G D GOENKA PUBLIC SCHOOL

ASSIGNMENT
(CH 1 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION)

Q1. Describe the circumstances leading to the outbreak of revolutionary protest in France?
Answer: The following circumstances led to the outbreak of revolutionary protest in France:
1. King Louis XVI when ascended the throne the royal treasury was empty. Long years of war had drained the
financial resources of France. Added to this was the cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense
palace of Versailles.
2. Under Louis XVI, France helped the thirteen American colonies to gain their independence from Britain. The
war added more than a billion livres to a dept credit. So the French government was obliged to spend an
increasing percentage of its budget on interest payments alone.
3.The state finally increased taxes to meet its regular expenses such as the cost of maintaining an army, running
government offices.
4. The clergy and the nobles were exempted to pay taxes. They belonged to privileged class.Thus the burden of
financing activities of the state through taxes was borne by the third estate only.
5.The middle class that emerged in the 18th century France was educated and enlightened. They refuted the
theory of divine rights of the kings and absolute monarchy. They believed that a person’s social position must
depend on his merit. They had access to the various ideas of equality and freedom proposed by philosophers
like John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu etc.

Q2. Draw up a list of democratic rights we enjoy today whose origins could be traced to the French Revolution.
Answer: Some of the democratic rights which we enjoy today can be traced to the French Revolution are as
follows:
1. Right to equality including equality before the law, the prohibition of discrimination, and equality of opportunity
in matters of employment.
2. Right to freedom of speech and expression including the right to practice any profession or occupation.
3. Right against exploitation.
4. Right to life.
5. Right to vote.

Q3. What were the three estates in French society?

The three estates present in the French society were:
a) First estate which comprise of the clergy,
b) Second estate which comprise of the nobles.
c) Third estate which comprise of the big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers, peasants & artisans,
small peasants, landless labour & servants.

Q4. What was the subsistence crisis in France?

Subsistence crisis in France was an extreme situation when the basic means of survival was endangered.
Following are the reasons why there was subsistence crisis in France:
1.France’s population was increasing, which led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains.
2.Production of grains did not go hand in hand with its demand. So the price of bread, staple diet of the majority
rose quite rapidly.
3.Most workers were employed as labourers in workshops, whose owner fixed their wages which were not in
pace with the rise in prices.
4.The rich & the poor gap widened. This led to a subsistence crisis, which led to the outbreak of the French
Revolution.

Q5. Would you agree with the view that the message of universal rights was beset with contradictions? Explain.
Answer:
1. Yes, the message of ‘Universal Rights’ was beset with contradictions as women were unfortunately left out of
the basic rights that were promised. They did not have equal rights that men enjoyed.
2. The constitution of 1791 reduced them to a passive citizen.
3.They did not have the right to liberty, property, security, and above all, resistance to oppression.
4. In the formulation of laws, women did not have any representation. Women were not entitled to all the honours
and public employment, according to their abilities.

Q6. Who was Robespierre? Why is his reign referred as the ‘Reign of Terror’ ?
Answer: Robespierre was the leader of Jacobins club which led a successful revolt and came to power.
His reign from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the Reign of Terror because of the following reasons:
1. He followed a policy of severe control and punishment.
2. All those who were considered enemies by him or who did not agree with him or with his methods were
arrested, imprisoned and then tried by a revolutionary tribunal. If found guilty, they were executed.
3. Robespierre pursued his policies so relentlessly that even his supporters began to demand moderation.

Q7. State the election process of the National Assembly in France.

Answer: 1.The constitution of 1791 vested the power to make laws in the National Assembly, which was
indirectly elected. 2. Citizens voted for a group of electors, who in turn chose the Assembly.
3. All citizens did not have the right to vote. Only (active citizens) 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.
4. The remaining men and all women were classed as passive citizens.
5.To qualify as an elector and then as a member of the assembly, a man had to belong to the highest bracket of
tax payers.

Q8. Who were the Jacobins? What was their contribution to the French Revolution?
Answer: 1. The political clubs had become rallying point for people who wanted to discuss government policies
and plan their own forms of action. The most successful of these clubs was that of the Jacobins.
2. They got their name from the former convent of St. Jacob in Paris.
3.They belonged to the less prosperous sections of the society. They included small shopkeepers, artisans such
as shoemakers, pastry cooks, watch-makers, printers, as well as servants and daily wage earners.
4.Their leader was Maximilian Robespierre.
5. A large group among the Jacobin decided to wear long striped trousers like those worn by dock workers. This
was to set themselves apart from the fashionable sections of society especially the nobles who wore knee
breeches. It was a way of proclaiming the end of the power wielded by the wearers of knee breeches.
6. These Jacobins came to be known as sans-culottes, literally meaning ‘those without knee breeches’.
In the summer of 1792, they planned an insurrection of many Parisians who were angered by the short supplies
and high prices of food. On August 10, they stormed the Palace of the Tuileries, massacred the king’s guards
and imprisoned the king. Elections were held of the regardless of wealth.

Q9. Did women have a revolution in French society?

Answer: 1. Most of the historians believe that from the very beginning women were active participants in the
events related with the French Revolution of 1789.
2. Before and during the days of Revolution, most of the women of France did not have access to good job
training or education.
3. The women were paid lower wages than those of men.
4. In order to discuss and voice their interests, women began their own newspapers and political clubs. The
Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was the most famous of them.
5. They demanded the right to vote and right to contest elections as well as the right to hold political office.
Women’s movement for voting rights and equal wages continued through the next two hundred years in many
countries of the world.