French revolution

French revolution

In the questions given below, there are two Statements marked as Assertion (A)
and Reason (R). Read the Statements and Choose the correct option: Options are:
(A) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
(B) Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A).
(C) (A) is correct but (R) is wrong.
(D) (A) is wrong but (R) is correct.

Q.1. Assertion (A): The period from 1795 to 1798 is referred as the Reign of
Terror.
Reason (R): Robespierre followed a policy of severe control and punishment.

Q.2. Assertion (A): In 1774, Louis XVI of the Bourbon family of kings ascended the
throne of France.
Reason (R): Under Louis XVI, France helped fifteen German colonies to gain their
independence from Britain.

Q.3. Assertion (A): On the Morning of 14th July 1789, the city of Paris was in a
State of alarm.
Reason (R): Some 7,000 men and women gathered in front of the town hall and
decided to form a people’s Militia.

Q.4. Assertion (A): The revolutionary wars brought losses and economic
difficulties to the people.
Reason (R): 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.

Assertion (A): During the eighteenth century France witnessed the emergence of a middle
class.
Reason (R): The emergence of the middle class happened on account of royal patronage.

Case study

The society of estates was part of the feudal system that dated back to the Middle
Ages. The term Old Regime is usually used to describe the society and institutions
French revolution

of France before 1789.

French society was organised in system of estates. 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.

Answer the following MCQs by choosing the most appropriate option:

(i) The term Old Regime describes the Society and Institutions of France
before _______
(A) 1879
(B) 1789
(C) 1987
(D) 1798

(ii) What was the ratio of the Peasants?

(A) 80%
(B) 50%
(C) 60%
(D) 90%

(iii) About ________percent of the land was owned by nobles, the church and
other richer members of the third estate.
(A) 50
(B) 80
(C) 60
(D) 70

(iv) The feudal dues were extracted from:

(A) Businessmen
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(B) Peasants
(C) Artisans
(D) Merchants
Question 1.
“Ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French
Revolution”. Explain the statement in the light of French Revolution.
Answer:

 People of Third Estate demanded a society based on freedom and opportunities to all.
 The National Assembly was formed in 1791 with an object to limit the powers of the
monarch.
 The Constitution framed in 1791 began with a Declaration of the Rights of Man and
Citizens.
 Censorship was abolished in 1789.

Question 2.
Explain the impact of the French Revolution on the life of people of French.
Answer:

 Divorce was made legal, and could be applied by both women and men. Women could be
now trained for jobs, could become artists or run small businesses.
 The Constitution of 1791 began with a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. It
proclaimed that Freedom of speech and opinion and equality before law were natural
rights of each human being by birth. These could not be taken away.
 Newspapers, pamphlets and printed pictures appeared steadily in the towns of French.
From there, they travelled into the countryside. These publications described and
discussed the events and changes taking place in the country.

Question 3.
What compelled Louis XVI to raise taxes in France?
Answer:

 Wars and Economic Crisis : In 1774, when Louis XVI ascended the throne, he found and
empty treasure. The nation had gone into deep dept because of the fighting in the Seven
Years War (1756-1763) and the Revolutionary War in America under Louis XVI. In this
war, France helped the 13 American colonies to gain their independence from Britain. The
war added more than a billion livers to a dept that had already risen to more than 2 billion
livres.
 Debt Trap: 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.
 Extravagant Court: France under various kings had a extravagant court at the immense
palace of Versailles.
French revolution

Question 4.
Describe the status of the nobles in France before the revolution.
Answer:
The clergy and the nobles led a life of luxury and enjoyed numerous privileges. On the other
hand, the peasants and workers lived a wretched life. They groaned under heavy taxes and
forced labour. The middle-class comprising of lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc also suffered
humiliation at the hands of the clergy and the nobles. This state of social inequality was the
chief cause of the French Revolution.

Question 5.
“The inequality that existed in the French Society in the Old Regime became the cause of
French Revolution”. Justify the statement by giving three suitable examples.
Answer:
The examples are :

 French Society was divided into three Estates. The First Estate comprised of clergy, the
Second Estate comprised of nobility and the Third Estate comprised of businessmen,
traders, merchants, artisans, peasants and servants.
 The members of Church and nobility enjoyed certain privileges by birth, the most
important being the exemption from paying taxes to the State.
 Feudal dues were extracted by nobles from peasants and one-tenth of the agricultural
produce of peasants, in the form of Tithes came to the share of clergy. All members of the
Third Estate including peasants paid taxes, thus, the burden of financing activities of the
the state through taxes was borne by the Third Estate alone creating heavy
discontentment.

Question 6.
How did philosophers influence the thinking of the people of France?
Answer:
Philosophers influence the thinking of the people of France as :

 Major changes were introduced in the Russian economy and agriculture after the
revolution. Private property was abolished and land became a state property. Peasants
had the freedom to cultivate on state ” – controlled land.
 A proper system of centralized planning was introduced with the help of five year plans. It
helped in bringing about technological improvements, economic growth and helped in
removing the inequalities in the society.
 The revolution acknowledged right to work and identified dignity of labour. Socialist
economy added a new dimension to democracy, by attributing it as a socio-economic
system.

Question 7.
What was the role of philosophers and thinkers in the French Revolution? Explain by giving
three examples.
Answer:

 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.
French revolution

 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.

Question 8.
What measures were taken by Robespierre to bring equality in the French Society? HOTS
Answer:
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.

Question 9.
How did the peasants contribute to the outbreak of the French Revolution? Explain. HOTS
Answer:
Contribution of the peasants to the outbreak of the French Revolution :

 The peasants had to pay various taxes to the government, to the nobles and to the
Church.
 They were subjected to forced labour, they had to work free in the land of the nobles for
three days in a week.
 Crops were trampled by hunting parties of the nobles. About 81% of their income went to
the State, Nobles, Church, 19% of the income was their to live on grass and roofs and
1,000 peoples of them died due to starvation. As as whole, the Administration was corrupt.

Question 10.
State the events that led to the formation of the National Assembly.
Answer:

 The Estates General was a political body of France to which the three estates sent their
representatives. The voting in it had been conducted according to the principle that each
estate had one vote.
 This time too when Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General, he decided to
continue the same old practice.
 But the members of the Third Estate demanded that voting now be conducted on the
democratic principle of one person, one vote.
 When the king rejected this proposal, the members of the Third Estate walked out of the
assembly in protest.
French revolution

 They assembled on 20 June, 1789 in the hall of an indoor tennis court in Versailles. These
representatives of the Third Estate viewed themselves as spokesmen for whole French
nation. They declared themselves a National Assembly.

Question 11.
Trace the event which led to the fall of Bastille.
Answer:

 On 20th June the representatives of the Third Estate assembled in the hall.
 While the National Assembly was busy at Versailles drafting a constitution,
 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.

Question 12.
Write three main features of the French Constitution of 1971.
Answer:

 Powers of the National Assembly: 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.
 Right to Vote: 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. The remaining men and all women were
classed as passive citizens.
 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.

Question 13.
What was the significance of ‘The Tennis Court Oath’ in the French Revolution?
Answer:

 The Tennis Court Oath was a significant event in the French revolution. The Oath was
taken on 20th June in the hall of an indoor court in the grounds of Versailles.
 The members declared themselves as the National Assembly and swore not to disperse
till they had drafted a Constitution for France that would limit the powers of the monarch.
 The National Assembly drafted the new Constitution which laid the foundation of Republic
of France.

Question 14.
What was the Convention? Describe its role in France.
Answer:
The elected assembly formed in France in 1792 was called Convention.
Role in France :

 It abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic.

French revolution

 Hereditary monarch Louis XVI and his wife were sentenced to death Robespierre was
elected President of the National Convention. He followed the policy of severe control and
punishment. The French Revolution 19

Question 15.
Describe how abolition of slavery became possible in France.
Answer:
Abolition of slavery became possible in France by the following ways :

 The salve trade began in the 18th century. The National Assembly held long debates
about the rights of man should be extended to all French subjects including those in the
colonies.
 Convention legislated to free all slaves in the French overseas possessions. .
 However, Napoleon reintroduced slavery. Finally slavery was abolished in 1848.

Question 16.
Discuss the impact of abolition of censorship in France.
Or
Describe the effects of abolition of law of censorship on France.
Answer:

 France before 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.
 Freedom of Speech: 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.
 Debate and Discussion: 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. Printed tracts and newspapers not only spread the new ideas, but they
shaped the nature of debate. 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.