Political Parties; Elites; Ideologies; Mass Politics - AP European History

Versailles was built by Louis XIV to replace the Louvre as the home of the Royal family and also to escape the crowded confines of Paris. He built it to be the most magnificent Palace in the world, and to serve as a place to keep the nobility busy while he quietly took more power for himself.

The Cardinal served as the primary adviser to Louis XIII throughout his reign. He guided Louis XIII in his efforts to make France one of the most powerful nations in Europe and to take more power for the monarchy.

Louis XIV was known as the Sun King. This is because the French government revolved around him much in the same way as the galaxy revolves around the sun.

Frederick II earned his nickname of Frederick the Great by not only continuing the tradition of Prussian military superiority, but also by making unheard of changes to Prussian society by encouraging a revival of the arts community and pushing education on the masses, making Prussia the most highly educated nation in the world at the time.

Kings claimed divine right to rule by saying God had chosen them to rule, and therefore had God's decree to rule as they deemed fit. While the church may have had sway over certain leaders and kings, they had no actual autonomy outside of the lands directly controlled by the church.

After the death of Charles II his closest living male descendant was named to the throne. That was his sisters grandson, Philip V of the House Bourbon. He had been raised in France as a member of the French court. He was also a grandson of Louis XIV. Other nations so disliked this union of French and Spanish royal houses that it started the War of the Spanish Succession.

Robespierre was the second President of the Committee of Public Safety. He is commonly associated with the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution as suspected Royalists and sympathizers were killed in the thousands. Eventually he met the same fate as the Reign of Terror spun out of control and caused the Convention to order Robespierre's arrest for attempting to seize control of France.

Louis XVI was the last King of France before the Revolution. He was arrested and executed in 1793. His son, also named Louis, lived until 1795 when he died of illness. However he was never crowned king and therefore is not included in the list of Kings of France.

The group that represented the Third Estate when the Kings of France called the Estates General was displeased with how power was being shared. Despite having twice the representatives, they did not have twice as many votes as the other estates. They therefore walked out and created their own rival organization that would take power and start the revolution, the National Assembly.

Robespierre rose to power with the Jacobins as the second President of the Committee of Public Safety. He is famed for his association with the Reign of Terror, which killed thousands of people. Ironically, the Reign of Terror he unleashed ended with his own execution.

In the final days of the Directory Napoleon conspired with several Directory members to form a coup and form the Consulate as the new French Government. After the successful coup Napoleon was made First Council and head of state.

A Constitutional Monarchy fits this description. This is where an elected body and a monarch both hold clearly defined powers as assigned by a constitution or other document, thus sharing power.

The July Monarchy occurred after the French Revolution. After the fall of Napoleon the House of Bourbon was put back on the throne of France. It was, however, very unpopular, and in 1830 a more liberal branch of the family was put on the throne after the July Revolution of 1830.

Louis XIV moved the royal court, and therefore the seat of government from Paris in 1682. The royal court would stay in Versailles until the royal family was taken prisoner and forced back to Paris following the start of the French Revolution in 1789.

The Estates General was made up of three groups, the clergy, the nobles, and everyone else. The representatives of these groups were called to the royal court when the King wanted to collect taxes. The purpose was to give the people a voice to the king on this important issue.

The three estates in order were the Clergy, the Nobles, and all others. When the King of France needed to raise taxes for the nation he called the Estates General. Often the result would be that the third estate was the one that bore the brunt of the new taxes because the Nobles and Clergy would vote together, and each estate had only one vote. As such the third estate would often find itself as the odd man out.

Oliver Cromwell was a commander of the forces of parliament during the war. After the War he was named Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. He essentially ruled as a military dictator for the rest of his life, and he attempted to make his son the next Lord Protector after his death. Parliament, realizing that they had given up one tyrant for another, put a stop to it and invited a new King to take the throne.

Alfred the Great unified Wessex (known today as Essex) and conquered Mercia, which made up a large part of England. Though his reign was brief his line did manage to unify much of England until conquered by William in 1066 who also unified the rest of what Alfred and his sons and grandsons could not.

William the Conqueror was also known as William the Duke of Normandy. He was born in Normandy and gained control of Normandy in 1035, in 1066 he left to conquer England and he and his sons to follow him were successful in conquering and uniting the territory that is known as England today.