The French Revolution

Very short type Questions.

Question 1.
Who was the ruler of France during the revolution?
Answer:
Louis XVI of the Bourbon family was the ruler of France.
Question 2.
Name the three ‘Estates’ into which the French society was divided before the
Revolution.
Answer:
The First Estate — Clergy
The Second Estate — Nobility
The Third Estate — Common people.
Question 3.
When did the French Revolution occur?
Answer:
14th July, 1789.
Question 4.
What was tithes?
Answer:
It was a tax levied by the church, comprising one-tenth of the agricultural produce.
Question 5.
What was taille?
Answer:
It was a direct tax to be paid to the State.
Question 6.
Who formed the National Assembly in France in 1789?
Answer:
Third Estate
Question 7.
To whom was the taxes called Tithes payable by the peasants in the eighteenth century
France?
Answer:
Church.
Question 8.
Which class of society in France was behind the French Revolution?
Answer:
Middle class.
Question 9.
What was the slogan of the French revolutionaries?
Answer:
Liberty, Fraternity and Equality.
Question 10.
On what charges was Louis XVI of France sentenced to death?
Answer:
Treason.
Question 11.
What was feudal system?
Answer:
It was a system under which land was granted to landlords in return for military or labour
services.
Question 12.
Which philosopher had forwarded the principle of voting by the assembly as a whole,
where each member should have one vote, during the rule of louis XVI?
Answer:
Rousseau.
Question 13.
In which book did Rousseau mention the idea of one person, one vote?
Answer:
The Social Contract.
Question 14.
Give the titles of the books written by :
(a) Rousseau
(b) Charles Montesquieu
Answer:
(a) The Social Contract,
(b) The Spirit of the Laws.
Question 15.
What was the theme of the book ‘The Spirit of the Laws’ written by Montesquieu?
Answer:
Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the
legislature, the executive and the judiciary.
Question 16.
Which book has proposed a division of power within government?
Answer:
‘The Spirit of the Laws’.
Question 17.
Who proposed a division of power within government?
Answer:
Montesquieu.
Question 18.
Name any four French philosophers who inspired the French people to revolt.
Answer:
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Montesquieu
Voltaire
Maximilian Robespierre.
Question 19.
Why was Bastille hated by the French people?
Answer:
Bastille was hated because it stood for the despotic power of the king.
Question 20.
Which Battle sealed the Fate of France in 1815?
Answer:
Battle of Waterloo.
Question 21.
When did France abolish the monarchy and became republic?
Answer:
21st September, 1792.
Question 22.
Name any one class that did not belong to Jacobin Club?
Answer:
Nobles.
Question 23.
Who was the leader of the Jacobin Club?
Answer:
Maximilian Robespierre.
Question 24.
Which period of Famce’s history is known as ‘the Terror’.
Answer:
The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the Reign cn terror.
Question 25.
Name the most popular political club started by the French women.
Answer:
Society of Revolutionary Republican women.
Question 26.
Which law was introduced by revolutionary government in France as help to improve the
lives of women? HOTS
Answer:
Schooling was made compulsory for girls.
Question 27.
Who abolished slavery in France?
Answer:
The Jacobin Clubs.
Question 28.
‘The National Assembly completed the draft of the Constitution in 1791’. Mention any
two features of the Constitution.
Answer:
It vested the power to make laws in the hands of National Assembly,
It limited the powers of the monarch. Now powers were decentralised and assigned to
different institutions.
Question 29.
Who wrote the ‘Two Treatises of Government’?
Answer:
John Locke.
Question 30.
What does the Red Cap worn by Sans-Culottes in France symbolize?
Answer:
Liberty.
Question 31.
Name the political body to which the three estates of the French society sent their
representatives?
Answer:
The Estates General was a political body to which the three estates sent their
representatives.
Short Type Questions.

Question 1.
“Ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French
Revolution”. Explain the statement in the light of French Revolution.
Answer:
People of Third Estate demanded a society based on freedom and opportunities to all.
The National Assembly was formed in 1791 with an object to limit the powers of the monarch.
The Constitution framed in 1791 began with a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens.
Censorship was abolished in 1789.

Question 2.
Explain the impact of the French Revolution on the life of people of French.
Answer:
Divorce was made legal, and could be applied by both women and men. Women could be now
trained for jobs, could become artists or run small businesses.
The Constitution of 1791 began with a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. It
proclaimed that Freedom of speech and opinion and equality before law were natural rights of
each human being by birth. These could not be taken away.
Newspapers, pamphlets and printed pictures appeared steadily in the towns of French. From
there, they travelled into the countryside. These publications described and discussed the events
and changes taking place in the country.

Question 3.
What compelled Louis XVI to raise taxes in France?
Answer:
Wars and Economic Crisis : In 1774, when Louis XVI ascended the throne, he found and empty
treasure. The nation had gone into deep dept because of the fighting in the Seven Years War
(1756-1763) and the Revolutionary War in America under Louis XVI. In this war, France helped
the 13 American colonies to gain their independence from Britain. The war added more than a
billion livers to a dept that had already risen to more than 2 billion livres.
Debt Trap: Lenders who gave the state credit, now began to charge 10 per cent interest on loans.
So the French government was obliged to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on
interest payments alone. To meet its regular expenses, such as the cost of maintaining an army,
the court, running government offices or universities the state was forced to increase taxes.
Extravagant Court: France under various kings had a extravagant court at the immense palace of
Versailles.

Question 4.
Describe the status of the nobles in France before the revolution.
Answer:
The clergy and the nobles led a life of luxury and enjoyed numerous privileges. On the other
hand, the peasants and workers lived a wretched life. They groaned under heavy taxes and forced
labour. The middle-class comprising of lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc also suffered humiliation
at the hands of the clergy and the nobles. This state of social inequality was the chief cause of the
French Revolution.

Question 5.
“The inequality that existed in the French Society in the Old Regime became the cause of French
Revolution”. Justify the statement by giving three suitable examples.
Answer:
The examples are :
French Society was divided into three Estates. The First Estate comprised of clergy, the Second
Estate comprised of nobility and the Third Estate comprised of businessmen, traders, merchants,
artisans, peasants and servants.
The members of Church and nobility enjoyed certain privileges by birth, the most important
being the exemption from paying taxes to the State.
Feudal dues were extracted by nobles from peasants and one-tenth of the agricultural produce of
peasants, in the form of Tithes came to the share of clergy. All members of the Third Estate
including peasants paid taxes, thus, the burden of financing activities of the the state through
taxes was borne by the Third Estate alone creating heavy discontentment.

Question 6.
How did philosophers influence the thinking of the people of France?
Answer:
Philosophers influence the thinking of the people of France as :
Major changes were introduced in the Russian economy and agriculture after the revolution.
Private property was abolished and land became a state property. Peasants had the freedom to
cultivate on state ” – controlled land.
A proper system of centralized planning was introduced with the help of five year plans. It
helped in bringing about technological improvements, economic growth and helped in removing
the inequalities in the society.
The revolution acknowledged right to work and identified dignity of labour. Socialist economy
added a new dimension to democracy, by attributing it as a socio-economic system.

Question 7.
What was the role of philosophers and thinkers in the French Revolution? Explain by giving
three examples.
Answer:
The philosophers and thinkers believed that,no group in a society should be privileged by birth.
They supported a society based on freedom and equal laws.
In his Two Treatises.of government, John Locke sought to refute the doctrine of the divine and
absolute right of the monarch.
Rousseau carried the idea forward, proposing a form of government based on a social contract
between people and their representatives. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu proposed a
division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.

Question 8.
What measures were taken by Robespierre to bring equality in the French Society?
Answer:
Measures are :
Robespierre government issued laws placing a maximum ceiling on wages and prices.
Peasants were forced to transport their grain to the cities and sell it at prices fixed by the
government.
The use of more expensive white flour was forbidden; all citizens were required to eat the quality
bread, a loaf made of whole wheat.
Equality was also sought to be practised through forms of speech and address.
Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into barracks or offices.
Equality was also sought to be practised through forms of speech and address.

Question 9.
How did the peasants contribute to the outbreak of the French Revolution? Explain.
Answer:
Contribution of the peasants to the outbreak of the French Revolution :
The peasants had to pay various taxes to the government, to the nobles and to the Church.
They were subjected to forced labour, they had to work free in the land of the nobles for three
days in a week.
Crops were trampled by hunting parties of the nobles. About 81% of their income went to the
State, Nobles, Church, 19% of the income was their to live on grass and roofs and 1,000 peoples
of them died due to starvation. As as whole, the Administration was corrupt.

Question 10.
State the events that led to the formation of the National Assembly.
Answer:
The Estates General was a political body of France to which the three estates sent their
representatives. The voting in it had been conducted according to the principle that each estate
had one vote.
This time too when Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General, he decided to continue
the same old practice.
But the members of the Third Estate demanded that voting now be conducted on the democratic
principle of one person, one vote.
When the king rejected this proposal, the members of the Third Estate walked out of the
assembly in protest.
They assembled on 20 June, 1789 in the hall of an indoor tennis court in Versailles. These
representatives of the Third Estate viewed themselves as spokesmen for whole French nation.
They declared themselves a National Assembly.

Question 11.
Trace the event which led to the fall of Bastille.
Answer:
On 20th June the representatives of the Third Estate assembled in the hall.
While the National Assembly was busy at Versailles drafting a constitution,
After spending hours in long queues at the bakery, crowds of angry women stormed into the
shops. At the same time, the king ordered troops to move into Paris.
On 14 July, the agitated crowd stormed and destroyed the Bastille.

Question 12.
Write three main features of the French Constitution of 1971.
Answer:
Powers of the National Assembly: The Constitution of 1791 vested the power to make laws in
the National Assembly, which was indirectly elected. That is, citizens voted for a group of
electors, who in turn chose the Assembly.
Right to Vote: Not all citizens, however, had the right to vote. Only men above 25 years of age
who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a labourer’s wage were given the status of active
citizens, that is they were entitled to vote. The remaining men and all women were classed as
passive citizens.
Basic Rights: All the citizens were given some basic rights such as right to life, freedom of
speech, freedom of opinion, equality before law. It was the duty of the state to protect each
citizen’s natural rights.

Question 13.
What was the significance of ‘The Tennis Court Oath’ in the French Revolution?
Answer:
The Tennis Court Oath was a significant event in the French revolution. The Oath was taken on
20th June in the hall of an indoor court in the grounds of Versailles.
The members declared themselves as the National Assembly and swore not to disperse till they
had drafted a Constitution for France that would limit the powers of the monarch.
The National Assembly drafted the new Constitution which laid the foundation of Republic of
France.
Question 14.
What was the Convention? Describe its role in France.
Answer:
The elected assembly formed in France in 1792 was called Convention.
Role in France :
It abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic.
Hereditary monarch Louis XVI and his wife were sentenced to death Robespierre was elected
President of the National Convention. He followed the policy of severe control and punishment.
The French Revolution 19

Question 15.
Describe how abolition of slavery became possible in France.
Answer:
Abolition of slavery became possible in France by the following ways :
The salve trade began in the 18th century. The National Assembly held long debates about the
rights of man should be extended to all French subjects including those in the colonies.
Convention legislated to free all slaves in the French overseas possessions. .
However, Napoleon reintroduced slavery. Finally slavery was abolished in 1848.

Question 16.
Discuss the impact of abolition of censorship in France.
Or
Describe the effects of abolition of law of censorship on France.
Answer:
France before censorship: In the Old Regime all written material and cultural activities, books,
newspapers, plays could be published or performed only after they had been approved by the
censors of the king.
Freedom of Speech: Now the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen proclaimed freedom
of speech and expression to be a natural right. Newspapers, pamphlets, books and printed
pictures flooded the towns of France from where they travelled rapidly into the countryside.
They all described and discussed the events and changes taking place in France.
Debate and Discussion: Freedom of the press also meant that opposing views of events could be
expressed. Each side sought to convince the others of its position through the medium of print.
Printed tracts and newspapers not only spread the new ideas, but they shaped the nature of
debate. Plays, songs and festive processions attracted large numbers of people. This was one way
they could grasp and identify with ideas such as liberty or justice.

Question 17.
Trace rights which we are enjoying today had origin in the French Revolution.
Answer:
The following fundamental rights, given in the Indian constitution can be traced to the French
Revolution :
The right to equality.
The right to freedom of speech and expression.
The right to freedom from exploitation.
The right to constitutional remedies