World History (French Revolution) by Shivlal Gupta

Model Answer

Question #1. French revolution brings the new concepts of time and space which was based on the principles of rationalism and naturalism. In the context of this statement examine the cultural legacy of French revolution. 10 marks (150 words)

The French Revolution was like an explosion and a violent upheaval. Events like this often destroy many aspects of the past culture. The destructive experience of the revolution was not expected to give birth to durable creations but the Revolution of 1789 signifies an idea of fundamental change.
Like the people of other regions, the Frenchmen did not have much of a political vocabulary before 1789 as politics centred at Vessailles, the royal court. However, the elections to the Estates General brought the common man of the street into the national politics. The lower section of the populace began participating in street marches and political insurrections.
It affected not only the nature of politics but contributed to the sudden formation of a revolutionary language based on new political vocabulary. New words or phrases were coined to express popular demands. Words like citizen rights, sovereignty, representation and patriotism received new meanings. Thousands of brochures, pamphlets, caricatures and cartoons, plays, newspaper articles came out explaining the new ideology. Stage plays were enacted on political and revolutionary themes, folk songs were sung with changed meanings, popular fetes were organized and a revolutionary calendar was introduced in France. All these developments were contributing to the creation of new revolutionary culture. Traditional centres of public sphere were adapting themselves according to the revolutionary atmosphere. New concepts of time and space came into being based on the principles of rationalism and naturalism.
The revolutionaries had provided a new division of time by preparing a revolutionary calendar in which a month was to consist of three weeks of ten days each, and a year divided into twelve months. The remaining five days were declared patriotic days to include civil qualities like virtue, genius, labour, reward I and opinion. Each day of the week was given a new name, which was dedicated to some aspect of rural life. The names of the rulers and queens were swiftly removed from Paris streets and new names were given. Words like Le Roy or Le Roi (the king) were replaced by la loi (the liberty). Even the pictures of king, queen and jack were replaced with revolutionary symbols. The new expressions and political vocabulary had eroded the sacred position of the king. The ritual use of the language like swearing and oaths provided to the revolutionaries a means of reconstituting moral basis of the community. The formation of new political culture had its stamp I on the French culture. Theatre, art and music came under strong revolutionary influence.
The coming of the Revolution influenced the journalistic press. The newspapers like Mercure, Brissot’s Patriote Francaise (French Patriots) and Barere’s Point du Tour (The Turning Point) provided direct message to the people and popularized the revolutionary ideology. In the sphere of drama, every crisis in the revolution had its commentary on civic stage. Political themes were extensively borrowed. Stage plays became a source of political propaganda. Chenier’s Clzarles Kis said to have baptized the stage in the name of nation, law and constitution. It was the most popular play reflecting the spirit of revolution. Art, too, was used in public festivals and in the visual pageantry of the large-scale spectacles.
The decade of the Revolution produced thousands of printed images through allegorical compositions, political caricatures, portraits of leaders, letterheads, playing cards, children’s games, civil manuals and many other forms. These images are called ephemera and these proved to be more effective means of drawing people into political debates. Art in this period acquired a strategic and explicitly political function. The revolutionaries had great faith in the power of images and art was used to perform the role of social and moral regenerator. The imagery of the French Revolution was created through all these means.

Question #2. ‘Chief among the causes of the French Revolution were the abuses of an extravagances of the Bourbon monarchy; the unjust privileges enjoyed by the nobility and the higher clergy; the wretched conditions of the poorer classes of the people and the revolutionary character and spirit of French philosophy and literature’. Elucidate. 15 marks (250 words)

The French Revolution was the watershed event in Modern European history that brought about the enlightenment principles and democracy, creating a rational and egalitarian society. It  started  in 1789 and ended in 1799.

The French Revolution was a time of social and political upheaval in France and its colonies. The Liberal and radical ideas overthrew the Monarchy and influenced the decline of absolute Monarchies in other parts of Europe.

Reasons for the French Revolution:

Social inequality was very prevalent in 18th century French society: The French society was divided into three estates:

• First Estate-Clergy
• Second Estate-Nobility
• These two estates were about 5% of the population and were in control of 40% of the land.
• They were exempt from almost all taxes.
• All top posts belong to them.
• Third Estate- 95% of the population
• They were the common people but there was a lot of difference between their styles of living.

The French Monarchy and Parlements:

• The French royalty in the years prior to the French Revolution was a study of corruption and France had long subscribed to the idea of Divine Right- The kings were selected by God. This doctrine resulted in a system of Absolute Rule and provided the commoners no input into the governance.
• There was no universal law in France at the Laws varied by region and were enforced by the local Parlements, guilds or religious groups.

Power Abuses and Unfair Taxation:

The monarchs of the Bourbon Dynasty, the French nobility, and the clergy became increasingly egregious in their abuses of power in the late 1700s. They bound the French peasantry into compromising Feudal obligations and refused to contribute any Tax Revenue.

The economic drain was falling heavy and the shoulders of the working class increasing the hostility:

• A number of ill-advised financial maneuvers in the late 1700s worsened the financial situation of the already cash-strapped French government:
• France’s prolonged involvement in the Seven Year’s War (1756-1763)
• France participation in the American Revolution(1775-1783)
• Sizable army and navy to maintain
• The extravagant lifestyle of the Royals added to the financial burden. The French king of the Bourbon dynasty who took the throne in 1774, inherited massive debt problems but was unable to fix them. Controller general of finances by Louis XVI in 1783 recommended across the board taxation as the only way to salvage France’s dire financial situation.
• Not only has the treasury run out, but two decades of poor harvests, drought, livestock disease, and skyrocketing bread prices have created fear among the peasants and the urban poor.

The unstable political situation:

The situation was very unstable because the Bourbon king of France, Louis XVI was an extremely autocratic and weal-willed king who led a life of excessive luxury. This caused anger  among  the masses who were leading lives of extreme poverty and widespread hunger.

The 18th century brought a conscious change in the French thinkers who refused the ‘Divine Rights Theory’:

• Philosophers like Rousseau rejected the paradigm of absolute monarchy and promulgated the doctrine of equality of man and sovereignty of people.
• They played a pivotal role in exposing the fault lines of the old political system-‘The ancient regime’, thus adding to the popular discontent.
• The American Revolution also triggered the ideas of enlightenment and liberty among the intellectuals of the French society.

Thus the importance of the French Revolution laid in laying the foundation of Modern States based on Liberal Democratic ideals. Also, indirectly it laid the groundwork for the growth of Socialism and Communism by providing an intellectual and social environment in which these ideologies could flourish.