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Quiz about A Short History of France AD15002000
Quiz about A Short History of France AD15002000

A Short History of France (AD1500-2000) Quiz


French poet Joachim du Bellay said this: "France, mother of arts, of warfare, and of laws." Agree or not, one cannot deny that France has shaped the course of European history. Take this fifteen-question quiz and discover how. Amusez-vous!

A multiple-choice quiz by snediger. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
snediger
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
344,595
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
15
Difficulty
Easy
Avg Score
13 / 15
Plays
3216
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Guest 174 (13/15), Guest 107 (15/15), Guest 173 (15/15).
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Question 1 of 15
1. The mid-1500s were a turbulent time in France, with widespread discontent. In 1562, a powerful duke used his personal army to put down a rebellion at the massacre of Vassy. The bloody suppression of this rebellion would plunge France into internecine warfare for the next thirty six years. Tell me, what were these people fighting about? (Hint: think 95 Theses) Hint


Question 2 of 15
2. After Henry IV ascended the throne, the mid-16th century turbulence which had racked France gradually died down; during his reign he issued a marvelously progressive ruling for its time, the Edict of Nantes (1598). This same Henry IV was the founder of a dynasty which lasted all the way up to the French Revolution in 1789. What was the name of this dynasty? Hint


Question 3 of 15
3. In 1618 a major war broke out in Europe. Ostensibly Catholic vs. Protestant, it degenerated into a mad bloody grab for power and land. Catholic France decided to enter the war on the mainly Protestant side to break the hegemony of the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor. Thirty years later... peace! What was the name of this highly destructive war? (Don't think too hard on this one.) Hint


Question 4 of 15
4. I reigned from 1643 to 1715, the longest-reigning European king. I moved the French Royal Court from Paris to Versailles, and history calls me the "Sun King." Not everyone thought I was so "sunny," however, for I also revoked the Edict of Nantes, halting official religious toleration. Who was I? Hint


Question 5 of 15
5. This next event in French history was a pivotal moment in the history of Europe, for it had the crowned heads of Europe united against it. In contrast, young poets and idealists everywhere felt differently. William Wordsworth (1770-1850) said this: "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven!" (Wordsworth eventually got disillusioned.) What was this event which started in 1789? Hint


Question 6 of 15
6. The French event which at first thrilled Wordsworth and other Romantics lasted from 1789 to 1799. During that time, new institutions and customs were brought to France: a ten-day week, abolition of religious orders, the metric system and a new slogan which the people embraced. This slogan was "Liberty, Equality and _______________." What was the third word of this revolutionary motto? Hint


Question 7 of 15
7. By 1799, the First French Republic was basically dead. One man, Corsican by birth, rumored to be short, and buoyed by earlier military successes, made history when he declared himself First Consul of France. In 1804 he declared himself Emperor. Who was this man whom the world calls by his first name even today? (Hand-inside-his coat?) Hint


Question 8 of 15
8. "Mr. Rumored-to-be-short-with-hand-inside-his-coat" was in trouble in March 1814 when the Allies captured Paris. After he had wreaked so much havoc in continental Europe, the Allies decided they had had enough of "Boney" as the Brits called him. What did they do with this guy?
Hint


Question 9 of 15
9. With "Boney" gone, the victorious Allies decided to "let bygones be bygones," and to allow the First French republic to stand. They then monitored a democratic election for the French people to choose whichever form of government they preferred.


Question 10 of 15
10. Fifteen years after the Bourbons returned, revolution was in the air again. In 1830 a new king was crowned, known as "the bourgeois king," who was liked by the wealthy middle classes. He was swept in on this revolution and swept out by another, a major revolution in 1848 which rocked Europe. Who was this king? Hint


Question 11 of 15
11. The revolution of 1848 brought some hope to the poorer classes in France, and a new champion emerged to establish the Second French Republic. In 1851, however, he betrayed this new-found hope when he overthrew his own republic and declared himself Emperor. He was nephew to the First Emperor of the French. Who was this man? Hint


Question 12 of 15
12. In 1870, the French were fearful that a German might be allowed to inherit the Spanish throne. Even though the candidacy was withdrawn, the French demanded further concessions from Prussia, which were exaggerated to the German press by Prussian Chancellor Bismarck. Of course, this meant war! What was this war called and who won? Hint


Question 13 of 15
13. When World War I ended in 1918, 15 million were dead and 20 million were wounded. Final reports say the Allies lost around 6 million soldiers and the Central Powers around 4 million. Of the USA, France, UK (British Isles alone) and Canada, which country suffered the most military deaths in World War I? Hint


Question 14 of 15
14. This region in Northern Africa, once part of the Barbary States, was made a colony of France in 1830. Thousands of French moved here, but never quite assimilated with the indigenous Muslim population which was never allowed full political democracy. A bloody war of insurrection was fought here from 1954 to 1962. What is the name of this country? (Hint: its main port and its country name are similar; Camus was born here.) Hint


Question 15 of 15
15. In 1962, Charles de Gaulle became the first French head of state since Napoleon to make an official state visit to Germany.



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The mid-1500s were a turbulent time in France, with widespread discontent. In 1562, a powerful duke used his personal army to put down a rebellion at the massacre of Vassy. The bloody suppression of this rebellion would plunge France into internecine warfare for the next thirty six years. Tell me, what were these people fighting about? (Hint: think 95 Theses)

Answer: religion

Religious fervor was sweeping France, brought on by the Reformation. Both French King Henry II and the powerful House of Guise supported the Catholic cause. As Francis, the Duke of Guise, passed through the town of Vassy, he became outraged when he discovered that the Calvinists were holding religious services.

The duke's men tried to bust up the meeting, bricks flew, and the duke was injured. He then ordered his men to barricade and set fire to the barn where the Protestant services were being held. Sixty three Calvinists died; scores more were injured.
2. After Henry IV ascended the throne, the mid-16th century turbulence which had racked France gradually died down; during his reign he issued a marvelously progressive ruling for its time, the Edict of Nantes (1598). This same Henry IV was the founder of a dynasty which lasted all the way up to the French Revolution in 1789. What was the name of this dynasty?

Answer: Bourbon

The conclusion of the "War of the Three Henrys" (1587-89) left Henry of Bourbon the last Henry standing. Although a Huguenot (French Protestant) he re-converted to Catholicism to gain the last citadel in France, Paris, which opposed him on religious grounds. (His quote: "Paris is well worth a Mass.") Although his Edict of Nantes ensured religious toleration within France, he himself was assassinated by a Catholic partisan in 1610.

The Edict, however, stood intact until it was revoked by another Bourbon, Louis XIV, in 1685.
3. In 1618 a major war broke out in Europe. Ostensibly Catholic vs. Protestant, it degenerated into a mad bloody grab for power and land. Catholic France decided to enter the war on the mainly Protestant side to break the hegemony of the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor. Thirty years later... peace! What was the name of this highly destructive war? (Don't think too hard on this one.)

Answer: Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War started with the Bohemian revolt within the Habsburg Empire, but spread into the Low Countries, Denmark and Germany. Catholic France under Louis XIII and the able minister Cardinal Richelieu entered the war because Habsburg countries flanked France; the Holy Roman Empire's defeat would give France a chance to gain land and consolidate territory.
4. I reigned from 1643 to 1715, the longest-reigning European king. I moved the French Royal Court from Paris to Versailles, and history calls me the "Sun King." Not everyone thought I was so "sunny," however, for I also revoked the Edict of Nantes, halting official religious toleration. Who was I?

Answer: Louis XIV

Smart move here by Louis XIV. By compelling the French aristocracy to come live a life of guaranteed luxury with him in the Palace at Versailles, Louis essentially bought them off. The aristocracy would never be a thorn in the side for him, such as the English aristocracy was for the English king.

A military strategist, he took his country into three major wars, all ending with land gained by France and Habsburg power diminished. As to his "sunniness," H.G. Wells says this in his "Outline of History": "the great Louis, the sun of HIS world, [remained] unaware of the...sulky and bitter faces that watched him from those lower darknesses to which his sunshine did not penetrate."
5. This next event in French history was a pivotal moment in the history of Europe, for it had the crowned heads of Europe united against it. In contrast, young poets and idealists everywhere felt differently. William Wordsworth (1770-1850) said this: "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven!" (Wordsworth eventually got disillusioned.) What was this event which started in 1789?

Answer: French Revolution

Many stages comprised the French Revolution. Jean-Paul Marat, Georges Danton, and Maximilien Robespierre (among others) all rose to the top but were eventually tumbled by excesses that at times they themselves had encouraged. War-wise, however, Revolutionary France was enormously successful; France took on all of the leading crowned heads of continental Europe and sent them packing.

The fledgling republic was defended and preserved.
6. The French event which at first thrilled Wordsworth and other Romantics lasted from 1789 to 1799. During that time, new institutions and customs were brought to France: a ten-day week, abolition of religious orders, the metric system and a new slogan which the people embraced. This slogan was "Liberty, Equality and _______________." What was the third word of this revolutionary motto?

Answer: Fraternity

To the modern-day observer, the French Revolution seems synonymous with bloodthirstiness. ("We want our rights and we don't care how!" from the musical "Marat/Sade.") However, those on the bottom rungs of society didn't necessarily want violence but CHANGE.

They perceived that the monarchy, nobility and church were always in their pockets, and offered them precious little in exchange. The people knew that heretofore they were not free, hence Liberty; they knew that the class system of the ancien régime was rife with discrimination and a rigged system of justice, hence Equality; and they demanded a uniform attitude toward the revolution, a sense that they were all in it together, hence Fraternity.
7. By 1799, the First French Republic was basically dead. One man, Corsican by birth, rumored to be short, and buoyed by earlier military successes, made history when he declared himself First Consul of France. In 1804 he declared himself Emperor. Who was this man whom the world calls by his first name even today? (Hand-inside-his coat?)

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), Emperor of the French (1804-1815) is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest military commanders who ever lived. Bold, intelligent and gutsy, he established French dominance over continental Europe and brought the ideals of the French Revolution to the conquered.

His fortunes started to wane when he was defeated by the British in Spain, and his demise seemed certain when his army was destroyed in the Russian Campaign of 1812. His Code Napoléon is still used in part by many European countries (and in Louisiana USA) today.
8. "Mr. Rumored-to-be-short-with-hand-inside-his-coat" was in trouble in March 1814 when the Allies captured Paris. After he had wreaked so much havoc in continental Europe, the Allies decided they had had enough of "Boney" as the Brits called him. What did they do with this guy?

Answer: sent him into exile - twice

Napoleon thought he could oust the Allies from Paris, but his generals mutinied; he then abdicated, and was sent into exile to Elba, a small island in the Mediterranean. He spent almost ten months there, where he was allowed to retain his title of Emperor.

Hearing rumors he was to be moved to a "safer location," he escaped. The period of "the Hundred Days" then ensued, in which time Napoleon rallied his loyal vets but was finally defeated at Waterloo. Then, he was exiled again(!), this time to St Helena, the "safer location."
9. With "Boney" gone, the victorious Allies decided to "let bygones be bygones," and to allow the First French republic to stand. They then monitored a democratic election for the French people to choose whichever form of government they preferred.

Answer: False

The first thing on the Allies' agenda for conquered France was to restore a Bourbon (Louis XVIII) to the French throne. Although this time the French kingdom was to be a constitutional monarchy, France was still forced to pay not only 700 million francs in reparations, but to pay for the quartering of foreign soldiers on its soil.

The Catholic Church was restored to a "favored" status, and legal pressure was applied to those who now owned Church or noble land to return it.
10. Fifteen years after the Bourbons returned, revolution was in the air again. In 1830 a new king was crowned, known as "the bourgeois king," who was liked by the wealthy middle classes. He was swept in on this revolution and swept out by another, a major revolution in 1848 which rocked Europe. Who was this king?

Answer: Louis Philippe

Louis Philippe's reign started on a crest of popularity; after all, he had initially supported the French Revolution. Gradually, however, he was perceived as too friendly to the ultra-monarchists and too generous to the returning émigrés. The plight of the poor worsened (it was during his reign that the demonstration in "Les Misérables" takes place and is suppressed).

When the new revolution (1848) hit France, Louis Philippe abdicated, and he and his wife fled to England where he died two years later.
11. The revolution of 1848 brought some hope to the poorer classes in France, and a new champion emerged to establish the Second French Republic. In 1851, however, he betrayed this new-found hope when he overthrew his own republic and declared himself Emperor. He was nephew to the First Emperor of the French. Who was this man?

Answer: Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III)

Napoleon III tried to be all things to all men. He backed universal manhood suffrage - without residency requirements - to get the votes of the working classes, and sent an army to Rome to restore the Pope and suppress the Roman Republic to appease the Catholics.

His main desire, however, was to be Emperor and follow in his uncle's path. As Emperor, he was NOT a very trustworthy ally. He promised Sardinia that he would aid in the wresting of Venetia from Austria, but then made a separate peace with Austria, excluding the Italians.

He also promised to back his puppet Maximilian in Mexico, but quickly withdrew the French army when he sensed the Mexicans would win.
12. In 1870, the French were fearful that a German might be allowed to inherit the Spanish throne. Even though the candidacy was withdrawn, the French demanded further concessions from Prussia, which were exaggerated to the German press by Prussian Chancellor Bismarck. Of course, this meant war! What was this war called and who won?

Answer: Franco-Prussian war; the Prussians (and their German allies) won; they even besieged Paris

After the surrender of the French (and the capture of Napoleon III) at Sedan, the second French Emperor was ousted in a bloodless coup, and his Empire was no more, replaced by the Third French Republic. To their detriment, however, the French foolishly decided to continue the war.
13. When World War I ended in 1918, 15 million were dead and 20 million were wounded. Final reports say the Allies lost around 6 million soldiers and the Central Powers around 4 million. Of the USA, France, UK (British Isles alone) and Canada, which country suffered the most military deaths in World War I?

Answer: France

Of the four combatants shown, France suffered the most casualties: 1,397,800 military deaths, with 4,266,000 wounded; the UK had 886,939 military deaths with 1,663,435 wounded; the US military casualties were 116,708 with 205,690 wounded; Canada lost 64,976 soldiers with 149,732 wounded. And these figures are only for military casualties.

When the figures are included for war-related famine and disease, France suffered an additional 260,000 civilian deaths; the UK, 107,000. This is NOT to say France had the most combined military and civilian deaths of all combatants: Russia holds that grisly record with 3,311,000 to 3,754,369 military and civilian deaths with an additional 3,749,000 to 4,950,000 wounded, and Germany comes in second with 2,476,897 combined deaths and 4,247,143 wounded.

By the way, Australia's figures come very close to Canada's, with 61,966 dead and 152,171 wounded. (All figures quoted from Wikipedia, "World War I Casualties", accessed on 2-May-2012).
14. This region in Northern Africa, once part of the Barbary States, was made a colony of France in 1830. Thousands of French moved here, but never quite assimilated with the indigenous Muslim population which was never allowed full political democracy. A bloody war of insurrection was fought here from 1954 to 1962. What is the name of this country? (Hint: its main port and its country name are similar; Camus was born here.)

Answer: Algeria

Algeria did not just remain a colony; because so many French moved there, called pieds-noir (literally black feet) the country was broken up by Napoleon III into three actual départementes of France. Over decades, France made more Algerian land available to refugees and other displaced Europeans, not all French. Because a workable democratic political arrangement was never brokered between the mass of the Muslim Arab population and the pieds-noir, and because the southern interior of the country was never quite settled by the Europeans, Algeria became a de facto "two-state" entity with continued friction between the two groups.

A referendum for Algerian independence was not accepted by many of France's generals, but de Gaulle aborted their coup, and Algeria was declared independent in 1962. De Gaulle himself survived many assassination plots against him for pursuing Algerian independence.
15. In 1962, Charles de Gaulle became the first French head of state since Napoleon to make an official state visit to Germany.

Answer: True

In 1962, De Gaulle visited Germany and got "a hero's welcome." This was unusual because of the enmity that had existed between France and Prussia and then France and the German Reichs since the mid 1800s.
Source: Author snediger

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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