28. What were the causes of Napoleon's downfall?
  29. What were the chief objectives of the diplomats at the Congress of Vienna?
  30. Which provisions of the Vienna settlement of 1815 upheld the principle of legitimacy? Which agreements violated this principle?
PROBLEMS
  1. Compare the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the citizen with the English Bill of Rights and the American Bill of Rights.
  2. "In its origins and initial objectives the French Revolution was essentially a middle-class movement." Defend or refute this statement.
  3. Why did the French Revolution involve conflicts between France and other countries?
  4. Examine the role of women in the French Revolution.
  5. "The French Revolution made the career of Napoleon inevitable." Defend or refute this statement.
  6. Trace the specific applications of the concepts "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" during the course of the French Revolution.
  7. Examine, in as many ways as you can, the interplay between ideas and experience in the French Revolution.
  8. Compare the causes, course, immediate results, and long-term effects of the French and American Revolutions.
  9. To what extent was Napoleon a true "Son of the Revolution"?
  10. Compare the objectives and accomplishments of the Congress of Vienna to the theory and practice of a "balance of power" in our own recent history and today.


ResourceResearchReference

W.W. Norton
REVIEW: World Civilizations
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