CL IX: HISTORY

Chapter-1: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

(Ms. Anju Budhiraja)
Q.1 Describe the incident (Storming of the Bastille) which sparked the French
Revolution of 1789.
A.1 On the morning of 14th 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.
2. Some 7000 men and women gathered in front of town hall and decided to form a
peoples’ militia. They broke into a number of government buildings in search of arms.
3.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. In an armed fight that followed, the commander of the Bastille was killed
and the prisoners released- though there were only seven of them.
4. Yet the Bastille was hated by all because it stood for the despotic power of the king.
5. 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.

Q.2 What were the reasons for an empty treasury in France ?

A 2. Upon his accession, Louis XVI found an empty treasury.
1. Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France.
2. Added to this was the cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense
palace of Versailles.
3. Under Louis XVI, France helped the 13 American colonies to gain their
independence from the common enemy, Britain. The war debt rose to 3 billion livres.
Lenders who gave the state credit now began to charge 10 percent interest on loans.
So the French government was obliged to spend an increasing percentage of its
budget on interest payments alone.

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Q.3 Describe the circumstances leading to the outbreak of the revolutionary
protest in France.
OR
Analyse the causes of the French Revolution.

A.3. The French government was an absolute monarchy, whose ruler –Louis XVI- was
pleasure loving and extravagant. He was devoted to his wife, who constantly interfered
in the administration. Louis XVI drove France into wars, bringing the country to the
verge of bankruptcy.
2. The French society was divided into three main classes, called the estates. The First
Estate consisted of the Clergy, the Second Estate consisted of the Nobility and the rest
of the population formed the Third Estate- big businessmen, merchants, court officials,
lawyers, artisans, small peasants, landless labourers and servants. The members of the
first two estates i.e the clergy and the nobility enjoyed certain privileges by birth. They
were exempted from paying all taxes while the third estate shouldered the burden of
taxation and had very few privileges.
3. In France, people had no share in the decision making. The French Parliament
known as the ‘ Estates General’ had not been called for the last 175 years.
Administration was corrupt, disorganized and inefficient.
4. The economic bankruptcy of the French government aggravated the crisis and led to
the revolution. The defective system of tax collection and oppression crated
discontentment.
5. The emergence of political philosophers like Rousseau roused the people, instilling a
revolutionary spirit in them to root out social inequalities and set up a government
responsive to their needs.
Q.4 How was the system of estates in French society organized?
OR
Discuss the social causes that led to the French revolution.
A.4 The system of estates in the French society was as follows:
a. THE FIRST ESTATE consisted of the clergy.

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b. THE SECOND ESTATE consisted of the nobility. About 60% of the land was owned
by nobles, the church and other richer members of the estate.
The members of the first two estates i.e the clergy and the nobility enjoyed certain
privileges by birth, the most important of which was the exemption from paying taxes to
the state.
The nobles extracted feudal dues from the peasants who used to work in their houses
and fields too. The church too extracted its share of taxes called ‘Tithes’ from the
peasants.
c. THE THIRD ESTATE consisted of - big businessmen, merchants, court officials,
lawyers, artisans, small peasants, landless labourers and servants. Thus within the third
estate, some were rich and the others were poor.
Peasants made up about 90% of the population. However only a small number of them
owned the land they cultivated.
The burden of financing activities of the state through taxes were borne by the third
estate alone.
These included a direct tax called ‘Taille’ and a number of indirect taxes which were
levied on articles of everyday consumption like salt or tobacco.
Q.5 What were the privileges enjoyed by the members of the first two estates?.
A.5 The members of the first two estates .i.e the clergy and the nobility enjoyed certain
privileges by birth, the most important of which was exemption from paying taxes to the
state.
2. The nobles further enjoyed feudal privileges. These included feudal due which they
extracted from the peasants.
Peasants were obliged to render services to the lord- to work in houses and fields,
serve in the army or participate in building roads.
The church too extracted its share of taxes called ‘tithes’ from the peasants.
Q.6 What is Subsistence Crisis? Why did it occur frequently?
A.6 An extreme situation where the basic means of livelihood are endangered is called
Subsistence Crisis.
1. The population of France rose from about 23 million in 1975 to 28 million in 1789.
This led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains.

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2. Production of grains could not keep pace with the demand. So the price of bread,
which was the staple diet of majority, rose rapidly.
3. Most workers were employed as labourers in workshops whose owner fixed their
wages.
4. But wages did not keep pace with the rise in prices so the gap between the poor and
rich widened.
5. Things became worse whenever draught or hail reduced the harvest. This led to a
subsistence crisis, something that occurred frequently in France during the Old
Regime.
Q.7 Trace the history of the emergence of middle class in the 18th century. Why
did the middle class envisage an end to privileges?

A.7 Before 1789, peasants and workers had participated in revolts against increasing
taxes and food scarcity. But they lacked the means and programs to carry out full scale
measures that would bring about a change in social and economic order.
2. This was left to those groups within the third estate who had become prosperous
and had access to education and new ideas.
3.The 18th century witnessed the emergence of social groups, termed the middle class
who earned their wealth through an expanding overseas trade and from the
manufacture of goods such as woolen and silk textiles, that were either exported or
bought by the richer members of the society.
4. In addition to merchants and manufacturers the third estate included professionals
such as lawyers or administrative officials.All of these were educated and believed that
no group in society should be privileged by birth. Rather a person’s social position
should depend on his merit.
5. These ideas envisaging a society based on freedom and equal laws and
opportunities for all, were put forward by philosophers such as John Locke, Jean
Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu in their writings. These ideas were discussed by
the people in salons and coffee houses and had a great effect on them, leading to the
protest against the system of privileges.

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Q.8 Describe the role of philosophers in bringing about the French
Revolution.(V-IMP)
A.8 The French Philosophers had envisaged a society based on freedom and equal
laws and opportunities for all. Some important philosophers were John Locke, Jean
Jacques Rousseau Montesquieu and Voltaire.
2. They roused people from inactivity, provided revolutionary ideas and inspired people
to root out social inequalities, to fight for their rights and set up a new government
responsive to their needs.
3. In his ‘ Two Treatises of Government” Locke sought to refute the doctrine of divine
and absolute right of the monarch.
4. Jean Jacques Rousseau carried the idea forward, proposing a form of government
based on a social contract between people and their representatives.
5. In ‘The Spirit of the Laws’, Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the
government between the legislative, executives and judiciary.
6. The ideas of these philosophers were discussed intensively in Salons and coffee
houses and spread among people through books and newspapers. This had a great
effect on them leading to the protest against the system of privileges.
Q.9 What was the Estates General?
A.9 The Estates General was a political body to which the three estates sent their
representatives.
2. It acted like a legislature. Its approval was needed to pass proposals for new taxes.
However, it was the monarch alone who could decide when to call the meeting of this
body.
Q.10 Name the two leading members of the National Assembly.
A. 10 The National Assembly was led by Mirabeau and Abbe Sieyes.
Mirabeau was born in a noble family but was convinced of the need to do away with a
society of feudal privileges. He brought out a journal and delivered powerful speeches
at Versailles.
2. Abbe Sieyes, originally a priest wrote an influential pamphlet called ”what is the third
estate?”

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Q.11 Why did the members of the third estate walk out of the assembly in
protest?
A.11 Voting in the Estates General in the past had been conducted according to the
principle that each estate had one vote. This time too Louis XVI was determined to
continue the same practice. But members of the third estate demanded that voting now
be conducted by the assembly as a whole, where each member would have one vote.
This was one of the democratic principles put forward by the philosophers like
Rousseau in his book ‘ The Social Contract’. When the king rejected this proposal,
members of the third estate walked out of the assembly in protest.
Q. 12 Trace the events that led to the Storming and destruction of the Bastille.
A.12 While the National Assembly was busy at Versailles drafting a Constitution, the
rest of France seethed with turmoil.
2. A severe winter had meant a bad harvest, the price of bread rose, often bakers
exploited the situation and hoarded supplies.
3. After spending hours in long queues at the bakery, crowds of angry women stormed
into the shops.
4. At the same time, the king ordered troops to move into Paris.
5. On 14th July 1789, agitated crowd stormed and destroyed the Bastille.
Democracy provides a method to do with differences and conflicts.
Q.13 What led to the destruction of Chateaux, Manor and recognition to the
National Assembly abolishing the system of feudalism and forced the clergy to
give up their privileges?
A.13 I n the countryside, rumours spread from village to village that the lords of the
manor had hired bands of brigades who were on their way to destroy the ripe crops.
2. Caught in a frenzy of fear, peasants in several districts seized hoes and pitchforks
and attacked chateaux.
3. They looted hoarded grain and burnt down documents containing records of
manorial dues.
4. A large number of nobles fled from their homes, many of them migrating to
neighbouring countries.

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5. Faced with the power of his revolting subjects, Louis XVI finally accorded recognition
to the National Assembly and accepted thev principle that his powers would from now
on be checked by constitution.
6. On the night of 4th August 1789, the assembly passed a decree abolishing the
feudal system of obligation and taxes.
7. Members of the clergy too were forced to give up their privileges. Tithes were
abolished and lands owned by the church were confiscated. As a result, the
government acquired assets worth at least 2 billion livres.
Q.14 How did France become a Constitutional Monarchy?(IMP)
A.14 The National Assembly completed the draft of the Constitution in 1791. Its main
object was to limit the powers of the monarch.
2. These powers instead of being concentrated in the hands of one person, were now
separated and assigned to different institutions- legislature, executive and judiciary.
3. This made France a constitutional monarchy.
Q.15 What were the main features of the constitution of 1791?(V-IMP)
A.15 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.
2. 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 labourers wages were given the status of active
citizens i.e. they were entitled to vote.
3. The remaining men and women were classed as passive citizens.
4. To qualify as an elector and then as the member of the assembly, a man had to
belong to the highest bracket of taxpayers.
5. 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 i.e they belong 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.

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Q.16 Write the provisions of The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizens.
A.16 Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.
2. Liberty consists of the power to do whatever is not injurious to others.
3. The law has the right to forbid only actions that are injurious to society.
4. Every citizen may speak, write and print freely, he must take responsibility for the
abuse of such liberty in cases determined by the law.
5. No man may be accused, arrested or detained except in cases determined by law.