GRADE: IX HISTORY

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION- NOTES

CAUSES FOR THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Political causes

• Upon his accession to the throne of France, Louis XVI found empty treasure which was
due to long years of war that had drained the financial resources of France.
• France under Louis XVI 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.
• Moneylenders began to charge the state credit with 10% interest.
• To meet its regular expenses, such as the cost of maintaining an army, the court, running
government offices or universities, the ruler was forced to increase taxes.

Social causes / Division in the French Society

• French society in the eighteenth century was divided into three estates- Clergy, Nobility
and Common People. (I, II and III Estates)
• Clergy and Nobility were 10% of the population but possessed 60% of lands. III Estate was
90% of the population but possessed 40% of the lands.
• Clergy and Nobility enjoyed many privileges based on birth. The church collected taxes
from people.
• They were exempted from paying taxes. Nobles collected feudal dues from III Estate
people.
• Peasants were obliged to render services to the Clergy and Nobility to work in their houses,
fields, serve in the army or to participate in building roads.

Economic causes / The Struggle to Survive / Subsistence Crisis

• The population of France rose from 23 million to 28 million in 1789.

• This led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains.
 • Production of grains was less because drought or hail reduced the harvest.
• Most workers were employed as labourers in workshops. Owners of the workshops did
not increase the wages of workers.
• This led to a subsistence crisis (scarcity of food grains) which occurred frequently in
France.

Growth of Middle Class

• 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
• They were influenced by declaration of independence of the USA.
• They were also influenced by fundamental rights given to the citizens of the USA.
All of these were educated and believed that no group in society should be privileged by
birth. Rather, a person’s social position must depend on his merit.
• This idea was maintained by the philosophers.

Role of Philosophers in the French Revolution

• John Locke, in his book the Two Treatises of Government, criticized the doctrine of the
divine and absolute right of the monarch.
• Jean Jacques Rousseau, in his book Social Contract proposed a form of government
based on a social contract between people and their representatives.
• Montesquieu in his book The Spirit of the Laws, proposed a division of power within the
government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.
• The ideas of these philosophers were discussed intensively in salons and coffeehouses and
spread among people through books and newspapers. The news that Louis XVI planned
to impose further taxes generated anger and protest against the ruler and system.

Outbreak of the French revolution

• Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General to pass his proposals to increase taxes.
The Estates General was a political body to which the three estates sent their representatives.
The first and second estates sent 300 representatives each and third estate sent 600
representatives. The third estate representatives demanded individual voting right but king
refused to grant so they walked out.
Tennis Court Oath:
• On 20 June the representatives of third estate assembled in the hall of an indoor tennis court
in the grounds of Versailles and 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.
• Mirabeau, a noble and Abbé Sieyès, a priest joined with third estate representatives.
• While the National Assembly was busy at Versailles drafting a constitution, the rest of
France was in tension. After spending hours in long queues at the bakery, crowds of angry
women stormed into the shops and looted the stock.
• At the same time, the king ordered troops to move into Paris. People of Paris organized a
militia and broke many buildings in search of weapons. On 14 July, the agitated crowd
stormed and destroyed the Bastille.
• In the countryside rumors 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. Common people attacked
nobles’ houses, looted the hoarded grain and burnt down documents containing records of
manorial dues. A large number of nobles were killed and many fled to other countries.

France Becomes a Constitutional Monarchy

• Louis XVI finally recognized the National Assembly and accepted the constitution. On the
night of 4 August 1789, the Assembly passed a decree (law) abolishing the feudal taxes,
privileges of Nobles and Clergy, Tithes and confiscation of church properties.
• The National Assembly completed the draft of the constitution in 1791. Its main object was
to limit the powers of the monarch. These powers were separated and assigned to different
institutions-the legislature, executive and judiciary. This made France a constitutional
monarchy.
• The Constitution of 1791 vested the power of making laws to the National Assembly, which
was indirectly elected by active citizens. Active citizens, who were above 25 years of age
and paying taxes worth of 3 days wages of a worker were given voting right. They voted
for a group of electors, who in turn chose the members of the National Assembly.
• 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
established as natural and inalienable rights. These rights were granted to only men.

France Abolishes Constitutional Monarchy and Becomes a Republic

• Louis XVI had signed the Constitution but he entered into secret negotiations with the King
of Prussia and Austria to put down the revolution. The National Assembly voted to declare
war against Prussia and Austria. Thousands of volunteers joined the army and it was a war of
the people against kings and aristocracies.
• The revolutionary wars brought losses and economic difficulties to the people. As the
Constitution of 1791 gave political rights only to the richer sections Common people
 established Political clubs. The most successful of these clubs was that of the Jacobins. Their
leader was Maximilian Robespierre.
• 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. Jacobins start wearing long striped
trousers so they came to be known as the sans-culottes, literally meaning those without knee
breeches.
• In the summer of 1792 the Jacobins planned an insurrection. Parisians who were angered by
the short supplies and high prices of food 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. The newly elected assembly called the Convention. On 21 September
1792 it abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic.

The Reign of Terror

• The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the Reign of Terror because Robespierre
followed a policy of severe control and punishment. 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; all citizens were
required to eat the equality bread.
• Equality was also sought to be practiced through forms of speech and address. Instead of
the traditional Sir and Madame all French men and women were addressed as Citizen.
• Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into barracks or offices.
• Finally, Robespierre was convicted by a court in July 1794, arrested and on the next day
sent to the guillotine.

A Directory Rules France

• The fall of the Jacobin government allowed the middle classes to seize power. A new
constitution was introduced which denied the vote to non-tax paying men.
• It provided for two elected legislative councils. These then appointed a Directory, an
executive made up of five members. This was meant as a safeguard against the concentration
of power in a one-man executive as under Robespierre.
• 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.

Did Women have a Revolution? (OR) Role of women in French revolution

• Most women did not have access to education or job training. . 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. Their wages were lower than those
of men.
• From the very beginning women were active participants in the events of revolution. They
hoped that their involvement in revolution would provide equality and basic rights as men.
But women were not provided basic rights and voting right in the new constitution.
• In order to discuss and voice their interests women started their own political clubs and
newspapers. About sixty women`s clubs came up in different French cities. The Society of
Revolutionary and Republican Women was the most famous of them. Their main demands
were equal political rights, right to vote, right to be elected to the Assembly and to hold
political office.
• The revolutionary government introduced laws that helped improve the lives of women.
Education 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.
• 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 slave trade began in the seventeenth century. French merchants sailed to the African
coast where they bought slaves from local chieftains. Slaves were branded, shackled and
packed tightly into ships for the three-month long voyage across the Atlantic and sold to
plantation owners in America. This was known as a triangular slave trade between Europe,
Africa and the Americas.
• Throughout the eighteenth century there was little criticism of slavery in France. 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, fearing
opposition from slave traders who paid huge tax to the French government.
• One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime was the abolition of
slavery in the French colonies. Robespierre passed a Convention according to which in 1794
all slaves were freed in the French colonies.
 • Ten years later, Napoleon reintroduced slavery. Slavery was finally abolished in French
colonies in 1848.

Use of Revolutionary ideas in Everyday Life

• The revolutionary governments took initiative to pass laws that would translate the ideals
of liberty, equality and fraternity into everyday practice. In 1789 the revolutionary
government abolished censorship and introduced press freedom.
• The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen proclaimed freedom of speech and
expression to be a natural right. Newspapers, pamphlets, books and pictures were printed in
the towns of France and they travelled to the villages.
• The revolution brought changes in dress they wear, food they eat and language they speak.
The rise of Napoleon
• In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France. He conquered many
neighbouring countries and placed members of his family on the crown Napoleon was seen
as a modernizer 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 saw 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 the battle of Waterloo in 1815. He was taken to St Helena where
he died.
Legacy of the French Revolution
• The ideas of liberty, equality & fraternity and the democratic rights were the most important
legacy of the French Revolution.
• These ideas spread from France to all the parts of Europe during the nineteenth century,
where feudal systems, aristocracy and monarchy were opposed by the people.
• Even these ideas spread to India and used for freedom struggle. Tipu Sultan and Ram Mohan
Roy are two examples of individuals who responded to the ideas coming from revolutionary
France.

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