Class 9 - History

The French Revolution

I. French Society During the Late Eighteenth Century (The Old Regime)

• Political Context
  • Monarch: Louis XVI of the Bourbon family ascended the throne in 1774 at the age of 20, married to the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette.
  • Financial Crisis: Upon accession, the treasury was empty. Long years of war had drained financial resources, including helping the thirteen American colonies gain independence from Britain.
  • Debt: The war added over a billion livres (currency in France, till 1794) to a debt that had already risen to more than 2 billion livres. The state spent an increasing percentage of its budget on 10% interest payments alone.
• Social Structure (System of Estates)
  • French society was divided into three estates, a structure that was part of the feudal system. The term Old Regime describes the society and institutions of France before 1789.
    • First Estate (Clergy): Group of persons invested with special functions in the church.
    • Second Estate (Nobility): Enjoyed privileges by birth.
    • Third Estate: Comprised big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers, peasants, artisans, small peasants, landless labour, and servants.
  • Privileges: The first two estates were exempt from paying taxes to the state. Nobles also enjoyed feudal privileges, including feudal dues extracted from peasants.
  • Burden of Taxes: Only members of the Third Estate paid taxes to the state.
    • Tithe: A tax levied by the Church, comprising one-tenth of the agricultural produce.
    • Taille: A direct tax paid to the state.
    • Indirect Taxes: Levied on everyday consumption articles like salt or tobacco.
• The Struggle to Survive (Subsistence Crisis)
  • Population Growth: Rose from about 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789, leading to increased demand for food grains.
  • Crisis:
    • Production could not keep pace with demand, so the price of bread (the staple diet) rose rapidly.
    • Wages did not keep pace with prices, widening the gap between the rich and poor.
    • Disease epidemic
  • Subsistence Crisis: An extreme situation where the basic means of livelihood are endangered, which occurred frequently in France.
• The Growing Middle Class
  • The 18th century saw the emergence of the middle class (merchants, manufacturers, lawyers, officials) within the Third Estate.
  • They earned their wealth through overseas trade and manufacture of goods.
  • They were educated and believed that a person's social position should depend on their merit, not birth, leading them to envisage an end to privileges.
  • Philosophers promoting ideas of freedom and equal laws included:
    • John Locke: Refuted the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch in Two Treatises of Government.
    • Jean Jacques Rousseau: Proposed a government based on a social contract between people and their representatives in The Social Contract.
    • Montesquieu: Proposed a division of power in government (legislative, executive, judiciary) in The Spirit of the Laws.

II. The Outbreak of the Revolution

• The Estates General:
  • The monarch alone could not impose taxes; he had to call a meeting of the Estates General. The last meeting had been in 1614.
  • May 5, 1789: Louis XVI called the assembly at Versailles.
  • Representation: First and Second Estates sent 300 representatives each, seated facing each other. The Third Estate sent 600 members who had to stand at the back, represented by prosperous and educated members. Peasants, artisans, and women were denied entry.
  • Voting Dispute: Louis XVI insisted on the traditional 'one estate, one vote' principle. The Third Estate demanded 'one member, one vote'. The King rejected this, leading the Third Estate to walk out in protest.
• The National Assembly
  • June 20: Representatives of the Third Estate assembled in the hall of an indoor tennis court and declared themselves a National Assembly.
  • The Tennis Court Oath: They swore not to disperse until they had drafted a constitution for France that would limit the monarch's powers.
    • preparatory sketch for a large painting by Jacques - Louis david, to be hung in the National Assembly.
  • Leaders: Mirabeau and Abbé Sieyès led the National Assembly. Abbé Sieyès wrote the influential pamphlet, 'What is the Third Estate?'.
• Storming of the Bastille
  • July 14, 1789: A crowd in Paris, agitated by high bread prices and the King's order for troops to move into the city, stormed and destroyed the fortress-prison, the Bastille. The Bastille was hated because it stood for the despotic power of the king.
  • Great Fear: Rumours spread in the countryside, causing peasants to attack chateaux (castles/stately residences) and loot hoarded grain.
• Abolition of Feudalism
  • Faced with revolt, Louis XVI recognized the National Assembly.
  • August 4, 1789: The Assembly passed a decree abolishing the feudal system of obligations and taxes.
  • Clergy were forced to give up their privileges, and tithes were abolished. Church lands were confiscated, giving the government assets worth at least 2 billion livres.

III. France as a Constitutional Monarchy and Republic

• Constitutional Monarchy (1791)
  • The National Assembly completed the draft of the constitution in 1791, with the main object of limiting the monarch's powers.
  • Powers were separated among the legislature, executive, and judiciary.
  • Voting Rights: The Constitution granted the status of
    • active citizens (entitled to vote) only to men over 25 years old who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a labourer's wage.
    • All other men and women were passive citizens (no voting rights).
• The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
  • This document began the Constitution and established rights as 'natural and inalienable' (belonging to each human by birth).
  • Key Rights: Right to life, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, equality before law, liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
  • Sovereignty: The source of all sovereignty was declared to reside in the nation.
  • Taxation: A common tax was indispensable and had to be assessed equally on all citizens in proportion to their means.
• France Becomes a Republic (1792)
  • The National Assembly declared war against Prussia and Austria in April 1792.
  • Jacobin Club: The most successful political club, whose members mainly came from the less prosperous sections of society, led by Maximilian Robespierre. They were known as the sans-culottes ('those without knee breeches').
  • Insurrection of August 10, 1792: Jacobins stormed the Palace of the Tuileries, and the Assembly voted to imprison the royal family.
  • The Convention: The newly elected assembly, called the Convention, abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic on September 21, 1792.
  • New Voting Rule: All men of 21 years and above, regardless of wealth, got the right to vote.
  • Execution of the King: Louis XVI was sentenced to death on the charge of treason and executed publicly on January 21, 1793. Marie Antoinette met the same fate shortly after.
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IV. The Reign of Terror (1793-1794)

• Robespierre's Rule: The period was named the Reign of Terror due to Robespierre's policy of severe control and punishment.
• Punishment: 'Enemies' of the republic (ex-nobles, clergy, members of other parties, and even dissenting members of his own party) were arrested, imprisoned, tried by a revolutionary tribunal, and if found guilty, guillotined.
• Policies:
  • Laws placing a maximum ceiling on wages and prices.
  • Meat and bread were rationed.
  • Forced sale of grain by peasants at government-fixed prices.
  • Required consumption of pain d'égalité (equality bread) made of wholewheat.
  • Churches were shut down and converted into barracks or offices.
  • Traditional forms of address (Monsieur/Madame) were replaced with Citoyen and Citoyenne (Citizen).
• End of Terror: Robespierre was convicted by a court in July 1794 and sent to the guillotine.

V. A Directory Rules France

• New Constitution: The fall of the Jacobins allowed the wealthier middle classes to seize power and introduce a new constitution, which denied the vote to non-propertied sections of society.
• The Directory: The new system provided for two elected legislative councils which appointed a five-member executive called the Directory.
• Instability: Clashes between the Directors and the legislative councils led to political instability, which paved the way for the rise of a military dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte.

VI. Revolutionary Social Reforms and Legacy

• The Role of Women
  • Women of the Third Estate worked for a living (seamstresses, laundresses, vendors, domestic servants) and had lower wages than men.
  • Political Clubs: Women formed their own political clubs and newspapers, the most famous being The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women.
  • Demands: They demanded the same political rights as men, including the right to vote, to be elected to the Assembly, and to hold political office.
  • Reforms Introduced: The revolutionary government made schooling compulsory for all girls, legalized divorce, and made marriage a civil contract.
  • Execution: Olympe de Gouges, a prominent politically active woman who wrote a Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen in 1791, was executed in 1793.
  • Right to Vote: French women finally won the right to vote in 1946.
• The Abolition of Slavery
  • Slave Trade: A triangular slave trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas supplied labor to colonies (Martinique, Guadeloupe, San Domingo) for commodities like tobacco, indigo, sugar, and coffee.
  • Abolition: The Convention legislated to free all slaves in French overseas possessions in 1794.
  • Reintroduction: Napoleon reintroduced slavery ten years later.
  • Final Abolition: Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848.
• The Revolution and Everyday Life
  • Abolition of Censorship: One important law was the abolition of censorship soon after the storming of the Bastille.
  • Freedom of Press: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen proclaimed freedom of speech and expression to be a natural right, allowing newspapers and pamphlets to flood the towns.

Life of Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793), one of the most important politically active women during the French Revolution.

• Protest and Advocacy: She actively protested against the Constitution of 1791 and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen because they excluded women from basic rights that every human being was entitled to.
• The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen: In 1791, she wrote her own Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen, addressing it to the Queen and members of the National Assembly to demand they act on it. This declaration asserted that woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights, and that the source of all sovereignty resides in the union of woman and man.
• Criticism and Execution: In 1793, she criticized the Jacobin government for forcibly closing down women's clubs. She was subsequently tried by the National Convention, charged with treason, and soon after executed.

Timeline chart

Reading political symbols