SOCIAL SCIENCE

(Half Yearly Marathon)

SOCIAL SCIENCE (The French Revolution)

Class- IX
(Session – 2024-25)

General Instructions:
(i) This question paper consists of 15 questions
(ii) All questions are compulsory.

1. What event in 1789 marked the beginning of the French Revolution?

a) Storming of Bastille
b) Execution of Louis XVI
c) Reign of Terror
d) Tennis Court Oath

2. The three main social classes in France before the Revolution were known as:
a) Nobles, Bourgeoisie, Proletariat
b) Clergy, Nobility, Peasantry
c) Aristocrats, Serfs, Middle class
d) Monarchs, Bourgeoisie, Proletariat

3. Who was the monarch of France at the outbreak of the French Revolution?
a) Louis XIV
b) Louis XV
c) Louis XVI
d) Napoleon Bonaparte

4. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaimed:

a) The divine right of kings
b) The supremacy of the clergy
c) The equality of all citizens before the law
d) The absolute power of the monarchy

5. The period of the Directory in France came after:

a) The Reign of Terror
b) The Storming of the Bastille
c) The Tennis Court Oath
d) The execution of Louis XVI

6. What was the subsistence crisis? Why did it occur in France during the Old Regime?
7. What was the system of voting in the Estates General? What change did the Third Estate
want in this system?
 SOCIAL SCIENCE
(Half Yearly Marathon)

8. Who were the sans culottes? Who were able to control them in the end?
9. What is the significance of ‘The Tennis Court Oath’ in the French Revolution?
10. Explain the “Reign of Terror” in brief.
11. Explain the features of the constitution of France drafted in 1791.
12. Why did slavery begin and why was it abolished in French colonies?
13. What are the three important ideas of the French Revolution? How were they guaranteed
under the constitution of 1791?
14. What were the causes for the empty treasure of France under Louis XIV? Assess any three
causes.
15. ‘‘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.
 SOCIAL SCIENCE
(Half Yearly Marathon)

ANSWERS
1. a) Storming of Bastille
2. b) Clergy, Nobility, Peasantry
3. c) Louis XVI
4. c) The equality of all citizens before the law
5. a) The Reign of Terror
6. Definition- Subsistence crisis can be defined as an extreme situation where the basic means
of livelihood are endangered.
Reason- The population of France was on the rise. It rose from 23 million in 1715 to 28
million in 1789.
This led to an increase in the demand for food grains. The production of food grains could
not keep pace with the demand and the price of bread which was the staple diet of the
majority rose rapidly. The wages also did not keep pace with the rise in prices. This led to the
subsistence crisis in France.
7. Voting in the Estates General in the past had been conducted according to the principle that
each estate had one vote. Members of the Third Estate demanded that voting must now be
conducted by the assembly as a whole, where each member would have one vote.
This was according to the democratic principles put forward by philosophers like Rousseau in
his book “The Social Contract”.
8. A large among the Jacobins decided to start wearing long striped trousers similar to those
worn by dock workers. To set themselves apart from the fashionable sections of the society,
especially nobles, who wore knee breeches. It was a way of proclaiming the end of the
power wielded by wearers of knee breeches. These Jacobins came to be known as the sans
culottes, literally meaning ‘those without knee breeches’. After the fall of Jacobins, power
was seized by the wealthier middle class.
9. The representatives of the Third Estate viewed themselves as spokesmen for the whole
French nation. On 20th June, 1789, they assembled in the hall of on indoor tennis court in
the grommets of Versailles. They declared themselves a national assembly and score not the
disperse till they had drafted a constitution for France that would limit the powers of the
monarch. They were led by Mirabeau and Abbe Sieyes.
10. The following points explain the Reign of Terror:
(a) The period from 1793 to 1794 is called the Reign of Terror because Robespierre followed
a policy of severe control and punishment. Ex-nobles, clergy, members of other political
parties and even the members of his own party, who did not agree with his methods, were
arrested, imprisoned and guillotined.
(b) Laws were issued by Robespierre’s government laws were issued by placing a maximum
ceiling of wages and prices. Meat and bread were rationed.
(c) 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 equality bread.
(d) Equality was also sought to be practiced through forms of speech and address. Instead of
the traditional Sir and Madam, French men and women were addressed as citizen.
(e) Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into barracks or offices. Finally,
Robespierre was convicted by a court in July 1794, arrested and the next day, sent to the
guillotine.
11. (a) The constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution in France, created after the
collapse of absolute rule.
 SOCIAL SCIENCE
(Half Yearly Marathon)

(b) Its main aim was to limit the powers of the monarch.
(c) Powers were then divided/separated and assigned to different institutions like legislative,
executive and judiciary.
(d) According to this, active citizens of France elected electors who in turn voted to elect the
National Assembly.
(e) Not all citizens had the right to vote. Only men of 25 years of age who paid taxes equal to
at least three days of a labourer’s wage. They were called active citizens.
(f) The remaining men and all women were called the passive citizens.
(g) The National Assembly controlled the king. France became a constitutional monarchy.
12. (a) The slave trade began in the 17th century. The colonies in the Caribbean – Martinique,
Guadeloupe and San Domingo – were important Suppliers of commodities.
(b) But the reluctance of Europeans to go and work in distant and unfamiliar lands meant a
shortage of labour on the plantations.
(c) Throughout the eighteenth century there was little criticism of slavery in France. The
National Assembly did not pass any laws, fearing opposition from businessmen whose
incomes depended on the slave trade.
(d) It was the Convention which in 1794 legislated to free all slaves in the French overseas
possessions. This, however, turned out to be a short-term measure. Napoleon reintroduced
slavery.
(e) Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848.
13. The three important ideas of the French revolution was Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
The constitution passed the right of man and citizen and the following rights were
established as ‘natural and unalienable’ rights:
(a) Right to life,
(b) Freedom of speech,
(c) Freedom of opinion,
(d) Equality before law
Rights were given by birth and could not be taken away. The duty of the state was to protect
each citizen’s natural rights.
14. (a) Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France. Under Louis XIV, France
helped the thirteen American colonies to gain their independence from the common enemy,
British. The war added more than a billion lives to a debt that had already risen to more than
2 billion lives.
(b) Lenders who gave the state credit began to charge 10 percent interests on loans. So the
French government was obliged to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on interest
payments alone.
(c) The cost of maintaining the army, the court, government officials and universities was
very high.
15. (a) Peasants constituted about 90 per cent of the population but about 60 per cent of the
land was owned by nobles, the church and richer members of the Third Estate.

(b) The members of the First Estate and the Second Estate, 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.
 SOCIAL SCIENCE
(Half Yearly Marathon)

(c) The burden of financing activities of the state through taxes was borne by the Third
Estate alone. Taxes included tithes collected by the church from the peasants and taille, a
direct tax, and a number of indirect taxes which were levied on activities of everyday
consumption like salt and tobacco.
Thus the members of the Third Estate groaned under heavy taxation with no privileges
whatever. This led to a deep sense of resentment among the members of the Third Estate
who galvanised and led the revolution.