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Silhouetted guillotine with Phrygian cap on a pike, torn tricolour flag, torch-lit crowd and broken crown
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HistoryHard

The French Revolution: 1789 and Beyond

Robespierre the Incorruptible was guillotined in 1794 after embodying the Terror. Louis XVI fell on January 21, 1793, Marie-Antoinette nine months later. Cross through the French Revolution.

20

Questions

4

Minutes

Tip: Use keys 1-4 to answer quickly

The 20 quiz questions

Question 1 : What was the name of the assembly that adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen?

Possible answers:

  • Convention nationale
  • Directoire
  • Estates-General
  • National Constituent Assembly

Explanation: The National Constituent Assembly adopted the Declaration on August 26, 1789. This founding text proclaims the natural and inalienable rights of man.

Question 2 : Which revolutionary was nicknamed "the Incorruptible"?

Possible answers:

  • Robespierre
  • Saint-Just
  • Danton
  • Marat

Explanation: Maximilien de Robespierre was nicknamed "the Incorruptible" for his moral integrity. He was one of the main figures of the Terror before being guillotined in 1794.

Question 3 : Which King of France was executed during the French Revolution, on 21 January 1793?

Possible answers:

  • Louis XVI
  • Louis XV
  • Louis XVIII
  • Louis XIV

Explanation: Louis XVI was guillotined on January 21, 1793 at Place de la Révolution (now Place de la Concorde), convicted of high treason. His wife Marie-Antoinette suffered the same fate 9 months later.

Question 4 : What event on June 20, 1789 saw deputies swear not to separate until they had given France a Constitution?

Possible answers:

  • Festival of the Federation
  • Night of August 4th
  • Tennis Court Oath
  • Prise des Tuileries

Explanation: The Tennis Court Oath was sworn in a real tennis court in Versailles when Third Estate deputies found their hall locked.

Question 5 : Which Queen of France was guillotined on October 16, 1793?

Possible answers:

  • Marie-Antoinette
  • Marie Leszczyńska
  • Anne d'Autriche
  • Marie de' Medici

Explanation: Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, was executed nine months after her husband. She is famous for the (apocryphal) phrase "Let them eat cake".

Question 6 : What is the name of the violent repression period led by the Committee of Public Safety in 1793-1794?

Possible answers:

  • The June Days
  • The Thermidorian Reaction
  • The Great Fear
  • The Reign of Terror

Explanation: The Reign of Terror (September 1793 - July 1794) saw the execution of thousands of "suspects". It ended with Robespierre's fall on 9 Thermidor.

Question 7 : Which French doctor gave his name to the execution instrument used during the Revolution?

Possible answers:

  • Guillotin
  • Bichat
  • Sanson
  • Laennec

Explanation: Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin proposed this machine to make executions more "humane". Ironically, he was opposed to the death penalty.

Question 8 : Which motto originated from the French Revolution?

Possible answers:

  • Fluctuat nec mergitur
  • Unity is strength
  • Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
  • Work, Family, Fatherland

Explanation: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" became the motto of the French Republic, enshrined in the Constitution. It appears on public buildings and coins.

Question 9 : Which revolutionary journalist was assassinated in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday?

Possible answers:

  • Desmoulins
  • Marat
  • Hébert
  • Brissot

Explanation: Jean-Paul Marat, editor of "L'Ami du peuple", was stabbed on July 13, 1793. His assassination was immortalized in Jacques-Louis David's painting.

Question 10 : What event on August 4, 1789 abolished feudal privileges?

Possible answers:

  • Tennis Court Oath
  • Night of August 4th
  • Storming of the Bastille
  • Fuite à Varennes

Explanation: The Night of August 4th saw the Constituent Assembly abolish seigneurial privileges, tithes, and corvées. It was the official end of the Ancien Régime.

Question 11 : In June 1791, where was the royal family arrested during their escape attempt?

Possible answers:

  • Strasbourg
  • Metz
  • Varennes
  • Montmédy

Explanation: Louis XVI and his family were recognized and arrested in Varennes-en-Argonne, near the border. This event definitively discredited the king.

Question 12 : Which revolutionary political club met in a former Dominican convent?

Possible answers:

  • Club Breton
  • Club des Feuillants
  • Club des Cordeliers
  • Club des Jacobins

Explanation: The Jacobin Club (officially "Society of the Friends of the Constitution") met at the Jacobin convent. Robespierre was its most influential leader.

Question 13 : Which calendar was established in 1793 to break with the Christian era?

Possible answers:

  • Calendrier national
  • Revolutionary calendar
  • Republican calendar
  • Calendrier julien

Explanation: The Republican Calendar, created by Fabre d'Églantine, had 12 months of 30 days with poetic names (Vendémiaire, Brumaire...). It was abandoned in 1806.

Question 14 : What were the volunteer soldiers who defended Revolutionary France against European armies called?

Possible answers:

  • The Federates
  • The National Guards
  • The Chouans
  • The Volunteers of Year II

Explanation: The sans-culottes were popular revolutionaries, but armies were composed of volunteers and then conscripts following the levée en masse of 1793.

Question 15 : Which Corsican general seized power in the coup of 18 Brumaire, ending the Revolution?

Possible answers:

  • Hoche
  • Lafayette
  • Napoléon Bonaparte
  • Dumouriez

Explanation: Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the Directory on November 9, 1799 (18 Brumaire Year VIII). He became First Consul then Emperor of the French in 1804.

Question 16 : What symbol represents the French Republic, often wearing a Phrygian cap?

Possible answers:

  • The Fatherland
  • Marianne
  • Reason
  • Liberty

Explanation: Marianne is the allegory of the Republic and Liberty. Her bust adorns town halls and her face appears on French postage stamps.

Question 17 : Which revolutionary political group was named after a region in southwestern France?

Possible answers:

  • The Vendéens
  • The Girondins
  • The Bretons
  • The Provençals

Explanation: The Girondins (from Gironde) were moderate deputies opposed to the Montagnards. Many were guillotined in 1793.

Question 18 : Which 1792 battle was the first major victory of the revolutionary armies against the Prussians?

Possible answers:

  • Valmy
  • Fleurus
  • Jemmapes
  • Austerlitz

Explanation: The Battle of Valmy (September 20, 1792) stopped the Prussian invasion. Goethe declared: "From this place and this day begins a new epoch in world history."

Question 19 : Which political regime succeeded the National Convention in 1795?

Possible answers:

  • The Consulate
  • The Empire
  • Constitutional Monarchy
  • The Directory

Explanation: The Directory (1795-1799) was a regime of five directors. Weakened by corruption and instability, it was overthrown by Bonaparte.

Question 20 : Which event of July 14, 1789 marks the symbolic beginning of the French Revolution?

Possible answers:

  • The flight to Varennes
  • The Night of August 4
  • The storming of the Bastille
  • The Tennis Court Oath

Explanation: The storming of the Bastille freed only 7 prisoners, but the symbol of a royal fortress overthrown by the people became the founding myth. July 14 became a national holiday in 1880.

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