HISTORY

CH 1- THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Choose the correct answer.

1. Which of the following is not the idea of the revolutionary journalist
Desmoulins about Liberty?
a. Liberty is finishing off your enemies
b. Liberty is Happiness, Reason, Equality and Justice
c. Liberty is the Declaration of Right
d. Liberty is not a child who has to be disciplined before maturity
2. How does a ‘Subsistence Crisis’ happen?
a. Bad harvest leads to scarcity of grains
b. Food prices rise and the poor can’t buy bread.
c. Leads to weaker bodies, diseases, deaths and even food riots.
d. All the above
3. In the war against Prussia and Austria, the army sang which patriotic song
a. ‘Liberty', written by an unknown woman poet
b. ‘Marseillaise’ written by the poet Roget de Lisle
c. ‘Viva France’ written by a French peasant
d. None of the above
4. Who wrote the pamphlet called ‘What is the Third Estate’?
a. Mirabeau, a nobleman (c) Rousseau, a philosopher
b. Abbe Sieyes (d) Montesquieu
5. The word livres stand for:
a. Unit of currency in France (c) Tax to be paid directly to the state
b. Tax levied by the Church (d) None of these

Fill in the blank.

6. A Guillotine was a tool used to behead people.
7. Taille was the direct tax to be paid to the state.
8. The National Assembly was formed in France by Third Estate in the year 1789.
9. Rousseau mentioned the idea of one man one vote in the book named The
social Contract.
10. Battle of Waterloo sealed the Fate of France in 1815.
State True or False.
11. Schooling was made compulsory for girls to improve the lives of women. - True
12. The red cap worn by Sans-Culottes in France symbolizes Fraternity. – False
13. The Estates General was a political body to which the three estates sent their
representatives. – True
Look at the picture below and give answers to the following questions.

14. When was the picture painted and by whom?

Ans. This was painted by the artist Le Barbier1790.
15. What does the winged women symbolizes?
Ans. It symbolizes Personification of the law.
16. What does the law tablet symbolize?
Ans. It symbolizes that the Law is the same for all, and all are equal before it.

Answer in one or few words.

17. On which day was Paris on alarm?

Ans. On14 July 1789.
th

18. Why were the women disappointed by the Constitution of 1791?

Ans. Women were disappointed that the Constitution of 1791 reduced them
to Passive Citizens.
19. Which period is referred as the reign of terror?
Ans. The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred as the reign of terror.
20. Which was the most famous women’s club?
Ans. The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Woman was the most
famous women’s club.

Subjective Question Bank

1. Why did King Louis XVI find an empty treasury when he ascended the
throne?
Ans. The reasons are:
• 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.
• Under 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 to a debt that had already risen to more than 2 billion livres.
• Lenders 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.

2. How was the French society organized during the Old Regime?
Ans. The French society was organized in the following way:
 • Peasants made up about 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.
• 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. Peasants were obliged to
render services to the lord – to work in his house and fields – to serve in
the army or to participate in building roads.
• The Church too extracted its share of taxes called tithes from the
peasants
• All members of the third estate had to pay taxes to the state. 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. The
burden of financing activities of the state through taxes was borne by the
third estate alone.

3. What was a subsistence crisis? Why was it common in France during the Old
Regime?
Ans. A Subsistence crisis was an extreme situation where the basic means of
livelihood are endangered. The reasons are:
• 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 foodgrains.
• 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.
• Most workers were employed as labourers in workshops whose owner
fixed their wages. But wages did not keep pace with the rise in prices.
• So the gap between the poor and the rich widened. Things became worse
whenever drought or hail reduced the harvest.
• This led to a subsistence crisis, something that occurred frequently in
France during the Old Regime.

4. Describe the role of the Middle Class and the French philosophers in the
outbreak of the French Revolution.
 • The eighteenth 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 woollen and
silk textiles.
• The third estate included professions 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 must depend
on his merit.
• These ideas envisaging 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 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.
• The ideas of these philosophers were discussed intensively in salons and
coffee-houses and spread among people through books and
newspapers.
• These were frequently read aloud in groups for the benefit of those who
could not read and write.

5. Describe the events that led to the outbreak of the French Revolution.
Ans. The events are:
• Meeting of the Estates General: On 5 May 1789, Louis XVI called together
an assembly of the Estates General to pass proposals for new taxes. The first
and second estates sent 300 representatives each, who were seated in rows
facing each other on two sides, while the 600 members of the third estate
had to stand at the back. The members of the third estate demanded that
voting now be conducted by the assembly as a whole, where each member
would have one vote. When the king rejected this proposal, members of the
third estate walked out of the assembly in protest.
• Tennis Court Oath: On 20 June they assembled in the hall of an indoor
tennis court in the grounds of Versailles. They declared themselves a
National Assembly and swore not to disperse till they had drafted a
constitution for France that would limit the powers of the monarch.
• Fall of the Bastille: A severe winter had meant a bad harvest; the price of
bread rose and bakers hoarded supplies. After spending hours in long
 queues at the bakery, crowds of angry women stormed into the shops. At
the same time, the king ordered troops to move into Paris. On 14 July, the
agitated crowd stormed and destroyed the Bastille.
• The Great Fear: In the countryside rumours spread from village to village
that the lords of the manor had hired bands of brigands who were on their
way to destroy the ripe crops. Caught in a frenzy of fear, peasants in several
districts seized hoes and pitchforks and attacked chateaux. They looted
hoarded grain and burnt down documents containing records of manorial
dues. A large number of nobles fled from their homes, many of them
migrating to neighbouring countries.
• Recognition to the National assembly: In this situation, 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. 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 were abolished and lands owned by the
Church were confiscated. As a result, the government acquired assets worth
at least 2 billion livres.

6. What was the Bastille? Why was it hated by all?

Ans. The Bastille was a fortress prison. It was hated by all, because it stood for
the despotic power of the king.

7. Briefly explain the fall of the 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.
• 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 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.
8. What was the Great Fear that developed in the countryside in France?
Ans.
• In the countryside rumours spread from village to village that the lords of
the manor had hired bands of brigands who were on their way to destroy
the ripe crops.
• Caught in a frenzy of fear, peasants in several districts seized hoes and
pitchforks and attacked chateaux.
• They looted hoarded grain and burnt down documents containing records
of manorial dues.
• A large number of nobles fled from their homes, many of them migrating
to neighbouring countries.

9. Describe the salient features of the Constitution of France of 1791.

Ans. 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
• 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.
• 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 all women were classed as passive citizens.
• 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.

10. What was the Declaration of Rights of man and Citizen? What was its
significance?
Ans. The Constitution of 1791 began with a Declaration of the Rights of Man
and Citizen. Its importance was:
• 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.
11. Describe the events that led to a war between France and Prussia and Austria.
Ans.
• 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.
• Before this could happen, the National Assembly voted in April 1792 to
declare war against Prussia and Austria.
• Thousands of volunteers thronged from the provinces to join the army.
• They saw this as a war of the people against kings and aristocracies all over
Europe.

12. Why did political clubs come up in France during the revolutionary wars?
Ans. The reasons are:
• The revolutionary wars brought losses and economic difficulties to the
people.
• While the men were away fighting at the front, women were left to cope
with the tasks of earning a living and looking after their families.
• Large sections of the population were convinced that the revolution had to
be carried further, as the Constitution of 1791 gave political rights only to
the richer sections of society.
• Political clubs became an important rallying point for people who wished
to discuss government policies and plan their own forms of action.
• The most successful of these clubs was that of the Jacobins, which got its
name from the former convent of St Jacob in Paris.
• Women too, who had been active throughout this period, formed their own
clubs.

13. Who were the Jacobins? What were their beliefs?

Ans.
• The members of the Jacobin 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.
• 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
 knee breeches. It was a way of proclaiming the end of the power wielded
by the wearers of knee breeches.
• These Jacobins came to be known as the sans-culottes, literally meaning
‘those without knee breeches’.
• Sansculottes men wore in addition the red cap that symbolised liberty.
Women however were not allowed to do so.

14. Explain the events that led to the formation of the French Republic.
Ans.
• In the summer of 1792 the Jacobins planned an insurrection of a large
number of Parisians who 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 held the king himself as hostage for
several hours.
• Later the Assembly voted to imprison the royal family.
• Elections were held. 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.

15. What is the Reign of Terror? Why was it called so?

Ans. The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the Reign of Terror. It was
called so because:
• Robespierre followed a policy of severe control and punishment.
• All those whom he saw as being ‘enemies’ of the republic – ex-nobles and
clergy, members of other political parties, even members of his own party
who did not agree with his methods – were arrested, imprisoned and then
tried by a revolutionary tribunal.
• If the court found them ‘guilty’ they were guillotined.
• Robespierre pursued his policies so relentlessly that even his supporters
began to demand moderation.

16. Describe Robespierre’s policies during the Reign of terror.

Ans. His policies were:
• Robespierre’s government issued laws placing a maximum ceiling 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.
• The use of more expensive white flour was forbidden; all citizens were
required to eat the pain d’égalité (equality bread), a loaf made of whole
wheat.
• 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).
• Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into barracks or
offices.

17. Explain the events that led to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Ans. The fall of the Jacobin government allowed the wealthier middle classes
to seize power. A new constitution was introduced which denied the vote to
non-propertied sections of society.
• It provided for two elected legislative councils.
• These then appointed a Directory, an executive made up of five members.
• This was meant as a safeguard against the concentration of power in a one-
man executive as under the Jacobins.
• However, the Directors often clashed with the legislative councils, who then
sought to dismiss them.
• The political instability of the Directory paved the way for the rise of a
military dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte.

18. Describe the lives of women during the Old Regime.

Ans. The lives of the women in the Old Regime was as below:
• 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.
• Most women did not have access to education or job training.
• Only daughters of nobles or wealthier members of the third estate could
study at a convent, after which their families arranged a marriage for them.
• 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.
19. What laws did the revolutionary government pass to improve the lives of
women?
Ans. 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 could be applied for by both women and men.
Women could now train for jobs, could become artists or run small
businesses.

20. Describe the lives of women during the Reign of Terror.

Ans.
• During the Reign of Terror, the new government issued laws ordering
closure of women’s clubs and banning their political activities.
• Many prominent women were arrested and a number of them executed.

21. When did women get the right to vote?

Ans. It was finally in 1946 that women in France won the right to vote.

22. Describe the Triangular Slave trade.

Ans. 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.
• The slave trade began in the seventeenth century. 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.
 • The exploitation of slave labour made it possible to meet the growing
demand in European markets for sugar, coffee, and indigo.
• Port cities like Bordeaux and Nantes owed their economic prosperity to the
flourishing slave trade.
23. How was the issue of slavery debated by different governments in France?
Ans.
• Throughout the eighteenth century there was little criticism of slavery in
France. The National Assembly held long debates about whether the rights
of man should be extended to all French subjects including those in the
colonies.
• But it did not pass any laws, fearing opposition from businessmen whose
incomes depended on the slave trade.
• It was finally the Convention which in 1794 legislated to free all slaves in
the French overseas possessions.
• Ten years later, Napoleon reintroduced slavery.
• 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.

24. Describe Napoleon’s rule.

Ans.
• 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.
• Napoleon saw his role as a moderniser 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.
Initially, many saw Napoleon as a liberator who would bring freedom for
the people.
• But soon the Napoleonic armies came to be viewed everywhere as an
invading force. He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815.
• 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.

25. Explain the new law of Censorship of the Press introduced in France and its
impact on the lives of the people.
Ans.
• 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.
• Plays, songs and festive processions attracted large numbers of people.
• This was one way they could grasp and identify with ideas such as liberty
or justice that political philosophers wrote about at length in texts which
only a handful of educated people could read.