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68 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What was the political system imposed on France prior to the revolution? |
Absolutism with the Bourbon monarchy ruling |
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(Limitations) Who did the King have to consult in order to make laws? |
The king had to consult his council of ministers and advisors to make laws |
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What was the Controller-General? |
The Controller-General was in charge of royal finances |
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Who were indendants? |
Indendants were officials with considerable power in the généralites and they carried out the kings wishes. |
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What were généralites? |
34 areas divided into sections in order to collect taxes and were controlled by the intendant. |
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When did Louis XVI become King ? |
1774 |
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Why was Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette unpopular? |
Excessive spending and gambling |
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How was tax collected during the ancien régime? |
Taxes were collected through tax farming |
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What was the name of the company that collected the indirect taxes? |
The Farmer-General was the company that collected indirect taxes |
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Why was the tax system a problem? |
The state was paid an agreed amount and the officials could keep the rest of the money for themselves therefore, the government never received enough money to cover expenditure. |
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Under what system were the officials who collected taxes under and why was it a problem? |
The officials who collected the taxed were able to keep their position under venailty and they could not be dismissed, this caused corruption and wastage. |
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When was Turgot appointed Controller-General? |
1774, appointed by Louis XVI |
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What did Turgot try to abolish? |
Tried to abolish trade guilds and the corvée, which was an unpaid labour service to maintain roads. |
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When was Turgot dismissed as Controller-General? |
12th May 1776 |
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Why was Turgot dismissed as Controller-General? |
The parlements were outraged by his proposed reforms so Louis withdrew his support as Turgot became unpopular. |
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What was the Tithe? |
The Tithe was a tax paid by landowners to the church based on the proportion of crops they produced. |
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What did the Tithe provide? |
Provided income for poor relief, the upkeep of religious buildings and paid for the parish priests salaries. |
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How much land did the church own? |
10% of land making it the single largest land owner |
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How much money did the Tithe provide the church with each year? |
50 million livres |
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What was the church exempet from? |
Taxation |
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In order to avoid paying taxes what did the church pay instead? |
The church agreed to pay an annual payment of the don gratuit |
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How much money did the church receive in general? |
100 million livres per year |
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What was the state religion? |
Catholicism |
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What was the churches opinion on new ideas? |
The church did not appreciate new ideas and used censorship to limit what people learnt. |
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The first estate constituted to how much of the French population? |
0.5% or 130,000 |
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The second estate constituted to how much if the French population, |
1.5% |
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The third estate constituted to how much of the French population? |
98% |
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Who was Montesquieu? |
Montesquieu was a political philosopher and an enlightenment thinker |
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What did Montesquieu believe in? |
He believe in the separation of powers and check and balances in order to provide a stable government, which went against the idea of absolutism |
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Who was Rousseau? |
Rousseau wad a Genevan philosopher |
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What did Rousseau write about? |
Rousseau discussed what makes a legitimate government and how the government should reflect the general will of the people |
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When was the Seven Years' War? |
1756-1763 |
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Who was France's colonial rival? |
Britain was France's colonial rival and they competed for dominance in mainland Europe |
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What happened to French forces in North America and India? |
Defeated by the British |
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What happened to France's empire in 1763? |
The majority of France's empire was lost |
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When was the American War of Independence? |
1776-1783 |
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What did France provide the 13 American colonies with? |
Provided military and financial support for the colonies |
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When did France join the Independence war? |
1778 |
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What were French soldiers introduced to in America? |
Liberty and democracy |
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When did Calonne inform Louis XVI that France was on the verge of bankruptcy? |
20th August 1786 |
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In 1786 how much was the French revenue of the government? |
475 million livres |
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How much was the government's expenditure during 1786? |
587 million livres |
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How much was the deficit in 1786? |
112 million livres |
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In 1788 the deficit increased to what? |
126 million livres |
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What was the cost for France's involvement in the American War of Independence? |
1066 million livres |
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When was Necker dismissed? |
1781 |
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Who replaced Necker? |
Fleury and then Calonne |
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When did Calonne begin the tax reforms? |
1786 |
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What was Calonne's first tax reform? |
To replace the vingtieme on land property with a single land tax |
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What was Calonne's second tax reform? |
Remove controls on grain trade and abolish internal custom barriers to stimulate the economy |
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What was Calonne's third tax reform? |
Restoring national confidence to allow new loans to be raised |
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What did Louis and Calonne view the Estates-general as being? |
Viewed them as unpredictable and did not want to put the reforms in front if them so they instead handpicked an Assembly of Notables |
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When did Calonne and Louis put the proposal of the reforms forward to the notables? |
February 1787 |
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What did the notables agree on? |
That everyone should be subjected to tax |
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Why did the Assembly not accept the reforms? |
They believed that the Estates-general should be called to deal with the taxation issue |
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Why did Louis withdrew support for Calonne? |
He became unpopular and in April 1787 Louis withdrew support |
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Who replaced Calonne? |
Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse |
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What did Brienne introduce on top of Calonne's proposals? |
The end to venal financial officials A central treasury Reforming of the army to make it more efficient and cost effective |
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What was the Parlement of Paris' reaction to Brienne's proposals? |
The rejected the proposals |
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When did Louis exile the Parlement? |
15th August 1787 exiled to troyes |
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Who did the church side with? |
The church sided with Notables and paid less than 1/2 of the don gratuit |
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When were all payments from the treasury suspended? |
16th August 1788 |
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When does Louis organise the calling of the Estates-general? |
1st May 1789 |
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Why was there an economic crisis in 1788? |
There was a bad harvest and prior to 1788 there had been 4 bad harvests |
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Between 1726-1789 the price increase in wheat was what? |
60% |
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1788-1789 the price of wheat increased by what? |
88% |
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When was the Eden Treaty introduced? |
1786 by Britain |
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What did the Eden Treaty mean? |
Allowed British goods into France at reduced rates of import duties creating unemployment and hardship |
