DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL BANGALORE NORTH
ACADEMIC SESSION
CLASS – IX
FRENCH REVOLUTION (HISTORY)
Question No 1, 2,3,5,8,9,10,12,13 to be written in the Note Book.
1. Describe the storming of the Fortress prison of Bastille in [Link] Immediate causes of the French Revolution.
i. 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 who rose
in protest due to shortage of bread.
ii. 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. Finally, 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.
iii. In the armed fight that followed, the commander of the Bastille was killed and the prisoners released . though
there were only seven of them. Yet 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. On ascending the throne of France , Louis XVI found the treasury empty. Why was the treasury empty?
The causes for empty treasury at the time of his accession were as follows.
I. The financial resources of France had drained due to the long years of war.
II. The high cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense palace of Versailles also added to the
financial drain.
III. France had helped the thirteen American colonies to gain their independence from Britain. This increased the
debt to more than 2 billion livres. 3. Describe the political condition of France during the 18th century.
[Link] 1774, Louis XVI of the Bourbon family of kings ascended the throne of France. He was 20 years old and
married to the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette.
[Link] his accession the new king found an empty treasury. Long years of war had drained the financial
resources of France. The cost of maintaining an extravagant court at Versailles was very high.
[Link] Louis XVI, France helped the thirteen American colonies to gain their independence from the common
enemy, Britain. The war added more than a billion livres (currency) to a debt that had already risen to more
than 2 billion livres.
[Link] 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. ( Under what circumstances did the King of France decide to increase the
tax? (point 3 & 4 above)
3. Describe the social condition of France during the 18th century. OR How was the French society organised?
i. French society in the eighteenth century was divided into three estates, viz. The First Estate, Second
Estate and the Third Estate. The First Estate consisted of the Clergy and the Second Estate consisted of
Nobility.
ii. The members of the first two estates, that is, the clergy and the nobility, enjoyed certain privileges by birth.
The most important of these was exemption from paying taxes to the state. The nobles further enjoyed feudal
privileges. These included feudal dues, which they extracted from the peasants.
iii. The Third Estate consisted of three categories of people. Big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers
etc come in the top layer. Peasants and artisans come in the middle and small peasants, landless labourers and
servants come under the lowest category of people.
iv. Peasants made up of 90 per cent of the population. However, only a small number of them owned the land
they cultivated. About 60 per cent of the land was owned by nobles, the Church and other richer members of
the third estate.
v. Peasants were obliged to render services to the lord to work in his house and fields, to serve in the army or to
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participate in building roads. The burden of financing activities of the state through taxes was borne by the
third estate alone.
4. What was the ‘subsistence crisis’ in France? How did it arise?
i. The population of France rose from about 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789. This led to a rapid increase
in the demand for food grains. Production of grains could not keep pace with the demand. So the price of bread
which was the staple diet of the majority rose rapidly.
ii. Most workers were employed as labourers in workshops whose owner fixed their wages. But wages did not keep
pace with the rise in prices.
iii. Things became worse whenever drought or hail reduced the harvest. Shortage of food grains led to price rise,
riots and death. So the gap between the poor and the rich widened. This was called subsistence crisis, something
that occurred frequently in France during the Old Regime.
5. What role did philosophers play in bringing about the French Revolution?
i. These ideas of a society based on freedom and equal laws and opportunities for all,were put forward by
philosophers such as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. In his Two Treatises of Government, Locke
sought to disprove the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch.
ii. Rousseau carried the idea forward, proposing a form of government based on a social contract between
people and their representatives.
iii. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the
legislative, the executive and the judiciary. This model of government was put into force in the USA, after the
thirteen colonies declared their independence from Britain. iv. The American constitution and its guarantee of
individual rights influenced political thinkers in France. The ideas of these philosophers were discussed
intensively in salons and coffee-houses and spread among people through books and newspapers.
iv. These were frequently read aloud in groups for the benefit of those who could not read and write. The news that
Louis XVI planned to impose further taxes to be able to meet the expenses of the state generated anger and
protest against the system of privileges.
6. How did France Become a Constitutional Monarchy?
i. Faced with the power of his revolting subjects, Louis XVI finally accorded recognition to the National
Assembly and accepted the principle that his powers would from now on be checked by a constitution.
ii. On the night of 4 August 1789, the Assembly passed a decree abolishing the feudal system of obligations
and taxes. Members of the clergy too were forced to give up their privileges. Tithes (tax imposed by the
Church) were abolished and lands owned by the Church were confiscated.
iii. The National Assembly completed the draft of the Constitution in 1791. Its main object was to limit the
powers of the monarch. These powers instead of being concentrated in the hands of one person, were now
separated and assigned to different institutions, the legislature, executive and judiciary. This made France a
constitutional monarchy.
7. Write a short note on the Constitution of 1791 in France.
i. 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.
ii. 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.
iii. The remaining men and all women were classed as passive citizens. To qualify as an elector and then as a
member of the Assembly a man had to belong to the highest bracket of taxpayers.
iv. The Constitution began with a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Rights such as the right to
life, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, equality before law, were established as natural and
inalienable rights, that is, they belonged to each human being by birth and could not be taken away. It was
the duty of the state to protect each citizen’s natural rights.
8. How did France become a Republic?
i. Although Louis XVI had signed the Constitution, he entered into secret negotiations with the King of
Prussia. Rulers of other neighbouring countries too were worried by the developments in France and
made plans to send troops to put down the events that had been taking place there since the summer of
1789.
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ii. Before this could happen, the National Assembly voted in April 1792 to declare war against Prussia
and Austria. Thousands of volunteers joined the army. They saw this as a war of the people against
kings and aristocracies all over Europe.
iii. Political clubs like the Jacobins became an important rallying point for people who wished to discuss
government policies and plan their own forms of action. Their leader was Maximilian Robespierre.
iv. In the summer of 1792 the Jacobins planned an uprising of a large number of Parisians who were
angered by the short supplies and high prices of food.
v. On the morning of August 10 they stormed the Palace of the Tuileries, massacred the king’s guards
and held the king himself as hostage for several hours. Later the Assembly voted to imprison the royal
family. Elections were held.
vi. From now on 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.
9. What were the measures taken by Robespierre’s government in bringing equality in French society?
i. Robespierre’s government issued laws for placing a maximum limit on wages and
prices. Meat and bread were rationed. Peasants were forced to transport their grain to the cities and sell it at prices
fixed by the government.
ii. The use of more expensive white flour was forbidden; all citizens were required to eat the pain dégalité
(equality bread), a loaf made of whole wheat.
iii. Equality was also sought to be practised through forms of speech and address. Instead of the traditional
Monsieur (Sir) and Madame (Madam) all French men and women were henceforth Citoyen and Citoyenne
(Citizen).
iv. Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into barracks or
offices. Robespierre pursued his policies so relentlessly that even his
supporters began to demand moderation. Finally, he was convicted by a court
in July 1794, arrested andon the next day sent to the guillotine.
v. One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime was the abolition of slavery in the French
colonies.
10. Write a short note on slavery in France during the 18th & 19th century.
i. The colonies in the Caribbean . Martinique, Guadeloupe and San Domingo were important suppliers of
commodities such as tobacco, indigo, sugar and coffee. But the reluctance of Europeans to go and work in distant
and unfamiliar lands meant a shortage of labour on the plantations. So this was met by a triangular slave trade
between Europe, Africa and the Americas.
ii. The slave trade began in the seventeenth century in Europe. French merchants sailed from the ports of Bordeaux or
Nantes to the African coast, where they bought slaves from local chieftains. Branded and shackled, the slaves were
packed tightly into ships for the three-month long voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. There they were
sold to plantation owners.
iii. Throughout the eighteenth century there was little criticism of slavery in France. The National Assembly did not
pass any laws, fearing opposition from businessmen whose incomes depended on the slave trade.
iv. It was finally the Convention which in 1794 legislated to free all slaves in the French overseas possessions. This,
however, turned out to be a short-term measure: ten years later, Napoleon reintroduced slavery.
v. Plantation owners understood their freedom as including the right to enslave African Negroes in pursuit of their
economic interests. Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848.
vi. One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime was the abolition of slavery in the French
colonies.
11. Describe the legacy of the French Revolution for the peoples of the world during the nineteenth and
twentieth century.
i. The ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French Revolution. These ideas
spread from France to the rest of Europe during the nineteenth century, where feudal systems were abolished.
ii. Further these ideas spread to different colonies of the European nations. The people of the colonies interpreted and
moulded these ideas according to their needs. The principles of equality, liberty and fraternity helped to intensify the
freedom movements in these countries.
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iii. By the mid of 20th century a major part of the world adopted democracy as the preferred mode of rule and the
French Revolution can be termed as the startingpoint for this development.
12. Explain the role of Napoleon as an emperor of France. What are his contributions?
i. In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France. He set out to conquer neighbouring European
countries, dispossessing dynasties and creating kingdoms where he placed members of his family.
ii. Napoleon saw his role as a modernizer of Europe. He introduced many laws such as the protection of private property
and a uniform system of weights and measures
provided by the decimal system.
[Link], many saw Napoleon as a liberator who would bring freedom for the people. But soon the Napoleonic armies
came to be viewed everywhere as aninvading force. He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815.
iv. Many of his measures that carried the revolutionary ideas of liberty and modern laws to other parts of Europe had an
impact on people long after Napoleon had left.
13. What was the impact of French Revolution on France?
i. French Revolution marked the end of absolute monarchy and paved the way for the republican government.
ii. It also helped to uphold the theory of popular sovereignty and laid the foundations of democratic principles, i.e., to say
that the government should be based on the consent of the governed.
iii. The slogans of equality, liberty and fraternity became the watchwords of freedom loving people all over the world.
iv. Feudalism and serfdom were abolished and the power of clergy curbed.
v. People were given the right to vote during the Jacobins.
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