Can You Ace This Quiz on the French Revolution, Citizen?

Almost no aspect of French society was untouched by the French Revolution, including how people counted the days. In October 1793, France instituted the Republican Calendar, reorganizing the months, naming them after natural elements, and stripping away saint days and other Christian connotations. The calendar survived for more than a decade until it was abandoned by Napoleon in 1806.

Marie Antoinette was born on November 2, 1755, in Vienna, Austria, which was then a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Marie Antoinette was 14 when she married the heir to the French throne, Louis XVI, and entered a country already suspicious of Austria and its imperial ambitions. Her lavish lifestyle didn’t help her cause, and the foreign queen soon became an easy target for revolutionaries.

The world was rapidly changing in 1789. The monarchy that guided feudalism for centuries was dangerously out of touch, food shortages affected every corner of the kingdom, and the rise of Enlightenment ideals — displayed during the American Revolution — inspired millions that a better future was possible. However, Britain watched France’s revolution from the sidelines.

Seen at the outset of the French Revolution as dangerously radical, the Jacobins inched closer to the top of the pack until they held the reins of power during the Reign of Terror (September 5, 1793, to July 27, 1794) under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre. The party fell from power in July 1794 and the Jacobin Club closed months later — but its effect on world history would last forever.

The guillotine seems like a barbaric device today, but that wasn’t the intent of its advocate, French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin. Guillotines had been around since the Middle Ages, but it was Guillotin who advocated for their widespread use. Although against capital punishment, Guillotin saw the device as more humane than other methods. However, he later tried to distance himself from its use.

Scandals littered the French Revolution. For example, Marie Antoinette’s ties to an overly opulent diamond necklace in 1785 revealed the monarchy’s indifference to the poor. The 1789 dismissal of Jacques Necker — a financier attempting to salvage the economy — directly led to the storming of the Bastille. Additionally, the royal family’s attempted escape and subsequent capture in Varennes in 1791 sealed their ultimate fates.

The French Revolution was so pervasive, it even affected fashion. The “sans-culotte,” meaning “without knee breeches,” was a militant faction representing the common people during the French Revolution, who were especially active during the “Reign of Terror” (September 5, 1793, to July 27, 1794). Their wardrobe defined their cause, as they wore pantalons instead of the knee-high breeches that were favored by the upper classes.

The French Revolution was filled with famous faces, including some familiar ones from the American Revolution, such as Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette. Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and Jean-Paul Marat were all significant figures in the struggle. But while Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ideas in “The Social Contract” ignited a fire within many French revolutionaries, the famous philosopher died more than a decade before the fall of the Bastille.

On June 20, 1789, the Third Estate, also called the National Assembly — a body representing the French people (except the nobility and clergy) — found the doors of their Versailles meeting hall locked. Thinking the king had ordered its dissolution, the assembly went to a nearby tennis court and took an oath to never disband until France had a written constitution.

The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 world’s fair in Paris to mark the centennial of the French Revolution. Though the wrought-iron landmark is now an iconic symbol of the City of Light, the Eiffel Tower was less popular with the Parisian public when it debuted — some even protested its construction and called the design “monstrous.” But it was also meant to be a temporary exhibition and was slated for dismantling in 1909. Fortunately, the landmark was spared from destruction when its value as a radio tower was realized; ever since, it has remained the most recognizable feature of the Paris skyline.

Charles Dickens' 1859 classic "A Tale of Two Cities" does indeed, span two cities — London and Paris. The story's backdrop is the period before and during the French Revolution, although it's been criticized by historians for playing fast and loose with accuracy. While "A Tale of Two Cities" isn't Dickens' most critically beloved work, it is considered his bestselling. And its opening line is among the most famous in literature: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…"

After fighting in the American Revolution and earning the admiration of the nation, the Marquis de Lafayette returned to France in 1782 as the “Hero of Two Worlds.” He then helped guide the French Revolution in its early days, and led the Paris National Guard, a militia founded to maintain order during the uprising.

In 1789, King Louis XVI summoned the Estates General for the first time since 1614. The Estates General was an assembly representing the three estates: the clergy (First Estate), nobility (Second Estate), and commoners (Third Estate). Louis XVI's goal in summoning them was to address problems within the government, but the Third Estate objected to the proceedings and their lack of power within them, and broke off to form the National Assembly, which sparked the start of the revolution.

A lawyer and statesman, Maximilien Robespierre was well known for his attacks on the clergy and his staunch advocacy for democracy. After the French king’s execution in 1793, Robespierre gained enormous power. For the next 18 months, he oversaw a bloody period of executions of “enemies of the revolution” that became known as the “Reign of Terror.”

In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte led a coup d'etat against the First French Republic and became the leader of a new government called the French Consulate. The event effectively marked the end of the French Revolution, leading to the rise of Emperor Napoleon I and the First French Empire.

The revolutionary cockade (a knot of ribbon worn on a hat), worn by the king only three days after the fall of the Bastille, represented the colors red, blue, and white. The colors red and blue had long been associated with Paris, and the added white represented the Bourbon royal dynasty. In 1795, the French First Republic adopted what we know today as the Tricolore as the flag of France.

Witness to the early events of the French Revolution, Thomas Jefferson helped the Marquis de Lafayette draft France’s “The Declaration of the Rights of Man.” Lafayette asked for Jefferson’s “observations” in a letter dated July 9, 1789. The “Rights of Man” became a preamble to France’s various constitutions throughout the revolution.

On October 5, 1789, Parisians awoke to women outraged over the scarcity of bread. Growing into the thousands, the group channeled its anger into a six-hour march to Versailles. The women (and a few men) laid siege to the palace, almost capturing Queen Marie Antoinette. The king addressed the crowd to de-escalate the situation, but the crowd still forced the royal court to relocate to Paris.

In 1774, Louis-Auguste succeeded his grandfather to become King Louis XVI of France. While extremely well-learned, Louis XVI was unprepared and incapable of handling the various crises facing the country. Although he was at first a supporter of reform, his growing reluctance — and his attempt to flee Paris — ultimately sentenced him to the guillotine, with revolutionaries calling him “Louis the Last.”

At mid-morning on July 14, 1789, a crowd of Parisians gathered outside the Bastille Saint-Antoine, a medieval prison fortress, and stormed its walls. At the time, the Bastille held only seven prisoners and the king planned on demolishing it, but the mob moved faster than its monarch. The conquered Bastille stood as a symbol of liberty throughout the French Revolution.