The French Revolution
1. On the morning of 14 July 1789, the city of Paris was in a state of alarm.
2. The king had commanded troops to move into the city.
3. Rumours spread that he would soon order the army to open fire upon the citizens.
4. Some 7,000 men and women gathered in front of the town hall and decided to form a peoples’ militia.
5. They broke into a number of government buildings in search of arms.
6. Finally, a group of several hundred people marched towards the eastern part of the city and stormed the fortress-prison, the Bastille,
7. Why? - where they hoped to find hoarded ammunition.
8. In the armed fight that followed, the commander of the Bastille was killed and the prisoners released – though there were only seven of them.
9. Yet the Bastille was hated by all:
- Why? because it stood for the despotic power of the king.
10. 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.
11. The days that followed saw more rioting both in Paris and the countryside.
12. Most people were protesting? Why?
- Against the high price of bread.
13. Much later, when historians looked back upon this time, they saw it as the beginning of a chain of events that ultimately led to the execution of the king in France,
14. Though most people at the time did not anticipate this outcome. How and why did this happen?
Mcq:
What was the state of Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789?
a) Peaceful
b) Celebratory
c) In a state of alarm
d) Indifferent
Answer: c) In a state of alarm
Why did the king command troops to move into the city?
a) To celebrate a national event
b) To protect the citizens from a foreign invasion
c) To suppress the growing revolutionary sentiments
d) To provide security to a royal guest
Answer: c) To suppress the growing revolutionary sentiments
What rumours were spreading among the citizens of Paris?
a) The king had fled the city
b) The city was under attack from a foreign army
c) The king would soon order the army to open fire upon the citizens
d) The citizens would soon be given more rights
Answer: c) The king would soon order the army to open fire upon the citizens
How did the citizens of Paris respond to the rumours?
a) They started celebrating and dancing on the streets
b) They decided to form a committee to negotiate with the king
c) They ignored the rumours and went about their daily business
d) They gathered in front of the town hall and decided to form a peoples’ militia
Answer: d) They gathered in front of the town hall and decided to form a peoples’ militia
How many men and women gathered in front of the town hall on 14 July 1789?
a) 1,000
b) 3,000
c) 5,000
d) 7,000
Answer: d) 7,000
What did the citizens who gathered in front of the town hall decide to do?
a) They decided to launch a violent attack on the king's troops
b) They decided to form a political party to challenge the monarchy
c) They decided to form a peoples’ militia to protect the citizens
d) They decided to surrender to the king's troops
Answer: c) They decided to form a peoples’ militia to protect the citizens
What was the purpose of forming the peoples' militia?
a) To overthrow the monarchy
b) To protect the citizens from the king's troops
c) To negotiate with the king for more rights
d) To establish a new system of government
Answer: b) To protect the citizens from the king's troops
What event is associated with the morning of 14 July 1789 in Paris?
a) The French Revolution
b) The fall of the Bastille
c) The coronation of the king
d) The signing of a peace treaty
Answer: b) The fall of the Bastille
Why did the people break into government buildings?
a) To celebrate a national event
b) To protest against a new law
c) To search for arms
d) To demand more rights
Answer: c) To search for arms
How many people were in the group that marched towards the eastern part of the city?
a) A dozen
b) Several dozen
c) Several hundred
d) A thousand
Answer: c) Several hundred
What was the name of the fortress-prison that was stormed by the people?
a) The Louvre
b) The Eiffel Tower
c) The Bastille
d) The Notre Dame Cathedral
Answer: c) The Bastille
Why did the people storm the Bastille?
a) To free political prisoners
b) To steal valuable artifacts
c) To demand more food supplies
d) To protest against high taxes
Answer: a) To free political prisoners
What was the significance of the storming of the Bastille?
a) It marked the beginning of the French Revolution
b) It marked the end of the French Revolution
c) It led to the coronation of the king
d) It led to a peace treaty with a foreign country
Answer: a) It marked the beginning of the French Revolution
Who were the people that stormed the Bastille?
a) A group of soldiers
b) A group of wealthy aristocrats
c) A group of political leaders
d) A group of ordinary citizens
Answer: d) A group of ordinary citizens
What was the reaction of the king to the storming of the Bastille?
a) He ordered the army to suppress the revolution
b) He celebrated the event as a victory for the people
c) He immediately granted all demands of the revolutionaries
d) He fled the city and went into hiding
Answer: a) He ordered the army to suppress the revolution
What did the storming of the Bastille symbolize for the French people?
a) The triumph of democracy and freedom
b) The defeat of tyranny and oppression
c) The beginning of a new era of equality and justice
d) All of the above
Answer: d) All of the above
Why did the people hope to find ammunition?
a) To celebrate a national event
b) To protest against a new law
c) To protect themselves from the army
d) To sell it in the markets
Answer: c) To protect themselves from the army
How many prisoners were released from the Bastille?
a) None
b) One
c) Two
d) Seven
Answer: d) Seven
Who was killed in the armed fight that followed the release of the prisoners?
a) The king
b) The commander of the Bastille
c) The leader of the rioters
d) A prisoner
Answer: b) The commander of the Bastille
Why was the Bastille hated by all?
a) Because it was a popular tourist attraction
b) Because it was a symbol of democracy
c) Because it was a source of ammunition for the king's army
d) Because it stood for the despotic power of the king
Answer: d) Because it stood for the despotic power of the king
What happened to the fortress after it was stormed?
a) It was rebuilt
b) It was used as a prison again
c) It was demolished
d) It was turned into a museum
Answer: c) It was demolished
What happened to the stone fragments of the Bastille?
a) They were used to build a new fortress
b) They were thrown away
c) They were given to the prisoners as souvenirs
d) They were sold in the markets
Answer: d) They were sold in the markets
Where did the rioting occur in the days that followed?
a) Only in Paris
b) Only in the countryside
c) Both in Paris and the countryside
d) None of the above
Answer: c) Both in Paris and the countryside
What were most people protesting against?
a) The high price of gasoline
b) The high price of coffee
c) The high price of bread
d) The high price of clothing
Answer: c) The high price of bread
French Society During The Late 18th Century
1. In 1774, Louis XVI of the Bourbon family of kings ascended the throne of France.
2. He was 20 years old and married to the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette.
3. (Problems Faced By New King)
Upon his accession the new king found an empty treasury.
4. Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France.
5, 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 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,
Mcq:
Who ascended the throne of France in 1774?
a) Louis XIV
b) Louis XV
c) Louis XVI
d) Napoleon Bonaparte
Answer: c) Louis XVI
Who was Louis XVI married to?
a) Princess Diana
b) Queen Elizabeth II
c) Princess Kate Middleton
d) Austrian princess Marie Antoinette
Answer: d) Austrian princess Marie Antoinette
What did the new king find upon his accession?
a) A full treasury
b) An empty treasury
c) A stable economy
d) A powerful military
Answer: b) An empty treasury
What had drained the financial resources of France?
a) Long years of peace
b) Long years of war
c) A booming economy
d) Low taxes
Answer: b) Long years of war
What added to the financial burden faced by the new king?
a) The cost of maintaining a small court
b) The cost of maintaining a moderate court
c) The cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense palace of Versailles
d) The cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the palace of Fontainebleau
Answer: c) The cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense palace of Versailles
Who did France help to gain independence from Britain under Louis XVI?
a) The thirteen American colonies
b) The Canadian provinces
c) The Australian states
d) The Indian states
Answer: a) The thirteen American colonies
How much debt did France have before the war with Britain?
a) Less than a billion livres
b) Around 1 billion livres
c) Around 2 billion livres
d) More than 2 billion livres
Answer: c) Around 2 billion livres
How much debt was added to France's debt during the war with Britain?
a) Less than a billion livres
b) Around 1 billion livres
c) Around 2 billion livres
d) More than 2 billion livres
Answer: b) Around 1 billion livres
What did lenders who gave the state credit begin to charge?
a) 5% interest
b) 10% interest
c) 15% interest
d) 20% interest
Answer: b) 10% interest
What did the French government have to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on?
a) Infrastructure projects
b) Interest payments on loans
c) Healthcare expenses
d) Social welfare programs
Answer: b) Interest payments on loans
What was one of the regular expenses of the French government?
a) Maintaining a navy
b) Maintaining a space program
c) Maintaining an army
d) Maintaining a professional sports league
Answer: c) Maintaining an army
What was another regular expense of the French government?
a) Running a chain of supermarkets
b) Running a chain of movie theaters
c) Running government offices or universities
d) Running a chain of coffee shops
Answer: c) Running government offices or universities
6. (Taxation System):
- The state was forced to increase taxes.
7. Yet even this measure would not have sufficed.
8. FRENCH SOCIETY :
- French society in the eighteenth century was divided into three estates, and
- only members of the third estate paid taxes.
- The society of estates was part of the feudal system that dated back to the middle ages.
10. The term Old Regime is usually used to describe the society and institutions of France before 1789.
11. Fig. 2 shows how the system of estates in French society was organised.
12. Peasants made up about 90 per cent of the population.
- However, only a small number of them owned the land they cultivated.
13. About 60 per cent of the land was owned by:
- nobles,
- The Church and
- other richer members of the third estate.
14. 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.
- Serfdom:
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.
15. Types of Taxes
The Church too extracted its share of taxes called tithes from the peasants (Tithe – A tax levied by the church, comprising one-tenth of the agricultural produce)
16.
Finally, all members of the third estate had to pay taxes to the state.
- These included a direct tax, called taille (Taille – Tax to be paid directly to the state)
20. And a number of indirect taxes which were levied on articles of everyday consumption like salt or tobacco.
21. The burden of financing activities of the state through taxes was borne by the third estate alone.
Mcq:
Which estate paid taxes in eighteenth-century France?
a) First estate
b) Second estate
c) Third estate
d) All estates
Answer: c) Third estate
Why was the state forced to increase taxes?
a) To fund infrastructure projects
b) To fund social welfare programs
c) To pay interest on loans
d) To maintain an extravagant court
Answer: d) To maintain an extravagant court
What was the society of estates?
a) A system of taxation
b) A system of government
c) A system of social hierarchy
d) A system of education
Answer: c) A system of social hierarchy
What term is used to describe the society and institutions of France before 1789?
a) New Regime
b) Middle Regime
c) Old Regime
d) Modern Regime
Answer: c) Old Regime
What percentage of the population were peasants in pre-revolutionary France?
a) 50%
b) 70%
c) 90%
d) 100%
Answer: c) 90%
Who owned about 60% of the land in pre-revolutionary France?
a) Peasants
b) Middle class
c) Nobles
d) Government
Answer: c) Nobles
Who were exempt from paying taxes to the state in pre-revolutionary France?
a) Peasants
b) Clergy
c) Nobles
d) Both b and c
Answer: d) Both b and c
Which estate enjoyed certain privileges by birth in pre-revolutionary France?
a) First estate
b) Second estate
c) Third estate
d) All estates
Answer: b) Second estate
What was the most important privilege enjoyed by the first two estates in pre-revolutionary France?
a) Right to vote
b) Access to education
c) Exemption from taxes
d) Right to bear arms
Answer: c) Exemption from taxes
Who owned the remaining 40% of the land in pre-revolutionary France?
a) Peasants
b) Middle class
c) Government
d) Foreigners
Answer: b) Middle class
What was the main occupation of the majority of the population in pre-revolutionary France?
a) Agriculture
b) Manufacturing
c) Services
d) Mining
Answer: a) Agriculture
Who were the richer members of the third estate in pre-revolutionary France?
a) Peasants
b) Middle class
c) Artisans
d) Both b and c
Answer: d) Both b and c
What percentage of the population were peasants in eighteenth-century France?
a) 10%
b) 30%
c) 60%
d) 90%
Answer: d) 90%
How much of the land was owned by nobles in eighteenth-century France?
a) 10%
b) 30%
c) 60%
d) 90%
Answer: c) 60%
Which members of the third estate were among the landowners in France?
a) Rich merchants
b) Poor artisans
c) Wealthy peasants
d) None of the above
Answer: c) Wealthy peasants
What privileges did members of the first two estates enjoy in France before 1789?
a) Exemption from paying taxes to the state
b) Free education for their children
c) Right to vote in elections
d) All of the above
Answer: a) Exemption from paying taxes to the state
What were feudal dues?
a) Taxes paid by peasants to the state
b) Taxes paid by nobles to the state
c) Services and payments extracted by the nobles from the peasants
d) Services and payments extracted by the peasants from the nobles
Answer: c) Services and payments extracted by the nobles from the peasants
What were tithes?
a) Taxes paid by peasants to the state
b) Taxes paid by nobles to the state
c) Taxes paid by the Church to the state
d) Taxes paid by the peasants to the Church
Answer: d) Taxes paid by the peasants to the Church
What was the direct tax called that all members of the third estate had to pay to the state?
a) Feudal dues
b) Tithes
c) Taille
d) Indirect tax
Answer: c) Taille
What were indirect taxes in eighteenth-century France?
a) Taxes paid directly to the state
b) Taxes paid to the Church
c) Taxes on articles of everyday consumption
d) Taxes on land ownership
Answer: c) Taxes on articles of everyday consumption
Who bore the burden of financing the activities of the state through taxes in France?
a) The first estate
b) The second estate
c) The third estate
d) All of the above
Answer: c) The third estate
What was the term used to describe the society and institutions of France before 1789?
a) New Regime
b) Modern Regime
c) Old Regime
d) Feudal Regime
Answer: c) Old Regime
New words
- Livre – Unit of currency in France, discontinued in 1794
- Clergy – Group of persons invested with special functions in the church
- Tithe – A tax levied by the church, comprising one-tenth of the agricultural produce
- Taille – Tax to be paid directly to the state
The Struggle To Survive:
1. The population of France rose from about 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789.
2. This led to a rapid increase in the demand for foodgrains.
3. Production of grains could not keep pace with the demand.
4. So the price of bread which was the staple diet of the majority rose rapidly.
5. Most workers were employed as labourers in workshops:
- whose owner fixed their wages.
6. But wages did not keep pace with the rise in prices.
7. So the gap between the poor and the rich widened.
8. Things became worse whenever drought or hail reduced the harvest.
9. This led to a subsistence crisis, something that occurred frequently in France during the Old Regime.
Activity
Fill in the blank boxes in Fig. 4 with appropriate terms from among the following:
Food riots, scarcity of grain, increased number of deaths, rising food prices, weaker bodies.
New words
Subsistence crisis – An extreme situation where the basic means of livelihood are endangered
Anonymous – One whose name remains unknown
1.3 A Growing Middle Class Envisages an End to Privileges
1. In the past, peasants and workers had participated in revolts against increasing taxes and food scarcity.
2. But they lacked the means and programmes to carry out full-scale measures that would bring about a change in the social and economic order.
3. This was left to those groups within the third estate who had become prosperous and had access to education and new ideas.
4. 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 that were either exported or bought by the richer members of society.
- In addition to merchants and manufacturers, the third estate included professions such as: lawyers or administrative officials.
5. (Ideology)
All of these were educated and believed that no group in society should be privileged by birth.
6. Rather, a person’s social position must depend on his merit.
7. These ideas envisaging a society based on:
- freedom and equal laws and
- opportunities for all,
8. Were put forward by philosophers such as:
- John Locke - In his Two Treatises of Government, Locke sought to refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch.
- Jean Jacques Rousseau - Rousseau carried the idea forward, proposing a form of government based on a social contract between people and their representatives.
- Montesquieu -
- 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.
- The American constitution and its guarantee of individual rights was an important example for political thinkers in France.
9. 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.
10. 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.
Source A
Accounts of lived experiences in the Old Regime
1. Georges Danton,
- who later became active in revolutionary politics, wrote to a friend in 1793,
2. looking back upon the time when he had just completed his studies:
3. ‘I was educated in the residential college of Plessis.
4. There I was in the company of important men ... Once my studies ended, I was left with nothing.
5. I started looking for a post.
6. It was impossible to find one at the law courts in Paris.
7. The choice of a career in the army was not open to me:
8. Why? as I was not a noble by birth, nor did I have a patron.
8. The church too could not offer me a refuge.
9. I could not buy an office as I did not possess a sou (a former French coin of low value).
10. My old friends turned their backs to me ... the system had provided us with an education without however offering a field where our talents could be utilised.’
1. An Englishman, Arthur Young, travelled through France during the years from 1787 to 1789 and wrote detailed descriptions of his journeys.
2. He often commented on what he saw.
‘He who decides to be served and waited upon by slaves,
3. ill-treated slaves at that, must be fully aware that by doing so he is placing his property and his life in a situation which is very different from that he would be in,
4. had he chosen the services of free and well- treated men.
5. And he who chooses to dine to the accompaniment of his victims’ groans, should not complain if during a riot his daughter gets kidnapped or his son’s throat is slit.’
Explanation:
1. The passage describes the travels of an Englishman named Arthur Young through France during the late 18th century. During his travels, he observed and commented on what he saw.
2. In particular, he commented on the practice of owning slaves and treating them poorly. He stated that someone who chooses to be served and waited upon by slaves, especially ones who are ill-treated, is putting themselves and their property in a dangerous situation. He suggests that if someone chooses to dine while hearing the suffering of their slaves, they should not be surprised if something terrible happens to them or their family during a riot.
3. This passage reflects the views of Arthur Young and his thoughts on slavery and the treatment of slaves during his travels in France.
The Outbreak of the Revolution
1. Louis XVI had to increase taxes for reasons you have learnt in the previous section.
2. How do you think he could have gone about doing this?
- In France of the Old Regime the monarch did not have the power to impose taxes according to his will alone.
- Rather he had to call a meeting of the Estates General which would then pass his proposals for new taxes.
- The Estates General was a political body to which the three estates sent their representatives.
- However, the monarch alone could decide when to call a meeting of this body.
- The last time it was done was in 1614.
3. On 5 May 1789, Louis XVI called together an assembly of the Estates General to pass proposals for new taxes.
4. A resplendent hall in Versailles was prepared to host the delegates.
5. The first and second estates sent 300 representatives each, who were seated in rows facing each other on two sides,
6. while the 600 members of the third estate had to stand at the back.
7. The third estate was represented by its more prosperous and educated members.
- Peasants, artisans and women were denied entry to the assembly.
- However, their grievances and demands were listed in some 40,000 letters which the representatives had brought with them.
8. Voting in the Estates General in the past had been conducted according to the principle that each estate had one vote.
9. This time too Louis XVI was determined to continue the same practice.
10. 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.
11. This was one of the democratic principles put forward by philosophers like Rousseau in his book The Social Contract.
12. When the king rejected this proposal:
- Members of the third estate walked out of the assembly in protest.
- The representatives of the third estate viewed themselves as spokesmen for the whole French nation.
- 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.
- They were led by Mirabeau and Abbé Sieyès.
13. Mirabeau
- Born in a noble family
- But was convinced of the need to do away with a society of feudal privilege.
- He brought out a journal and
- Delivered powerful speeches to the crowds assembled at Versailles.
Abbé Sieyès:
- Originally a priest,
- wrote an influential pamphlet called ‘What is the Third Estate’?
1. 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 14 July, the agitated crowd stormed and destroyed the Bastille.
6. 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.
7. 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.
- 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.
2.1 France Becomes a Constitutional Monarchy
1. The National Assembly completed the draft of the constitution in 1791.
2. Its main object was to limit the powers of the monarch.
3. 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.
4. This made France a constitutional monarchy. Fig. 7 explains how the new political system worked.
5. 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.
- 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.
- To qualify as an elector and then as a member of the Assembly, a man had to belong to the highest bracket of taxpayers.
Fig.8 – The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, painted by the artist Le Barbier in 1790. The figure on the right represents France. The figure on the left symbolises the law.
6. 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,
- These 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.
Source C
The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.
2. The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural and inalienable rights of man these are:
- liberty,
- property,
- security and
- resistance to oppression.
3. The source of all sovereignty resides in the nation;
- no group or individual may exercise authority that does not come from the people.
4. Liberty consists of the power to do whatever is not injurious to others.
5. The law has the right to forbid only actions that are injurious to society.
6. Law is the expression of the general will.
- All citizens have the right to participate in its formation, personally or through their representatives.
- All citizens are equal before it.
7. No man may be:
- accused,
- arrested or
- detained,
- except in cases determined by the law.
11. Every citizen may speak, write and print freely;
- he must take responsibility for the abuse of such liberty in cases determined by the law.
12. For the maintenance of the public force and for the expenses of administration a common tax is indispensable;
- it must be assessed equally on all citizens in proportion to their means.
17. Since property is a sacred and inviolable right,
- no one may be deprived of it,
- unless a legally established public necessity requires it.
- In that case a just compensation must be given in advance.
3. France Abolishes Monarchy and Becomes a Republic
1. The situation in France continued to be tense during the following years.
2. Although Louis XVI had signed the Constitution,
- He entered into secret negotiations with the King of Prussia.
3. Neighbouring countries of France
- 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.
- Why? Because :
- They saw this as a war of the people against kings and aristocracies all over Europe.
- Among the patriotic songs they sang was the Marseillaise, composed by the poet Roget de L’Isle.
- It was sung for the first time by volunteers from Marseilles as they marched into Paris and so got its name.
- The Marseillaise is now the national anthem of France.
4. Challenges due to Revolutionary wars:
- 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:
Why? As the Constitution of 1791 gave political rights only to the richer sections of society.
- Role of Political Clubs:
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.
- 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.
- Why? 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’.
- Sans- culottes men wore in addition the red cap that symbolised liberty.
- Women however were not allowed to do so.
Women too:
- who had been active throughout this period, formed their own clubs.
- Section 4 of this chapter will tell you more about their activities and demands.
Activities of Jacobins:
Formation of Convention:
1. In the summer of 1792 the Jacobins planned an insurrection (a violent uprising against an authority or government) of a large number of Parisians who were angered by:
- The short supplies and
- High prices of food.
2. 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.
3. Later the Assembly voted to imprison the royal family.
4. Elections were held.
5. From now on all men of 21 years and above, regardless of wealth, got the right to vote.
6. The newly elected assembly was called the Convention.
7. On 21 September 1792:
- It abolished the monarchy and
- Declared France a republic.
8. Louis XVI was sentenced to death by a court on the charge of treason (Treason – Betrayal of one’s country or government)
9. On 21 January 1793 he was executed publicly at the Place de la Concorde.
10. The queen Marie Antoinette met with the same fate shortly after.
Note:
- A republic is a form of government where the people elect the government including the head of the government.
- There is no hereditary monarchy.
- You can try and find out about some other countries that are republics and investigate when and how they became so.
3.1 The Reign of Terror
1. The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the Reign of Terror.
2. 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
Note:
- The guillotine is a device consisting of two poles and a blade with which a person is beheaded.
- It was named after Dr Guillotin who invented it.
3. Robespierre’s government issued laws: And Idea of Equality:
- 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 wholewheat.
- 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.
4. Robespierre pursued his policies so relentlessly that even his supporters began to demand moderation.
5. Finally, he was convicted by a court in July 1794, arrested and on the next day sent to the guillotine.
New words
Convent – Building belonging to a community devoted to a religious life
Source D
- What is liberty? Two conflicting views:
- The revolutionary journalist Camille Desmoulins wrote the following in 1793.
- He was executed shortly after, during the Reign of Terror.
- ‘Some people believe that Liberty is like a child, which needs to go through a phase of being disciplined before it attains maturity.
Quite the opposite.
- Liberty is Happiness, Reason, Equality, Justice, it is the Declaration of Rights ...
- You would like to finish off all your enemies by guillotining them. Has anyone heard of something more senseless?
- Would it be possible to bring a single person to the scaffold without making ten more enemies among his relations and friends?’
- On 7 February 1794, Robespierre made a speech at the Convention, which was then carried by the newspaper Le Moniteur Universel. Here is an extract from it:
- ‘To establish and consolidate democracy,
- To achieve the peaceful rule of constitutional laws,
- we must first finish the war of liberty against tyranny ....
- We must annihilate the enemies of the republic at home and abroad, or else we shall perish.
- In time of Revolution a democratic government may rely on terror.
- Terror is nothing but justice, swift, severe and inflexible; ... and is used to meet the most urgent needs of the fatherland.
- To curb the enemies of Liberty through terror is the right of the founder of the Republic.’
3.2 A Directory Rules France
1. The fall of the Jacobin government allowed the wealthier middle classes to seize power.
2. A new constitution was introduced which denied the vote to non-propertied sections of society.
3. It provided for two elected legislative councils.
4. These then appointed a Directory:
- An executive made up of five members.
5. This was meant as a safeguard against the concentration of power in a one-man executive as under the Jacobins.
6. However, the Directors often clashed with the legislative councils:
- Who then sought to dismiss them.
7. The political instability of the Directory paved the way for:
- The rise of a military dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte.
8. Through all these changes in:
- The form of government,
- The ideals of freedom,
- Of equality before the law and
- Of fraternity
- Remained inspiring ideals that motivated political movements in France and the rest of Europe during the following century.
4. Did Women have a Revolution?
1. From the very beginning women were active participants in the events which brought about so many important changes in French society.
2. They hoped that their involvement would pressurise the revolutionary government:
- to introduce measures to improve their lives.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. In order to discuss and voice their interests women started their own political clubs and newspapers.
7. About sixty women’s clubs came up in different French cities.
- The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was the most famous of them.
- One of their main demands was that women enjoy the same political rights as men.
- Women were disappointed that the Constitution of 1791 reduced them to passive citizens.
- They demanded the right to vote,
- To be elected to the Assembly and to hold political office.
- Only then, they felt, would their interests be represented in the new government.
8. 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.
9. Women’s struggle for equal political rights, however, continued.
10. During the Reign of Terror:
- The new government issued laws ordering closure of women’s clubs and banning their political activities.
11. Many prominent women were arrested and a number of them executed.
12. Women’s movements for voting rights and equal wages continued through the next two hundred years in many countries of the world.
13. The fight for the vote was carried out through:
- An international suffrage movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
14. The example of the political activities of French women during the revolutionary years was kept alive as an inspiring memory.
15. It was finally in 1946 that women in France won the right to vote.
5. The Abolition of Slavery
1. One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime was:
- The abolition of slavery in the French colonies.
2. The colonies in the:
- Caribbean – Martinique,
- Guadeloupe and
- San Domingo –
were important suppliers of commodities such as:
- tobacco,
- indigo,
- sugar and
- coffee.
3. But the reluctance of:
- Europeans to go and work in distant and Unfamiliar lands meant a shortage of labour on the plantations.
3. So this was met by a triangular slave trade between:
- Europe,
- Africa and
- the Americas.
4. The slave trade began in the seventeenth century.
5. French merchants sailed from the ports of:
- Bordeaux or Nantes to the African coast,
- Where they bought slaves from local chieftains.
6. Branded and shackled:
- The slaves were packed tightly into ships for the three-month long voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean.
7. There they were sold to plantation owners.
8. 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.
- Throughout the eighteenth century there was little criticism of slavery in France.
9. National Assembly and Slavery:
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
- Why? Fearing opposition from businessmen whose incomes depended on the slave trade.
10. Convention and Slavery:
- It was finally the Convention which in 1794 legislated to free all slaves in the French overseas possessions.
11. This, however, turned out to be a short-term measure:
ten years later,
- Napoleon reintroduced slavery.
12. Plantation owners understood their freedom as including the right to enslave African Negroes in pursuit of their economic interests.
13. Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848.
6. The Revolution and Everyday Life
1. Can politics change:
- The clothes people wear,
- The language they speak or
- The books they read?
2. The years following 1789 in France saw many such changes in the lives of men, women and children.
3. The revolutionary governments took it upon themselves to:
- Pass laws that would translate the ideals of liberty and equality into everyday practice.
- One important law that came into effect soon after the storming of the Bastille in the summer of 1789 was:
- The abolition of 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.
4. 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.
Conclusion
1. In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France.
2. He set out to:
- Conquer neighbouring European countries,
- Dispossessing dynasties and
- Creating kingdoms where he placed members of his family.
3. 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.
Note: What is the decimal system in measurement?
The metric system is called a decimal-based system because it is based on multiples of ten. Any measurement given in one metric unit (e.g., kilogram) can be converted to another metric unit (e.g., gram) simply by moving the decimal place.
4. Initially, many saw Napoleon as a liberator who would bring freedom for the people.
5. Negative Points:
- 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.
Conclusion:
1. The ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French Revolution.
2. These spread from France to the rest of Europe during the nineteenth century, where feudal systems were abolished.
3. Colonised peoples reworked the idea of freedom from bondage into their movements to create a sovereign nation state.
4.Tipu Sultan and Rammohan Roy are two examples of individuals who responded to the ideas coming from revolutionary France.
Box 2
1. Raja Rammohan Roy was one of those who was inspired by new ideas that were spreading through Europe at that time.
2. The French Revolution and later, the July Revolution excited his imagination.
- ‘He could think and talk of nothing else when he heard of the July Revolution in France in 1830.
3. On his way to England at Cape Town he insisted on visiting frigates (warships) flying the revolutionary tri-colour flag though he had been temporarily lamed by an accident.’
Susobhan Sarkar, Notes on the Bengal Renaissance 1946.
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