Y213: the French Revolution and the Rule of Napoleon 1774-1815 | OCR A-Level History A (H505)

Y213: the French Revolution and the Rule of Napoleon 1774-1815

79 questions
8 subtopics
Non-British period study, one of twenty-four
Y201 to Y224

The French Revolution and the Rule of Napoleon 1774–1815 is unit Y213 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-four options in unit group 2, the non-British period study; a student sits one of them.

Its four key topics are the causes of the French Revolution from 1774 and the events of 1789, the Revolution from October 1789 to the Directory 1795, Napoleon Bonaparte to 1807, the decline and fall of Napoleon 1807–1815. 79 recall questions across 8 subtopics.

Sample questions from Y213: the French Revolution and the Rule of Napoleon 1774-1815

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

The causes of the French Revolution from 1774 and the events of 1789: the Ancien Régime, Louis XVI and the financial crisis

Describe the qualities Louis XVI brought to the throne in 1774.

Show the answer
He was conscientious, pious and well meaning but indecisive, easily swayed by court factions and his wife, and reluctant to sustain a minister through unpopularity.
The causes of the French Revolution from 1774 and the events of 1789: the Enlightenment, social grievances and the revolution of 1789

Describe the economic crisis of 1787–89.

Show the answer
The 1786 Eden Treaty exposed French textiles to cheap British competition and caused urban unemployment, while the hail-ruined harvest of 1788 and a hard winter pushed bread to its highest price of the century by July 1789.
The Revolution from October 1789 to the Directory 1795: attempts to establish a constitutional monarchy

State what the Civil Constitution of the Clergy did.

Show the answer
It made bishops and priests salaried elected officials, redrew dioceses to match the departments, and ended papal confirmation of new bishops.
The Revolution from October 1789 to the Directory 1795: the fall of the monarchy, the Terror and Thermidor

How were the Girondins destroyed?

Show the answer
Blamed for military defeat, Dumouriez's treason and hostility to Paris, they were purged on 2 June 1793 when armed sections surrounded the Convention, and the leaders were executed that October.
Napoleon Bonaparte to 1807: career of Bonaparte to 1799, military leadership and reasons for success

Why was Bonaparte so successful as a commander before 1799?

Show the answer
He moved faster than his opponents, concentrated superior force at the decisive point, made full use of massed artillery, lived off the country rather than waiting on supply trains, and inspired troops who were paid out of conquered territory.
Napoleon Bonaparte to 1807: Napoleon’s reforms as Consul, nature of and reasons for military successes

How was local government run under Napoleon?

Show the answer
Each department was administered by a prefect appointed by and answerable to the government in Paris, ending the elective local self-government of the Revolution.
The decline and fall of Napoleon 1807–1815: the Continental System, the Peninsular War and Russia

Why did the Continental System fail?

Show the answer
Smuggling was massive, Britain opened new markets in Latin America and the Baltic, the Royal Navy could not be excluded from the seas, and the blockade hurt French allies more than it hurt Britain.
The decline and fall of Napoleon 1807–1815: rule in France after 1807 and the fall of the Empire

State what the allies agreed at Chaumont in 1814.

Show the answer
Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia bound themselves not to make a separate peace, and Britain undertook large subsidies, so Napoleon could no longer break the coalition by picking off its members.

The 8 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
The causes of the French Revolution from 1774 and the events of 1789: the Ancien Régime, Louis XVI and the financial crisis	Recall questions on the estates and privilege, Louis XVI, Turgot, Necker and Calonne, the failure of the Assembly of Notables and the struggle with the parlements in 1787 and 1788.	8
The causes of the French Revolution from 1774 and the events of 1789: the Enlightenment, social grievances and the revolution of 1789	Recall questions on Enlightenment critics, the American war, bourgeois and peasant grievances, the economic crisis, the Estates General and cahiers, the deadlock of June 1789, the Bastille, the Great Fear and the October Days.	12
The Revolution from October 1789 to the Directory 1795: attempts to establish a constitutional monarchy	Recall questions on the attempts to establish a constitutional monarchy, the significance of riots and direct political action 1789–1792, the Jacobins, the flight to Varennes.	8
The Revolution from October 1789 to the Directory 1795: the fall of the monarchy, the Terror and Thermidor	Recall questions on the Brunswick Manifesto and fall of the monarchy, the September Massacres, the king’s trial, the Girondins, the instruments and drivers of the Terror, Robespierre’s rise and fall and the Directory.	12
Napoleon Bonaparte to 1807: career of Bonaparte to 1799, military leadership and reasons for success	Recall questions on the career of Bonaparte to 1799: early life and character, his military leadership and reasons for success to 1799 including Toulon.	10
Napoleon Bonaparte to 1807: Napoleon’s reforms as Consul, nature of and reasons for military successes	Recall questions on Napoleon’s reforms as Consul, including the constitutional, legal, financial, educational changes, the establishment and nature of the Empire in France, nature of and reasons for military successes and failures after 1799.	10
The decline and fall of Napoleon 1807–1815: the Continental System, the Peninsular War and Russia	Recall questions on the Continental System and Britain’s reply, its failure, the war in Spain and Wellington’s part, and the invasion of Russia, Borodino and the destruction of the Grande Armée.	10
The decline and fall of Napoleon 1807–1815: rule in France after 1807 and the fall of the Empire	Recall questions on Napoleon’s rule after 1807, the Malet conspiracy, Leipzig, Chaumont, the end of the reign in 1814, the Hundred Days, Waterloo and the personal and wider reasons for his defeat.	9

Y213: the French Revolution and the Rule of Napoleon 1774-1815 is 79 of the 6,240 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.