French Revolution

Are you going to need to know about the French Revolution for your upcoming AP World History Exam? Mais Oui! The French Revolution was one of the most important events in the modern era and we guarantee you, it is going to pop up in the exam, one way or another. Plus, it’s a totally fascinating history, full of backstabbing, revolution, and an eventual happy ending!

We’ve created this AP World History review in order to get you the best bang for your revolutionary buck. First, we will go through a quick review of the most important events of the French Revolution, from its background all the way to its aftermath. But most importantly, this AP World History review on the French Revolution ends with an analysis of how the topic is most likely to appear on the exam, including an example Free Response Question from a previous year. So, join us on this revolutionary quest and get that much closer to earning a 5 on your AP World History Exam.

By the way, in case you don’t understand French, Mais Oui means “but of course!”

The Origins of the French Revolution

Revolution came about due to a mixture of bad luck, stupid marketing, and long held resentment. First, by the end of the 1770s, the French monarchy was heavily in debt. Numerous wars and bad finances put the country into monetary disarray, which ultimately lead to a number of very unpopular taxes across the country. Second, drought hit the country hard. Food was hard to come by and bread was getting more expensive, leading to riots. Third, the Third Estate (or the people) was getting tired of the elitist snobbery of the clergy (First Estate) and the Aristocracy (Second Estate). They joined in with an emerging new class, called the bourgeoisie, and started calling for a better life.

The French Revolution and the Enlightenment

And who do you blame for all of this mess? The king. King Louis the XVI had been held responsible for the vast majority of these problems. But this also has a little bit of a background as well.

During the 18th century, ideas about the Enlightenment were spreading like wildfire. Political philosophers and radical thinkers across the Western world were questioning the rule of monarchical ruler, thinking up ways that democracies and republics could create a new kind of order. John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and even Thomas Jefferson could be considered amongst their numbers.

Speaking of the Americans, the American Revolution played a role here as well. They actually did it; they revolted against their monarch and became a republic by 1776. The French were so itching to do the same.

The French Revolution

Since this is an AP World History crash course on the French Revolution, we are going to be brief here. But make sure you spend more time looking up the events that we simply cannot cover here.

OK, so all of this eventually led to violence. In 1789, the Third Estate, with the help of French intellectuals and radicals like Maximilien Robespierre, created something called the Estates-General. And they started making demands.

But those demands were rarely met, so this group of thinkers and fighters got the Third Estate together and stormed the Bastille (basically a prison and symbol of the king’s power) in Paris in July of 1789, showing King Louis that they were willing to put up a fight if push came to shove.

Soon after that, they created the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in the same year. In October of 189, the Estates-General got some help when a crowd of women began rioting in Paris over the price of bread. They all marched over to the King’s palace in Versailles and demanded some changes.

And they got some of them.

The French Revolution and the Decline of the Monarchy

These radicals convinced the monarch to provide certain constitutional liberties, like the freedom of speech. They also eroded the king’s power and destabilized feudalism in the country. But this was just OK. Now, factions began to split off. Some still hated the king, some still loved him, some wanted socialism, some wanted democracy. Either way, the revolution kept going. Eventually, Louis was executed in 1793 after a series of struggles and battles, and the Republic was formed. But that’s not all! The revolutionaries got greedy. They started to expand French territory. Robespierre led the Committee of Public Safety and basically became a dictator, executing all of his enemies with the newly invented guillotine. This has become known as the Reign of Terror. Ultimately, Robespierre falls to his own implement of death as the French people tired of his rule. Something called the Directory took over until Napoleon overthrew them and started a new era of empire. Whew.