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 in Revolution c.1774-1815
- 14 subtopics
- 42 things to know
- AS Unit 2 and A2 Unit 4
- Units 2 and 4, one depth study of eight, taken in two halves
What France in Revolution c.1774-1815 covers
France in Revolution c.1774-1815 is examined in Units 2 and 4, the depth study — one of eight options, taken in two halves across the course. It covers the three estates: privilege and burden under the Ancien Régime, government, finance and the ideas of the philosophes, Turgot, Necker and Calonne: the failure of reform, the Assembly of Notables, the cahiers and the Estates General, 1789: the National Assembly, the Bastille and the Great Fear, the October Days and the reforms of the National Assembly, the Church, refractory priests and the Constitution of 1791, Varennes, the Legislative Assembly and the coming of war, the fall of the monarchy and the September Massacres, the Convention, the execution of Louis and the Vendée, the Terror: government, Robespierre and the factions, Thermidor, the Directory and the rise of Bonaparte, Napoleon's reforms as Consul and Emperor and war, the Continental System and the fall of Napoleon.
Where it is assessed
AS Unit 2 and A2 Unit 4
The depth study, one option of eight, taken in two halves across the course.
Check the WJEC specification ↗The 14 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- The three estates: privilege and burden under the Ancien RégimeAncien Régime, three estates into which French society was legally divided and don gratuit.Open →
- Government, finance and the ideas of the philosophesDescribing the French monarchy as absolute, right of remonstrance and lettre de cachet.Open →
- Turgot, Necker and Calonne: the failure of reformThree principles Turgot laid down when he took office, flour War and compte rendu au roi.Open →
- The Assembly of Notables, the cahiers and the Estates GeneralBrienne's difficulty when he took over the reform programme, difference between voting by order and voting by head and cahiers de doléances.Open →
- 1789: the National Assembly, the Bastille and the Great FearTennis Court Oath, national Guard and great Fear.Open →
- The October Days and the reforms of the National AssemblyDeclaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, three rights guaranteed by the Declaration and outcome of the October Days.Open →
- The Church, refractory priests and the Constitution of 1791Civil Constitution of the Clergy and refractory priest.Open →
- Varennes, the Legislative Assembly and the coming of warFlight to Varennes, champ de Mars massacre and political consequences of the Champ de Mars.Open →
- The fall of the monarchy and the September MassacresDeclaration that the country was in danger and brunswick Manifesto.Open →
- The Convention, the execution of Louis and the VendéeIron chest, international consequences of the King's execution and levée en masse.Open →
- The Terror: government, Robespierre and the factionsCommittee of Public Safety, role of the Committee of General Security and revolutionary Tribunal.Open →
- Thermidor, the Directory and the rise of BonaparteThermidorian reaction, consequence of abolishing the Maximum and white Terror.Open →
- Napoleon's reforms as Consul and EmperorThree terms of the Concordat, organic Articles and civil Code.Open →
- War, the Continental System and the fall of NapoleonCorps system, continental System and battle of the Nations.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
How did the harvests of 1788 make the political crisis worse?
What were the parlements?
Who made up the Assembly of Notables that met in 1787?
Where and when did the Estates General open, and how did its ceremonial offend the Third Estate?
How did the King respond at the royal session that followed?
How was the abolition of feudalism qualified when it was put into law?
How did the Assembly's economic legislation reflect the interests of its members?
Who were the Montagnards?
How did Dumouriez's treason in 1793 affect politics in Paris?
What was the Law of Prairial, and what did it change?
Name three terms of the Concordat.
How did Napoleon control opinion?
Name two of the Six Edicts by which Turgot tried to reform France.
Why did the Assembly believe it could reorganise the Church without consulting Rome?
What was the Flight to Varennes?
How did the war go for France in the first months of 1792?
Name three measures of the Thermidorian reaction.
Explain the corps system.
What is meant by describing the French monarchy as absolute?
What was the Compte rendu au roi, and why was it misleading?
What is the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen?
What was the clerical oath of 1790?
Why did the Declaration of Pillnitz have an effect its authors did not intend?
Who were the sans-culottes?
What was the Committee of Public Safety?
What was the consequence of abolishing the Maximum?
Which battle is regarded as Napoleon's masterpiece, and when was it fought?
What was meant by the Ancien Régime?
What was the right of remonstrance?
Roughly how much of royal revenue was being consumed by debt service by the late 1780s?
What was Brienne's difficulty when he took over the reform programme?
What deadlock paralysed the Estates General in its first weeks?
Name three rights guaranteed by the Declaration.
How did the French clergy divide over the oath?
Describe the political groupings in the Legislative Assembly.
What did the sans-culottes want?
Who were the Girondins?
What was the Revolutionary Tribunal?
What was the White Terror?
What were the Organic Articles?
Why did the Continental System fail?
Take France in Revolution c.1774-1815 further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Active citizen vs Passive citizen
Active citizen: a man over twenty-five paying direct taxes worth at least three days' labour, who alone could vote in the elections. Passive citizen: A man who held the rights set out in the Declaration but paid too little tax to vote at all.
Constitutional clergy vs Refractory clergy
Constitutional clergy: priests who swore the oath demanded in 1790 and kept their official positions in the Church. Refractory clergy: Priests who refused the oath demanded in 1790, lost their official positions, and often went on ministering in secret.
The Great Fear vs The Terror
The Great Fear: the panic that swept the French countryside in the summer of 1789, when peasants armed themselves, attacked châteaux and burned the records of their dues. The Terror: The emergency government of 1793 and 1794, with its revolutionary tribunal, its Law of Suspects and mass executions.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What was meant by the Ancien Régime?
Model answer
The system of government and society in France before 1789, resting on absolute monarchy, a privileged nobility and clergy, and a Church closely bound to the state.
- 2
Name the three estates into which French society was legally divided.
Model answer
The clergy, the nobility, and everyone else, who together made up the Third Estate.
- 3
Roughly what proportion of the French population belonged to the Third Estate?
Model answer
Well over ninety-five per cent, since the clergy and nobility together numbered only a few hundred thousand out of some twenty-eight million people.
- 4
Give three privileges enjoyed by the First Estate.
Model answer
Exemption from the main direct taxes, the right to collect the tithe, and its own courts and assembly.
- 5
What was the don gratuit?
Model answer
The voluntary grant the assembly of the clergy voted to the Crown in place of taxation, fixed by the clergy themselves.
- 6
Explain the difference between the higher and the lower clergy.
Model answer
Bishops and abbots were almost all noble, wealthy and often absent, while parish priests were commonly of humble birth and poorly paid, which is why many of them sided with the Third Estate.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
France in Revolution c.1774-1815 revision questions
- What does France in Revolution c.1774-1815 cover in WJEC A-Level History?
- 14 subtopics: the three estates: privilege and burden under the ancien régime, government, finance and the ideas of the philosophes, turgot, necker and calonne: the failure of reform, the assembly of notables, the cahiers and the estates general, 1789: the national assembly, the bastille and the great fear, the october days and the reforms of the national assembly, the church, refractory priests and the constitution of 1791, varennes, the legislative assembly and the coming of war, the fall of the monarchy and the september massacres, the convention, the execution of louis and the vendée, the terror: government, robespierre and the factions, thermidor, the directory and the rise of bonaparte, napoleon's reforms as consul and emperor and war, the continental system and the fall of napoleon. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is France in Revolution c.1774-1815 organised?
- By the WJEC 601-5817-7 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in France in Revolution c.1774-1815, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.