French Revolution Notes
French Revolution Notes
Q.1) Give reasons as to why was National Assembly formed by the people of the third
estate?
Ans.
● On 5th May 1789, Louis XVI called together an assembly of the Estate General to pass
proposals for new taxes.
● The Estate General was an ancient assembly consisting of 3 different estates. Each
estate would represent a portion of the French population.
● Voting in the Estate General in the past had been conducted according to the
principle that ‘One Estate, One Vote’.
● Members of the 3rd Estate demanded that voting should be conducted by the
assembly as a whole, where each member should have one vote.
● The King rejected the proposal & the members of 3rd estate walked out of the
assembly in protest.
● On 20th June at the Tennis Court of Versailles, they declared themselves as National
Assembly. They declared not to disperse until they had drafted the constitution for
France which would certain the power of Monarch and Estates.
Q.2) What compelled Louis XVI to raise taxes in France? Explain any 3 reasons?
Ans. Upon the accession of Louis XVI he found an empty treasury. Long years of war
drained the financial resources of France.
● Added to this was the cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense
Palace of Versailles.
● Regular expenses, such as the cost of maintaining an army, the court, running
government offices or universities, the estate was forced to increase taxes.
Q.3) What does Subsistence Crisis mean? What lead to subsistence crisis in France?
● Subsistence crisis means an extreme situation where the basic means of livelihood
are endangered. During the old regime, subsistence crisis frequently occurred in
France. The reason that led to subsistence crisis are as follows.
● Rise in Population
● Most workers were employed as labourers on fixed wages. Their wages could not
keep pace with the rising prices.
● Gap between poor and rich widened. Poor remained poor, but rich became richer.
● Crisis of food grains became worse whenever drought or hail reduced the harvest.
Q.4) Who constituted the middle class in French Society? How did they participate in the
French revolution. Or Describe/Discuss the role of middle class in French Revolution?
Ans.)
● The middle class constituted of the educated and prosperous section of the 3rd
Estate. It also included Professionals like Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers and Judges. The
rich among them were Bankers, Manufacturers and Businessman, etc. They
participated in the French Revolution in the following ways.
● They provided the Peasants and the workers the vital leadership to help bring about
change in socio-economic order. As they lacked the means and programs to carry
out full-scale measures to the 3rd estate who had become prosperous and had
excess of education and new ideas.
● The Middle class was influenced by the Philosophers and wanted to build a society
having Freedom, equal laws and opportunities.
● They described the ideas of philosophers and read aloud for the uneducated.
Q.5) Who was Maximillian Robespierre? Describe any 4 steps taken by him to bring equality
in French Society.
Ans.)
● All those whom he saw as being enemies of the Republic : ex-nobles & 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.
● His 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.
● Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into Barracks or Offices.
● The National Assembly in France was founded by the members of the 3rd estate in
1789. They were led by Mirabeau(noble) and Abbe Sieyes (Clergy).
● In his ‘Two Treaties of Government’, Locke sought to refuse the doctrine of the divine
and absolute right of the Monarch.
● Jean Jacques Rousseau carried the idea forward, proposing a form of Government
based on a social contract between people and their representatives.
● The American Constitution and its guarantee of individual rights was an important
example of political thinkers in France.
● Their ideas were discussed intensively in Salon and spread all over the France
promoting them.
Q.8) In which book did Rousseau mention the idea of ‘One Person, One Vote’?
Ans.)
● Rousseau in his book ‘The Social Contract’ , mentioned the idea of ‘One person,
One vote.’
● On 21st January 1793, he was executed publicly at the Place ‘De la Concorde’.
● The Queen Marie Antoinette met with the same fate shortly after.
● Louis XVI of Bourbon family ascended the throne in 1774 & found treasury of France
to be empty. Long years of war had drained financial resources of France.
● Under Louis XVI, 13 colonies of America got independent from common enemy,
Britain.
● This added a debt of billion livres to already existing 2 billion livres debt.
● Tithes were a tax levied by the church, comprising one-tenth of the agricultural
produce