Study Material
and Notes of Ch 1 French Revolution Class 9th History
Introduction
French revolution started in 1789. The series of events
started by the middle class shaken the upper classes. The people revolted
against the cruel regime of monarchy. This revolution put forward the ideas of
liberty, fraternity, and equality.
• The revolution began on 14th July, 1789 with the
storming of the fortress-prison, the Bastille.
→The Bastille, the fortress prison was hated by all,
because it stood for the despotic power of the king.
→ The fortress was demolished.
Causes of the French Revolution:
Social Cause
French Society During the Late Eighteenth Century
The term ‘Old Regime’ is usually used to describe the
society and institutions of France before 1789.
The society was divided into three estates.
1. 1st Estate: Clergy (Group of persons involved in
church matters)
2. 2nd Estate: Nobility (Persons who have high rank in
state administration)
3. 3rd Estate: (Comprises of Big businessmen, merchants,
court officials, lawyers, Peasants and artisans, landless labour, servants)
• First two classes were exempted from paying taxes. They
enjoyed privileges by birth. Nobility classes also enjoyed feudal privileges.
• Only the members of the third estate had to pay taxes
to the state.
→ Direct tax called taille and also a number of indirect
taxes which were charged on articles of everyday consumption like salt or
tobacco.
• A tax called Tithe was also collected by the church
from the peasants.
• Clergy and Nobility were 10% of the population but
possessed 60% of lands. Third Estate was 90% of the population but possessed
40% of the lands.
Economic Cause
Subsistence Crisis
• The population of France rose from about 23 million in
1715 to 28 million in 1789.
• This increased the demand for the foodgrains. However,
production could not keep pace with the demand which ultimately increased the
prices of the foodgrains.
• Most workers work as labourers in the workshops and
they didn’t see increase in their wages.
• Situation became worse whenever drought or hail reduced
the harvest.
• This led to the scarcity of foodgrains or Subsistence
Crisis which started occurring frequently during old regime.
Political Cause
• Louis XVI came into the power in 1774 and found empty
treasury.
• Long years of war had drained the financial resources
of France.
• Under Louis XVI, France helped the thirteen American
colonies to gain their independence from the common enemy, Britain which added
more than a billion livres to a debt that had already risen to more than 2
billion livres.
• An extravagant court at the immense palace of
Versailles also costs a lot.
• To meet its regular expenses, such as the cost of
maintaining an army, the court, running government offices or universities, the
state was forced to increase taxes.
Growing Middle Class
• The eighteenth century witnessed the emergence of
social groups, termed the middle class, who earned their wealth through
overseas trade, from manufacturing of goods and professions.
• This class was educated believed that no group in
society should be privileged by birth.
• They were inspired by the ideas put forward by the
various philosophers and became a matter of talk intensively for these classes
in salons and coffee-houses and spread among people through books and
newspapers.
• The American constitution and its guarantee of
individual rights was an important example for political thinkers in France.
Philosophers and their contribution in revolution
• John Locke: (written a book named ‘Two Treatises of
Government’) in which he criticized the doctrine of the divine and absolute
right of the monarch.
• Jean Jacques Rousseau (written a book named ‘Social
Contract’) in which he proposed a form of government based on a social contract
between people and their representatives.
• Montesquieu (written a book named ‘The Spirit of the
Laws’) in which he proposed a division of power within the government between
the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.
The Outbreak of the Revolution
• Louis XVI called an assembly of the Estates General to
pass his proposals to increase taxes on 5th May 1789.
• The first and second estates sent 300 representatives
each, who were seated in rows facing each other on two sides, while the 600
members of the third estate had to stand at the back.
• The third estate was represented by its more prosperous
and educated members only while peasants, artisans and women were denied entry
to the assembly.
• Voting in the Estates General in the past had been
conducted according to the principle that each estate had one vote and same
practice to be continued this time. But members of the third estate demanded
individual voting right, where each member would have one vote.
• After rejection of this proposal by the king, members
of the third estate walked out of the assembly in protest.
• On 20th June, the representatives of the third estate
assembled in the hall of an indoor tennis court in the grounds of Versailles
where they declared themselves a National Assembly and vowed to draft a
constitution for France that would limit the powers of the monarch.
• Mirabeau, a noble and Abbé Sieyès, a priest led the
third estate.
• While the National Assembly was busy at Versailles
drafting a constitution, the rest of France was in trouble.
• Severe winter destroyed the food crops which resulted
in increase in the prices. The bakers also hoarded supplies of breads for
making greater profit.
• 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.
• In the countryside rumours spread from village to
village that the lords of the manor were on their way to destroy the ripe crops
through their hired gangs.
• Due to fear, peasants in several districts attacked the
castle of nobles, looted hoarded grain and burnt down documents containing
records of manorial dues.
• Large numbers of noble fled from their homes and many
migrated to neighbouring countries.
• Louis XVI finally recognised the National Assembly and
accepted the constitution.
• On 4th August, 1789, France passed the law for
abolishing the feudal system of obligations and taxes.
• The member of clergy was also forced to give up their privileges.
• Tithes were abolished and lands owned by the Church
were confiscated.
France Becomes a Constitutional Monarchy
• The National Assembly completed the draft of the
constitution in 1791 which main object was to limit the powers of the monarch.
• The powers were now separated and assigned to different
institutions – the legislature, executive and judiciary which made France a
constitutional monarchy.
• The Constitution of 1791 gave the power of making laws
in the hands of National Assembly, which was indirectly elected.
• The National Assembly was elected by a group of
electors, which were chosen by active citizens.
• Active Citizens comprises of only men above 25 years of
age who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a labourer’s wage.
• The remaining men and all women were classed as passive
citizens who had no voting rights.
France Constitution at that time
• 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, were given 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.
• Various Political Symbols:
→ The broken chain: stands for the act of becoming free.
→ The bundle of rods or fasces: Show strength lies in
unity.
→ The eye within a triangle radiating light: The
all-seeing eye stands for knowledge.
→ Sceptre: Symbol of royal power.
→ Snake biting its tail to form a ring: Symbol of
Eternity.
→ Red Phrygian cap: Cap worn by a slave upon becoming
free.
→ Blue-white-red: The national colours of France.
→ The winged woman: Personification of the law.
→ The Law Tablet: The law is the same for all, and all
are equal before it.
France Abolishes Monarchy and Becomes a Republic
• Louis XVI had signed the Constitution, but he entered
into secret negotiations with the King of Prussia.
• Rulers of other neighbouring countries too were worried
by the developments in France and made plans to send troops to stop the
revolutionary events taking place.
• Before this could happen, the National Assembly voted
in April 1792 to declare war against Prussia and Austria.
• Thousands of volunteers joined the army from the
provinces to join the army.
• People saw this war as a war of the people against
kings and aristocracies all over Europe.
• The patriotic song Marseillaise, composed by the poet
Roget de L’Isle was sung for the first time by volunteers from Marseilles as
they marched into Paris which is now the national anthem of France.
• The revolutionary wars brought losses and economic
difficulties to the people.
• The Constitution of 1791 gave political rights only to
the richer sections of society.
• Political clubs were established by the 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.
• The members of the Jacobin club belonged mainly to the
less prosperous sections of society such as small shopkeepers, artisans as well
as servants and daily-wage workers. Their leader was Maximilian Robespierre.
• Jacobins start wearing long striped trousers and came to be known as the
sans-culottes, literally meaning those without knee breeches.
• In the summer of 1792 the Jacobins planned a revolt of
a large number of the people of Paris who were angered by the short supplies
and high prices of food.
• On August 10, they stormed the Palace of the Tuileries,
massacred the king’s guards and held the king himself as hostage for several
hours.
• Later the Assembly voted to imprison the royal family.
Elections were held.
• From now on all men of 21 years and above, regardless
of wealth, got the right to vote.
• The newly elected assembly was called the
Convention.
• On 21st September 1792, it abolished the monarchy and
declared France a republic.
• Louis XVI was sentenced to death by a court on the
charge of treason.
• The queen Marie Antoinette met with the same fate
shortly after.
• The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the
Reign of Terror as Robespierre followed a policy of severe control and
punishment.
• All his enemies, 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 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.
→ The use of more expensive white flour was forbidden and
all citizens were required to eat the equality bread; a loaf made of whole
wheat.
• Instead of the traditional Monsieur (Sir) and Madame (Madam) all French men
and women were addressed as Citoyen and Citoyenne (Citizen).
• Churches were shut down and their buildings converted
into barracks or offices.
• Robespierre pursued his policies so harshly that even
his supporters began to demand moderation.
• Finally, he was convicted by a court in July 1794,
arrested and on the next day sent to the guillotine.
(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.)
A Directory Rules France
• A new constitution was introduced which denied the vote
to non-propertied sections of society.
• It provided for two elected legislative councils which
then appointed a Directory, an executive made up of five members.
• The Directors often clashed with the legislative
councils, who then sought to dismiss them.
• The political instability of the Directory paved the
way for the rise of a military dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte.
Women Revolution
• From the very beginning women were active participants
in revolution.
• They hoped that their involvement would pressurise the
revolutionary government to introduce measures to improve their lives.
• Most women of the third estate had to work for a living
as laundresses, sellers, domestic servants in the houses of prosperous
people.
• Most women did not have access to education or job
training.
• To discuss and voice their interests’ women started
their own political clubs and newspapers.
→ The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was
the most famous of them.
• 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.
• The revolutionary government did introduce laws that
helped improve the lives of women.
→ By 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.
• During the Reign of Terror, the new government issued
laws ordering closure of women’s clubs and banning their political
activities.
→ Many prominent women were arrested and a number of them
executed.
• It was finally in 1946 that women in France won the
right to vote.
The Abolition of Slavery
• The unwillingness of Europeans to go and work in the
colonies in the Caribbean which were important suppliers of commodities such as
tobacco, indigo, sugar and coffee created a shortage of labour on the
plantations. Thus, the slave trade began in the seventeenth century.
→ French merchants sailed from their ports to the African
coast, where they bought slaves from local chieftains.
→ Branded and shackled, the slaves were packed tightly
into ships for the three-month long voyage across the Atlantic to the
Caribbean.
• There they were sold to plantation owners. 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.
• The National Assembly held long debates for 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, fearing opposition from
businessmen whose incomes depended on the slave trade.
• Jacobin regime in 1794, abolished slavery in the French
colonies.
• However, ten years later, Napoleon reintroduced
slavery.
• Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in
1848.
The Revolution and Everyday Life
• After the storming of the Bastille in the summer of
1789 was the abolition of censorship.
• 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 and described and discussed the events and changes taking place in
France.
• Plays, songs and festive processions attracted large
numbers of people which was one way they could grasp and identify with ideas
such as liberty or justice.
Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
• After the end of reign of terror, directory created
political instability.
• In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of
France.
• He conquered many neighbouring countries and placed
members of his family on the crown
• 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.
• Initially, many welcomed Napoleon as a liberator who
would bring freedom for the people. But soon the Napoleonic armies came to be
viewed everywhere as an invading force.
• He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815.
Legacy of the French Revolution
• The ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the
most important legacy of the French Revolution.
• These spread from France to the rest of Europe during
the nineteenth century, where feudal systems were abolished.
• Later, these ideas were adopted by Indian revolutionary
strugglers, Tipu Sultan and Rammohan Roy also.
