CBSE Class 9 Social Science Advanced The French Revolution Short Answer Questions Set 01

Short Answer Questions

Question 1. What was 'Bastille'? What do you understand by 'Storming of the Bastille'?
Answer:
The Bastille was a dreaded fortress-prison in Paris. It was hated by all because it stood for the despotic power of the king.
Storming of the Bastille: On 14 July 1789 Paris was alarmed by a hard winter, bad harvest, the high price of bread and rumours that the army would open fire on the citizens. Thousands gathered, formed a people's militia and broke into government buildings in search of arms. The crowd stormed the Bastille, killed its commander, released the prisoners and demolished the fortress.
After this Louis XVI recognised the National Assembly and accepted that a constitution would limit his powers.
In simple words: The Bastille was the king's prison-fortress, and the crowd's attack on it on 14 July 1789 showed the end of absolute power.

Teacher's Note:
1. The date 14 July is celebrated as the national day of France.
2. Mention both the causes and the result.

Question 2. What was the Tennis Court Oath?
Answer:
When the king refused the Third Estate's demand that voting be by head, its deputies walked out of the Estates General.
On 20 June 1789 they gathered in the hall of an indoor tennis court at Versailles, declared themselves the National Assembly and swore not to disperse until they had drafted a constitution that would limit the powers of the monarch.
This pledge is known as the Tennis Court Oath. It was the first open challenge to the king's authority.
In simple words: The Tennis Court Oath was the pledge of the Third Estate to give France a constitution.

Teacher's Note:
1. Include the date, the place and the pledge.
2. Remember it as the birth of the National Assembly.

Question 3. Explain how the new political system worked?
Answer:
The Constitution of 1791 made France a constitutional monarchy, with powers separated among three institutions.
1. Legislature: the National Assembly (745 members), which made the laws. It was indirectly elected: active citizens elected 50,000 electors, and the electors voted for the Assembly.
2. Executive: the king and his ministers. The Assembly controlled the ministers, and the king could veto the Assembly's laws.
3. Judiciary: judges, who were also chosen by the vote of active citizens.
Only active citizens (about 4 million of the 28 million people) could vote. Passive citizens, such as about 3 million men, women, children and youth below 25, had no voting rights.
In simple words: Power was divided among the Assembly, the king and the judges, and only active citizens voted.

Teacher's Note:
1. Draw the flow chart from your notes to earn full marks.
2. State the difference between active and passive citizens.

Question 4. Who were Jacobins? What role did they play in emergence of republic in France?
Answer:
The Jacobins were members of the most successful political club of the Revolution. It was named after the former convent of St Jacob in Paris.
Role: In the summer of 1792 they planned an insurrection of Parisians angered by short food supplies and high prices. On 10 August they stormed the Palace of the Tuileries and held the king hostage for hours.
Elections were then held, and the new Convention abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic on 21 September 1792. The king was tried for treason and executed on 21 January 1793.
In simple words: The Jacobins led the August 1792 rising that ended the monarchy and began the republic.

Teacher's Note:
1. Give the 10 August 1792 attack on the Tuileries.
2. Add that Robespierre was their leader.

Question 5. What was Directory? What were its consequences?
Answer:
After the fall of the Jacobin government in 1794, a new constitution provided for a legislature and an executive body of five members called the Directory.
The Directors often clashed with the legislative councils, who tried to dismiss them. The resulting political instability paved the way for the rise of the military dictator Napoleon Bonaparte.
In simple words: The Directory was a five-man government that was weak and led to Napoleon's rule.

Teacher's Note:
1. The word 'directors' helps remember the five-member body.
2. Consequence: Napoleon's rise.

Question 6. What role did the philosophers play in bringing about the French Revolution?
Answer:
The Revolution drew its strength from the ideas of philosophers and thinkers who stirred the people and prepared them for change.
1. Montesquieu proposed the separation of powers in 'The Spirit of the Laws'.
2. Voltaire wanted people to think about their life on earth and condemned the Church that supported the privileged.
3. Rousseau, in 'The Social Contract', argued that government is a contract between the people and the ruler, and the people could rebel if the ruler broke it.
4. John Locke rejected the divine and absolute right of kings in 'Two Treatises of Government'.
In simple words: Philosophers taught people to question the king and the privileges of the rich, and so prepared them for revolution.

Teacher's Note:
1. Name at least three thinkers with their books.
2. Say that the educated middle class was most influenced by these ideas.

Question 7. Why is the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen regarded as a revolutionary document?
Answer:
It declared that men are born and remain free and equal in rights, and that liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression are natural and inalienable rights.
It said that sovereignty rests in the nation, that law is the expression of the general will and that all citizens are equal before it. It protected freedom of speech and the press and said that taxes should be paid by all according to their means.
All this overturned the Old Regime, in which privileges depended on birth and the king ruled by divine right. It later inspired the human rights movement, including the UN's declaration of human rights.
In simple words: The Declaration replaced privilege by equal rights for all citizens.

Teacher's Note:
1. Pick three or four articles to illustrate.
2. Mention the link with the UN charter for a complete answer.

Question 8. Give an estimate of Napoleon Bonaparte as the First Consul.
Answer:
Napoleon became First Consul in 1799 after a coup that overthrew the Directory. As First Consul he restored order and stability and carried out important reforms.
Achievements: a uniform legal system (the Napoleonic Code), a centralised administration, the Bank of France, public education through state schools, and an agreement (the Concordat of 1801) that restored peace with the Church.
Weaknesses: He concentrated all power in his own hands, controlled the press and crushed opposition, so the freedoms won in the Revolution were reduced. In 1804 he declared himself Emperor.
In simple words: As First Consul, Napoleon gave France order and good laws but took all real power himself.

Teacher's Note:
1. This answer is written from general history, since the chapter text does not cover the Consulate.
2. State both his reforms and his authoritarian rule to give a balanced estimate.

Question 9. What was the impact of the French Revolution on the world?
Answer:
The ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity spread far beyond France.
1. Europe: people everywhere learnt the importance of equality before law, personal liberty and the idea that sovereignty rests with the people; it also spread feelings of nationalism.
2. The ideas inspired movements for democracy and national independence in Europe, Latin America and Asia, including India (Tipu Sultan and Raja Rammohan Roy admired them).
3. The UN's human rights charter reflects the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
In simple words: The Revolution gave the world the ideas of liberty, equality and human rights.

Teacher's Note:
1. Mention the Indian connection since the question is about the world.
2. Use the three headings equality, liberty and sovereignty.

Question 10. Which groups of French society benefited from the Revolution? Which groups were forced to relinquish power? Which sections of society would have been disappointed with the outcome of the Revolution?
Answer:
Benefited: the middle class and members of the Third Estate such as merchants, professionals and officials; the peasants were freed from feudal dues; and talented people could now hold high posts.
Forced to give up power: the clergy, the nobility and the monarchy, whose special privileges were abolished.
Disappointed: women, who were denied the vote and whose clubs were closed; poor men, who were passive citizens without the vote; workers and small peasants, who saw little improvement; and slaves in the colonies, as slavery was restored by Napoleon in 1802.
In simple words: The middle class gained, the old privileged lost, and women, the poor and slaves were left out.

Teacher's Note:
1. Answer in the three parts asked.
2. Notice that the Revolution's rights were not given to everyone at once.

Question 11. Explain the term 'Third Estate'.
Answer:
The Third Estate was the part of French society that was neither clergy (First Estate) nor nobility (Second Estate).
It included big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers, peasants, artisans, landless labourers and servants, so it contained both rich and poor persons. It was the underprivileged class, because it paid almost all the taxes while the first two estates were exempt, and it had only one vote in the Estates General.
In simple words: The Third Estate was the ordinary people of France, who paid the taxes and had no privileges.

Teacher's Note:
1. Name both the rich and the poor members.
2. Mention the one-vote problem.