French Revolution and ahead MCQ Quiz - Objective Question with Answer for French Revolution and ahead - Download Free PDF

The correct answer is Option 1: Both are true.

Key Points

• Statement 1: The French Revolution (1789-1799) began as a movement asserting national sovereignty against the absolute monarchy of King Louis XVI and the privileges of the aristocracy and clergy.
• Statement 2: The National Assembly in 1790 passed a decree emphasizing that France should never engage in war unless it was for self-defense, reflecting the revolutionary ideals of peace and justice.
• Both statements accurately represent key aspects of the early French Revolution, focusing on sovereignty and the pursuit of peace.
• The French Revolution laid the foundation for modern democracies by promoting the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity.

Additional Information

• National Sovereignty: The idea of national sovereignty was a central theme of the French Revolution. It asserted that the people, rather than monarchs or external authorities, were the ultimate source of political power.
• National Assembly (1789-1791): Formed by representatives of the Third Estate, the National Assembly was a revolutionary body that sought to draft a constitution and dismantle the feudal privileges of the aristocracy.
• War in Self-Defense: The revolutionary government wanted to avoid wars of aggression, promoting a foreign policy that aligned with the ideals of peace and justice. However, this policy was challenged by external threats and internal instability, leading to wars in later years.
• Impact of the French Revolution: The revolution had a profound impact on Europe and the world, inspiring other movements for independence and reform while also leading to periods of conflict and upheaval.

In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France.

• Napoleon Bonaparte was a french military and political leader.
• He became prominent during the french revolution.
• He became the leader of the French Republic as the first council from 1799 to 1804.
• He became the emperor of France from 1804 to 1815.

Additional Information

• Napoleon dominated European and the global affairs
• He fought several successful campaigns.
• While being a leader of France he led several Napoleonic wars and finally his reign collapse in 1815.

After some three years later of the Storing of the Bastille people of Paris targetted Louis XVI and put him on virtual arrest on the 10th  of August 1792 in the Tuileries Palace.

Important Points

• Louis XVI was to live in the Tuileries Palace as a virtual prisoner. 
• There was no real change in his lifestyle as a king. The extravagant life was intact except that he was not allowed to go out hunting. 
• Parisian newspapers reported that the new hobby of the king was to walk around the Castle.

Key Points The following palaces and their importance in respect to the French Revolution-

• The Luxembourg Palace served as a precursor to the Louvre Museum in the 18th century before it was used as a prison during the French Revolution.
• The Chateau de Chantilly, first built in 1560, was a part of which was destroyed during the French Revolution. It was rebuilt in the 1870s. It comprises the Petit Chateau (the part that was destroyed) and Musee Conde which is a gallery and is the second largest collection of Painting in France after the Louvre. 
• The Palace of Versailles was built by Louis XIII in 1623 for the purpose of a hunting lodge. To the members of the third Estate, it became important because it represented the extravagant life of the royalty and their failure as rulers as the French Revolution began.​

In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France.

• Napoleon Bonaparte was a french military and political leader.
• He became prominent during the french revolution.
• He became the leader of the French Republic as the first council from 1799 to 1804.
• He became the emperor of France from 1804 to 1815.

Additional Information

• Napoleon dominated European and the global affairs
• He fought several successful campaigns.
• While being a leader of France he led several Napoleonic wars and finally his reign collapse in 1815.

The correct answer is option 1 i.e 1889.

• The Eiffel Tower is a monument located in Paris, France.
  • It was built to celebrate the centennial of the French Revolution.
  • Tower is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel.
  • Construction begins in 1887 and completed in 1889.
  • Architect: Stephen Sauvestre.
  • The Eiffel Tower was the world's tallest structure when completed in 1889.

The correct answer is option 3 i.e Waterloo.

• Napoleon Bonaparte was the Emperor of the French.
  • He ruled France twice.
  • The first reign was from 1804 to 1814.
  • The second reign was in 1815.
  • He led many successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars.
  • Napoleon Bonaparte is considered one of the greatest commanders in history.
  • He fought more than 70 battles, losing only seven, mostly at the end.
• Important Battles won by Napoleon Bonaparte are:
  • Battle of Montenotte
  • Battle of Ceva.
  • Battle of Lodi.
  • Battle of Borghetto.
  • Battle of Mount Tabor.
  • Battle of Borodino.
  • Battle of Arcole in 1796
  • Battle of Jena in 1806
  • Battle of Ligny in 1815.
• Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo.
  • The Battle of Waterloo was fought in 1815 in Belgium.
  • Battle fought between Napoleon's French Army and a coalition led by the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blücher. 
  • Battle of Waterloo resulted in:
    1. End of the Seventh Coalition.
    2. Final defeat of Napoleon.
    3. End of the Napoleonic Wars.

The correct answer is option 1 i.e 1889.

• The Eiffel Tower is a monument located in Paris, France.
  • It was built to celebrate the centennial of the French Revolution.
  • Tower is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel.
  • Construction begins in 1887 and completed in 1889.
  • Architect: Stephen Sauvestre.
  • The Eiffel Tower was the world's tallest structure when completed in 1889.

The correct answer is Napoleon Bonaparte.

• ​Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century.
  • He led the French forces during the battle of Waterloo. 
• Duke of Wellington: ​Arthur Wellesley is known as the First Duke of Wellington.
  • ​He was considered "the conqueror of Napoleon". 
  • In 1815, he ended the Battle of Waterloo by defeating Napoleon. 
  • Duke of Cornwall  Edward, Prince of Wales, the "Black Prince", who became the first Duke of Cornwall.
  • ​Presently Charles, Prince of Wales, eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II current Duke of Cornwall.
• Duke of Scotland: Currently Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II. 
  • The title of Prince of Scotland was originated when Scotland was a kingdom separate from England.  
    • Scotland Capital: Edinburgh.  
    • Currency: Pound sterling.                    

The correct answer is Napoleon.

• In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France. 
• He was the first emperor of France (1804–14/15).
• He set out to conquer neighbouring European countries, dispossessing dynasties and creating kingdoms where he placed members of his family.
• Napoleon saw his role as a moderniser of Europe. He introduced many laws such as the protection of private property and a uniform system of weights and measures provided by the decimal system.
• He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815. 
• Many of his measures that carried the revolutionary ideas of liberty and modern laws to other parts of Europe had an impact on people long after Napoleon had left.

The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789.

• France was a full-fledged territorial state in 1789 under the rule of an absolute monarch.
• The political and constitutional changes that came in the wake of the French Revolution led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens.
• The revolution proclaimed that it was the people who would henceforth constitute the nation and shape its destiny.

Important Points From the very beginning, the French revolutionaries introduced various measures and practices that could create a sense of collective identity amongst the French people.

• The ideas of La Patrie (the fatherland) and Le Citoyen (the citizen) emphasized the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.
• A new French flag, the tricolor, was chosen to replace the former royal standard.
• The Estates-General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.
• New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated, all in the name of the nation.
• A centralized administrative system was put in place and it formulated uniform laws for all citizens within its territory. Internal customs duties and dues were abolished and a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.
• Regional dialects were discouraged and French, as it was spoken and written in Paris, became the common language of the nation.

Thus, we can say that "La Patrie", in the context of the French revolution refers to the fatherland.

The correct answer is Bourbon Dynasty

Key Points

• Louis XVI of France was from the Bourbon dynasty.
• Louis XVI was born on 23 August 1754 and assumed the throne in 1774 and was the monarch till 1791.
• During his rule, he tried to end the practice of serfdom, unjust land tax, discrimination etc. But all his efforts were opposed by the French nobles.
• He supported the Americans against the British government during the War of independence in 1776. However, it caused financial problems for the country due to which he increased taxes on the people.
• This, along with the socio-economic and political problems made him very unpopular with the people.
• He was captured in 1792 and was beheaded in 1793.

Additional InformationRomanov Dynasty

• The Romanov Dynasty was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917.
• The dynasty was established when Michael Romanov was elected as tsar by the Zemsky Sobor in 1613.
• The Romanovs were the second reigning dynasty of Russia, succeeding the Rurik dynasty.
• The Romanovs achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russia.

Saxon Dynasty

• The Saxon Dynasty was a ruling house of German kings (Holy Roman emperors) from 919 to 1024.
• It was also known as the Liudolfing dynasty. 
• The dynasty came to power when the Liudolfing Duke of Saxony was elected German king as Henry I (later called the Fowler) in 919.
• Henry I’s son and successor, Otto I the Great, won a decisive victory over the Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld near Augsburg in 955 and continued the policy, initiated by Henry I, of German expansion into Slavic territory to the east.
• He was crowned emperor by Pope John XII at Rome in 962 and concluded the Privilegium Ottonianum, a treaty that regulated relations between emperor and pope, and initiated a Holy Roman Empire of the German nation.

Normans Dynasty

• The Normans were a population that arose in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans.
• The Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural, and military impact on medieval Europe and the Near East.
• The House of Normandy was a noble family that originated from the Duchy of Normandy and whose members were counts of Rouen, dukes of Normandy, as well as kings of England following the Norman conquest of England.

The correct answer is Louis XVI

Louis XVI was the King of France at the time of the French Revolution. 

Louis XVI: 

• He is the French king who belongs to the Bourbon dynasty who took the royalty in 1774.
• He had inherited massive tax structure & debt problems and it was unable to fix them. 
• As the 18th century drew to close, the extravagant spending by King Louis XVI and his predecessor is the & France's costly involvement in the American Revolution left the country in the frame of bankruptcy. 
• In the fall of 1786, Charles Alexandre de Calonne who is the King Louis XVI’s controller general is proposed a financial stability package that is a universal land tax from which the privileged classes would no longer be exempt. 

French Revolution: 

•  The French Revolution(1789-1799) was a shadow event that changed Europe's scenario, following in the footsteps of the Revolution in America, which had occurred just a decade earlier.
• In modern European history, the French Revolution was a vital event that started in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s.
• In the revolution, a huge of giant wars had taken place in the forty years leading up to the Revolution, and in most of them, France had participated.
• The costs of supporting allies, waging war, and maintaining the army quickly depleted crisis in the country's wealth that was already poor from royal extravagance.
• Finally, the thought of King Louis XVI had absolute power due to the divine right of the idea in a time of highly secularized enlightenment. 

The Correct answer is Option 3. 

Key Points

• The French Revolution played a significant role in giving its modern meaning to the term "republic".
•  Before the French Revolution, the term "republic" was often used to refer to small city-states or societies that were governed by elected representatives.
• However, during the French Revolution, the idea of a republic became associated with the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a government that represented the people.
• In France, the Revolution began in 1789 with the storming of the Bastille and continued through various phases until 1799.
• During this time, the revolutionaries sought to create a new political order that was based on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
• They abolished the monarchy and established a republic in 1792, with a constitution that emphasized the sovereignty of the people.

Additional Information

•  The French Revolution had a profound impact on European and world history, and it helped to popularize the idea of republicanism as a viable alternative to monarchy.
• It also inspired other revolutionary movements around the world, and many countries adopted republican forms of government in the years that followed.
• Today, the term "republic" is generally understood to refer to a form of government in which power is held by the people, either directly or through their elected representatives.

Civil code of 1804 is called as Napoleonic code.

• It was basically defining the concept of equality before the law. It was also giving security to the right to property.
• The act also abolished all the privileges based on birth.
• It abolished the feudal system and gave freedom to peasants from serfdom. Also, removed restrictions on guilds in towns.
• It improved transport and communications.
• This law was created to organize all the codes and compile all of them into a single document.
• This code was spread under French control in states like the Dutch Republic, Switzerland, Germany and Italy.
• The law was based on ideals of the French revolution:
  • Treating all men equally under the law.
  • Making of laws should be based on reason and common sense.
  • Certain freedom should be provided to people.
• It was a broad and progressive legal system but was not able to provide equal status to women. It reduced the status of women and subject to the authority of father and husband. In this women were always inferior to men.

Note:

• Napoleon Bonaparte was the military and political leader of France. He changed the political history of Europe. He was the product of the French revolution.
• He was the emperor of France from 1804 to 1814.
• The laws created by him were so important until the time of 1960s. Many countries in the world had adopted them and used them as the basis of their own laws.

The correct answer is Napoleon Bonaparte.

• The French Revolution was a period of social and political upheaval in France and its colonies beginning in 1789 and ending in 1799.
• A watershed event in modern European history, the French Revolution began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte.
• He was a French statesman and military leader who became famous as an artillery commander during the French Revolution.

Additional Information

Rousseau-

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer and composer.
• His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Enlightenment throughout Europe.

King Louis XV-

• Also known as Louis the beloved, king of France from 1715-1774 whose ineffectual rule led to the French Revolution.
• He was the great-grandson of Louis XIV.

Robespierre-

• Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was a French lawyer and statesman who was one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution.
• He is best known for his role as a member of the Committee of Public Safety as he personally signed 542 arrests, especially in the spring and summer of 1794.