CHAPTER-FRENCH REVOLUTION NOTES

Answer the following

1.Trace the event which led to the fall of Bastille.
Ans:On the morning of 14 July 1789, the city of Paris was in a state of alarm. The king had commanded troops to move
into the city. Rumours spread that he would soon order the army to open fire upon the citizens. Some 7,000 men and
women gathered in front of the town hall and decided to form a peoples’ militia. They broke into a number of
government buildings in search of arms.

A group of several hundred people marched towards the eastern part of the city and stormed the fortress-prison, the
Bastille, where they hoped to find hoarded ammunition. In the armed fight that followed, the commander of the Bastille
was killed and the prisoners released – though there were only seven of them. The Bastille was hated by all, because it
stood for the despotic power of the king. The fortress was demolished and its stone fragments were sold in the markets
to all those who wished to keep a souvenir of its destruction .
2.How was the French society organized? What privileges did certain sections of the society enjoy? Describe
Ans: (i) Division of the society into three Estate :
• The First Estate: It consisted of the clergymen and church-fathers.
• The Second Estate: It consisted of landlords, men of noble birth and aristocrats.
• The Third Estate: It consisted of the vast majority of the common masses, the landless peasants,
servants, etc.
(ii) Heavy Burden of Taxes on the Third Estate: The members of the first two Estates were exempted from
paying taxes to the state. So all the taxes were paid by the people of the Third Estate.
(iii) Wide Gap between People of Different Estates: Most of the people of the Third Estate were employed as
labourers in workshops with fixed wages. The wages failed to keep pace with the rise in prices. So the gap
between the poor and the rich widened.
(iv) No Political Rights: Out of the total population, the first and the second Estates had share of 2%. The remaining
people belonged to the Third Estate. Although the upper two classes made up only a small fraction of the total
population, yet they were the people who controlled the political and economic system of the nation. They enjoyed all
the rights and privileges. The entire machinery of the government was designed to protect their interests and privileges.
(v) Unequal Distribution of Wealth : In the French society, peasants made up about 90% of the population. However,
only a small number of them owned the land they cultivated. About 60% of the land was owned by nobles, the church
and other richer members of the Third Estate.

3. What was the role of philosophers and thinkers in the French Revolution? Explain by giving three
examples.
Ans: 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
4. Explain any five features of the Constitution of 1791 framed by the National Assembly in France .

Ans: The Constitution of 1791 vested the power to make laws in the National Assembly, which was indirectly
elected.

*With the new Constitution the powers of govern the country were assigned to different institutions, i.e., the
legislature, executive and the judiciary.
*Under this system the powers of the monarch were limited. Most of the powers were in the hands of
legislatures. The judiciary and the legislature were elected by the people.
* 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 women were classed as passive
citizens.
*The ministers were also answerable to the legislature. The king enjoyed the veto power.
* To qualify as an elector and then as a member of the Assembly, a man had to belong to the highest bracket of
taxpayers.
* 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.

5. What was the role of Jacobins during the French Revolution?

Ans: (i) Middle Class: The members of the Jacobins club belonged mainly to the less prosperous sections of
society. They included small shopkeepers, artisans such as shoemakers, pastry cooks, watch-makers, printers,
as well as servants and daily-wage workers. Their leader was Maximilian Robespierre.
(ii) Different Clothes: A large group among the Jacobins decided to start wearing long striped trousers similar
to those worn by dock workers. This was to set themselves apart from the fashionable sections of society,
especially nobles, who wore knees breeches.
These Jacobins came to be known as the sansculottes. Sansculottes men wore in addition the red cap that
symbolised liberty.
(iii) Storming the King’s Palace: In the summer of 1792 the Jacobins planned an insurrection of a large number
were angered by the short supplies and high prices of food. On the morning of August 10 they stormed the
Palace of the Tuileries, massacred the king’s guards and later the Assembly voted to imprison the royal family.
(iv) France became a Republic: Elections were held. From now all men of 21 years and above, regardless of
wealth, got the right to vote. The newly elected assembly was called the Convention. On 21 September, 1792
it abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic.

6.Who was Robespierre? Describe any four steps taken by him to bring equality.
Ans: The leader was Maximilian Robespierre The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the Reign of Terror.
* Robespierre followed a policy of severe control and punishment .
*Those whom he saw as being ‘enemies’, even members of his own party who did not agree with his methods – were
arrested, imprisoned and the court found them ‘guilty’ they were guillotined.
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.
7. Did the French Revolution bring any improvement in the condition of women?
Ans: Most women of the third estate had to work for a living. They worked as seamstresses or laundresses, sold
flowers, fruits and vegetables at the market, or were employed as domestic servants in the houses of prosperous
people.
*Working women had also to care for their families, that is, cook, fetch water, queue up for bread and look after the
children. Their wages were lower than those of men
*In the early years, the revolutionary government did introduce laws that helped improve the lives of women. Together
with the creation of state schools, schooling was made compulsory for all girls
*Their fathers could no longer force them into marriage against their will. Marriage was made into a contract entered
into freely and registered under civil law. Divorce was made legal, and applied for both women and men.
*Women’s struggle for equal political rights and equal wages continued through the next two hundred years finally in
1946 that women in France won the right to vote.
8. What kind of freedoms were granted to the citizen after the French Revolution?
Ans: One important law that came into effect soon after the storming of the Bastille in the summer of 1789
was the abolition of 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* This was one way they would grasp and identify with ideas such as liberty or justice. Political philosophers
wrote these texts in length, which only a handful of educated people could read.

9. How would you explain the rise of Napoleon?

Ans: In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself as the emperor of France.
*Napoleon went about overcoming the other neighboring countries of Europe using force to make the rulers give away their
dynasties and growing kingdoms where he located his family members.
*Napoleon regarded himself to be the one who could streamline modernization in Europe.
*And he enacted a number of laws inclusive of private property protection and introduction of a uniform system of weights
and measures provided by the decimal system.
*Initially, many saw Napoleon as a liberator who would bring freedom for the people.
*Many of his measures that carried the revolutionary ideas of liberty and modern laws to other parts of Europe had an
impact on people
*But unfortunately, the rise of his power was short-lived as the battle of Waterloo marked his defeat in the year 1815.

10. What are the main causes of the French Revolution?

Ans: Causes of the French Revolution:

*Despotic rule of Louis XVI: He became the ruler of France in 1774. He had drained the financial resources of
France in wars. For the cost of his regular extravagant expenses, he increased taxes which were paid by the third
estate.
*Division of French society: The French society was divided into three estates; first, second and third estates,
respectively. Among them, First and Second Estates had 10 per cent of the total population and were the clergy
and nobles. They enjoyed all privileges. Rest of the 90 per cent was of the third estate, which paid all kinds of direct
or indirect taxes. This kind of discrimination led to the revolution by the third estate.
*Rising prices: The population of France had increased. This resulted into more demand of food grains. So the price
of bread rose rapidly, which the poor could not afford to buy. So the gap between the rich and poor widened.
*Inspiration of the philosophers: Philosophers like John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu
propagated the ideas of having a society where people would enjoy freedom, equal laws and equal opportunities.
Their ideas inspired the people of France to realise their dreams.
*Role of middle class: The 18th century witnessed the emergence of social groups termed as middle class, who
earned their wealth through an expanding trade of the manufactured goods, being exported. There were other
professionals also like lawyers, administrative officials who were all educated. They believed that no group in
society should be privileged by birth.