French Revolution Quiz
Bastille, guillotine, Robespierre, Napoleon: 15 questions on the decade that remade France.
In which year did Parisians storm the Bastille, the event that became the symbol of the Revolution?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
1789
The Bastille, a royal fortress and prison in eastern Paris, fell to a crowd on 14 July 1789 after a few hours of fighting, and its seizure became the defining image of popular revolt.
The fortress held only seven prisoners at the time, none of them political celebrities, and it was demolished within months.
Which king of France was on the throne when the Revolution began?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Louis XVI
Louis XVI had reigned since 1774 and called the Estates-General in 1789 to solve a financial crisis, a decision that set the Revolution in motion and ended with his execution in January 1793.
Louis was tried under the name Louis Capet, a surname revolutionaries chose to strip him of royal status.
Which queen of France was sent to the guillotine in October 1793?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette, the Austrian-born wife of Louis XVI, was convicted of treason by the Revolutionary Tribunal and executed on 16 October 1793, nine months after her husband.
There is no evidence she ever said 'Let them eat cake'; the line appears in Rousseau's writings before she arrived in France.
The revolutionary motto 'Liberté, égalité' ends with which word?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Fraternité
Liberté, égalité, fraternité, meaning liberty, equality, brotherhood, was one of several slogans used during the Revolution and later became the official motto of the French Republic.
The motto was dropped under Napoleon and the restored monarchy, and only became fixed in law with the Third Republic in the 1880s.
On which date is Bastille Day, France's national holiday, celebrated each year?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
14 July
France celebrates its Fête nationale on 14 July, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille in 1789 and of the Fête de la Fédération held exactly one year later.
The 14 July holiday was only made official in 1880, and the morning military parade on the Champs-Élysées is Europe's oldest regular military parade.
Which revolutionary leader dominated the Committee of Public Safety at the height of the Reign of Terror in 1793 and 1794?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Maximilien Robespierre
Robespierre, a lawyer from Arras nicknamed 'the Incorruptible', joined the Committee of Public Safety in July 1793 and became the leading voice of the Terror until his own execution a year later.
Robespierre had once argued for abolishing the death penalty, in a 1791 speech to the National Assembly.
When the Estates-General met in May 1789, which estate represented the commoners, who made up most of the population?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The Third Estate
The First Estate was the clergy and the Second the nobility, while the Third Estate represented everyone else, around 97 percent of France, yet it could be outvoted by the other two.
Abbé Sieyès's pamphlet 'What Is the Third Estate?' answered its own question with the word 'everything'.
Which radical journalist was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday in July 1793?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Jean-Paul Marat
Marat, editor of the newspaper L'Ami du peuple, soaked in a medicinal bath for a skin disease and was killed there on 13 July 1793 by Corday, a Girondin sympathizer from Normandy.
Jacques-Louis David's painting The Death of Marat turned the scene into one of the most famous images of the Revolution.
In June 1789, deputies of the Third Estate swore not to disband until France had a constitution, taking their oath in what kind of building at Versailles?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
A tennis court
Locked out of their usual meeting hall on 20 June 1789, the deputies gathered in a nearby indoor tennis court and swore the Tennis Court Oath, a direct challenge to royal authority.
The game played there was jeu de paume, an ancestor of modern tennis in which players originally struck the ball with the palm of the hand.
After the women's march on Versailles in October 1789, the royal family was forced to move to which Paris palace?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The Tuileries
On 5 October 1789 thousands of Parisian women marched to Versailles demanding bread, and the next day they escorted Louis XVI and his family back to the Tuileries Palace, where the crowd could watch them.
The Tuileries was stormed in August 1792 and burned down in 1871, so today only its gardens survive beside the Louvre.
Which political club, named after the former convent where it met in Paris, became the dominant radical faction during the Terror?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The Jacobins
The club took its name from the Dominican convent of Saint-Jacques on the Rue Saint-Honoré, and under Robespierre its network of provincial branches became the engine of revolutionary government.
Jacobin is still used in French politics to describe supporters of a strong, centralized state.
Who commanded the newly formed National Guard in Paris in the days after the fall of the Bastille?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Marquis de Lafayette
Lafayette, the hero of the American Revolutionary War, was named commander of the Paris National Guard on 15 July 1789 and designed its red, white and blue cockade, the origin of the tricolor.
Lafayette fled France in 1792 when the Revolution turned radical and spent five years in Austrian and Prussian prisons.
In June 1791, the royal family's attempted flight from Paris ended when they were recognized and stopped in which town?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Varennes
Disguised as servants, Louis XVI and his family fled toward the eastern frontier on the night of 20 June 1791 but were identified at Varennes and brought back to Paris under guard.
The postmaster who raised the alarm, Jean-Baptiste Drouet, reportedly recognized the king from his portrait on a banknote.
Robespierre's overthrow in July 1794 is named after which month of the Republican calendar?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Thermidor
Robespierre was arrested on 9 Thermidor Year II, which was 27 July 1794, and guillotined the next day, so his fall and the easing of the Terror are called the Thermidorian Reaction.
The Republican calendar gave its months weather names: Thermidor means 'heat' and Brumaire means 'fog'.
Which event of November 1799 brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power and is usually taken to mark the end of the Revolution?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The Coup of 18 Brumaire
On 9 November 1799, 18 Brumaire in the Republican calendar, Napoleon and his allies overthrew the Directory and set up the Consulate with Napoleon as First Consul, ending ten years of revolution.
Napoleon abolished the Republican calendar on 1 January 1806, just over a year after crowning himself emperor.
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All History quizzes →About the French Revolution Quiz
In the summer of 1789 a Paris crowd stormed the Bastille, and within four years a king had lost his head, the calendar had been rewritten and the guillotine was working overtime. The French Revolution packed more drama into ten years than most countries manage in a century, and it ended with a young general named Napoleon seizing power.
These 15 questions follow the whole story: the Estates-General and the Tennis Court Oath, the fall of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Marat in his bath, Robespierre and the Reign of Terror, and the coup that closed the decade. It suits anyone who studied the Revolution at school and wants to see how much stuck, with a few deeper cuts for history fans.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
When did the French Revolution start and end?
Most historians date it from the meeting of the Estates-General and the storming of the Bastille in 1789 to Napoleon's coup of 18 Brumaire in November 1799.
How hard is this French Revolution quiz?
It is pitched at medium. The first few questions cover famous names and dates, while the last few ask about the Republican calendar and the flight to Varennes.
Do I get explanations for the answers?
Yes. Every question shows the correct answer straight away with a short explanation and an extra fact, so you learn something even when you miss one.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- In which year did Parisians storm the Bastille, the event that became the symbol of the Revolution?
1789 The Bastille, a royal fortress and prison in eastern Paris, fell to a crowd on 14 July 1789 after a few hours of fighting, and its seizure became the defining image of popular revolt. The fortress held only seven prisoners at the time, none of them political celebrities, and it was demolished within months. - Which king of France was on the throne when the Revolution began?
Louis XVI Louis XVI had reigned since 1774 and called the Estates-General in 1789 to solve a financial crisis, a decision that set the Revolution in motion and ended with his execution in January 1793. Louis was tried under the name Louis Capet, a surname revolutionaries chose to strip him of royal status. - Which queen of France was sent to the guillotine in October 1793?
Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette, the Austrian-born wife of Louis XVI, was convicted of treason by the Revolutionary Tribunal and executed on 16 October 1793, nine months after her husband. There is no evidence she ever said 'Let them eat cake'; the line appears in Rousseau's writings before she arrived in France. - The revolutionary motto 'Liberté, égalité' ends with which word?
Fraternité Liberté, égalité, fraternité, meaning liberty, equality, brotherhood, was one of several slogans used during the Revolution and later became the official motto of the French Republic. The motto was dropped under Napoleon and the restored monarchy, and only became fixed in law with the Third Republic in the 1880s. - On which date is Bastille Day, France's national holiday, celebrated each year?
14 July France celebrates its Fête nationale on 14 July, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille in 1789 and of the Fête de la Fédération held exactly one year later. The 14 July holiday was only made official in 1880, and the morning military parade on the Champs-Élysées is Europe's oldest regular military parade. - Which revolutionary leader dominated the Committee of Public Safety at the height of the Reign of Terror in 1793 and 1794?
Maximilien Robespierre Robespierre, a lawyer from Arras nicknamed 'the Incorruptible', joined the Committee of Public Safety in July 1793 and became the leading voice of the Terror until his own execution a year later. Robespierre had once argued for abolishing the death penalty, in a 1791 speech to the National Assembly. - When the Estates-General met in May 1789, which estate represented the commoners, who made up most of the population?
The Third Estate The First Estate was the clergy and the Second the nobility, while the Third Estate represented everyone else, around 97 percent of France, yet it could be outvoted by the other two. Abbé Sieyès's pamphlet 'What Is the Third Estate?' answered its own question with the word 'everything'. - Which radical journalist was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday in July 1793?
Jean-Paul Marat Marat, editor of the newspaper L'Ami du peuple, soaked in a medicinal bath for a skin disease and was killed there on 13 July 1793 by Corday, a Girondin sympathizer from Normandy. Jacques-Louis David's painting The Death of Marat turned the scene into one of the most famous images of the Revolution. - In June 1789, deputies of the Third Estate swore not to disband until France had a constitution, taking their oath in what kind of building at Versailles?
A tennis court Locked out of their usual meeting hall on 20 June 1789, the deputies gathered in a nearby indoor tennis court and swore the Tennis Court Oath, a direct challenge to royal authority. The game played there was jeu de paume, an ancestor of modern tennis in which players originally struck the ball with the palm of the hand. - After the women's march on Versailles in October 1789, the royal family was forced to move to which Paris palace?
The Tuileries On 5 October 1789 thousands of Parisian women marched to Versailles demanding bread, and the next day they escorted Louis XVI and his family back to the Tuileries Palace, where the crowd could watch them. The Tuileries was stormed in August 1792 and burned down in 1871, so today only its gardens survive beside the Louvre. - Which political club, named after the former convent where it met in Paris, became the dominant radical faction during the Terror?
The Jacobins The club took its name from the Dominican convent of Saint-Jacques on the Rue Saint-Honoré, and under Robespierre its network of provincial branches became the engine of revolutionary government. Jacobin is still used in French politics to describe supporters of a strong, centralized state. - Who commanded the newly formed National Guard in Paris in the days after the fall of the Bastille?
Marquis de Lafayette Lafayette, the hero of the American Revolutionary War, was named commander of the Paris National Guard on 15 July 1789 and designed its red, white and blue cockade, the origin of the tricolor. Lafayette fled France in 1792 when the Revolution turned radical and spent five years in Austrian and Prussian prisons. - In June 1791, the royal family's attempted flight from Paris ended when they were recognized and stopped in which town?
Varennes Disguised as servants, Louis XVI and his family fled toward the eastern frontier on the night of 20 June 1791 but were identified at Varennes and brought back to Paris under guard. The postmaster who raised the alarm, Jean-Baptiste Drouet, reportedly recognized the king from his portrait on a banknote. - Robespierre's overthrow in July 1794 is named after which month of the Republican calendar?
Thermidor Robespierre was arrested on 9 Thermidor Year II, which was 27 July 1794, and guillotined the next day, so his fall and the easing of the Terror are called the Thermidorian Reaction. The Republican calendar gave its months weather names: Thermidor means 'heat' and Brumaire means 'fog'. - Which event of November 1799 brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power and is usually taken to mark the end of the Revolution?
The Coup of 18 Brumaire On 9 November 1799, 18 Brumaire in the Republican calendar, Napoleon and his allies overthrew the Directory and set up the Consulate with Napoleon as First Consul, ending ten years of revolution. Napoleon abolished the Republican calendar on 1 January 1806, just over a year after crowning himself emperor.
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