What major change began in 1789 and ended the absolute monarchy?

• A. Old Regime
• B. Estates
• C. French Revolution
• D. Estates-General

Answer: (C)

The major change being tested is the French Revolution. It began in 1789 and ended the system of absolute monarchy in France, sweeping away the Ancien Régime and redefining government and society. The revolution started with dramatic actions like the Estates-General and the Third Estate forming the National Assembly, the storming of the Bastille, and the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. These events shifted power away from a king with absolute authority toward ideas of popular sovereignty, legal equality, and later republican or constitutional structures. The Old Regime describes the old system that was being challenged, the Estates are the social classes within that system, and the Estates-General was an assembly that played a role in triggering reforms but is not the sweeping change itself.