French Revolution - 'Horrible History' Style Quiz

Answer: All of these, and the failure of Louis XVI to deal with them

The French revolution had been building up for many years, for several reasons :
- The unfairness of taxation. Nobles (the people with money to pay) were "privileged" - they didn't have to pay taxes at all, whereas the peasants, who had no money, were expected to support the whole nation.
- The French national debt. France was heavily in debt due to wars and expeditures like Versailles, leading to an increase of tax on the peasants.
- The price of bread went up 88% in 1789 alone, 1 loaf becoming almost worth a daily salary for an average farmer.
- Poor harvests and famine.
And when Louis XVI failed to deal with problems, the French just got angry.

Answer: Stabbed, head sawn off and paraded on a pike

Bernard-René de Launay was the governor of the Bastille, he was actually born inside it. During the fighting, he was seized and dragged off to the Hotel de Ville, where the angry mob starting openly discussing what to do with him. He had been beaten and tormented. After a while, he shouted "Enough! Let me die", and kicked a pastry cook (Desnot) in the groin. He was then stabbed to death, and his head paraded on a pike through the streets.

Answer: Without knee breeches

Culottes were a type of knee-length trouser worn by upper class men at the time of the revolution. The sans-culottes were proud of being anti-noble workers.
They were recognizable by their long trousers, red liberty caps, and sabots (clogs). The word "sabotage" originated in the Industrial Revolution, when the workers deprived of work threw their clogs (sabots) into the machines replacing them.

Answer: Manservant

The Dauphin's governess, the Marquise de Tourzel, was disguised as a Russian baroness - Baroness von Korff. Louis was disguised as her butler. Marie Antoinette and the king's sister, Madame Élisabeth, played the baroness's maids, and the royal children her daughters.

They were aiming to get to Montmédy, a royalist town, but they were unmasked in Varennes. Druet, the local postmaster, recognized the king and arrested them. Druet supposedly recognized the king's face from a coin, but not all sources are clear on this.

Another, rarer, story is that Marie Antoinette was recognized because she was acting haughtily and giving orders to the baroness, although only a maid (June 20-21, 1791).

Answer: Marie Antoinette actually didn't say it

When Marie Antoinette heard about the bread crisis she wrote: "It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness. The king seems to understand this truth; as for myself, I know that in my whole life (even if I live for a hundred years) I shall never forget the day of the coronation." The quote about cake was actually made by someone else (possibly Mary Therese of Spain) in Grenoble in 1740, ten years before Marie Antoinette was even born.

In the meanwhile, it sped her execution. This revolution definitely wasn't a piece of cake for her!

Answer: Louis XVI

The guillotine was adopted in order to replace breaking on the wheel, which was an inhumane punishment banned by Louis himself, who sensed general discontent with it. It consisted of strapping the prisoner onto a wheel, and breaking all of his bones one by one with a metal club, and then rolling the wheel. Lovely? A commitee was made to invent a new, humane, punishment to become the only legal French death sentence..

They were influenced by "The Scottish Maiden" and "The Halifax Gibbet", which had been in use for many years at the time.

These executional machines were like the modern-day guillotine, but had blunt, heavy blades, that crushed the victim's neck, or severed it using blunt force, by weighting the blade. Louis XVI, an amateur locksmith, insisted on using a sharp triangular blade.

The guillotine was formed, and named after Dr. Guillotin, a member of the commitee that commissioned it.

Answer: The Reign of Terror

The Reign of Terror, or just The Terror is when Robespierre grew in power and influence. He started executing all sorts of people that were against the new republic. Estimated deaths are between 15,000 and 40,000. At the end of the Terror, Robespierre is himself guillotined (July 1794).

Answer: To attack the Tuileries palace

On 10th August 1792, the French mob attacked the king's palace of the Tuileries, massacring 600 of the 950 Swiss guards (Gardes Suisses) on the spot.
While the angry mob starting gathering outside, the King took refuge in the National Assembly with his family. The mob, seeing the king untouchable, attacked the palace anyway. But why did 900-odd armed, trained soldiers lose against a riff-raff of angry, unorganized mob? Cannons. Boom!. So being outnumbered, and against cannons, the fight was fairer.

Louis XVI, safe in the National Assembly, wanted at all costs to avoid bloodshed, so sent a note in the heat of the battle ordering a ceasefire. As the Swiss Guard started losing... it did what Louis asked, and they were surrounded and slaughtered around the fountain in the gardens. The rest of the guard running around the palace were hunted down and slaughtered, as well as many of the servants. 60 Swiss guards were lucky enough to get taken as live prisoners... They were slaughtered in front of the Hotel de Ville.

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon was a young army general who became extremely popular with his troops because of his able managing. His soldiers became extremely loyal, and would have followed him anywhere. He took advantage of this, and seized an extremely confused and divided France, devastated by the recent Terror. Napoleon conquered a large part of Europe with his "revolutionary army" (in both senses of the term) being a capable general, and managed to win himself several ennemies.

He got cocky, and crowned himself Emperor (not king, because the Revolution was too close for comfort, and he aspired to be *better* than a king). The French people eventually had enough, and exiled him to the island of Elba. He came back for a short reign (100 days reign), before being smashed to bits by a certain Wellington. In case you are wondering, he wasn't defeated by a rubber boot, but an English general in the battle of Waterloo. He was exiled again (this time permanently) to the island of St. Helena, where he was supposedly poisoned by arsenic.

Answer: They let their king be brought back

Louis XVIII (Louis XVII never took the throne) was Louis XVI's (dead Louis') brother ... and started reigning from 1814 until his death in 1824, with a brief break for Napoleon's return in 1815 (approx. 100 days). The French had had enough of "Emperor" Napoleon, who was turning out to be just as bad as a king, with a different name, but the main reason for Louis' enthronement was the victorious Allied Nations, who were against Napoleon (possibly because he was wreaking havoc with his wars), and imposed him on the French. Louis XVIII tried to undo the changes of the Revolution, of course that made him unpopular...

He died in 1824 and was succeeded by his brother, Charles X. It took the French 8 months to get sick of Charlie, but 6 years to get around to doing anything about it - another French Revolution (also known as the July Revolution). Surprisingly enough, he abdicated in 1830 when this Revolution brewed up ...