NCERT 9 HISTORY CHAPTER 1

 1.THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

• 14 July 1789 - the city of Paris was in a state of alarm
• Some 7000 men and women decided to form people's militia
• Then stormed the fortress-prison, the Bastille, the commander was killed and the prisoners released 
• Chain of events occurred that ultimately led to the execution of the king of France

     FRENCH SOCIETY DURING THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

• French society was divided into three estates
• The members of the first two estates, that is, the clergy and the nobility, enjoyed certain privileges
• Exemption from paying taxes and extracted feudal dues from the peasants, the Church too extracted its share of taxes called tithes
• Only the third estate member paid direct taxes (taille) and a number of indirect taxes (on salt or tobacco)

     THE STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE

• 1715 - 1789: the population rose from about 23 million to 28 million which led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains. So the price of bread rose rapidly
• This widened the gap between the poor and the rich which eventually led to subsistence crisis (an extreme situation where the basic means of livelihood are endangered)

     A GROWING MIDDLE CLASS ENVISAGES AN END TO PRIVILEGES

• In addition to peasants, merchants and manufacturers, the educated peoples like lawyers or administrative officials also believed that no group in society should be privileged by birth
• In 'Two Treatises of Government' - John Locke sought to refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch
• Rousseau proposing a idea that a form of government based on a social contract between the people and their representatives
• 'In the Spirit of the Laws', Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.
• This model of government was put into force in the USA, which became an important example for political thinkers in France

    BACKGROUND AND THE OUTBREAK OF REVOLUTION

• In 1774 - Louis XVI of Bourbon family ascended the throne, but the treasury was empty 
• Long years of war, cost of maintaining an extravagant court, France helped the 13 American colonies to fight against common enemy, the Britain had drained the financial resources of France
• The monarch alone cannot impose taxes, so Louis XVI had to call a meeting of the Estates General to pass his proposals of taxes; the last meeting was held in 1614
• The first and second estates sent 300 representatives each, while the third estate had 600 representatives (their grievances and demands were listed in some 40,000 letters which the representatives had brought with them)
• Voting in the Estates General according to the principle that each estate had one vote but the third estate demanded that voting now can be conducted by the assembly as a whole, where each member would have one vote
• When the king rejected this proposal, members of third estate walked out of the assembly in protest, they declared themselves a National Assembly led by Mirabeau and Abbe Sieyes
• Louis XVI finally accorded recognition to the National Assembly and accepted the constitution 
• 4 August 1789 - the Assembly abolished the feudal system and tithes. As a result, government acquired assets worth at least 2 billion livres

    FRANCE BECOMES A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY

• The National Assembly completed the draft of the constitution in 1791
• Now the power was separated and assigned to the legislature, executive and judiciary
• Only the active citizens were entitled to vote and chose the electors, who in turn chose the 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

    FRANCE ABOLISHES MONARCHY AND BECOMES A REPUBLIC

• Louis XVI had secret negotiations with the king of Prussia
• National Assembly declared war against Prussia and Austria
• Thousands of volunteers from the provinces to join the army and they sang patriotic songs, the Marseillaise composed by the poet Roget de L'Isle became the national anthem of France
• Political clubs became an important rallying point for people who wished to discuss government policies and plan their own forms of action
• Jacobin club - most successful one, which got its name from the former convent of St Jacob in Paris, their members belonged to the less prosperous sections of society, their leader was Maximilian Robespierre
• Jacobins named as sans-culottes, literally meaning 'those without knee breeches'
• Jacobins planned an insurrection of a larger number of Parisians, stormed the Palace of the Tuileries, held the king himself as hostage for several hours
• Then 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 21 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 REIGN OF TERROR [1793-1794]

• Robespierre followed a policy of severe control and punishment
• All those whom he saw as enemies were arrested, imprisoned  and then tried by revolutionary tribunal (if the court found them guilty they were guillotined - named after Dr. Guillotin)
• But he also rationed meat and bread, the use of expensive white flour was forbidden, all the citizen were required to eat the pain d'egalite (equality bread), made of whole wheat
• Instead of the traditional Monsieur (sir) and Madame (madam), he insisted to use Citoyen and Citoyenne (citizen)
• finally he was convicted by the court, arrested and sent to the guillotine
• The fall of the Jacobian government allowed the wealthier middle class to seize power
• It provided for two elected legislative councils, then appointed a directory, an executive made up of five members, but however the directors often clashed with legislative councils
• The political instability paved the way for the rise of a military dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte

    DID WOMEN HAVE A REVOLUTION?

• Women were active participants in all these events, most of the third estate women had to work for their living
• but their wages were lower than those of men
• About sixty women's clubs came up; 'The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women' was the most famous of them
• The Revolutionary government made compulsory schooling for all girls, no one can force women into marriage against their will, divorce was made legal
• But women movements for voting rights and equal wages continued through the next 200 years
• finally in 1946 women in France won the right to vote
• OLYMPE DE GOUGES - the most important politically active women in France, she protested against the constitution and she wrote a Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen, which she addressed to National Assembly, finally she was executed

    THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY

• Most revolutionary social reform of Jacobin regime - abolition of slavery in the French colonies
• Slave trade began in 17th century, there was a triangle slave trade existed between the Europe, Africa and the Americas
• Port cities like Bordeaux and Nantes owed their economic prosperity to the flourishing slave trade
• Finally the convention in 1794 legislated to free all slaves in the French overseas possessions
• But after 10 years, Napoleon reintroduced slavery
• Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848

    THE REVOLUTION AND EVERYDAY LIFE

• After 1789, France saw many changes, the revolutionary government pass laws that translate the ideals of liberty and equality into everyday practice
• They abolished censorship (in the old regime - books, newspapers - could be published only after they had been approved by the censors of the king)
• It proclaimed freedom of speech and expression to be a natural right

     CONCLUSION

• In 1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France
• He conquered neighbouring European countries, creating kingdoms were he placed members of his family
• He introduced many laws such as the protection of private property and a uniform system of weights and measures provided by the decimal system
• He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815
• The ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French Revolution which spread from France to rest of the world
• Tipu Sultan and Rammohan Roy are the examples of individuals who responded to the ideas coming from revolutionary France