KS3 History Practice Test: The French Revolution - Marie Antoinette, Etc. - Part 2 — Flashcards

Revolution can be defined as a complete, drastic and usually far-reaching change. History tells us that was certainly the case during the French Revolution! The kings of France had enjoyed absolute power for almost a thousand years. The nobles still operated a feudal system, similar to the one that had existed in the Middle Ages in Britain. The lords extracted taxes from the poor and built their magnificent chateaus. King Louis XVI was in power but was not a strong or particularly popular king. His support for the Americans against the British during the War of Independence cost a lot of money. This did not help the state of the French economy.

The moment the French Revolution began was when the members of the Third Estate started to call themselves the National Assembly. The biggest issue for them was that they represented 95% of the population but could be out-voted by the other two Estates, which represented only 5% of the population. Three days later, they found themselves locked out of the Estates General. They went to a nearby indoor tennis court and took the Tennis Court Oath. This was an agreement that everyone there would not leave until they had sorted out a constitution that set out how France should be governed in the future.

Revolutionaries and their supporters started to wear cockades (rosettes are the modern equivalent). They pinned the blue and red cockade of Paris onto the white one that represented the Ancien Régime.

These cockades gave rise to the tricolour flag of France. Different leaders of groups asked their supporters to wear certain colours. A women's revolutionary group demanded a law to compel all women to wear the tricolour cockade to show their loyalty. The law was not popular with other groups of women and in October 1793, the new government decided that women had no place in public affairs and disbanded all womens' groups.

Louis XVI's reign as an absolute monarch came to an end when a mob of angry women infiltrated the Palace of Versailles and tried to kill Marie Antoinette.

She was associated with a luxury lifestyle that highlighted the differences between the ruling classes and the working population. They were forced to move to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Less than two years later, the King must have realised that the monarchy would soon be completely abolished. He realised that their lives were in danger once again and attempted to flee to Austria. He was captured at a place called Varennes and eventually executed in Paris.

The storming of the Bastille is an event that occurred during the French Revolution. It was a fortress that was built in the fourteenth century to protect the eastern approaches to Paris. It was later used as a state prison. During the Revolution, it was stormed by a mob of revolutionaries.

Some history books suggest that it was done to free the political prisoners held captive there, but in reality, they wanted to steal the gunpowder for the guns that they had already stolen from the Hôtel des Invalides earlier. It started peacefully but the crowd grew impatient and tried to get into the inner courtyard. That's when things turned sour. In order to minimise the bloodshed, the governor of the prison surrendered and was murdered by the crowd.

The French Revolution was said to 'devour its children' because many of those who began the Revolution were later killed themselves by fellow revolutionaries. There was a period during the Revolution during which many thousands of people were executed, usually publicly. A guillotine was used to behead them and in some cases, the severed heads were impaled on pikes and paraded through the streets.

Related Tests on The French Revolution:

KS3 History Practice Test: The French Revolution - The Downfall Of King Louis XVI

KS3 History Practice Test: The French Revolution - Marie Antoinette, Etc.