A French Connection Trivia Quiz

Answer: Louis XVI

The use of the name Louis Capet during the French Revolution was believed to put the king on the same level as the ordinary citizen, something that was used to mock him mercilessly - especially after his attempt at fleeing the country in 1791, known as the Flight to Varennes.

This repudiation of the revolution by Louis is quite possibly what triggered the collapse of the Ancien Régime, which had not just been the political system, but also the social order in France since the fifteenth century. Obviously, Louis did not wish to be anything other than an absolute monarch. With that type of attitude, was he perhaps expendable?

Answer: Maximilien Robespierre

Maximilien Robespierre, a lawyer and politician, became associated with what became the infamous Jacobin Club, a political club that originally contained anti-Royalist deputies from Brittany, but grew into a group which advocated republicanism during the French Revolution.

In 1793, Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just became members of the Committee of Public Safety, which had been established to protect the new French Republic from foreign attack and civil wars. As the Committee became more radical, it was necessary to dispense of more moderate Girondist members.

This led to the Reign of Terror, an eleven month period during the Revolution; it is believed that Robespierre orchestrated the deaths of 40,000 "enemies of the state". One of the last people to die during the Terror was Robespierre himself. How is that for ironic?

Answer: Baron de Montesquieu

Although Montesquieu died before the Revolution began, he was one of the intellectuals (or "philosophes") of the Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason, who proposed political ideologies that tended to reject the idea of an absolute monarchy. Based on the ideas of liberty, fraternity, and constitutional government, the "philosophes" suggested many ideas for political change. Montesquieu wrote "The Spirit of Laws", where he put forth his idea of what is called separation of powers today. In other words, the power in the government should be equally divided between the branches of the government - legislative, executive, and judicial.

His thoughts greatly influenced the founding fathers of the U.S. who wrote the Constitution, and were much discussed in the French salons. Of course, with all the new ideas abounding during the Enlightenment, political change was inevitable. Would it be possible to hold on to the tradition of absolute monarchy?

Answer: Charlotte Corday

As a young girl Charlotte Corday already had begun to align herself with Girondist thinking, believing that the group's moderate approach would save France. She was opposed to the Jacobins, who had taken over control of the government, and decided that she would murder Jean-Paul Marat, whom she considered the most radical of the leaders, hoping that his death would end the savagery of the Revolution. Who hasn't seen the famous picture of Marat stabbed in his bath? After learning that he rarely went out in public, and held meetings in his bath due to an uncomfortable skin disease, Corday carried out the assassination in Marat's home. Four days later, she found herself at the guillotine. Do you think the men began to imagine that women shouldn't be allowed to hang out in the political salons after that?

Answer: Marie Antoinette

A life of grandeur in Austria - her mother was Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa - did not prepare Marie Antoinette for life in a country where money was tight. When her husband, Louis XVI, ascended by throne, Marie Antoinette was given the Petit Trianon, a small estate in the grounds of Versailles.

She could do as she pleased there, and didn't even have to invite Louis to attend her parties! Her lifestyle caused much resentment throughout France as people even began to blame her for the country's debt because they believed that she wasted so much money.

In 1785, Marie was implicated in a scheme that aimed to defraud the crown jewelers of the cost of a very expensive diamond necklace. Although many historians today believe that she played no role in the crime, the scandal further discredited her with the public. Do you think there were many who felt sorry to see her in the cart on her way to the guillotine?

Answer: Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David, part of the Neoclassicism school, was inspired by the art of the ancient Greeks and Romans. He became involved in the French Revolution as one of the members of the radical Jacobin club, and was elected to the National Convention in 1792; consequently, he was one of the individuals who voted to execute the king.

After that he became more involved as a member of the art commission, and was known as the "Robespierre of the brush", abolishing the old Académie Royale, which was connected to the hated Ancien Régime.

After the death of his Jacobin friend, Robespierre, David found himself on trial and imprisoned, after which his work was noticed by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte! His most important work commissioned by Napoleon is considered to be "Coronation of Napoleon in Notre-Dame".

However, it was the first of many including "Napoleon Crossing the Saint-Bernard" and "The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries". Which school child hasn't looked at the famous picture of Napoleon with his hand in his jacket?

Answer: Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès

It may be surprising that Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, a Roman Catholic priest, became involved in the French Revolution, however, he had embraced the thinking of the Enlightenment even before becoming ordained in the Church. When Louis XVI proposed a meeting of the French law-making body, the Estates-General, after an absence of about 150 years, Sieyès wrote his famous essay about the Third Estate.

There were three estates within the Estates-General: the First Estate represented the clergy, the Second Estate represented the nobles, and the Third Estates represented the commoners. Traditionally, each estate had one vote to cast, and the First and Second Estates voted together, totally excluding the Third Estate from the hope of any political reform.

The pamphlet boldly stated, "What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been hitherto in the political order? Nothing. What does it desire to be? Something". At the end of the Revolution, a new government called the Directory (1795-1799) was established to replace the Committee of Public Safety. Sieyès and his allies assisted in the dissolution of the Directory, which allowed for the rise to power of Napoleon. Can you believe that he was even Second Consul for a short while?

Answer: Jeanne-Marie Roland

As a young girl, a very well educated Jeanne-Marie Roland embraced the ideas of Enlightenment philosophes such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire. After marrying Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière, who served as Interior Minister in the government of Louis XVI, she became politically active.

Her salon, a gathering held in her home to discuss philosophies, art, and events of the time, became a favored meeting place of revolutionaries; at the beginning of their time in Paris, the couple embraced the ideas of the Jacobins.

They formed a new group, however, called the Girondists, that were not as radical; for example, they did not agree that the king should be executed. When the Reign of Terror began, many of the leaders of the Girondists were the first to be executed; Madame Roland helped her husband escape Paris, but she was not so fortunate. Can you believe that one of the charges against her was that she betrayed her gender with her political activism?

Answer: Marquis de Lafayette

The Marquis de Lafayette was a close associate of George Washington's during the American Revolution and effectively led troops at Yorktown. When he returned to France, he became involved in revolutionary activities. With assistance from Thomas Jefferson, who had written the Declaration of Independence, he and others wrote a similar document called the Declaration of the Rights of Man, considered to be an influential document of the French Revolution.

He also was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, which existed from 1789 until 1872. Separate from the French army, the National Guard was largely responsible for maintaining law and order in Paris during the Revolution. Is this the place to question the common sense of helping to finance a revolution in one country, sending people over to fight in that revolution, and then wondering what caused a revolution in your own country?

Answer: Jacques Necker

So how did a Swiss banker become Director-General of Finance in France? A wealthy Swiss banker and a director of the French East India Company, Necker was appointed by the city of Geneva to be its resident minister in Paris in 1768. Prior to that, he was already making loans to the French government.

As Director-General of Finance he became popular because rather than raising taxes, he used loans and high interest rates in an attempt to help fund the French debt; he also used loans to help finance the American Revolution.

His "Compte rendu au roi", a summary of government monies and expenditures, was the first record of royal finances that was made public in France. Luckily, Necker was dismissed at the beginning of the French Revolution and was able to make his way back to Geneva.