THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

CLASS 9, HISTORY, CHAPTER 1

(By: Tauheedul Qamar)

The French Society comprised:

1st Estate: Clergy (People who belongs to the Church, i.e. Father, Pope etc.)
2nd Estate: Nobility (Kings and his ministers)
3rd Estate: Big businessmen, merchants, court officials, peasants, artisans, landless laborers,
servants, etc. Some within the Third Estate were rich and some were poor.

The burden of financing activities of the state through taxes was borne by the Third Estate alone.
There were two kind of taxes one to the government and the other to the Church (Tithe). Both paid
by third estate.

Population of France grew and so did the demand for grains. The gap between the rich and poor
widened. This led to subsistence crises. A situation where people were unable to fulfil even the basic
need of their lives.

The Growing Middle Class: Middle class was educated and believed that no group in society should
be privileged by birth.
These ideas were put forward by philosophers such as Locke the English philosopher and Rousseau
the French philosopher. The These ideas were discussed intensively in salons and coffee houses and
spread among people through books and newspapers debates and discussions. These were even
read aloud.

The Outbreak of the Revolution

Louis XVI became the king of France in 1774.
There was growing discontent within the society of the Old Regime.
Old regime refers to the period before French Revolution (1789), and New Regime refers to the
society after the revolution.
1789: Third Estate forms National Assembly.
Tennis Court Oath (people of third estate took oath that they will kame their own
constitution and limit the power of king.)
Bastille is stormed (14 July)
National Assembly issues Declaration of the Rights of Man.
1791: A constitution is framed to limit the powers of the king and to guarantee the basic right to all
human beings. King Louis XVI accepted the constitution and France became a constitutional
Monarchy.
The New constitution divided the citizens into active and passive citizens.
Active Citizens: Those who were above 25 years of age, men and tax payer. Could caste vote.
Passive Citizens: Those who were below 25 years, all women and non-tax payers. Could not caste
the vote.
1793: National Assembly abolishes Monarchy; France becomes a republic.
Rule of Terror: Jacobin Club held power, gave right to vote to all men above 21 years.
The leader of Jacobin Club, Maximillian Robespierre promoted equality in such a way that even his
people disliked him. He also began to Guillotined many of previous Nobel and Clergy, even his own
people.

1994: The Jacobin Republic was overthrown.

Directory rules: After the fall of Jacobin Club, 5 directors were appointed to rule France under the
ministers of National Assembly.

1804: The Revolution ends with the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon’s coup abolishes
Directory and declared himself the emperor of France.

Women’s Revolution
Women were active participants in French Revolution. Most of the women of the third estate had to
work for a living.
Their wages were lower than those of men.
They demanded equal pay for equal work.
Women started their own political clubs and newspapers.
One of their main demands was that women must enjoy the same political rights as men.
Some laws were introduced to improve the position of women under Robespierre and Napoleon.
It was finally in 1946 that women in France won the right to vote.
The Abolition of Slavery
There was a triangular slave trade among Europe, Africa, and America.
Slaves were treated like things, inhuman behaviour, long hours work etc.
In 1794 the convention (Under Maximillian Robespierre) made free to all slaves and abolished Slave
Trade in French Colonies.
10 years later slavery was reintroduced by Napoleon in 1804.
It was finally in 1848 that slavery was abolished in the French colonies.

The Revolution and Everyday Life

The abolition of censorship made people enjoy the ideals of liberty and equality into everyday
practice
People of France began to demonstrate the idea of revolution, freedom, equality in their everyday
life through books, pamphlets, play, drama, dress, posters, arts and poems.
Napoleon
In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself emperor of France.
He set out to conquer neighbouring European countries, dispossessing dynasties and creating
kingdoms where he placed members of his family.
He saw his role as a modernizer of Europe.
He was finally, defeated at battle of Waterloo in 1815.