AP European History:: Unit 5

The French Revolution (beginning in 1789), a very significant political upheaval that fundamentally transformed French government and society, is generally attributed by historians to a combination of significant causal factors, most significantly including:

- **A)** The French Revolution's own significant causes having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant fiscal crisis, social inequality, or the broader significant Enlightenment intellectual influence already discussed in an earlier unit
- **B)** A single, isolated cause with no meaningful contribution from any other significant factor of any kind, a characterization that significantly oversimplifies the genuinely complex, multi-causal origins of the French Revolution already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **C)** A complete absence of any significant social or economic grievance of any kind among the French population prior to 1789, a characterization that directly contradicts the very significant, well-documented social and economic grievances already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit's broader coverage
- **D)** Significant French royal fiscal crisis (worsened considerably by French financial support for the American Revolution and the very considerable costs of earlier significant conflicts such as the Seven Years' War, both already discussed in an earlier unit), pronounced social inequality under France's own significant Estates system (which granted the privileged First and Second Estates considerable exemption from taxation, placing a very significant tax burden on the comparatively less privileged Third Estate), and significant Enlightenment intellectual influence already discussed in an earlier unit - this combination of factors illustrates a further significant example of the genuinely complex, multi-causal nature of significant revolutions already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit

The significant Estates-General, a French representative assembly convened by King Louis XVI in 1789 amid the significant fiscal crisis already discussed above, is historically notable primarily for:

- **A)** The Estates-General having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant early stages of the French Revolution, or the broader significant fiscal and political crisis already discussed above
- **B)** Its own significant convening providing the immediate occasion for representatives of the comparatively less privileged Third Estate (already discussed above) to break away and form the significant National Assembly, directly initiating the French Revolution's own early significant political transformation - the Estates-General's own significant convening and subsequent transformation into the National Assembly illustrates a further significant example of how a specific, seemingly limited political convening could directly generate very considerable further revolutionary political consequence
- **C)** An assembly that had, in fact, no meaningful connection of any kind to the French Revolution's own actual, well-documented beginning, a characterization that significantly understates this specific assembly's own actual, well-documented direct role in initiating the French Revolution
- **D)** An assembly convened considerably after, rather than at the very beginning of, the French Revolution, a characterization that inaccurately reverses this specific assembly's own actual, well-documented role in directly initiating, rather than following, the French Revolution's own early stages

The significant storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789), a significant early event of the French Revolution, is historically notable primarily as:

- **A)** The storming of the Bastille having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant popular revolutionary action, or the broader significant early French Revolution already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** A comparatively peaceful, entirely symbolic event with no meaningful popular participation of any kind, a characterization that understates this specific event's own actual, well-documented significant popular participation and considerable symbolic and practical significance
- **C)** An event that occurred considerably after, rather than during, the early stages of the French Revolution, a characterization that inaccurately misplaces this specific event's own actual, well-documented July 1789 timing, consistent with the early French Revolution
- **D)** A significant early act of popular revolutionary violence, in which Parisian crowds seized a significant royal fortress and prison, becoming a powerful, enduring symbol of popular resistance to royal authority and the broader French Revolution itself - the storming of the Bastille illustrates a further significant example of how significant popular political action, extending beyond the more elite-led National Assembly already discussed above, contributed directly to the broader significant revolutionary transformation covered throughout this unit

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted by the French National Assembly in 1789 during the early French Revolution (already discussed above), is historically notable primarily for:

- **A)** Articulating significant Enlightenment political principles (already discussed in an earlier unit), including natural rights, popular sovereignty, and legal equality, as the foundational principles for a new, revolutionary French political order - the Declaration's own significant articulation illustrates a further significant example of how the American Declaration of Independence's own earlier significant precedent directly influenced subsequent revolutionary political documents, connecting to this unit's broader comparative coverage of significant revolutionary political philosophy already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** The Declaration having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant Enlightenment political principles, or the broader significant revolutionary political philosophy already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **C)** Explicitly reaffirming France's own traditional absolutist monarchy and rigid Estates system, a characterization that directly contradicts the Declaration's own actual, well-documented significant challenge to traditional absolutist and hierarchical political authority
- **D)** A document adopted considerably before the French Revolution itself began, a characterization that inaccurately misplaces this specific significant historical document's own actual, well-documented 1789 adoption during the early French Revolution

The Women's March on Versailles (October 1789), a significant early episode of the French Revolution, is historically notable primarily for:

- **A)** The Women's March having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant popular revolutionary participation, or the broader significant social composition of the French Revolution already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** A march organized and led substantially by wealthy French aristocratic women, a characterization that does not accurately reflect this specific event's own actual, well-documented composition substantially of working-class Parisian women
- **C)** Involving considerable numbers of working-class Parisian women marching to Versailles substantially in protest of bread shortages and high food prices, ultimately compelling King Louis XVI and the royal family to relocate from Versailles to Paris, placing the monarchy under considerably closer popular and revolutionary oversight - the Women's March illustrates a further significant example of how the French Revolution's own significant popular support extended considerably beyond elite political assemblies already discussed above to include very considerable participation from working-class populations, including women
- **D)** An event that generated no meaningful political consequence of any kind, a characterization that significantly understates this specific event's own actual, well-documented significant political consequence, including compelling the royal family's own relocation to Paris

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790), a significant French revolutionary legislative measure, is historically notable primarily for:

- **A)** The Civil Constitution of the Clergy having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant French revolutionary religious policy, or the broader significant tension between revolutionary reform and traditional Catholic institutional authority already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** Substantially subordinating the French Catholic Church to state political authority, requiring clergy to swear an oath of loyalty to the new revolutionary constitution, generating very considerable religious and political controversy, as many French clergy and Catholic believers resisted this significant measure - the Civil Constitution of the Clergy illustrates a further significant example of how the French Revolution's own significant political transformation already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit could generate very considerable religious controversy and social division
- **C)** A measure that significantly strengthened, rather than subordinated, the French Catholic Church's own independent institutional authority, a characterization that directly reverses this specific measure's own actual, well-documented significant subordination, rather than strengthening, of Church authority
- **D)** A measure that generated no meaningful controversy or resistance of any kind, a characterization that significantly understates the very significant, well-documented controversy and resistance this specific measure generated

The significant execution of King Louis XVI in 1793, during the increasingly radical phase of the French Revolution, illustrates:

- **A)** The execution of Louis XVI having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant French revolutionary radicalization, or the broader significant later phases of the French Revolution already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** A comparatively moderate, non-violent phase of the French Revolution, a characterization that directly contradicts this specific event's own actual, well-documented very significant, violent radicalization already implicit in this unit's broader coverage of the Reign of Terror
- **C)** A further significant example of the increasingly radical direction the French Revolution took as it progressed, directly illustrating the significant, decisive break from France's own traditional monarchical political authority already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit's broader coverage of the French Revolution - the execution of Louis XVI illustrates a further significant example of how a significant political revolution could progress toward increasingly radical, decisive rejection of previously existing political authority
- **D)** An execution that occurred considerably before, rather than during, the French Revolution's own increasingly radical phase, a characterization that inaccurately misplaces this specific significant event's own actual, well-documented 1793 timing during this specific radical phase

The Reign of Terror (1793-1794), a significant, extremely violent phase of the French Revolution led substantially by Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety, is historically notable primarily for:

- **A)** Very significant political violence, including considerable use of the guillotine to execute individuals perceived as enemies of the Revolution, reflecting a significant radicalization of French revolutionary politics as internal and external pressures (including foreign military threats from neighboring monarchies and internal political division) considerably intensified - the Reign of Terror's own extremely violent character illustrates a further significant example of how a significant political revolution could develop increasingly radical and violent phases
- **B)** The Reign of Terror having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant revolutionary political violence, or the broader significant radicalization of the French Revolution already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **C)** A comparatively peaceful, non-violent phase of the French Revolution, a characterization that directly contradicts the Reign of Terror's own actual, well-documented extremely violent character
- **D)** A phase that occurred considerably before the French Revolution itself began, a characterization that inaccurately misplaces this specific significant historical phase's own actual, well-documented 1793-1794 timing during, rather than before, the French Revolution