thumbnail

The French Revolution

Can you answer these questions about the French Revolution?
Quiz by Quizmaster
Rate:
Last updated: April 1, 2021
You have not attempted this quiz yet.
First submittedMarch 6, 2018
Times taken19,395
Average score70.0%
Rating4.36
4:00
Enter answer here
0
 / 20 guessed
The quiz is paused. You have remaining.
Scoring
You scored / = %
This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is
Your high score is
Your fastest time is
Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
Question
Answer
What king and queen were beheaded in 1793?
Louis XVI
Marie Antoinette
What device was used to behead them?
Guillotine
What did that queen supposedly say that people should eat if they had no bread?
Cake
Who was elevated to the rank of "First Consul" in 1799, an event usually
considered the end of the Revoluion?
Napoleon Bonaparte
What groups of people comprised the "three estates" prior to the revolution?
Clergy
Nobility
Commoners
What prison was stormed in 1789?
Bastille
On what day of the year was that prison stormed?
July 14th
What Charles Dickens novel is set in London and Paris during the
time of the French Revolution?
A Tale of Two Cities
What is name of the period, in 1793 and 1794, in which thousands were executed?
The Reign of Terror
What small group led France during that period?
Committee of Public Safety
What "incorruptible" and bloodthirsty revolutionary was executed in 1794?
Maximilien Robespierre
What revolutionary motto, first uttered in 1790, is still the national motto of France?
Liberté, egalité, fraternité
France's national anthem was written in 1792. What city is it named after?
Marseille
What atheistic cult was promoted as a replacement for Catholicism?
Cult of Reason
What system of weights and measures was introduced in 1791?
Metric System
Who weren't granted rights by the "Declaration of the Rights of Man"?
Women and slaves
What period of time was increased to 10 days in length?
The Week
+10
Level 66
Mar 6, 2018
Accept "Bastille Day" for day prison was stormed? (This is a joke before any of the usual crowd get your shorts in a knot. However, it might be considered legitimate for those who didn't know the name of the prison!)
+6
Level 36
Jul 14, 2018
Officially French do not celebrate bastille day. They celebrate Federation day which happened a year later at the same date. They choose that date because they didn't want a bloodbath to become celebrate. That didn't worked.
+2
Level 71
Jul 16, 2018
Only 7 prisoners were released on that day and all low level crooks, thieves etc.
+1
Level 66
Jul 19, 2021
This might be a joke but please accept

"The Xth of Y" instead of only "Y Xth"

(knew the right date but only tried the first format and concluded I misremembered)

+1
Level 82
Mar 6, 2018
Could decimal work for metric?
+10
Level 77
Mar 7, 2018
Not the same thing
+3
Level 51
Jul 14, 2018
Could you accept "brotherhood" in addition to fraternity? They are actually the same word in French, and I didn't even think of the word fraternity. I always heard "Liberty, Egality, and Brotherhood"
+2
Level 59
Jul 14, 2018
Sure but at least can you say it with a French accent?
+3
Level 71
Jul 16, 2018
Why would you not say 'Equality' for Egality then?
+2
Level 70
Jul 14, 2018
Robbespiere Robspierre Robespiere Robespierre is hard to spell
+10
Level 81
Jul 16, 2018
Typed in "let them eat cake" a number of times and even tried it in French before reading the question correctly.
+1
Level 76
Nov 6, 2018
I did the exact same thing. Tried 3-4 different answers before finally getting it.
+2
Level 66
Mar 3, 2020
I had "eat cake" and was about to add "let them" in front, but then saw I actually had to erase "eat"
+5
Level 61
Jul 19, 2018
Interesting that in English it's "Committee of Public SAFETY", while in German for example you call it "Wohlfahrtsausschuss", meanning "Committee of Public WELFARE" - the latter seeming closer to the original "comité de SALUT public".
+1
Level 67
Jul 14, 2021
Yes, I'm French and I tried "salute", "salvation", anything I could think of related to "salut public", but hard luck…
+1
Level 75
Jul 14, 2021
Same for me : I tried "salvation", "salute", before having to check on Google how it was translated into English...
+4
Level 76
Jul 14, 2021
I prefer the more accurate "Committee of Public Greetings That May Be Used Among Friends and Acquaintances"
+1
Level 37
Jul 22, 2018
Interesting that Thomas Jefferson, an author of the American "Declaration of Independence" also co-authored the French

"Rights of Man" in 1789. (guess that's why neither document took issue with slavery). Nonetheless, while the French in effect, ended slavery in 1794, it took the United States a good 71 years (1865) to follow suit. Truly the embodiment of a man "who speak with fork tongue".

+5
Level ∞
Apr 1, 2021
No, France did not end slavery in 1794.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism#France

+8
Level 76
Jul 14, 2021
Your source states that it did. It was just reinstated in 1802
+1
Level 59
Jul 19, 2021
Yes, and it was definitely abolished in 1848.
+5
Level 85
Jul 6, 2020
Could "Everybody else" be accepted for the 3rd estate?
+1
Level 40
Jul 14, 2021
i couldn't even get that last estate, because i didn't know it was called "commoners" and was trying many different things lol
+1
Level 53
Jul 14, 2021
Why is "Bourgeosie" an accepted answer for commoner? Shouldn't it really be part of the Nobility??
+2
Level 65
Jul 14, 2021
No. Bourgoise people were commons.
+6
Level 71
Jul 14, 2021
"Bourgeoise" in the French Revolution and "Bourgeoise" in the Communist Manifesto were a bit different (though they ultimately came from the same group of people). In the 1780s-90s, the bourgeoise was made of merchants, businessmen, doctors, lawyers, etc. Despite being educated and relatively rich, these people were still locked out of the political process of the Ancien Regime because they didn't have noble blood, and thus were considered "Commoners." By 1848, due to the Industrial Revolution kicking into high gear, this group of people had much more influence in the economy and government and thus were morphing into the "upper crust" of society, which is why Marx treated them as separate from the working class, which still didn't have many rights.

That's what I learned in high school history anyways. I'm not an expert on this, so if someone has a better explanation, feel free to elaborate!

+3
Level 73
Jul 14, 2021
I was about to say the exact thing! The Bourgeoisie were the upper middle classes. In the Estates General of 1789, they were the representatives of the Third Estate, even though peasants formed the bulk of this particular estate.
+7
Level 73
Jul 14, 2021
For 'Who weren't granted rights by the "Declaration of the Rights of Man"?', I tried 'pigs'...

I'm not wrong you see...

+1
Level 77
Oct 8, 2022
Have you read Animal Farm?
+3
Level 67
Jul 14, 2021
So as a French, I tried "3rd estate", "third estate", "third state"…

We really have this usual expression: clergé, noblesse et tiers-état. "Commoner" (roturier in French) is absolutely never used in that context (though it is historically accurate).

Could you accept "third estate"?

+1
Level 75
Jul 14, 2021
Same here (again!) : I tried "third estate" and finally typed "people", just in case, and it was accepted!
+1
Level 70
Jul 14, 2021
I agree, I was even more baffled when I finally got the answer right by typing peasant even though peasants are only a part of the Third Estate.
+3
Level 62
Jul 14, 2021
I was surprised the quiz doesn't accept the Cult of the Supreme Being (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_the_Supreme_Being)
+2
Level 31
Jul 15, 2021
yep ! this is exactly what i tried for a long time and is a n equally acceptable answer. And in many ways is actually a more suitable answer to the prompt - given that it was specifically intended to replace Catholicism
+2
Level 50
Jan 13, 2024
not really as it wasn't an atheistic religion but a deistic one
+1
Level 50
Jan 13, 2024
the cult of the supreme being is a 'deistic' religion not an atheistic one
+1
Level 68
Jul 14, 2021
What is the Third Estate? Everything.

What has it been until now in the political order? Nothing.

What does it ask? To become something.

+1
Level 69
Jul 14, 2021
It was very annoying knowing the date of the storming of the Bastille prison but not being able to type it in a way expected by the quiz maker.
+2
Level 71
Jul 14, 2021
The French Revolution is probably one of my favorite historical events and something I really want to learn more about. Great quiz!
+3
Level 64
Jul 14, 2021
If you're not already dug deep want a very readable, general-audience history of it that doesn't sacrifice detail or analysis, Simon Schama's Citizens is an excellent overview of the revolution.
+2
Level 71
Jul 15, 2021
Cool, I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion!
+1
Level 68
Jul 14, 2021
Happy Bastille Day Everyone!
+1
Level 62
Jul 14, 2021
Apparently, Cult of Personality doesn't work
+2
Level 76
Jul 14, 2021
That is because it's an incorrect answer.
+3
Level 41
Jul 15, 2021
I guessed Taco Bell Crunch Wrap supreme because I watch too much OverSimplified
+1
Level 59
Jul 15, 2021
excellent. thanks for the quizz.

you could also accept "buns" instead of "cake", according to the fact that the french word is "brioches", not "gateaux"

+1
Level 31
Jul 15, 2021
Cult of the supreme being - established by Robespierre should also be an entirely acceptable answer to the prompt
+1
Level 50
Jan 13, 2024
it's not atheistic so no
+2
Level 48
Dec 30, 2021
Learned most of these from Oversimplified.
+1
Level 73
Feb 4, 2022
As already mentioned, the cult of supreme being was also established by Robespierre and was a replacement for Catholicism.
+1
Level 50
Jan 13, 2024
robespierre didn't promote the cult of reason and it was deistic religion so it's not a correct answer?
+1
Level 25
May 23, 2022
the face thumbnail
+2
Level 49
Sep 20, 2023
« egalité » is written with an acute accent on the first e : « égalité ».