CHAPTER TIMELINE

In. 177 4, Louis XVI became the ruler of Fran.ce.

Aroun.d the year 1789, the people of Fran.ce were feelin.g verl!
un.happy. They were strugglin.g because they had to pay a lot of taxes
because of the Old Tax Regime, there wasn. 't en.ough food, and some
people had more privileges than. others.

On. the 5th May 1789, Kin.g Louis XVI had to gather an. importan.t
meetin.g called the Estates Gen.eral. This meetin.g was to tall< about
11.ew taxes.

On. Jun.e 17, 1789, a group called the Third Estate said, "We're
importan.t too!" an.d they called themselves the Nation.al Assembly.
They wan.ted to malte a 11.ew set of rules for the coun.try.

Then., on. Jun.e 20th, the members of the Third Estate got together in.
an. in.door ten.n.is court in. a place called Versailles.

On. 14th July 1789, a big even.t happen.ed. The people of Paris were
very an.gry with the ltin.g, an.d they bro\e.e in.to a place called the
e,astille. This was a place that showed how the \e.in.g had too much
power.

In. August 1789, somethin.g good happen.ed. The Nation.al Assembly

decided that everyon.e should be equal an.d fair. They abolished
feudal privileges of taxes.

In. October 1789, a group of women. wal\e.ed to Versailles. They

wan.ted bread to eat, an.d they also wan.ted the \e.in.g to come bac\e.
to Paris. They were very determin.ed!

In. Jun.e 1791, the Nation.al Assembly completed the con.stitution..

They said the \e.in.g couldn.'t have all the power an.ymore. Now they
were a team, an.d the \e.in.g had to follow their rules.
 ng s go t rno re co mp lic ate d. The Na tio nal Assembly
In April 1792 , thi
Au str ia an d Pr us sia , lea din g to in ter na l co nf lic ts.
declares war on

92 , so me thi ng big ha pp en ed . Th ey said, "No rnore lting!

September 17
ru n the co un try ou rse lve s!" Fr an ce be came a Republic.
We wa nt to

1793 , the lting, Lou is XVI, had to say goodbye. He was

In January
d to de ath .
executed, which me an s he was se nt en ce

to 17 94 , a rna n na me d Ma x im ilien Ro besp ier re had a lo t

Frorn 1793
did sor ne sc ary thi ng s, lilte pu nis hin g people who
of power. He
th hirn . Th is tir ne wa s ca lle d the 'Re ign of Te rro r', an d
disagreed wi
it was a difficult tirne .

en , in July 17 94 , Robespierre was ar re ste d an d punished.

i!>ut th
That was the en d of the Reign of Terror.

17 94 , thi ng s sta rte d to ge t be tte r. They rnade a new

In
ns tit ut io n for the co un try an d the y ca lle d it the Directory.
co
n na me d Napoleon
A bit lat er , in the year 1804 , a famous rna
ed he wa nt ed to be the boss. So, he rnade himself
i!>onaparte decid
the emperor of France.

ings ch an ge d again. Napoleon go t in to a big fight

i!>ut in 1815, th
d Waterloo.
an d los t. This happened at a place calle

's the sto ry of ho w Fr an ce ch an ge d ov er tirne, with

And th at
re nt peop le tal tin g ch arg e an d ma ltin g new rules.
di ffe
 It\ 177 4, Louis XVI of e,ourbon family married to the Austriat\ Prit\c.ess
Marie Antoinette.
When he became Kit\g, he found at\ empty treasure.
1n4 Ti ~mftcm,J;tR~ufi[m;rri(';nm~cm~~cm ~~1-11 mwr~t,
e,ut why was the treasure empty?
At\s- Lot\g years of war at\d Mait\ tet\at\c.e of c.ourt of the Palace of
Versailles were the Mait\ reasot\ of empty treasure.
1 Fr en,h So,ie t~ Duri n. g t he Lat e 18t h C.e n. t ur ~
1. Ut\der Louis XVI, France helped ttle thirteen. Americ.at\ c.olon.ial to
gain. their in.depen.den.c.e from the c.ommon. enemy, e,ritain..
2. This war added lots of debt to Fren.c.h govern.men.t.
3. So, to meet these expenses li~e rnain.tain.in.g the army etc., the
state was f orc.ed to in.crease the taxes.
4. However this measure was n.ot suf fic.ien. t as Fren.c. h society divided
it\to three estates in 18th c.en.tury an.d on.ly member s of the third
estate paid taxes.
A Society of Estates
This Figure shows how the system of es t at es it\
French Society was organised be, or e 197 8.
1st Hlato

~
#- 1st Estate:
1. Thi s was t he c.l ergy, which included priest,
bishops and ot her religious leaders. I 2nd estate

~
2. They were part of churc.h and held lot of l
power and influence. I
3. They were exempted from paying taxes . I 3rd 0111010

I Big businessmen.

#- 2Y\.d Estate:
I
ii merchants, court
offlclela, lawyel'I etc.

1. The sec.and estate was made up of the

I.__;iA-tflli
._. __
Peeaenta end
ertlae
_ na ____,
I I
t\obility, whic.h included ~it\gs, queet\s, lords
Smell peeaenta,
at\d other aristocrats.
2. They were usually wealthy and had a lot of
1tiM lendlela teboor,
servant,

privileges. These included feudal dues, which 1 - - -- --

they extracted from. the peasaV\ ts.
#' 3rd Estate:
1. The third estate was the largest group and in.eluded common
people liie farmers , merchan. t and the woriers .
2. The burden. of f inan.c in.g of the state through ta xes was borne
by third estate alone .
.3 . Peasan. ts made up about 90 per cen. t of the population.. However,
only a small number of them owned the land they cultivated.
4. About 60 per cent of the land was owned by nobles, the Church
and other Richer members of the third estate.
5. They were forced to wori in. the house of nobles.

The struggle to survive

1. The population. of France rose from about 2.3 million. in. 1715 to
28 Million. in. 1789 and this led to a rapid in.crease in. t he
demand for f oodgr ains .
2. As the demand in.creased, price of breads al so in.creased .
.3 . e,ut wages did not ieep pace wi th t he r ise in. prices.
4. So the gap between. the poor aV\d t he ri ch widened.
5. Things became worse wh en.ever drought or hail reduced the
harvest.
This led to a subsist en ce cr isis, soMethin.g that oc curred frequently
in. Franee du ring the Ol d Regime.

A Growing M dclle Class:

1. The middle cl ass of eighteen.th cen. tury became educated and
the ref ore believed that no group in. society should be privileged
by birth.
2. They earned their weal th through an expanding overseas trade
and from the manufacture of goods such as woollen. and sili
textiles that were either exported or bought by the richer
members of society .
.3. Some philosophers also considered that middle class was sole
responsible for revolution..
4. The ideas of philosophers were discu ssed in. ten.s ively in salons
and coffee-houses and spread among people through booi.s and
newspapers. These were frequently read aloud in. groups for the
benefit of those who could not read and write.
 5. The n.ews that Louis XVI plann.ed to impose further taxes to be
able to meet the expen.ses of the state gen.erated an.ger an.d
protest again.st the system.
An.d this c.auses the outbrea~ of revolution..
,-TheOutbrea~ of R:Volutio;
\ --- - -
l
i
1. 5th May 1789- Louis XVI c.alled together a meeting of the Estates
Gen.er al to pass the proposals for n.ew taxes.
2. The first and sec.on.d estate sen. t 300 represen. tatives eac.h, who
were seated in. rows f ac.in.g each other on, two sides.
3. While, the 600 members of third estate (represented by its most
educated an.d prosperous members) had to stan d at the back..
4. Voting in the Estate Gen.er al in. the past had bee n. con.due ted
ac.c.ording to the principle that each esta t e had on.e vote.
5. e,ut, members of third estate demand ed t hat voting n.ow be
con.due. ted buy the assembl~ as a whole, wh ere each member would
have on.e vote.
6. Kin.g rejec. ted this proposal.
7. Mem.bers of third es tat l protested an.d walk.ed out of assem.bly.
Which led to format ion. of Nation.al Assem.bly.

Formatio,, of NJt1on,al Assembl~

1. 20th Ju n.e 1789, members of third est ate assembled in, the hall of
an. in.door ten.n.is c.ourt in. th e groun.d of Versailles.
2. They declared themselves a Nation.al Assembly an.d swore n.ot to
disperse till they had drafted a c.on.stitution, for Fran.c.e that
would limit the powers of tke mon.arc.h.
3. They were led by Mirabeau an.d Abbe Sieyes.
4 . Mirabeau born. in. n.oble fam ily while Abbe Sieyes was a priest who
wrote a boo~ n.amed "What is third es tai_e''
~ - - --~...-,....--- - - - - - ,
-)
\
,
, -,..
, I I
I .J
I •
,he 'eY\Y\\S
c, 0 urt
I

'
!,as t ille Revolt
1. While the Nation.al Assembly was busy at Versailles draftin.g the
con.stitl.ftion., the rest of Fr an.ce was filled with in. ten.se l,fn.res t.
2. Due to severe win. ter there were poor harvest in. the coun. try which
led to crisis.
3 . Often. ba~ers exploited the situation. by storin.g the supplies.
4 . After spen.din.g hour s in. lon.g queue s at the ba~ery, crowds of
angry women. stormed in. to the shops.
5. On. 14 July, the agitated crowd stormed an.d destroyed the
f>astille .
6. In the coun. tryside rumours spread from village to village that the
lords of the man.or had hired gan.g of robbers to destroy the r ipe
crops.
7 . Due to fear , peasan.ts in. several district s attac~ed the castle of
n.obles, looted stored grain.s an.d burn. t down. doc umen. ts
con. tain.in.g records of man.orial dues.
8. Due to all these, Nobles had to fle e from th eir homes an.d man.y
migrated.
9. Whole coun. try was in the mo o ' of r evol t .
10. As a re sult , Louis XVI fi n.ally re cogn. is ed the Nation.al Assembly
and accepted the con s ti t ut ion..
11. On. the n.ight of 4 th Au gust 1789, the assembly demolished the
feudal systems of t axes an.d all the privileges were withdrawn. .
--fr-an.-- - -- - - - '
c.e P>ecor,nes a Con.st itu t lon, al Mon.ar c.h~ !! ,
--~ - --- - - ~ .,.._._ - - - - -
1. Nation.al Assembly completed the draft of the con.stitution. in.
1791.
2. Powers were n.ow separat ion. an.d ass ign.ed to diff eren.t
institutions and the. legislature, executive an.d Judiciary. This
made France a con.s ti tutional monarch~.
3. The National Assembly was elected by a group of electors,
which were chosen. by active cit izens.
T~pes of Cit izens

Active Citizen.s ~ Passive Cit izen.&

Men. above 25~rs who paid taxes equal t o at Remain.Ing men. an.d women..
least .3 da~s of labourer 's wage en. titled t o
wori.
 Fran.ce Abolishes Mon.arch~ an.d ~ecom.es a RepubliG
1. Louis XVI secretly plan.ned to overthrow the National Assembly
with the King of Prussia (Germ.any).
2. e,ef ore this could happen, the National Assembly voted in April
1792 to declare war against Prussia and Austria.
3. Thousands of volunteers joined the army.
4. They saw this as a war of the people against ~in.gs and aristocracies
all over Europe.
5. The patriotic. so~g SL0\9 by volunteers was the Marseillaise su~g by
poet Roget de l'lsle later became the National Anthem. of France.
6. Revolution further demanded greater politic.al equality i.e. voting
rights to the wea~er section.
7. Political clubs became an important rallying point for people who
wished to discuss government policies and plav,, their own f orm.s of
action.
8. The most succ.essf ul of these clubs wa s that of the Jac.obins'.
Jac.obin Cl ub
1. Got its v,,ame from. c.onv e ~t of St . Jae.ob iv,, --- - ---- - - ---
Paris.
2. Mem.bers of this c.lub wer e m.ainly people
from, le ss prosperous section of society.
3. leader: Maxim. iliav,, Robespierre I
4. Dress Code: Lov,,g striped trousers, they cam.e I
to be ~nows as "sans-c.ulot tes '' m.eaniv,,g - I
people without ~v,,ee breeches. I
I
5. These sav,,s-c.ulot tes m,ev,, wore red caps to ,
symbolise Liberty. I - -- - - ---- I
Summer of 1792
1. Parisians were angered by short supply and high pric.e of food.
2. On the m.orv,,iv,,g of August 10 they (through Jacobin's Club)
attac.~ed the Palace of the Tuileries, ~illed the Kiv,,g's Guards av,,d
held the ~in.g him.self as hostage for several hours.
3. later Elec. tions were held av,,d now all m.en of 21 years old and
above got the Right to Vote.
4. The newly elected assem.bly was called the Cov,,vev,,tion.
5. On. 21 September 1792, mon.archy was abolished an.d Fran.c.e was
declared as Republic.
6. Louis XVI was sen.ten.c.ed to death by a court on. the charge of
treason. (betrayal of own.' s c.oun.try}

Reign. of Terror
1. The period from 1793 to 1794 is ref erred to as the Reign. of
Terror.
2. This was due to the policy of severe con. trol an.d pun.ishmen. t by
Robespierre.
3. Ex-Nobles, Clergy, members of other politic.al parties, even. of his
own. political party who did n.ot agree with his methods were
arrested an.d imprison.ed.
4 . If the court f oun.d them gu ilty, they were "guillotin.ed''.
5. Guillotin.e is a device c.on.sistin..g of two poles an.d a blade with
which a person. is beheaded.
6. Peasan.ts were forced to tr an.sport their grain. to th e ci t ies an.d
sell it at prices fixed by the govern.men. t.
7 . Churches were shut down. an.cl their buildings c.on.v erted in.to
barracis or of fie.es.
8. Due to the hard policies of Robespi~r r e, even. his supporters left
him at the en.d an.d fin.ally he was c.on.vic.ted by court an.d
guillotin.ed in. July 197 4.

A Directory Rut ~s Fr an.ct

1. The fall of t he jac. obin. govern.m.en. t allowed the wealthier middle
classes to seiz e power.
2. A new c.on.s t it ut ion, was in. troduc.ed whic.h denied the vote to non.-
propertied sec tion.s of soc.iety.
3. It provided for two elec.ted legislative c.oun.cils.
4. These three appoin. ted a Di rec. tory, an exec.utive made up of 5
members .
5. The politic.al in.stability of the Di rec. tory paved the way for the
raise of military die. tator, Napoleon, e,on,aparte.
6. Through all these c.han.ges in the form of government, the ideals
of freedom, of equality before the law and of f ratern.ity
remained in.spiring ideals that m.otivated politic.al movemen. ts in
Fran.c.e an.d the rest of Europe.
 Women. in. Revolut ion.

Women from the begin.ning were active partic.ipan ts and brought

man~ changes in. the French societ~.
1. Most of the women. of the third estate had to wor~ for living,
suc.h as , seamstresses or laundresses, sold flowers , fruit s and
vegetables or were employed as household servan. ts.
2. Most of them did not have ac.c.ess to job or educat ion. and on.l~
daughters of nobles or weather fam ilies members of third estate
could study.
3. Wor~in.g women. along with the wor~ , had to al so c. are for their
family and perform daily household wor~.
4 . The wages of women. were lower than. that of men..
5. To raise their in. terest and voices, they started t he ir own. political
c.lubs and newspaper. As a re sult, about 60 d ubs came up in.
dif f eren. t Fren.c.h c.itie s.
6. 'The Soc.iety of Revolutionary an. d Republi c. Women.' was the most
famous one.
7 . They were disappoin.ted by c.on.s btut ion. of 1791 an.d deman.ded
some politic.al rights as m "-, suc.h as right to vote , to be elec. ted
to the assembly and t o ho ld a politic.al offic.e.
8. As a res ul t , revolut ion ar y go vern.men. t did in.troduc.e some laws
to help impr ove their liv es, b~r
- Creation. of sta t e schools and schooling compulsory for all girls.
- They c.ould not be f orc.ed to marry again.st their wish.'
- Divorce was made legal.
- They were allowed to train. for job, become artist or run. small
business .
9. However their struggle for politic.al rights c. on.tin.ues, new
govern.men. t is sued laws ordering c.losure of women 's c.lub and
banning their politic.al ac. t ivities. Many promin.en. t women. were
arrested and none of them were executed.
10. Their movemen. t for equal politic.al right c.on. tin.ued for the next
two hundred years . It was fin.ally in. 1946, that women. in. Fran.c.e
won. t he right to vote.
 ,
1 The Abolition. of Slaver~ 1
One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jae.ob regime was
the abolition of slavery in the Frenc.h c.olon.ies.
The slave trade began. in. 17th c.en. tury.

~ac.k.groun.d:
1. The c.oloV\.ies iV\. the CarribeaV\. liie MartiVl.ique, Guadeloupe aV\.d
SaV\. DomiV\.go were importaV\. t suppliers of tobac.c.o, iVl.digo, sugar
aV\.d c.of fee.
2. The reluc. taV\.c.e of EuropeaV\. to 90 aV\.d wor~ iV\. disb~V\.t, UV\.familiar
laV\.ds was OV\.e of the reasoV\. for shortage of labour OV\.
plaV\. tatioV\.s.
3. This problem was solved by triangular slave trade bet weeV\.
Europe, Af ric.a aV\.d the America.
4. FreV\.c.h merc.haV\.ts bought slaves from local c.hi eft aiV\.s of AfricaV\.
coast an.d sold them to plaV\. tatioV\. owV\.ers.
5. This exploitatioV\. of slaves mad,e it possible t o meet the growin.g
demaV\.d iV\. EuropiaV\. mar~et.
6. Throughout 18th ceV\.turl:J t1' ere were oV\.ll:J a little critic.ism of
slavery iV\. Fr aV\.ce.
7 . The goverV\.meV\.t did V\. ot pass aV\.y law f earin.g oppositioV\. from
busiV\.essmeV\. whose iV\.c. ome depeVl.deV\. t upoVl. these slaves.
8. IV\. 1794, t hel:J leg islated to free all slaves iV\. Fren.c.h c.oloV\.ies.
However, t heir legislatioV\. were short lived.
9. After 10 i:Jears, NapoleoV\. reiV\. troduc.ed slavery.
10. It was fiVl.ally abolished iV\. FreV\.c.h coloV\.ies iV\. 1848.
/- .. ---
,__. - - - - - '
, The Revolutio n. and Ever~da~ life t
- --
The years following 17 48 saw man.y revolutionary c.han.ges with
govern.men. t passing law that would tr an.slate the ideas of liberty
an.d equality in. to everyday prac. tic.e. An.other importan. t
revolutionary c.han.ge was the abolition. of c.en.sorship .
1. IV\. old regime only those writ ten material aV\.d c.ul tural ac. tivities-
boo~s, magaziV\.e, V\.ewspaper, play could be performed after they
had beeV\. approved by the c.eV\.sor of the KiVl.g.
2. After whic.h, declaration of the rights of man and citizen
proclaimed freed om of speec.h of expression to be a natural right.
3. Newspaper, boo Its , pamphlets, pr inted picture were now free from
censor which meant oppo sing views of even ts c.ould be expressed.
4. Pla~s, song, fe st ive procession at tr acted audiences in large
number and bridge the gap between people who c.ou ld not read
wr it ten material- newspaper, pamphlets, magazines etc..

Con.cl usio n.\

-
i

1. In 1804, Napoleon ~onaparte crowned himself emperor of France

and set out to conquer neighbouring European. countries.
2. He saw hhnself as moderniser of Europe and in traduced many laws
such as protection. of private property and a un.if orm system of
weights.
3. Many saw him as a liberator but soon his armies c. ame to view as
invading force.
4. He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815.
5. The ideas of liberty and democr c/ ic rights were most important
revolutionary of the Fren ch were most importan. t revolutionary of
the French Revolution and soon spread to the whole of the Europe.
6. Tipu Sul tan and Rajmohan Roy are two examples of individual who
responded t o the ideas c.omin.g from revolutionary France.