Answer the Following Questions: Marks
1 What were the reasons due to which King Louis XVI of France faced an empty treasury upon ascending the throne? [5]
2 Explain in detail the 3 Estates of Old Regime of France that existed prior to 1789. [5]
3 Was the Old Regime of French society justified and fair? Comment. [3]
4 Explain in detail the different ways in which the subjects belonging to 3rd Estate were exploited by the people of 1st and 2nd Estates. [5]
5 What is ‘subsistence crisis’? Do you think that the French society experienced it in the late 18th Century? [3]
6 Critically examine the role played by middle class in the French Revolution. [3]
7 Critically examine the role of philosophers and political thinkers in the French Revolution. [3]
8 What is Estates General? When the meeting of Estates General was usually called? [3]
9 What was the demand of 3rd Estate in Estates General meeting which was subsequently rejected by King Louis XVI? [5]
Answers
Answer:
1. Five causes for the empty treasury of France under Louis XVI are:
(i) Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France.
(ii) High cost of maintenance of immense palace of Versailles and court.
(iii) Under Louis XVI France helped the thirteen American colonies to gain independence.
(iv) War added to a debt.
(v) Lenders began to barge high interest on loans.
2.Prior to the Revolution of 1789, the society in France was feudal in nature and it was divided into three Estates:
1. Clergy - Group of persons invested with special functions in the church. It extracted its share of taxes called tithes from the peasants. Tithe was a tax levied by the church, comprising one-tenth of the agricultural produce.
2. Nobility – It include the group of people from administrative field. They enjoyed certain feudal privileges. These included feudal dues, to be extracted from the peasants and using them as their personal slaves.
The Clergy and Nobility group held almost 60% of the land and were exempted from paying taxes to the state.
3. The 3rd estate comprised of rest of the population of which 90% were peasants , landless labour and servants. Only a small percentage of population consisted of Big and small businessmen, merchants, teachers, court officials, lawyers etc. Out of these even smaller number of them owned land. They had to pay all kinds of taxes levied by the state and Church. They lived in pathetic conditions and had work very hard to earn bare minimum livelihood.
3.Answer:The three main reasons the regime fell revolve around taxes, personal freedom and abolishment of the caste system. Taxes for the third estate, or others, were high. The third estate was the majority of French and those not deemed nobility or clergy.
4.The third estate was on the last rung of the French society. This estate was constituted of 'big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers, peasants, artisans, landless labour and servants.
(ii) However, peasants made up about 90 per cent of the population and only a small number of them owned the land they cultivated.
(iii) The members of this estate had no political rights and social status. They were always under the burden of taxes. Here, it is worth mentioning that within this state one could see gross disparities. Some were very rich while others were very poor.
(iv) The rich, i.e. big businessmen, merchants, professionals etc. had access to education but the poor were always worried about their existence. They were victims of food scarcity.
5.subsistence crisis can be defined as an extreme situation where the basis of livelihood are endangered. Yes, the french society faces the problem due to the rapid growth of population. It was a main reason for the french revolution.
6.The middle class played a significant role in guiding the French Revolution as they possessed the belief in national unity. Explanation: ... Thus, they were the ones who initiated mass campaigns and spread awareness among the lower-classes about their rights which ended up being the directions for this revolution
7.During 18 th century , France had many revolutionary thinkers. Among them were Voltaire , Rousseau , Montesquieu and Dederot . Their revolutionary ideas helped the people to fight for their rights . (2) They exposed the inefficiency of the monarch and and his government.
8.Estates-General, also called States General, French États-Généraux, in France of the pre-Revolution monarchy, the representative assembly of the three “estates,” or orders of the realm: the clergy (First Estate) and nobility (Second Estate)—which were privileged minorities—and the Third Estate, which represented the ...
9.The French monarch alone could decide when to call a meeting of this body and it was last convened in the year 1614 before Louis XVI again convened it on 5th May, 1789. The Third Estate wanted voting to be done by the assembly as a whole where each member would have one vote. This demand was rejected by Louis XVI.