RBSE Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 1 The French Revolution

Rajasthan Board RBSE Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 1 The French Revolution Textbook Exercise Questions and Answers.

RBSE Class 9 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 1 The French Revolution

RBSE Class 9 Social Science The French Revolution InText Questions and Answers

Page No. 5
Activity  1

Question 1
Explain why the artist has portrayed the nobleman as the spider and the peasant as the fly.
Answer:

1. The fly wanders, here and there and does hard labour for the food whereas the spider makes the system to trap the fly.
2. Thus the spider does not do any hard labour for the food like the fly. 
3. Likewise, the nobleman makes a system where he gets his food due to his system in which a peasant is trapped to bring all eatables for the nobleman.

Activity 2

Question 2
Fill in the blank boxes in Fig. 4 with appropriate terms from among the following:
Food riots, scarcity of grain, increased number of deaths, rising food prices, weaker bodies.
Answer:

Activity 3

Question 3
An Englishman, Arthur Young, travelled through Frances during the years from 1787 to 1789 and wrote detailed descriptions of his journeys. He often commented on what he saw.
Answer:
'He who decides to be served and waited upon by slaves, ill-treated slaves at that, must be fully aware that by doing so he is placing his property and his life in a situation which is very different from that he would be in, had he chosen the services of free and well-treated men. And he who chooses to dine to the accompaniment of his victims 'groans, should not complain if during a riot his daughter gets kidnapped or his son's throat is slit.'

Question 4
(i) What message is Young trying to convey here?
(ii) Whom does he mean when he speaks of ‘slaves’?
(iii) Who is he criticising?
(iv) What dangers does he sense in the situation of 1787?
Answer:
(i) Arthur Young is conveying the message that the Lords were aware of the situation which would be different if they had chosen the services of free men from instead of slaves. The privileged should not complain when they face the consequences of their actions.

(ii) By slaves, young means to unprivileged or deprived sections. ‘Slaves’ were the victims of French Social system.

(iii) He is criticising nobles and the clergies who had made the poor people victims.

(iv) He points out a sense of danger in the situation of 1787 in which the victim’s groans can take the form of riots where lords’ families are not safe. He thinks that in the situation of 1787, the underprivileged people can adopt the violent methods.

Activity 4

Question 5

1. Compare the views of Desmoulins and Robespierre. How does each one understand the use of state force? 
2. What does Robespierre mean by the ‘war of liberty against tyranny? 
3. How does Desmoulins perceive liberty? 

Answer:

1. Robespierre understood the use of terror for a democratic government in the time of revolution was justified, whereas Desmoulins said that the state force should be applied on the basis of law.
2. Robespierre meant the war of liberty against the tyranny to annihilate the enemies of the republic of home and abroad.
3. Desmoulins perceives that liberty is happiness, reason, equality, justice. It is the declaration of Rights.

Activity 5

Question 6
Compare the manifesto drafted by Olympe de Gouges, with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
Answer:

1. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (Source C) is about the rights of man and citizen only, not for the rights of women as they are not mentioned in any article.
2. The manifesto drafted by Olympe de Gouges (Source F) is about the rights of both men and women on the basis of equality

RBSE Class 9 Social Science The French Revolution Textbook Questions and Answers

Question 1. 
Describe the circumstances leading to the outbreak of revolutionary protest in France?
Answer:
The following circumstances led to the outbreak of revolutionary protest in France:
(i) Louis XVI was an autocratic ruler who could not compromise with his luxurious life'. He also lacked farsightedness.

(ii) When he ascended the throne, the royal treasury was empty. Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France. Added to this was the cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense palace of Versailles.

(iii) Under Louis XVI, France helped thirteen American colonies to gain their independence from Britain. The war added more than a billion livres to a debt credit, lenders now began to charge 10% interest on loans So, the French government was obliged to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on interest payments alone..

(iv) The state finally increased taxes to meet its regular expenses such as the cost of maintaining an army, running government offices and universities.

(v) The French society was divided into three estates but the members of the first two estates i.e., the clergy and the nobles were exempted from paying taxes. They belonged to privileged class. Thus the burden of financing activities of the state through taxes was borne by the Third estate. 

(vi) The middle class that emerged in the 18th century, France was educated and enlightened. They refuted the theory of divine rights of the kings and absolute monarchy. They believed that a person’s social position must depend on his merit. They had access to the various ideas of equality and freedom proposed by the philosophers like John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Montesquieu etc. Their ideas got popularised among the common people as a result of intensive discussions and debates in salons and coffee houses and through books and newspapers.

(vii) The French administration was extremely corrupt. It did not try to remove the age to grievances of the French Common men.
(viii) Louis XVI had to call a meeting of the Estates General. On 5 May, 1789, Louis XVI called an assembly of the Estates General to pass for modals for new taxes. This led to the revolution of France.

Question 2. 
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: 
(i) The wealthy class of the third estate benefited the most from the revolution. Big businessmen, court officials, lawyers, teachers, doctors and traders came under this group. Earlier these people had to pay state taxes and they did not enjoy equal status. But after the revolution they were being treated equally with the upper sections of the society.

(ii) With the abolition of feudal system of obligation and taxes, the clergy and the nobility became the same level with the middle class. They were being forced to give up their privileges. Their executive powers were also taken away from them.

(iii) Those who belonged to the poorer sections of the society, i.e. small peasants, landless labourers, servants, daily wage earners would have been disappointed with the outcome of the revolution. Women also would have been highly discontented. People belonging to First and Secong Estate were also disappointed.

Question 3. 
Describe the legacy of the French Revolution for the peoples of the world during the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries.
Answer: 
The French Revolution proved to be the most important event in the history of the world. Its legacy can be described in the following points :

1. The ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French Revolution. These ideas became inspiring ideals for the political movements in the world in the 19th and 20th century.
2. The ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity spread from France to the rest of Europe, where feudal system was finally abolished.
3. Colonised people reworked on the idea of freedom from bondage into their movements to create a sovereign nation state.
4. The idea of Nationalism which emerged after the French Revolution became mass . movements all over the world. Now people started to question the absolute power.
5. The impact of the French Revolution could be seen in India also. Tipu Sultan and Raja Ram Mohan Roy got influenced by the ideas of the revolution. Hence we can say that after the French Revolution people all over the world became aware of their rights. 

Question 4. 
Draw up a list of democratic rights we enjoy today whose origins could be traced to the French Revolution.
Answer: 
Some of the democratic rights which we enjoy today can be traced to the French Revolution are as follows:

1. Right to equality which also includes equality before law, prohibition of discrimination and equality of opportunity in matters of employment.
2. Right to freedom of speech and expression.
3. Right against exploitation.
4. Right to life.
5. Right to vote.
6. Promotion of the idea of fraternity by maintaining friendly relations with foreign countries.
7. Right to education.

Question 5.
Would you agree with the view that the message of universal rights was beset with contradictions? Explain.
Answer: 
Yes, the message of universal rights was definitely beset with contradictions :
(i) Many ideals of the “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen” were not at all clear. They had doubtful meanings.

(ii) The French Revolution is unable to bring economic equality and it is the fact that unless there is economic equality, real equality cannot be received at any area. The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen laid stress on equality but a large section of the society was denied to it. The right to vote and elect their representatives did not solve the poor man’s problem.

(iii) Women were still considered as passive citizens. They did not have any political rights such as right to vote and hold political offices like men. Therefore, their struggle for equal political rights continued.

(iv) France was still involved in holding and expanding. Thus, its image as a liberator could not last for a long time.

(v) Slavery was still existed in France till the first half of the 19th century.

Question 6. 
How would you explain the rise of Napoleon?
Answer: 
The rise of Napolean can be explained as follows :
(i) The political instability of the Directory made the way for the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon had achieved glorious victories in wars. Because of Napoleon's achievement France realise that for a stable government a military dictator like him is needed.

(ii) In 1804, he crowned himself as the emperor of France. He set out to conquer neighbouring European countries, dispossessing dynasties and creating kingdoms where he placed members of his family. Napoleon viewed himself as a moderniser of Europe. He introduced many laws such as the protection of private property and a uniform system of weight and measures provided by the decimal system.

(iii) The people of France thought that since Napoleon was the product of French Revolution, hence that social wrongs injustices and aristocratic privileges would not be restored in France again.