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WorksheetsThe French Revolution: Causes and Early Crisis
Total questions: 37
Worksheet time: 19mins
Why did Louis XIV build Versailles outside the city limits of Paris?
To reduce Paris taxes on royal property
To protect trade routes and river traffic
To be closer to France’s agricultural heartland
To put distance between himself and subjects
To centralize ministries near parliament
At what age did Louis XVI marry Marie Antoinette?
19 years old
15 years old
13 years old
21 years old
17 years old
What was the main purpose of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette’s marriage?
A political alliance between Austria and France
A romantic union favored by the public
A trade partnership to expand colonies
A religious compromise to appease clergy
A military arrangement to fight Prussia
Was Marie Antoinette interested in political affairs, and why?
No, she was considered too young and unprepared
Yes, she sought to reform tax systems
Yes, she campaigned for peasant rights
Yes, she actively shaped foreign alliances
No, court tradition strictly forbade queens
What was life like outside the gates of Versailles in the late 1780s?
Rural markets experienced cheap bread
Peasant harvests exceeded demand
Tax burdens eased for commoners
Urban workers enjoyed steady wages
Many citizens were deprived and hungry
Into how many estates was France divided before the Revolution?
Five estates: monarchy and four orders
Three estates: First, Second, Third
Two estates: nobles and commoners
Six estates based on professions
Four estates: clergy, nobles, towns, peasants
What intellectual movement was spreading through Europe and France before the Revolution?
Mercantilism
Scholasticism
Romanticism
Absolutism
The Enlightenment
Whom did Louis XVI support during the American War for Independence?
Neutral Dutch merchants
Spanish royalists
The British crown
Prussian auxiliaries
The American colonists
What major factor contributed to France’s bankruptcy in the 1780s?
Overproduction of luxury goods alone
Elimination of noble tax exemptions
Closure of Versailles workshops
Loss of Canadian fur revenues only
Cost of supporting the American colonists
What were Marie Antoinette’s favored leisure activities at court?
Fashion, elaborate hairdos, gambling, plays
Hunting, military drills, fencing lessons
Embroidery, hymn writing, portrait painting
Pilgrimages, charity fasts, convent retreats
Botany, scientific salons, bookbinding
Which food was central to the French diet and unrest in this period?
Wine
Olive oil
Cheese
Beef
Bread
Which problems struck France in 1788–1789 and fueled crisis?
Heavy taxes, harsh winter, food shortages
Religious war, papal decree, iconoclasm
Colonial rebellion, slave uprising, epidemics
Peasant land surplus, wage inflation, booms
Silver glut, export collapse, trade embargoes
Due to mismanagement, the cost of which staple product soared under Louis XVI?
Wine
Tea
Butter
Salt
Flour
Jacques Necker advised Louis XVI to call a meeting of which body?
The Estates-General
The Royal Council
The Paris Parlement
The National Guard
The Directory
Roughly what share of the population did the First and Second Estates comprise compared to the Third?
About 40% versus about 60%
About 25% versus about 75%
About 50% versus about 50%
About 3% versus about 97%
About 10% versus about 90%
Robespierre emerged as a representative of which estate?
The Third Estate
The First Estate
The Second Estate
The Clerical Estate
The Royal Estate
What commitment did deputies make at the Tennis Court Oath on June 20?
They would invite foreign mediators to negotiate
They would not disband until a new constitution existed
They would abolish noble titles without delay
They would elect a king bound by divine right
They would immediately form a republic by decree
What is the name of the oath they take at the tennis court?
Oath of Paris
Versailles Vow
Tennis Court Oath
Bastille Pledge
Where do the people go to find gunpowder on July 14?
The Bastille
Hôtel de Ville
The Tuileries
The Louvre
On July 14, the Paris flag shows red and blue for Paris. What does the white represent?
House of Bourbon
Truce of Paris
Urban workers
Clergy estates
Which revolutionary tradition emerges from the fall of the Bastille?
Severed head paraded on a pike
Royal pardons for rebels
Removing church tithes only
Secret ballots for votes
What do the people physically do to the Bastille during the uprising?
Set it entirely on fire
Dismantle it brick by brick
Convert it into barracks
Wall it off from streets
What does the Declaration of the Rights of Man proclaim?
Class distinctions abolished, everyone equal
Only tax reforms enacted
Clergy gains more privileges
Bourbon succession reaffirmed
What was Jean‑Paul Marat’s role during the revolution?
Wrote a newspaper called The Friend of the People
Commanded the National Guard in Paris
Drafted the civil constitution
Negotiated with foreign monarchs
Which group marched to Versailles over bread shortages?
Provincial nobles
Fearsome fish ladies
Royal musketeers’ wives
Urban guild masters
What did the angry crowd at Versailles demand from the king and queen?
Declare war on Austria at once
Restore feudal dues across France
Disband the National Guard immediately
Sign the Declaration of Rights and move to Paris
On June 21, 1791, what do the King and Queen try to do under cover of darkness?
Escape to Austria
Seize the Bastille
Arrest the Jacobins
Sail for Britain
What was nicknamed the “national razor”?
Pike
Axe
Sabre
Guillotine
Does Robespierre want to go to war with Austria at first, and why?
No, he thinks the enemy will win
No, because war is too costly
Yes, to unite the nation fast
Yes, to purge the nobles quickly
Which two nations begin war and invade France in 1792?
Russia and Italy
Spain and Britain
Austria and Prussia
Sweden and Savoy
How can the birth of the French Republic begin according to radicals?
With the death of Louis XVI
With a new tax charter
With a restored monarchy
With clerical reforms
What is the symbol of the sans‑culottes?
Silver liberty bells
Red and white cockades
Golden fleur‑de‑lis badges
Those refusing traditional knee breeches
What does the National Assembly later become known as?
The Convention
The Directory
The Commune
The Estates
Who rallies France against the Austrian and Prussian invasion with the call for boldness?
Camille Desmoulins
Maximilien Robespierre
Georges Danton
Jean‑Paul Marat
What are the September Massacres?
Clergy lead peasant uprisings in Vendée
Royalists attack the Paris Commune leaders
Prussian soldiers sack northern towns
Sans‑culottes execute 1,600 enemies without trials
What do the Jacobins decide should be done with the king?
Exile him to Britain
Restore him with limits
Kill the king for treason
Imprison him for life
Jean‑Paul Marat once urged executing 2,000. Later he calls for how many?
200,000
20,000
5,000
100,000
