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The French Revolution

The French Revolution was sparked by financial crises, social inequality, and rising food prices, leading to widespread discontent among the third estate, which ultimately benefited from the revolution while the first and second estates lost their privileges. The revolution spread ideas of liberty and democratic rights globally, influencing movements for sovereignty and equality in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, the promise of universal rights was contradictory, as women were largely excluded from the rights and privileges that emerged from the revolution.

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Virendra Kumar
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19 views2 pages

The French Revolution

The French Revolution was sparked by financial crises, social inequality, and rising food prices, leading to widespread discontent among the third estate, which ultimately benefited from the revolution while the first and second estates lost their privileges. The revolution spread ideas of liberty and democratic rights globally, influencing movements for sovereignty and equality in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, the promise of universal rights was contradictory, as women were largely excluded from the rights and privileges that emerged from the revolution.

Uploaded by

Virendra Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHAPTER 1.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

1. Describe the circumstances leading to the outbreak of revolutionary protest in France.

Answer: When King Louis XVI was anointed as the new king, he found an empty treasury.
Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France. On top of this, there was the
cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the Palace of Versailles. France had helped the
thirteen American colonies gain their independence from their common enemy, Britain. The war
added more than a billion lives to a debt that had already risen to more than 2 billion lives.
Lenders who gave credit began to charge 10 percent interest on loans. So the French Government
had 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, governmental offices, and
Universities were increasingly becoming difficult. Raising taxes did not suffice, because French
society was divided into 3 estates and only the 3rd estate had to pay taxes. The 1st estate and the
2nd estate did not pay any taxes. The population of France was also growing massively. This led
to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains. Production of grains could not keep pace with
demand. So the price of bread, which was the staple diet of the majority rose rapidly. Most
workers were employed as laborers in workshops, whose owner fixed their wages. But the wages
did not keep pace with the rise in prices. So the gap between the rich and the poor widened. All
these factors led to the outbreak of the French Revolution.

2. Which groups of French society benefited from the revolution? Which groups were
forced to relinquish power? Which sections of society would have been disappointed with
the outcome of the revolution?

Answer: French society was divided into 3 estates. The third estate benefitted the most. The
third estate consisted of Peasants, artisans, small peasants, landless labor, servants, big
businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers, etc. The groups that were forced to relinquish
power were the people belonging to the 1st and 2nd estates. These people had enjoyed certain
privileges by birth. With the revolution, the people in the 1st and 2nd estates lost their privileges.
Because inequality was one of the root causes of the revolution, the revolution tried to bring
equality to society.

3. Describe the legacy of the French Revolution for the peoples of the world during the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Answer: The ideas of liberty and democratic rights are the most important legacies of the French
Revolution. These spread from France to the rest of Europe during the nineteenth century, where
feudal systems were abolished. Colonized people reworked the idea of freedom from bondage
into their movements to create a sovereign nation-state. Tipu Sultan and Ram Mohan Roy are
two examples of individuals who responded to the ideas originating from Revolutionary France.
4. Draw up a list of democratic rights we enjoy today whose origins could be traced to the
French Revolution.

Answer: The list of democratic rights are

Freedom of speech

Freedom of expression

Freedom of press

Abolition of censorship

Right to vote

Abolition of slavery

Right to liberty

Right to property

Right to security

Right to education

Divorce laws

5. Would you agree with the view that the message of universal rights was beset with
contradictions? Explain.

Answer: Though it says ‘Universal Rights’, women were unfortunately left out of the basic
rights that were promised. They did not have equal rights that men enjoyed. They did not have
the right to liberty, property, security, and above all, resistance to oppression. In the formulation
of laws, women did not have any representation. Women were not entitled to all the honors and
public employment, according to their abilities.

6. How would you explain the rise of Napoleon?

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France. He started conquering


neighboring countries by waging wars against them. He saw himself 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. Many of his measures carried the
revolutionary ideas of liberty and modern laws to the other parts of Europe. This had a positive
impact on people long after he was dethroned as an emperor when he was finally defeated in the
Battle of Waterloo.

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