French Revolution Notes

Part-1

Fill in the blanks.

1.Louis XVI belonged to the Bourbon
family.
2. Marie Antoinette was called Madam
Deficit.
3. France helped the thirteen American
colonies to gain their independence.
4.French society followed feudalism
that dated back to middle ages.
5. Tax extracted by the church was
called Tithes.
6. A direct tax paid to the State was
Taille.
7. The 18th century saw the emergence
of a social group called the Middle
Class
8. The entire burden of Taxation was
borne by the Third Estate.
9. Match the following
John Locke Two Treatises of
Government
Rousseau Social Contract
Montesquieu The Spirit of Laws
Abbe Sieyes What is the third
Estate
Jacobins Sans Culottes
Robespierre Reign of Terror
Women’s Club The Society of
Revolutionary and
Republican
Women
10. John Locke refuted the theory of
the divine and absolute right of the
monarch.
11. The Division of power within the
government was put into force in USA
after their war of independence.
12. The Estate General was a political
body to which the three Estates send
their representatives.
13. The Third Estate declared
themselves as National Assembly.
14. The third Estate were led by Abbe
Sieyes and Mirabeau.
15. On the night of 1789 the National
Assembly abolished feudal system and
taxes
Question and Answers
1. What were the causes of the French
Revolution? (5 marks) (Political
Causes)
Louis XVI of Bourbon family ascended
the throne when he was 20 years old.
After his accession he was faced with
innumerable problems that further led
on to the French Revolution.
a. Long years of war drained the
financial resources of France and it
resulted in an empty treasury.
b. Under Louis XVI, France helped the
13 colonies to gain their independence
from their common enemy Britain.
c. The lenders who gave the State
credit, now began to charge 10%
interest on loans.
d. Maintenance of an extravagant court
further added to the expenses.
e. Finally to meet its regular expenses
such as cost of maintaining an army,
the universities, government offices,
the State was forced to increase the
taxes.
2. How was the French Society
divided? (5 Mark) (social causes)
a. Peasants made up of about 90% of
the population. Only a small number of
them owned the land they cultivated.
b. About 60% of the land was owned by
the nobles, the Church and other rich
members of the third estate.
c. The first two Estates the Clergy and
Nobility enjoyed certain privileges by
birth.
d. The most important of these was
exemption from paying taxes to the
State.
e. The nobles further enjoyed feudal
privileges.
4. What was Subsistence crisis? What
led to Subsistence crisis? (5 mark)
(economic causes)
a. Subsistence crisis is a situation
where the basic means of livelihood is
endangered.
b. The population of France rose and
this led to a rapid increase in the
demand for food grains.
c. Production of grains could not keep
pace with the demand.
d. The wages did not keep pace with
the rise in prices.
e. So the gap between the rich and
poor widened and the situation
became worse when drought or hail
reduced the harvest.
5. “The 18th century witnessed the
emergence of social groups called the
middle class.” Discuss. (page6.Second
Paragraph) three-mark question.
(MARK IN THE TEXT)
5. What was Estate General and why
did the king call the Estate General? (3
Mark)
a. Estate General was a political body
to which the three estates send their
representatives.
b. The monarch alone could call for a
meeting of this body.
C. Louis XVI called together an
assembly of the Estate General to pass
proposals for new taxes.
6. Why did the members of the third
estate walk out of the assembly in
protest? (page 8. Third Para) (Three
mark) MARK IN THE TEXT
7. What was the immediate cause for
the French Revolution? (5 mark)
a. While the National Assembly was
busy at Versailles drafting a
constitution the rest of France were
facing a lot of problems.
b. A severe winter resulted in a bad
harvest. The price of bread rose and
the bakers hoarded the bread.
c. After spending hours in long ques at
the bakery the women became very
angry when they were denied bread.
So, they stormed into the shops.
d. At the same time the king troops to
move into Paris.
e. On 14th July 1789 the agitated crowd
destroyed the fortress prison Bastille a
symbol of the despotic power of the
Kings.
This was the beginning of a chain of
events that finally led to the execution
of the King and his family.
8. Why did the nobles migrate to the
neighbouring countries? (Refer page
9- third paragraph) (Three marks)
MARK IN THE TEXT
9. Name the decrees passed by the
National Assembly? (3 mark)
a. The king’s power would be checked
by a constitution.
b. Feudal system and taxes imposed on
the third estate were removed.
c. The members of the clergy were
forced to give up their privileges and
the land acquired by the church was
confiscated.
10. How did France become a
Constitutional Monarchy (3 marks)
a. The powers of the monarch was
limited
b. The powers instead of being
concentrated in one hand was now
assigned to different institutions---
legislature, executive and judiciary.
c. This made France a Constitutional
Monarchy.
French Revolution Part-2
Fill in the blanks
1. The constitution of 1791vested the
power to make laws in the National
Assembly.
2. King Louis XVI entered into secret
negotiations with The King of Prussia.
3. The patriotic song of France is
Marseillaise composed by poet Roget
de L’Isle.
4. The most successful political club of
France was the Jacobins club.
5. Jacobins got its name from the
former convent of St Jacob in Paris.
6. The leader of Jacobins was
Maximilian Robespierre.
7.The members of Jacobin club
belonged to the less prosperous
section of the society.
8. Sans-culottes means those without
knee breeches.
9. On 21st September monarchy was
abolished and France became a
Republic.
10. Louis XVI was sentenced to death
on the charge of treason.
11. Robespierre’s period is called the
Reign of Terror.
12.The Jacobins came to be known as
Sans-culottes.
13. The newly elected Assembly during
the period of Robespierre was called
the Convention.
Question and Answers
1. Who were the active and passive
citizens? (Page 10 last paragraph. To
be marked in the text)
2. What was the importance of the
French Constitution? (Page11. First
Paragraph. To be Marked in the Text)
3. “The period of 1793-94 was called
the Reign Of Terror.” Discuss. (5
marks) or the reforms of Robespierre
which led to the reign of Terror
Robespierre followed a policy of
severe control and punishment.
a. All those whom he saw as the
enemies of the Republic were arrested,
imprisoned and then tried by a
revolutionary tribunal. If the court
found them guilty, they were
guillotined.
b. Nobles, clergy, people belonging to
other parties and even his own party
members who did not agree with him
met with this end.
c. He placed maximum ceiling on wages
and prices. Meat and bread were
rationed.
d. Peasants were asked to transport
their grains to the cities and sell it at a
price fixed by the government.
e. Use of expensive white flour was
forbidden and people could eat only
equality bread made of wholewheat.
f. Churches were shut down and they
were used as offices or barracks.
g. Equality was practiced even in the
form of speech. Instead of the
traditional Monsieur and Madam men
and women were addressed as Citoyen
and Citoyenne.
Part-3
Fill in the blanks.
1. Directory is an executive made up of
five members.
2. The political instability of Directory
paved the way for the rise of a military
dictator Napoleon Bonaparte.
3. A famous club of women was the
Society of Revolutionary and
Republican Women.
4. Women of France won the Right to
Vote in 1946.
5.Olympe de Gouges was a famous
politically active woman in
revolutionary France.
6. Napoleon reintroduced slavery.
7.The ideas of liberty and democratic
rights are considered to be the most
important legacy of French Revolution
8. Tipu Sultan and Rammohan Rai are
two individuals who responded to the
idea of Revolutionary France.
Question and answer
4. What gave rise to triangular trade?
(Page 21. First Paragraph. To be
marked in the text)
5. What was meant by the abolition of
censorship? (5 Marks)
One important law that came soon
after the destruction of Bastille was the
abolition of censorship.
a. In the old regime all written
materials and cultural activities could
be published or performed only after
they were censored.
b. Now the Declaration of the Rights of
Man and Citizen proclaimed freedom
of speech and expression to be a
natural right.
c. Newspapers, pamphlets, books and
pictures flooded the towns and from
there to all parts of France.
d. People could now discuss freely and
even oppose the events and changes
taking place in France.
e. Plays, songs and festive processions
attracted large number of people. In
this way they could understand and
identify the ideas of liberty and justice
the philosophers wrote about.