WJEC A-Level History 601-5817-7
Government, Rebellion and Society in Wales and England c.1485-1603Period study
Government, Revolution and Society in Wales and England c.1603-1715Period study
Politics, Protest and Reform in Wales and England c.1780-1880Period study
Politics, People and Progress: Wales and England c.1880-1980Period study
Political and Religious Change in Europe c.1500-1598Period study
Europe in the Age of Absolutism and Revolution c.1682-1815Period study
Revolution and New Ideas in Europe c.1780-1881Period study
Europe in an Age of Conflict and Co-Operation c.1890-1991Period study
The Mid Tudor Crisis in Wales and England c.1529-1570Depth study
Royalty, Rebellion and Republic c.1625-1660Depth study
Reform and Protest in Wales and England c.1783-1848Depth study
Politics and Society in Wales and England c.1900-1939Depth study
The Religious Reformation in Europe c.1500-1564Depth study
France in Revolution c.1774-1815Depth study
The Crisis of the American Republic c.1840-1877Depth study
Germany: Democracy and Dictatorship c.1918-1945Depth study
Wales: Resistance, Conquest and Rebellion c.1240-1415Breadth study
Poverty, Protest and Rebellion in Wales and England c.1485-1603Breadth study
Reformation and Discovery: Europe c.1492-1610Breadth study
Royalty, Revolution and Restoration in Wales and England c.1603-1715Breadth study
France: Ancien Régime to Napoleon c.1715-1815Breadth study
Parliamentary Reform and Protest in Wales and England c.1780-1885Breadth study
Social Change and Reform in Wales and England c.1890-1990Breadth study
The American Century c.1890-1990Breadth study
Changing Leadership and Society in Germany c.1871-1989Breadth study
Changing Leadership and Society in Russia c.1881-1989Breadth study
France: Ancien Régime to Napoleon c.1715-1815
The Enlightenment and the challenge to authority
- 3 things to know
- A2 Unit 3
Overview
Voltaire's principal target, two ways Enlightenment ideas circulated in France and enlightened despotism.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
What was the Enlightenment?
Who were the philosophes?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What was the Enlightenment?
Model answer
The eighteenth-century intellectual movement that applied reason and observation to society, government and religion in place of tradition and authority.
- 2
Who were the philosophes?
Model answer
The French writers of the Enlightenment, including Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau and Diderot.
- 3
What did Montesquieu argue in The Spirit of the Laws?
Model answer
That liberty is protected by the separation of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, and that laws should suit the character of a country.
- 4
What was Voltaire's principal target?
Model answer
Religious intolerance and clerical privilege, together with arbitrary justice, summed up in his cry to crush the infamous thing.
- 5
What did Rousseau argue in The Social Contract?
Model answer
That legitimate authority rests on the general will of the people, and that sovereignty belongs to them rather than to a king.
- 6
What was the Encyclopédie, and who edited it?
Model answer
The great compendium of knowledge edited by Diderot and d'Alembert, which spread critical and secular ideas across educated Europe.
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