full history about french revolution which is useful for cbse class 9th to ias examinations

1. French revolution

2. What is a revolution:
• A revolution is a fundamental change in power or
organizational structures that takes place in a relatively
short period of time.
• The forcible overthrow of a government or social order
• Any fundamental change or reversal of condition

3. France
• France is a sovereign country in Western Europe that includes
several overseas regions and territories.
• Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to
the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to
the Atlantic Ocean.
• By area, France is the 42nd largest country in the world but the
largest country in Western Europe and the European Union, and the
third-largest in Europe as a whole.
• With a population approaching 67 million, it is the 20th most
populated country and the second-most populated country in the EU.

5. France
La Marseillaise France National anthe

6. Contents
• INTRODUCTION
• CAUSES
• FRENCH SOCIETY DURING THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
A GROWING MIDDLE CLASS ENVISAGES AN END TO PRIVILEGES
• THE OUT BREAK OF THE REVOLUTION
France becomes a constitutional monarchy
• Political symbols
• FRANCE ABOLISHES MONARCHY AND BECOMES A REPUBLIC
THE REIGN OF TERROR
A DIRECTORY FRANCE
• DID WOMEN HAVE A REVOLUTION
• THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
• THE REVOLUTION AND EVERYDAY LIFE
• CONCLUSION

7. INTRODUCTION
• The French Revolution was a revolution in France from 1789 to 1799.
• It led to the end of the monarchy.
• The Revolution ended when Napoleon Bonaparte took power in
November 1799 and began his dictatorship.
• King Louis XVI was executed.
• Before 1789, France was ruled by the nobles and the church.
• The ideas of the Enlightenment were beginning to make these ordinary
people want more power.

8. INTRODUCTION
• They could see that the American Revolution had
created a country in which people had power,
instead of a king.
• The government before the revolution was called
the Old Regime.

9. Key concepts of
French revolution
• Liberty
• Equality
• Fraternity
• Popular sovereignty
• Constitutionalism
• Property
• Religion
• Democracy

11. Revolutionary Figures
• Charles, comte d'Artois
• Reine Audu
• Charles Augereau, duc de Castiglione
• Jean-Pierre-André Amar
• François-Noël Babeuf
• Jean Sylvain Bailly
• Antoine Barnave

12. Revolutionary Figures
• Maximilien Robespierre
• Charles, baron de Montesquieu
• Olympe de Gouges
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau

14. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was
a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th
century. His political philosophy influenced the French
Revolution as well as the overall development of modern
political, sociological, and educational thought.

15. Olympe de Gouges
• Olympe de Gouges (French pronunciation: [olɛ̃p də ɡuʒ]; 7
May 1748 – 3 November 1793), born Marie Gouze, was a
French playwright and political activist whose feminist and
abolitionist writings reached a large audience.

17. Some Important
Dates
• 1774 Louis XVI becomes king of France, faces empty
treasury and growing discontent within society of the Old
Regime.
• 1789 Convocation of Estates General, Third Estate forms
National Assembly, the Bastille is stormed, peasant revolts
in the countryside.
• 1791 A constitution is framed to limit the powers of the king
and to guarantee basic rights to all human beings.
• 1792-93 France becomes a republic, the king is beheaded.

18. Some Important
Dates
• 1804 Napoleon becomes emperor of France, annexes large
parts of Europe
• 1815 Napoleon defeated at Waterloo. Contents

19. Causes
• Social Cause
 One of the main factors that led to the French Revolution was the unbalanced
social structure of society during the Old Regime.
• Economic Cause
 It was the main reason of the depletion of the treasury of the king.
• Political Cause
• King was a person of Mediocre Intelligence.
• Immediate Cause
 Formation of the Estate General.
• Intellectual Cause
 Influence from the writers.

20. Causes
• Many problems in France led up to the Revolution:
• Under the Kings Louis XV and Louis XVI, France had been
supporting the American Revolution and been part of the Seven
Years War.
• (They did not support the American Revolution in support of
democracy, but out of desire to weaken the British, their longtime
adversaries).
• This had made the country very poor with a huge national debt.
• The high price of bread caused the ordinary people to suffer from
hunger and malnutrition.

21. Causes
• This made them dislike the rich nobles who had the money to eat well and build
huge houses.
• The Roman Catholic Church, which owned the most land in France, put a tax on
crops called the dime (tithe) which hurt the poorest and hungriest people.
• Ideals of the Enlightenment.
• Many people disliked absolute rule by the royalty and the nobility.
• They could see that in other countries, such as in the new country America, people
like them had more influence on the government.
• They also wanted freedom of religion.

22. Causes of the French
Revolution

24. FRENCH SOCIETY DURING THE
LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
• In 1774,Louis xvi ascended the throne
• He was 20 year old and married Austrian princess Marie
Antoinette
• He found his treasury empty
• He spent for American independence

25. Louis XV
Louis XVI
Marie Antoinette

26. Classification of
French society
• French society is classified into three estates
• Estate general was a political body sent by 3 estates

28. The Three Estates
Estate Population Privileges Exemptions Burdens
First •Circa 130,000
•High-ranking
clergy
•Collected the tithe
•Censorship of the press
•Control of education
•Kept records of births, deaths,
marriages, etc.
•Catholic faith held honored
position of being the state
religion (practiced by monarch
and nobility)
•Owned 20% of the land
•Paid no taxes
•Subject to
Church law rather
than civil law
•Moral obligation (rather than legal
obligation) to assist the poor and
needy
•Support the monarchy and Old
Regime
Second •Circa 110,000
•Nobles
•Collected taxes in the form of
feudal dues
•Monopolized military and state
appointments
•Owned 20% of the land
•Paid no taxes •Support the monarchy and Old
Regime
Third •Circa
25,000,000
•Everyone else:
artisans,
bourgeoisie, city
workers,
merchants,
peasants, etc.,
along with many
parish priests
•None •None •Paid all taxes
•Tithe (Church tax)
•Octrot (tax on goods brought into
cities)
•Corvée (forced road work)
•Capitation (poll tax)
•Vingtiéme (income tax)
•Gabelle (salt tax)
•Taille (land tax)
•Feudal dues for use of local manor’s
winepress, oven, etc.

31. Demand of food grains(struggle to
survive)
• The population of France rose from about 23
million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789
• This led to a rapid increase in the demand for food
grains
• Production of grains could not keep pace with the
demand

32. Subsistence crisis
Bad
harvest
Scarcity
of grains
Rising
food
prices
The poorest
can no longer
buy bread
Food
riots
Weaker
bodies
Diseases
and
epidemics
Increased
number of
deaths

33. Bastille
• The Bastille (French pronunciation: [bastij]) was a fortress in
Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It
played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and
for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings
of France. It was stormed by a crowd on 14 July 1789 in
the French Revolution, becoming an important symbol for the
French Republican movement, and was later demolished and
replaced by the Place de la Bastille.

34. Storming of Bastille
(battle of Bastille)
• The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris, France on
the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and
prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal
authority in the center of Paris. The prison only contained
seven inmates at the time of its storming but was a symbol of
the abuses of the monarchy: its fall was the flashpoint of
the French Revolution.
• In France, Le quatorze juillet (14 July) is a public holiday,
usually called Bastille Day in English.

35. Bastille

36. Growing of middle
class
• The middle class is a class of people in the middle of a
societal hierarchy.
• In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the
broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-
economically between the working class and upper class.
• The common measures of what constitutes middle class vary
significantly among cultures.

37. Outbreak of
revolution
• Louis XVI increased taxes
• on 5th may 1789,Louis xvi called an assembly of the
estates to pass new proposal of taxes
• Group of third estate people formed general assembly in
Versailles

39. France became a
constitutional monarchy
• The national assembly completely drafted of the
constitution in 1791
• Its main object was to limit the powers of the monarch
• The national assembly made people as active citizen
and passive citizen

41. Design of voting
V
O
T
E
Active citizens: entitled to vote. About 4 million
judge
Passive citizens: no voting rights including poor men ,
every women and youth below 25 years
king
Ministers
National assembly
VOTE
Electors
VOTE
VETO
CONTROL

42. France became a
constitutional monarchy
• The constitution of 1791 vested the power to make laws
in the national assembly , which was indirectly elected
• That is, citizens voted for a group of electors, who in
turn chose the Assembly.
• Not all citizens, however, had the right to vote.

43. Design of constitution
• 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, that is, they belonged to each human being
by birth and could not be taken away.
• It was the duty of the state to protect each citizen's natural
rights.

45. The Declaration of Rights of
Men and Citizen
• 1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.
• 2.The aim of every political association is the preservation of
the natural and inalienable rights of man; these are liberty,
property, security and resistance to oppression.
• 3. The source of all sovereignty resides in the nation; no group
or individual may exercise authority that does not come from
the people.
• 4. Liberty consists of the power to do whatever is not injurious
to others.

46. The Declaration of Rights
of Men and Citizen
• 5. The law has the right to forbid only actions that are
injurious to society.
• 6. Law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have
the right to participate in its formation, personally or through
their representatives. All citizens are equal before it.
• 7. No man may be accused, arrested or detained, except in
cases determined by the law.
• 11. Every citizen may speak, write and print freely; he must
take responsibility for the abuse of such liberty in cases

47. The Declaration of Rights
of Men and Citizen
• 12. For the maintenance of the public force and for the
expenses of administration a common tax is indispensable; it
must be assessed equally on all citizens in proportion to their
means.
• 17. Since property is a sacred and inviolable right, no one
may be deprived of it, unless a legally established public
necessity requires it. In that case a just compensation must be
given in advance.

48. Reading political
symbols
• The majority of men and women in the eighteenth century
could not read or write. So images and symbols were frequently
used instead of printed words to communicate important ideas.
The painting by Le Barbier uses many such symbols to
convey the content of the Declaration of Rights. Let us try
to read these symbols.

49. Reading political
symbols
• The broken chain: Chains were used to fetter slaves. A broken
chain stands for the act of becoming free.
• The bundle of rods or fasces: One rod can be easily broken,
but not an entire bundle. Strength lies in unity
• The eye with in a triangle radiating light: the all-
seeing eye stands for knowledge. The rays of sun will drive
away the clouds of ignorance
•

50. Reading political
symbols
• Scepter: Symbol of royal power
• Snake biting its tail to form a ring: Symbol of Eternity. A
ring has neither beginning nor end.
• Red Phrygian cap: Cap worn by a slave upon becoming free.

51. Reading political
symbols
• Blue-white-red: The national colors of France.
• The winged woman: Personification of the law.
• The Law Tablet: The law is the same for all, and all are
equal before it.

52. France Abolishes Monarchy and
Becomes a Republic
• 1792 The National Assembly voted for declaration of war
against Prussia and Austria
• Revolutionary wars brought losses and economic difficulties to
the people
• Large sections of people continued with the revolution and
formed numerous political clubs such as the Jacobins.
• The Jacobin club belonged mainly to the less prosperous
sections of the society

53. France Abolishes Monarchy
and Becomes a Republic
• Maximilian Robespierre was the leader of the Jacobin club.
• Jacobins wore long striped trousers as opposed to the nobles
who wore knee breeches. They also wore a red cap to symbolize
liberty
• 10th August, 1792: The Jacobins entered the Palace of the
Tuileries, massacred the king’s guards and held the king as
hostage for several hours.
• The Assembly voted for imprisonment of the royal family
• Elections were held and all men of 21 years and above,

54. France Abolishes Monarchy
and Becomes a Republic
• The newly elected assembly was called the Convention
• 21st September, 1792: The Convention abolished the monarchy
and declared France a republic.
• 21st January, 1793: Louis XVI was executed publicly at
the Place de la Concorde. Queen Marie Antoinette met with
the same fate shortly after.

56. The Reign of Terror
• 1793-1794 Known as the Reign of Terror.
• Jacobins under Robespierre practiced a policy of severe control
and repression.
• Those suspected as the ‘enemies’ of the republic were arrested,
imprisoned and then tried by a revolutionary tribunal. These
included ex-nobles, clergymen, members of other political
parties and those who criticized the Jacobin’s rule.
• They were guillotined if the court found them guilty

57. The Reign of Terror
• Robespierre’s government imposed a maximum ceiling on
wages and prices.
• Meat and bread were rationed.
• Peasants were forced to sell their grain at the prices fixed by
the government.
• All citizens were required to eat the pain d’egalite (equality
bread) and discard the use of expensive white flour.
• All French men and women were henceforth called Citoyen and
Citoyenne not anymore, Monsieur and Madame.

58. The Reign of Terror
• Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into
barracks or offices.
• July, 1794 Robespierre was arrested and guillotined the next
day.

61. A Directory Rules
France
• The fall of the Jacobin government allowed the wealthier
middle classes to seize power.
• A new constitution was introduced.
• Voting right to the non-propertied sections of the society was
denied.
• The new constitution provided for two elected legislative
councils.
• These councils appointed an executive consisting of five
members, called the Directory.

62. A Directory Rules
France
• The Directory was formed for avoiding the concentration of
power
• Differences arose between the Directory and the legislative
councils which paved the way for the rise of a military dictator,
Napoleon Bonaparte.

64. Role of Women in
Revolution
• Women had to work for a living and also had to take care of
their families.
• Women were paid lower wages as compared to men
• Women started their own political clubs and newspapers such
as ‘The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women’.
• They demanded for equal political rights.
• The revolutionary government introduced state schools.
Schooling was made compulsory for all girls, marriage could
not be forced upon and divorce was made legal.

65. Role of Women in
Revolution
• During the Reign of Terror, laws were issued for closing
women’s clubs and banning their political activities.
• 1946 Women in France won the right to vote.

67. The Abolition of
Slavery
• A triangular slave trade took place between Europe, Africa and
America.
• Slaves were bought from the local chieftains of Africa and were
sold to the plantation owners in the Caribbean.
• 1794 The Convention legislated to free all slaves in the French
overseas possessions. However, Napoleon reintroduced slave
trade after some years.
• 1848 Slavery was abolished in the French colonies.

69. The Revolution and
Everyday Life
• Censorship was abolished in France. Books, newspapers and
plays could now be read and performed without the approval of
the censors of the king.
• The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizens proclaimed
freedom of speech and expression to be a natural right.
• Newspapers, pamphlets, books and printed pictures flooded
both French towns and countryside.

71. Raise of napoleon
• 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of
France.
• Napoleon saw himself as a modernizer of Europe. He
introduced laws such as the protection of property and a
uniform system of weights and measures provided by the
decimal system.
• Napoleonic army was initially viewed to be a liberating force
but soon it was seen as an invading force.
• 1815 Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo

72. Guided by
Deepak sir