These French Revolution trivia questions run in four rounds: the old regime and the summer of 1789, a constitution, the Church and the flight of the king, the republic, the Convention and the Directory, and songs, colors, wars and writers.
Read the full guide
Four rounds, from 1786 to 1799
The old regime and the summer of 1789 has Calonne, Necker and the cockade the king accepted. The second round asks the assignat, Varennes and the sans-culottes. Republic, Convention and Directory runs from Valmy to the Council of 500. The last has La Marseillaise and Edmund Burke.
For a history class or a quiz on July 14
Each round plays on its own, and the question sheet prints with a separate answer key. Songs, colors, wars and writers is the lightest round: La Marseillaise, the green cockade and the blue and red one, and the pamphlet war in Britain.
Questions and answers
What easy French Revolution trivia questions can a host open with?
In which town was Louis XVI recognized and arrested in June 1791? What was the paper money of the Revolution called? Under the new calendar, what did 1792 become? The answers are Varennes, assignats and Year One.
Does the pack ask about the guillotine?
No. It asks dates, assemblies, laws, clubs and documents. Executions, massacres and the guillotine are left out, so a host can read every question to a family table; the Terror appears only as the name of a period.
Which source were the answers read against?
Every answer was read on October 3, 2026 in the English Wikipedia article French Revolution, which every question links. The year the Estates General last met and the author of La Marseillaise are left to the France pack of the site.
About what share of all the land of France did the Catholic Church own?Answer: Nearly 10 percent. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Bad harvests in which two years helped bring on the crisis?Answer: 1787 and 1788. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
By 1788, what share of the revenue of the French state went on servicing its debt?Answer: Half. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
How many deputies did the Second Estate, the nobility, elect?Answer: 322. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
How many deputies sat for the Third Estate?Answer: 610. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
In which royal town did the deputies of the three estates gather on May 5, 1789?Answer: Versailles. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
On which date did the minister Brienne announce that the king would summon an Estates-General?Answer: August 8, 1788. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
What did Louis XVI accept, to loud cheers, when he visited Paris on July 17, 1789?Answer: A tricolor cockade. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
What were the lists of grievances called that each region drew up for its delegates?Answer: Cahiers de doléances. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which finance minister proposed a universal land tax in 1786?Answer: Calonne. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which hand-picked body was the first to reject the new taxes?Answer: The Assembly of Notables. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Who became head of the new administration of Paris known as the Commune?Answer: Jean-Sylvain Bailly. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Who replaced Brienne as minister in 1788?Answer: Jacques Necker. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Whom did Louis XVI appoint commander of the National Guard in July 1789?Answer: The Marquis de Lafayette. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
A constitution, the Church and the flight of the king 18
Active citizens were French males who paid a certain tax and were over which age?Answer: 25. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
By which name were the Jacobin leftists led by Brissot usually known?Answer: Brissotins. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
In which palace was Louis XVI held under virtual house arrest?Answer: The Tuileries. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
In which town was Louis XVI recognized and arrested in June 1791?Answer: Varennes. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
In which year did Louis XVI accept the constitution?Answer: 1791. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
On which date in 1789 did the Assembly confiscate all church property?Answer: November 2. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
On which date in 1789 was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen published?Answer: August 26. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
On which night did the royal family leave the palace in disguise?Answer: June 20, 1791. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
What did the National Assembly declare itself to be on July 9, 1789?Answer: The National Constituent Assembly. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
What replaced the legal functions of the regional Parlements in September 1790?Answer: An independent judiciary with jury trials. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
What was the centrist faction called, whose deputies switched votes from issue to issue?Answer: La Plaine. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
What was the paper currency called that was backed by the value of church property?Answer: Assignats. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
What was the urban class called that demanded bread and work?Answer: The sans-culottes. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which body convened on October 1, 1791, the day after the Constituent Assembly was dissolved?Answer: The Legislative Assembly. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which kind of veto did the Assembly approve for the king in September 1789?Answer: A suspensive veto. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which political club, at first a forum for general debate, became one of the most significant of the Revolution?Answer: The Jacobin club. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Who led the Feuillants, the constitutional monarchists?Answer: Barnave. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Who performed the mass at the Fête de la Fédération, held in Paris on July 14, 1790?Answer: Talleyrand. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Republic, Convention and Directory 19
About how many of the 749 deputies of the Convention can be counted as Girondists?Answer: 160. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
By April 1795, the paper money of the Revolution was worth what share of its face value?Answer: 8 percent. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
By which name is the insurrection of May 1796, led by Babeuf, known?Answer: The Conspiracy of the Equals. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
How many directors governed France under the Directory?Answer: Five. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
On which country did France declare war in April 1792?Answer: Austria. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
On which date did the Convention replace the monarchy with the French First Republic?Answer: September 22, 1792. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Over which army did the French win the Battle of Valmy on September 20, 1792?Answer: The Prussians. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Under the new calendar of the republic, what did 1792 become?Answer: Year One. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
What is the Place de la Révolution in Paris called now?Answer: The Place de la Concorde. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
What was the council of the Directory called that could block legislation at will?Answer: The Council of 500. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
What was the first conscription measure, of February 1793, called?Answer: The levée en masse. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which constitution was approved by plebiscite on September 23, 1795?Answer: The Constitution of the Year III. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which executive committee was created on April 6, 1793?Answer: The Committee of Public Safety. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which faction took over the Committee of Public Safety on June 10, 1793?Answer: The Montagnards. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which law of September 17, 1793 approved the arrest of suspected enemies of freedom?Answer: The Law of Suspects. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which peace of April 1795 ended the war with Prussia?Answer: The Peace of Basel. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which republic did French forces help Dutch Patriots to set up in January 1795?Answer: The Batavian Republic. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which royalist was elected president of the Council of 500 after the elections of May 1797?Answer: Pichegru. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Who led the troops of the Convention that put down a royalist rising in Paris on October 5, 1795?Answer: Napoleon. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Songs, colors, wars and writers 14
About how many newspapers had appeared by the end of 1789?Answer: Over 130. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Camille Desmoulins asked his followers to wear cockades of which hue on July 12, 1789?Answer: Green. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
For how long did the first conscripts of 1792 serve?Answer: Twelve months. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
How did La Marseillaise get its name?Answer: Volunteers from Marseille sang it in Paris. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
In which year did the Convention adopt La Marseillaise as the anthem of the First Republic?Answer: 1795. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
On which date did the Revolution end, with a coup?Answer: November 9, 1799. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
What was the original title of La Marseillaise?Answer: Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Where did the French defeat a second Austrian army on November 6, 1792?Answer: Jemappes. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which rising of 1798 outside France did the Revolution help to bring about?Answer: The Irish Rebellion. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which two colors did the cockade of the Paris militia have, on July 13, 1789?Answer: Blue and red. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Which war began in February 1793, when France declared war on the Dutch Republic, Spain and Britain?Answer: The War of the First Coalition. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Men?Answer: Mary Wollstonecraft. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Who wrote Reflections on the Revolution in France, published in November 1790?Answer: Edmund Burke. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution
Whose speech of November 4, 1789, A Discourse on the Love of Our Country, set off the pamphlet war in Britain?Answer: Richard Price. Source: Wikipedia: French Revolution