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9th class History (U1 , U2 , T1)
Unit First : Event and process The French Revolution.
1. Describe the circumstances leading to the outbreak of revolutionary protest in France.
Answer:
When King Louis XVI was anointed as the new king, he found an empty treasury. Long years of
war had drained the financial resources of France. On top of this, there was the cost of
maintaining an extravagant court at the immense palace of Versailles. France had helped the
thirteen American colonies gain their independence from their common enemy, Britain. The war
added more than a billion livres to a debt that had already risen to more than 2 billion livres.
Lenders who gave credit began to charge 10 per cent interest on loans. So the French
Government had to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on interest payments alone. To
meet its regular expenses, such as cost of maintaining an army, the court, governmental offices
and Universities was increasingly becoming difficult. Raising taxes did not suffice, because the
French society was divided into 3 estates and only the 3rd estate had to pay taxes. The 1st estate
and the 2nd estate did not pay any taxes. The population of France was also growing massively.
This led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains. Production of grains could not keep
pace with demand. So the price of bread, which was the staple diet of the majority rose rapidly.
Most workers were employed as labourers in workshops, whose owner fixed their wages. But the
wages did not keep pace with the rise in prices. So the gap between the rich and the poor
widened. All these factors led to the outbreak of the French Revolution.
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