NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 1 The French Revolution
Textbook Exercises
Question 1.
Describe the circumstances leading _ to the outbreak of revolutionary protest in France.
Answer:
France of pre-revolution 1789 was still governed by privileged groups—the nobility and the clergy—while the productive classes were taxed heavily to pay for foreign wars, court extravagance, and a rising national debt. For the most part, peasants were small landholders or tenant farmers, subject to feudal dues, to the royal agents indirect farming (collecting) taxes, to the corvee (forced labor), and to tithes and other impositions. Backward agricultural methods and internal tariff barriers caused recurrent food shortages, which netted fortunes to grain speculators, and rural overpopulation created land hunger.
In addition to the economic and social difficulties, the old regime was undermined intellectually by the apostles of the Enlightenment.
French participation on the American Revolution had increased the huge debt, and Necker’s successor, Charles Alexandre de Calonne, called an Assembly of Notables (1787), hoping to avert bankrupcy by inducing the privileged classes to share in the financial burden. They refused in an effort to protect economic privileges.
Question 2.
Which groups of French society benefitted 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:
- Groups of French society1 which benefitted from the revolution included those who belonged to the third estate, i.e. big businessmen, merchants, officials, lawyers.
- Groups which were forced to relinquish power included those who belonged to the first state, i.e. clergy, and the second estate, i. e. the nobility—feudal lords.
- Sections of society7 which Would have been disappointed with the outcome were those whi’ch belonged to the peasants ana the poor.
Question 3.
Describe the legacy of the French Revolution for the peoples of the world during the 19th and the 20th centuries?
Answer:
The French Revolution of 1789 was important in many respects. It brought the people of France to the forefront of politics. It set the model for the later revolutions. It changed the political map of Europe for ever. To the peoples of the world, the revolution gave a charter of rights and liberties. To them, it gave them inspiration to make their countries free nations. To them, it proved to be a leading light to fight absolutism and dictatorial regime. To them, it gave them lessons of democracy, nationalism, and, emancipation.
Question 4.
Draw up a list of democratic rights we enjoy, today whose origins could be traced to the French Revolution.
Answer:
The following is the list of some democratic rights we enjoy today and whose origins could be traced to the French Revolution:
| Rights (French Revolution) | Rights (Indian Constitution) |
| 1. Men are born free and remain free and equal in rights. | Right to equality and right to freedom. |
| 2. Rights such as liberty, property, security and resist-ance to oppression. | Right to liberty, right-to-life, right to property. |
| 3. People, as nation, are sovereign. | The Preamble of the Constitution. |
| 4. Citizens, equal before law. | Right to equality. |
| 5. No accusation, no arrest, and no detention unless provided by law. | Right to freedom. |
| 6. Every citizen can speak, \vrite, and print freely. | Right to freedom, liberties |
Question 5.
Would you agree with the view that the message of universal right was beset with contradictions? Explain.
Answer:
We do not agree with the view that the message of universal rights was beset with fcontradictions. Rights are, if they have to be real, universal. In fact, it would be a contradiction that some have rights, and others do not have it. Some, as the clergy and the nobility during the days before the French Revolution, having privileges and others such as those belonging to the third estate having only obligations and duties is a contradiction. Men and women remain free and equal. This ideal alone makes liberty and equality both possible and feasible.
Question 6.
How would you explain the rise of Napoleon?
Answer:
Discontent with Directory, rule was increased by military reverses. In 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte, the hero of the Italian campaign, returned from his Egyptian expedition and, with the support of the army and several government members, overthrew the.Directory on 18 Brumaire (Nov, 9) and established, the Consulate. Until the Restoration of the Bourbons (1814), Napoleon ruled France.
These Solutions are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 1 The French Revolution.