Question 2.

Explain the impact of the French Revolution on the life of people of French. To be written
in CW

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 9.

How did the peasants contribute to the outbreak of the French Revolution?
Explain. To be written in CW

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 a whole, the Administration was corrupt.

Question 11.

Trace the event which led to the fall of Bastille. To be written in CW

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.

What was the Convention? Describe its role in France. To be written in CW

Answer: The elected assembly formed in France in 1792 was called Convention.

Role in France :

It abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic.

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 16. To be written in CW

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.

Long Questions :

Question 1. To be written in CW
How was the French society organized? What privileges did certain sections of the
society enjoy? Describe.

Answer:

(i) Division of the society into three Estate :

The First Estate: It consisted of the clergymen and church-fathers.

The Second Estate: It consisted of landlords, men of noble birth and aristocrats.

The Third Estate: It consisted of the vast majority of the common masses, the landless peasants,
servants, etc.

(ii) Heavy Burden of Taxes on the Third Estate: The members of the first two Estates were exempted
from paying taxes to the state. So all the taxes were paid by the people of the Third Estate.

(iii) Wide Gap between People of Different Estates: Most of the people of the Third Estate were
employed as labourers in workshops with fixed wages. The wages failed to keep pace with the rise in
prices. So the gap between the poor and the rich widened.

(iv) No Political Rights: Out of the total population, the first and the second Estates had share of 2%.
The remaining people belonged to the Third Estate. Although the upper two classes made up only a
small fraction of the total population, yet they were the people who controlled the political and
economic system of the nation. They enjoyed all the rights and privileges. The entire machinery of
the government was designed to protect their interests and privileges.

(v) Unequal Distribution of Wealth : In the French society, peasants made up about 90% of the
population. However, only a small number of them owned the land they cultivated. About 60% of
the land was owned by nobles, the church and other richer members of the Third Estate.

Question 3.

Explain the events that led to the insurrection of 1792 in France. To be written in
CW

Answer:

(i) Assembly of the Estates: On 5th May, 1789 Louis XVI called together an assembly of the Estates
General to pass proposals for new taxes. Voting in the Estates General in the past had been
conducted according to the principle that each estate had one vote. This time too, Louis XVI was
determined to continue the same practice. But members of the Third Estate demanded that voting
now should be conducted by the assembly as a whole, where each member would have one vote.
When the king rejected this proposal, members of the Third Estate walked out of the assembly in
protest.

(ii) National Assembly : The representatives of the Third Estate viewed themselves as spokesmen for
the whole French nation. On 20th 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 Abbe’ Sieye’s.

(iii) Turmoil in France : While the National Assembly was busy at Versailles drafting the Constitution,
the rest of France seethed with turmoil. Due to bad harvest, there was shortage of food, and there
was also rumour that bands of brigands were on their way to destroy the ripe crops. Caught in a
frenzy of fear, peasants started attacking nobles. Under all these circumstances, Louis XVI finally
accorded recognition to the National Assembly.

(iv) Storming the Bastille : On the morning of 14th July, 1789 the agitated crowd stormed and
destroyed the Bastille. Under all these circumstances, Louis XVI finally according recognition to the
National Assembly.

(v) France became a Republic : In 1792 the Jacobians held the king hostage and declared to form a
new government. The newly elected Assembly was called the Convention. On 21st September, 1792
it abolished the monarchy and declared France as a republic.

Question 12.

Who was Robespierre? Describe any four steps taken by him to bring equality. To
be written in cw

Answer:

Maximilian Robespierre was the leader of Jacobin Club.

The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the Reign of Terror. 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 ‘guilty1 they were
guillotined.

Robespierre’s 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.