French Revolution – MCQs
NCERT PATHSALA
French Revolution – MCQs
1. When did the French Revolution begin?
A) 1776
B) 1789
C) 1799
D) 1804
Answer: B) 1789
2. What was the primary cause of the French Revolution?
A) The invasion of France by Prussia
B) The rise of Napoleon
C) Social inequality and economic hardship
D) Discovery of America
Answer: C) Social inequality and economic hardship
3. Which event is considered the symbolic start of the French Revolution?
A) The execution of Louis XVI
B) The Tennis Court Oath
C) The Storming of the Bastille
D) The formation of the National Assembly
Answer: C) The Storming of the Bastille
4. What was the Bastille?
A) A palace
B) A church
C) A fortress and prison
D) A parliament
Answer: C) A fortress and prison
5. Which estate paid the most taxes in pre-revolutionary France?
A) First Estate (Clergy)
B) Second Estate (Nobility)
C) Third Estate (Commoners)
D) None paid taxes
Answer: C) Third Estate (Commoners)
6. Who wrote The Social Contract, influencing revolutionary ideas?
A) Voltaire
B) Rousseau
C) Montesquieu
D) Diderot
Answer: B) Rousseau
7. The National Assembly was primarily made up of members of which estate?
A) First
B) Second
C) Third
D) Clergy
Answer: C) Third
8. What was the Reign of Terror?
A) A peaceful reform phase
B) A war with Austria
C) A period of mass executions
D) A royal celebration
Answer: C) A period of mass executions
9. Who led the Reign of Terror?
A) Robespierre
B) Napoleon
C) Louis XVI
D) Danton
Answer: A) Robespierre
10. Which form of government replaced the monarchy after the revolution?
A) Dictatorship
B) Absolute Monarchy
C) Republic
D) Oligarchy
Answer: C) Republic
French Revolution – MCQs (11 to 50)
11. Who was the king of France at the start of the French Revolution?
A) Louis XIV
B) Louis XV
C) Louis XVI
D) Napoleon Bonaparte
Answer: C) Louis XVI
12. What was the Estates-General?
A) A revolutionary group
B) The French Parliament
C) A noble estate
D) A royal army
Answer: B) The French Parliament
13. What was the name of the promise made by the National Assembly members at a tennis court?
A) The Social Contract
B) The Tennis Court Oath
C) The Rights of Man
D) The Reign of Liberty
Answer: B) The Tennis Court Oath
14. Which document declared the rights of French citizens during the revolution?
A) Napoleonic Code
B) Magna Carta
C) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
D) Civil Constitution
Answer: C) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
15. Who authored the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen?
A) Napoleon
B) Voltaire
C) Marquis de Lafayette
D) Robespierre
Answer: C) Marquis de Lafayette
16. What happened to King Louis XVI during the Revolution?
A) He escaped to Austria
B) He abdicated the throne
C) He was executed by guillotine
D) He was exiled to Corsica
Answer: C) He was executed by guillotine
17. What was Marie Antoinette’s origin?
A) French
B) Austrian
C) Spanish
D) Prussian
Answer: B) Austrian
18. What device became the symbol of the Reign of Terror?
A) Axe
B) Guillotine
C) Sword
D) Rifle
Answer: B) Guillotine
19. Which revolutionary leader was eventually executed by his own government?
A) Napoleon
B) Marat
C) Robespierre
D) Danton
Answer: C) Robespierre
20. Which group represented the most radical part of the revolution?
A) Girondins
B) Jacobins
C) Monarchists
D) Royalists
Answer: B) Jacobins
21. Who were the sans-culottes?
A) Aristocrats
B) Clergy members
C) Working-class revolutionaries
D) Royal bodyguards
Answer: C) Working-class revolutionaries
22. What was the fate of Marie Antoinette?
A) She escaped
B) She ruled after Louis XVI
C) She was exiled
D) She was executed
Answer: D) She was executed
23. What type of government did Napoleon Bonaparte eventually establish?
A) Constitutional Monarchy
B) Absolute Monarchy
C) Empire
D) RepublicFrench Revolution – MCQs
1. When did the French Revolution begin?
A) 1776
B) 1789
C) 1799
D) 1804
Answer: B) 1789
2. What was the primary cause of the French Revolution?
A) The invasion of France by Prussia
B) The rise of Napoleon
C) Social inequality and economic hardship
D) Discovery of America
Answer: C) Social inequality and economic hardship
3. Which event is considered the symbolic start of the French Revolution?
A) The execution of Louis XVI
B) The Tennis Court Oath
C) The Storming of the Bastille
D) The formation of the National Assembly
Answer: C) The Storming of the Bastille
4. What was the Bastille?
A) A palace
B) A church
C) A fortress and prison
D) A parliament
Answer: C) A fortress and prison
5. Which estate paid the most taxes in pre-revolutionary France?
A) First Estate (Clergy)
B) Second Estate (Nobility)
C) Third Estate (Commoners)
D) None paid taxes
Answer: C) Third Estate (Commoners)
6. Who wrote The Social Contract, influencing revolutionary ideas?
A) Voltaire
B) Rousseau
C) Montesquieu
D) Diderot
Answer: B) Rousseau
7. The National Assembly was primarily made up of members of which estate?
A) First
B) Second
C) Third
D) Clergy
Answer: C) Third
8. What was the Reign of Terror?
A) A peaceful reform phase
B) A war with Austria
C) A period of mass executions
D) A royal celebration
Answer: C) A period of mass executions
9. Who led the Reign of Terror?
A) Robespierre
B) Napoleon
C) Louis XVI
D) Danton
Answer: A) Robespierre
10. Which form of government replaced the monarchy after the revolution?
A) Dictatorship
B) Absolute Monarchy
C) Republic
D) Oligarchy
Answer: C) Republic
French Revolution – MCQs (11 to 50)
11. Who was the king of France at the start of the French Revolution?
A) Louis XIV
B) Louis XV
C) Louis XVI
D) Napoleon Bonaparte
Answer: C) Louis XVI
12. What was the Estates-General?
A) A revolutionary group
B) The French Parliament
C) A noble estate
D) A royal army
Answer: B) The French Parliament
13. What was the name of the promise made by the National Assembly members at a tennis court?
A) The Social Contract
B) The Tennis Court Oath
C) The Rights of Man
D) The Reign of Liberty
Answer: B) The Tennis Court Oath
14. Which document declared the rights of French citizens during the revolution?
A) Napoleonic Code
B) Magna Carta
C) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
D) Civil Constitution
Answer: C) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
15. Who authored the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen?
A) Napoleon
B) Voltaire
C) Marquis de Lafayette
D) Robespierre
Answer: C) Marquis de Lafayette
16. What happened to King Louis XVI during the Revolution?
A) He escaped to Austria
B) He abdicated the throne
C) He was executed by guillotine
D) He was exiled to Corsica
Answer: C) He was executed by guillotine
17. What was Marie Antoinette’s origin?
A) French
B) Austrian
C) Spanish
D) Prussian
Answer: B) Austrian
18. What device became the symbol of the Reign of Terror?
A) Axe
B) Guillotine
C) Sword
D) Rifle
Answer: B) Guillotine
19. Which revolutionary leader was eventually executed by his own government?
A) Napoleon
B) Marat
C) Robespierre
D) Danton
Answer: C) Robespierre
20. Which group represented the most radical part of the revolution?
A) Girondins
B) Jacobins
C) Monarchists
D) Royalists
Answer: B) Jacobins
21. Who were the sans-culottes?
A) Aristocrats
B) Clergy members
C) Working-class revolutionaries
D) Royal bodyguards
Answer: C) Working-class revolutionaries
22. What was the fate of Marie Antoinette?
A) She escaped
B) She ruled after Louis XVI
C) She was exiled
D) She was executed
Answer: D) She was executed
23. What type of government did Napoleon Bonaparte eventually establish?
A) Constitutional Monarchy
B) Absolute Monarchy
C) Empire
Answer: C) Empire
24. When did Napoleon become Emperor of France?
A) 1799
B) 1804
C) 1815
D) 1789
Answer: B) 1804
25. What battle marked Napoleon’s final defeat?
A) Austerlitz
B) Trafalgar
C) Leipzig
D) Waterloo
Answer: D) Waterloo
26. The Committee of Public Safety was established to:
A) Oversee the army
B) Maintain law and order
C) Protect the revolution
D) Control the church
Answer: C) Protect the revolution
27. What was the role of the Directory?
A) To advise the king
B) A new royal court
C) A five-member government post-Robespierre
D) Napoleon’s military staff
Answer: C) A five-member government post-Robespierre
28. What was the significance of the Women's March to Versailles?
A) Demand for voting rights
B) Protest against taxes
C) Demand for bread and move the king to Paris
D) Celebration of revolution
Answer: C) Demand for bread and move the king to Paris
29. Which Enlightenment thinker advocated separation of powers?
A) Rousseau
B) Voltaire
C) Montesquieu
D) Hobbes
Answer: C) Montesquieu
30. The French Revolution ended in which year?
A) 1789
B) 1799
C) 1804
D) 1815
Answer: B) 1799
31. What was the Great Fear?
A) Fear of foreign invasion
B) Panic among nobles
C) Peasant revolts against feudal lords
D) Fear of Napoleon
Answer: C) Peasant revolts against feudal lords
32. Which of these is NOT a cause of the French Revolution?
A) Social inequality
B) Economic crisis
C) Foreign invasion
D) Influence of Enlightenment
Answer: C) Foreign invasion
33. What type of monarchy did France become after 1791 Constitution?
A) Absolute
B) Theocratic
C) Constitutional
D) Parliamentary
Answer: C) Constitutional
34. What major economic problem fueled revolutionary discontent?
A) Overproduction
B) Hyperinflation
C) Food shortages and bread prices
D) Lack of gold
Answer: C) Food shortages and bread prices
35. What religion was most dominant in pre-revolutionary France?
A) Protestantism
B) Islam
C) Judaism
D) Roman Catholicism
Answer: D) Roman Catholicism
36. What was the result of Napoleon’s coup in 1799?
A) Restoration of monarchy
B) End of revolution and start of Consulate
C) Start of Reign of Terror
D) French Civil War
Answer: B) End of revolution and start of Consulate
37. The Napoleonic Code emphasized:
A) Clerical power
B) Feudal privileges
C) Equality before law
D) Class-based rights
Answer: C) Equality before law
38. Which of these groups was part of the First Estate?
A) Peasants
B) Clergy
C) Nobles
D) Artisans
Answer: B) Clergy
39. Which countries were France at war with during the revolution?
A) Austria and Prussia
B) USA and Spain
C) Britain and Russia
D) Spain and Portugal
Answer: A) Austria and Prussia
40. What was the Civil Constitution of the Clergy?
A) A religious text
B) A church declaration of war
C) A law bringing church under state control
D) A treaty with the Pope
Answer: C) A law bringing church under state control
41. What was the impact of the Revolution on the feudal system?
A) It was reformed
B) It became stronger
C) It was abolished
D) It expanded
Answer: C) It was abolished
42. What title did Napoleon take in 1804?
A) President
B) Chancellor
C) Emperor
D) Consul
Answer: C) Emperor
43. What was the primary aim of the Jacobins?
A) Monarchy restoration
B) Religious reform
C) Establishing a republic and equality
D) Expansion of the empire
Answer: C) Establishing a republic and equality
44. What was the name of the revolutionary calendar introduced during the revolution?
A) Gregorian
B) Revolutionary Calendar
C) French Calendar
D) Libertarian Calendar
Answer: B) Revolutionary Calendar
45. What slogan summed up the ideals of the revolution?
A) Might is Right
B) Peace and Bread
C) Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
D) One People, One Nation
Answer: C) Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
46. How did the revolution affect women’s rights?
A) Women gained full rights
B) Women lost all political rights
C) Temporary improvement, then setback
D) No effect
Answer: C) Temporary improvement, then setback
47. Who was Jean-Paul Marat?
A) King’s advisor
B) Revolutionary journalist
C) Foreign diplomat
D) Royal judge
Answer: B) Revolutionary journalist
48. Which economic system was challenged during the French Revolution?
A) Feudalism
B) Capitalism
C) Mercantilism
D) Socialism
Answer: A) Feudalism
49. What happened at the Battle of Valmy in 1792?
A) France lost to Austria
B) The Republic was declared
C) Revolutionary France defeated Prussia
D) Napoleon was crowned
Answer: C) Revolutionary France defeated Prussia
50. What is the long-term legacy of the French Revolution?
A) Return to monarchy
B) Suppression of rights
C) Spread of democratic ideals
D) End of nationalism
Answer: C) Spread of democratic ideals
B) Women lost all political rights
C) Temporary improvement, then setback
D) No effect
Answer: C) Temporary improvement, then setback
47. Who was Jean-Paul Marat?
A) King’s advisor
B) Revolutionary journalist
C) Foreign diplomat
D) Royal judge
Answer: B) Revolutionary journalist
48. Which economic system was challenged during the French Revolution?
A) Feudalism
B) Capitalism
C) Mercantilism
D) Socialism
Answer: A) Feudalism
49. What happened at the Battle of Valmy in 1792?
A) France lost to Austria
B) The Republic was declared
C) Revolutionary France defeated Prussia
D) Napoleon was crowned
Answer: C) Revolutionary France defeated Prussia
50. What is the long-term legacy of the French Revolution?
A) Return to monarchy
B) Suppression of rights
C) Spread of democratic ideals
D) End of nationalism
Answer: C) Spread of democratic ideals