THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

1. Describe the storming of the prison Bastille in France.

i. On the morning of 14 July 1789, the city of Paris was in a state of alarm. The king had commanded troops to
move into the city. Rumours spread that he would soon order the army to open fire upon the citizens who rose in
protest due to shortage of bread.
ii. Some 7,000 men and women gathered in front of the town hall and decided to form a peoples. militia. They
broke into a number of government buildings in search of arms. Finally, a group of several hundred people
marched towards the eastern part of the city and stormed the fortress-prison, the Bastille, where they hoped to
find hoarded ammunition.
iii. In the armed fight that followed, the commander of the Bastille was killed and the prisoners released . though
there were only seven of them. Yet the Bastille was hated by all, because it stood for the despotic power of the
king. The fortress wasdemolished and its stone fragments were sold in the markets to all those who wished to
keep a souvenir of its destruction.
2. Describe the political and economic condition of France during the 18th century.
i. In 1774, Louis XVI of the Bourbon family of kings ascended the throne of France. He was 20 years old and married
to the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette.
ii. Upon his accession the new king found an empty treasury. Long years of war had drained the financial resources
of France. The cost of maintaining an extravagant court at Versailles was very high.
iii. Under Louis XVI, France helped the thirteen American colonies to gain their independence from the common
enemy, Britain. The war added more than a billion livres (currency) to a debt that had already risen to more than
2 billion livres.
iv. Lenders who gave the state credit, now began to charge 10 per cent interest on loans. So the French government
was obliged to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on interest payments alone. To meet its regular
expenses, such as the cost of maintaining an army, the court, running government offices or universities, the
state was forced to increase taxes.
( Under what circumstances did the King of France decide to increase the tax? (point 3 & 4 above)
3. Describe the social condition of France during the 18th century. OR How was the French society organised?
a) French society in the eighteenth century was divided into three estates, viz. The First Estate, Second Estate and
the Third Estate. The First Estate consisted of the Clergy and the Second Estate consisted of Nobility.
b) The members of the first two estates, that is, the clergy and the nobility, enjoyed certain privileges by birth. The
most important of these was exemption from paying taxes to the state. The nobles further enjoyed feudal
privileges. These included feudal dues, which they extracted from the peasants.
c) The Third Estate consisted of three categories of people. Big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers etc
come in the top layer. Peasants and artisans come in the middle and small peasants, landless labourers and
servants come under the lowest category of people.
d) Peasants made up of 90 per cent of the population. However, only a small number of them owned the land they
cultivated. About 60 per cent of the land was owned by nobles, the Church and other richer members of the third
estate.
e) Peasants were obliged to render services to the lord to work in his house and fields, to serve in the army or to
participate in building roads. The burden of financing activities of the state through taxes was borne by the third
estate alone.
4. What was the ‘subsistence crisis’ in France? How did it arise?
i. The population of France rose from about 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789. This led to a rapid increase in
the demand for food grains. Production of grains could not keep pace with the demand. So the price of bread
which was the staple diet of the majority rose rapidly.
ii. Most workers were employed as labourers in workshops whose owner fixed their wages. But wages did not keep
pace with the rise in prices. So the gap between the poor and the rich widened.
iii. Things became worse whenever drought or hail reduced the harvest. Shortage of food grains led to price rise,
riots and death. It is called subsistence crisis, something that occurred frequently in France during the Old
Regime.
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5. Who were the groups of people who protested rising taxes and food scarcity in France? What was the
result? How did the emergence of the middle class help French society?
i. In the past, peasants and workers had participated in revolts against increasing taxes and food scarcity. But they
lacked the means and programmes to carry out full-scale measures that would bring about a change in the social
and economic order. This was left to the middle class.
ii. The middle class became prosperous and had access to education and new ideas. The merchants earned their
wealth through an expanding overseas trade and from the manufacture of goods.
iii. In addition to merchants and manufacturers, the third estate included professionals such as lawyers or
administrative officials. All of these were educated and believed that no group in society should be privileged by
birth. Rather, a person’s social position must depend on his merit.
iv. These were the groups of people who protested rising taxes and food scarcity in France. These ideas of a society
based on freedom and equal laws and opportunities for all, were put forward by philosophers too.
How did the middle class become important in French society? Points 2, 3 and 4 above
6. What role did philosophers play in bringing about the French Revolution?
i. These ideas of a society based on freedom and equal laws and opportunities for all, were put forward by
philosophers such as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. In his Two Treatises of Government, Locke sought to
disprove the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch.
ii. Rousseau carried the idea forward, proposing a form of government based on a social contract between people
and their representatives.
iii. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the
legislative, the executive and the judiciary. This model of government was put into force in the USA, after the
thirteen colonies declared their independence from Britain.
iv. The American constitution and its guarantee of individual rights influenced political thinkers in France. The ideas
of these philosophers were discussed intensively in salons and coffee-houses and spread among people through
books and newspapers.
v. These were frequently read aloud in groups for the benefit of those who could not read and write. The news that
Louis XVI planned to impose further taxes to be able to meet the expenses of the state generated anger and
protest against the system of privileges.
7. Examine the factors that led to the French Revolution.
i. The war with Britain : France supported American colonies in their war with the Great Britain for their
independence. This war led to an increasing debt on the French monarchy. This necessitated imposition of new
taxes on the public.
ii. Privilege based on birth: French society in the eighteenth century was divided into three estates, viz. The First
Estate, Second Estate and the Third Estate. The First Estate consisted of the Clergy and the Second Estate
consisted of Nobility. The members of the first two estates, that is, the clergy and the nobility, enjoyed certain
privileges by birth. The most important of these was exemption from paying taxes to the state.
iii. Subsistence Crisis: The high population led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains. Production of grains
could not keep pace with the demand. So the price of bread which was the staple diet of the majority rose
rapidly. Wages did not keep pace with rising prices. It led to the subsistence crisis.
iv. Growing Middle Class: A new class emerged in France because of increased overseas trade. This class was
wealthy not because of birth but because of its ability to utilize opportunities. People of the middle class started
raising their voice for an end to privileges based on birth.
v. Role of philosophers: The ideas of a society based on freedom and equal laws and opportunities for all, were put
forward by philosophers such as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. They spread awareness through various
media. Some from the privileged classes also advocated a switch to democracy. So, finally there was revolution in
France.
8. Examine the incidents preceding the outbreak of the French Revolution .
i. Louis XVI, the King of France had to increase taxes for many reasons. He called a meeting of the Estates General
which would pass his proposals for new taxes.
ii. Voting in the Estates General in the past had been conducted according to the principle that each estate had one
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 vote. But members of the third estate demanded that voting now be conducted by the assembly as a whole,
where each member would have one vote.
iii. When the king rejected this proposal, members of the third estate walked out of the assembly in protest. On 20
June they assembled in the hall of an indoor tennis court in the grounds of Versailles. They declared themselves a
National Assembly and swore not to disperse till they had drafted a constitution for France that would limit the
powers of the monarch.
iv. While the National Assembly was busy at Versailles drafting a constitution, riot spread across the country. A
severe winter had meant a bad harvest; the price of bread rose, often bakers exploited the situation and hoarded
supplies.
v. After spending hours in long queues at the bakery, crowds of angry women stormed into the shops. At the same
time, the king ordered troops to move into Paris. On 14 July, the agitated crowd stormed and destroyed the
Bastille.
vi. In the countryside rumours spread from village to village that the lords of the manor had hired bands of brigands
who were on their way to destroy the ripe crops. Angry peasants in several districts seized hoes and pitchforks
and attacked chateaux (residence of lords)
vii. They looted hoarded grain and burnt down documents containing records of manorial dues. (Continue the next
answer)
9. What were the immediate results of the outbreak of the French Revolution?
i. A large number of nobles fled from their homes, many of them migrating to neighbouring countries.
ii. Faced with the power of his revolting subjects, Louis XVI finally accorded recognition to the National Assembly
and accepted the principle that his powers would from now on be checked by a constitution.
iii. On the night of 4 August 1789, the Assembly passed a decree abolishing the feudal system of obligations and
taxes. Members of the clergy too were forced to give up their privileges. Tithes (tax imposed by the Church) were
abolished and lands owned by the Church were confiscated. As a result, the government acquired assets worth at
least 2 billion livres.
10. Why did the Third Estate walk out from the Estate General called by the King Louis XVI in France?
i. Voting in the Estates General in the past had been conducted according to the principle that each estate had one
vote. This time too Louis XVI was determined to continue the same practice. But members of the third estate
demanded that voting now be conducted by the assembly as a whole, where each member would have one
vote. (This was one of the democratic principles put forward by philosophers like Rousseau in his book The Social
Contract.)
ii. When the king rejected this proposal, members of the third estate walked out of the assembly in protest. The
representatives of the third estate viewed themselves as spokesmen for the whole French nation. ( Which
demand of the third estate was rejected by the King? )
11. How did France Become a Constitutional Monarchy?
i. Faced with the power of his revolting subjects, Louis XVI finally accorded recognition to the National Assembly
and accepted the principle that his powers would from now on be checked by a constitution.
ii. On the night of 4 August 1789, the Assembly passed a decree abolishing the feudal system of obligations and
taxes. Members of the clergy too were forced to give up their privileges. Tithes (tax imposed by the Church) were
abolished and lands owned by the Church were confiscated.
iii. The National Assembly completed the draft of the Constitution in 1791. Its main object was to limit the powers of
the monarch. These powers instead of being concentrated in the hands of one person, were now separated and
assigned to different institutions, the legislature, executive and judiciary. This made France a constitutional
monarchy.
12. Write a short note on the Constitution of 1791 in France.
i. The Constitution of 1791 vested the power to make laws in the National Assembly, which was indirectly elected.
That is, citizens voted for a group of electors, who in turn chose the Assembly.
ii. Not all citizens, however, had the right to vote. Only men above 25 years of age who paid taxes equal to at least 3
days of a labourer’s wage were given the status of active citizens, that is, they were entitled to vote.

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 iii. The remaining men and all women were classed as passive citizens. To qualify as an elector and then as a
member of the Assembly a man had to belong to the highest bracket of taxpayers.
iv. The Constitution began with a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Rights such as the right to life,
freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, equality before law, were established as natural and inalienable rights,
that is, they belonged to each human being by birth and could not be taken away. It was the duty of the state to
protect each citizen’s natural rights.
Q. What were the important democratic rights guaranteed in the French Constitution? (Write the last point of the
previous answer)
13. Why were the women disappointed by the Constitution of 1791 in France? What laws did the revolutionary
government introduce to improve the lives of women?
i. The Constitution of 1791 vested the power to make laws in the National Assembly, which was indirectly elected.
That is, citizens voted for a group of electors, who in turn chose the Assembly.
ii. Not all citizens, however, had the right to vote. Only men above 25 years of age who paid taxes equal to at least 3
days of a labourer’s wage were given the status of active citizens, that is, they were entitled to vote. The
remaining men and all women were classed as passive citizens. Therefore women were disappointed by
Constitution of 1791 in France.
iii. In the early years, the revolutionary government introduced laws that helped improve the lives of women.
Together with the creation of state schools, schooling was made compulsory for all girls. Their fathers could no
longer force them into marriage against their will. Marriage was made into a contract entered into freely and
registered under civil law.
iv. Divorce was made legal, and could be applied for by both women and men. Women could now train for jobs,
could become artists or run small businesses. Women’s struggle for equal political rights, however, continued.
14.Why is Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen regarded as a revolutionary document?
i. Rights such as the right to life, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, equality before law, were established as
natural and inalienable rights, that is, they belonged to each human being by birth and could not be taken away.
It was the duty of the state to protect each citizen’s natural rights.
ii. Now the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen proclaimed freedom of speech and expression to be a
natural right. Newspapers, pamphlets, books and printed pictures flooded the towns of France from where they
travelled rapidly into the countryside. They all described and discussed the events and changes taking place in
France.
iii. Freedom of the press also meant that opposing views of events could be expressed. Each side sought to convince
the others of its position through the medium of print. Plays, songs and festive processions attracted large
numbers of people. This was one way they could grasp and identify with ideas such as liberty or justice that
political philosophers wrote about at length in texts which only a handful of educated people could read.
iv. In a country where people were classified and discriminated, where laws did not protect the public, where the
upper class enjoyed privileges, Rights of Man and Citizen regarded as a revolutionary document.
15. How did France become a Republic?
i. Although Louis XVI had signed the Constitution, he entered into secret negotiations with the King of Prussia.
Rulers of other neighbouring countries too were worried by the developments in France and made plans to send
troops to put down the events that had been taking place there since the summer of 1789.
ii. Before this could happen, the National Assembly voted in April 1792 to declare war against Prussia and Austria.
Thousands of volunteers joined the army. They saw this as a war of the people against kings and aristocracies all
over Europe.
iii. Political clubs like the Jacobins became an important rallying point for people who wished to discuss government
policies and plan their own forms of action. Their leader was Maximilian Robespierre.
AND ( OR for Short answer )
iv. In the summer of 1792 the Jacobins planned an uprising of a large number of Parisians who were angered by
the short supplies and high prices of food.
v. On the morning of August 10 they stormed the Palace of the Tuileries, massacred the king’s guards and held

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 the king himself as hostage for several hours. Later the Assembly voted to imprison the royal family. Elections
were held.
vi. From now on all men of 21 years and above, regardless of wealth, got the right to vote. The newly elected
assembly was called the Convention. On 21 September 1792 it abolished the monarchy and declared France a
republic.
16. Who were the Jacobins? What role did they play in making France a republic? OR Name the popular political club
in France. Who was its leader?
i. The Jacobins were the successful Political club that became an important rallying point for people in France who
wished to discuss government policies and plan their own forms of action.
ii. The members of the Jacobin club belonged mainly to the less prosperous sections of society. They included small
shopkeepers, artisans such as shoemakers, pastry cooks, watch-makers, printers, as well as servants and daily-
wage workers. Their leader was Maximilian Robespierre. (Continue Previous Answer from point iv)
17. What was the Reign of Terror in France? Or Why is the period from 1793 to 1794 referred to as ‘reign of
terror’ in France?
i. The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the Reign of Terror because it was a period of severe control and
punishment by Robespierre.
ii. All those whom he saw as being enemies of the republic, ex-nobles and clergy, members of other political parties,
even members of his own party who did not agree with his methods were arrested, imprisoned and then tried by
a revolutionary tribunal.
iii. If the court found them guilty they were guillotined.
iv. The guillotine is a device consisting of two poles and a blade with which a person is beheaded. It was named after
Dr Guillotine who invented it.
Q. What was the guillotine? Who invented it? (See last point above)
18. Name any two prominent persons killed by using guillotine.
The King of France Louis XVI and the queen Marie Antoinette were guillotined.
19. What were the measures taken by Robespierre’s government in bringing equality in French society?
i. Robespierre’s government issued laws for placing a maximum limit on wages and prices. Meat and bread were
rationed. Peasants were forced to transport their grain to the cities and sell it at prices fixed by the government.
ii. The use of more expensive white flour was forbidden; all citizens were required to eat the pain dégalité (equality
bread), a loaf made of whole wheat.
iii. Equality was also sought to be practised through forms of speech and address. Instead of the traditional
Monsieur (Sir) and Madame (Madam) all French men and women were henceforth Citoyen and Citoyenne
(Citizen).
iv. Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into barracks or offices. Robespierre pursued his policies
so relentlessly that even his supporters began to demand moderation. Finally, he was convicted by a court in July
1794, arrested and on the next day sent to the guillotine.
v. One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime was the abolition of slavery in the French
colonies.
20. Why was a Directory appointed to rule France? What was the result? Or Under what circumstances did
Napoleon Bonaparte come to power in France?
i. The fall of the Jacobin government allowed the wealthier middle classes to seize power. A new constitution was
introduced which denied the vote to non-propertied sections of society. It provided for two elected legislative
councils.
ii. These councils then appointed a Directory, an executive made up of five members. This was meant as a safeguard
against the concentration of power in a one-man executive as under the Jacobins.
iii. However, the Directors often clashed with the legislative councils, who then sought to dismiss them. The political
instability of the Directory paved the way for the rise of a military dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte.
21. What were the measures taken by the revolutionary government to improve the status of women in
France?
i. In the early years, the revolutionary government introduced laws that helped improve the lives of women.
Together with the creation of state schools, schooling was made compulsory for all girls. Their fathers could no
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 longer force them into marriage against their will. Marriage was made into a contract entered into freely and
registered under civil law.
ii. Divorce was made legal, and could be applied for by both women and men. Women could now train for jobs,
could become artists or run small businesses. Women’s struggle for equal political rights, however, continued.
22. What setback did women’s movement face in France during the Reign of Terror?
During the Reign of Terror, the new government issued laws ordering closure of women’s clubs and banning their
political activities. Many prominent women were arrested and a number of them executed.
23. How and when did the women in France get right to vote?
i. The Constitution of 1791 reduced the women to passive citizens in France and the right to vote is denied. They
demanded the right to vote, to be elected to the Assembly and to hold political office.
ii. In order to discuss and voice their interests women started their own political clubs and newspapers. About sixty
women’s clubs came up in different French cities. The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was the
most famous of them.
iii. Women’s movements for voting rights and equal wages continued two hundred years in many countries of the
world. The fight for the vote was carried out through an international suffrage movement during the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
iv. The example of the political activities of French women during the revolutionary years was kept alive as an
inspiring memory. It was finally in 1946 that women in France won the right to vote.
24. What role did women play during the revolutionary years in France?
i. From the very beginning women were active participants in the events which brought about so many important
changes in French society. They hoped that their involvement would pressurise the revolutionary government to
introduce measures to improve their lives.
ii. In order to discuss and voice their interests women started their own political clubs and newspapers. About sixty
women’s clubs came up in different French cities. The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was the
most famous of them.
iii. One of their main demands was that women enjoy the same political rights as men. Women were disappointed
that the Constitution of 1791 reduced them to passive citizens. They demanded the right to vote, to be elected to
the Assembly and to hold political office. Only then, they felt, would their interests be represented in the new
government.
iv. Women’s struggle for equal political rights, however, continued. During the Reign of Terror, the new government
issued laws ordering closure of women’s clubs and banning their political activities. Many prominent women
were arrested and a number of them executed.
v. The example of the political activities of French women during the revolutionary years was kept alive as an
inspiring memory. It was finally in 1946 that women in France won the right to vote.
25. Write a short note on slavery in France. OR What was the position of France on slavery in the 18th and 19th
centuries?
i. The colonies in the Caribbean . Martinique, Guadeloupe and San Domingo were important suppliers of
commodities such as tobacco, indigo, sugar and coffee. But the reluctance of Europeans to go and work in distant
and unfamiliar lands meant a shortage of labour on the plantations. So this was met by a triangular slave trade
between Europe, Africa and the Americas.
ii. The slave trade began in the seventeenth century in Europe. French merchants sailed from the ports of Bordeaux
or Nantes to the African coast, where they bought slaves from local chieftains. Branded and shackled, the slaves
were packed tightly into ships for the three-month long voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. There they
were sold to plantation owners.
iii. Throughout the eighteenth century there was little criticism of slavery in France. The National Assembly did not
pass any laws, fearing opposition from businessmen whose incomes depended on the slave trade.
iv. It was finally the Convention which in 1794 legislated to free all slaves in the French overseas possessions. This,
however, turned out to be a short-term measure: ten years later, Napoleon reintroduced slavery.
v. Plantation owners understood their freedom as including the right to enslave African Negroes in pursuit of their
economic interests. Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848.
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 vi. One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime was the abolition of slavery in the French
colonies.
26. What changes did the revolution of 1789 bring in the everyday life of the people in France?
i. The years following the revolution of 1789 in France saw many changes in the lives of men, women and children.
The revolutionary governments took it upon themselves to pass laws that would translate the ideals of liberty
and equality into everyday practice.
ii. One important law that came into effect soon after the storming of the Bastille in the summer of 1789 was the
abolition of censorship. In the Old Regime all written material and cultural activities, books, newspapers, plays
could be published or performed only after they had been approved by the censors of the king. Now the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen proclaimed freedom of speech and expression to be a natural right.
iii. Newspapers, pamphlets, books and printed pictures flooded the towns of France from where they travelled
rapidly into the countryside. They all described and discussed the events and changes taking place in France.
iv. Freedom of the press also meant that opposing views of events could be expressed. Each side sought to convince
the others of its position through the medium of print. Plays, songs and festive processions attracted large
numbers of people. This was one way they could grasp and identify with ideas such as liberty or justice that
political philosophers wrote about at length in texts which only a handful of educated people could read.
How did the abolition of censorship change lives of people in France after the French revolution ? Explain.
Ans. Same above.
How did the revolutionary government translate the ideals of liberty and equality to everyday practice?
(Points 3 and 4 above)
27. 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?
Peasants and artisans of French society benefited from the revolution. Clergy, nobles and church had to relinquish
power. It is obvious that those who had to forego power and privileges would have been disappointed. People from
the first and the second estate must have been a disappointed lot.
28. Describe the legacy of the French Revolution for the peoples of the world during the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries.
i. The ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French Revolution. These ideas
spread from France to the rest of Europe during the nineteenth century, where feudal systems were abolished.
ii. Further these ideas spread to different colonies of the European nations. The people of the colonies interpreted
and moulded these ideas according to their needs. The principles of equality, liberty and fraternity helped to
intensify the freedom movements in these countries.
iii. By the mid of 20th century a major part of the world adopted democracy as the preferred mode of rule and the
French Revolution can be termed as the starting point for this development.
29. Draw up a list of democratic rights we enjoy today whose origins could be traced to the French Revolution.
The following fundamental rights, given in the Indian constitution can be traced to the French Revolution:
The right to equality
The right to freedom of speech and expression The right to freedom from
exploitation
The right to constitutional remedies
30. Would you agree with the view that the message of universal rights was beset with contradictions? Explain.
The major contradiction in the message of universal rights as per the French Constitution of 1791 was the total
ignorance of women. All rights were given to men. Apart from that the presence of huge number of people as
passive citizens, without voting rights, was like not putting into practice what you preach. In other words it can be
said that although the declaration of universal rights was a good starting point but it took decades to fulfill its real
goal.
31. Explain the role of Napoleon as an emperor of France. What are his contributions?
i. In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France. He set out to conquer neighbouring European
countries, dispossessing dynasties and creating kingdoms where he placed members of his family.
ii. Napoleon saw his role as a moderniser of Europe. He introduced many laws such as the protection of private
property and a uniform system of weights and measures provided by the decimal system.

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iii. Initially, many saw Napoleon as a liberator who would bring freedom for the people. But soon the Napoleonic
armies came to be viewed everywhere as an invading force. He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815.
iv. Many of his measures that carried the revolutionary ideas of liberty and modern laws
to other parts of Europe had an impact on people long after Napoleon had left.
Additional questions:
1. Why was the Jacobins of France called sans-culottes? They wore clothes without knee breeches
2. When did the French women get the right to vote ? 1946
3. Who was crowned as the French emperor in 1804 ? Napoleon Bonaparte
4. By whom was the Reign of Terror introduced in France between 1793 - 94 ? Robespierre
5. At which battle was Napoleon finally defeated ? Waterloo
6. On what charge was the Emperor Louis XVI sentenced to death ? Treason
7. Why was the Bastille hated by all in France? It stood for the despotic power of the King.
8. Which event led to the French Revolution in 1789 ? Protesting against the high price of bread.
9. Who was the French ruler who married the Austrian Princess Marie Antoinette? Louis XVI
10. What does the term Old Regime refers to in France? Society and institutions of France before 1789.
11. Who collected the tax called 'tithe' from the French peasants? The Church
12. Who proposed the Social Contract Theory ? Rousseau
13. Name the theory proposed by Montesquieu. Division of power within the government.
14. Name the political body representing the three estates of pre-revolutionary France. Estates General
15. What is the significance of the following: Broken chain. The act of becoming free strength Scepter- Symbol of Royal power-

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16. Name the national anthem of France. Who composed it? How did it get its name? Marseillaise- Roget de
L.Isle. (March of volunteers from Marseillaise to Paris)
17. What was the main objective of the Constitution drafted by the National Assembly in 1791?
To limit the powers of the monarch
18. What was the minimum qualification to become an elector and as a member of the National Assembly in
France? Highest bracket of taxpayers
19. Which were the natural and inalienable rights granted by the Declaration of Rights in France? Rights such as the
right to life, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, equality before law
20. What does the red cap of Sansculottes symbolize? Liberty
21. What was the main aim of the Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women’? enjoy equal rights with
that of men.
22. What was the most revolutionary social reform of the Jacobin regime? The abolition of slavery in the French
colonies.
23. Who wrote ‘What is the Third Estate.?’ Abbé Sieyès, originally a priest.
24. What was the convention in France? Newly elected Assembly (1792)
25. What was the greatest achievement of the National Assembly convened in France in 1789?
26. Give an estimate of Napoleon as the first Consulate of France.
27. How did the teaching of Rousseau lay the foundation of democracy in France?
28. While the national assembly was busy………at turmoil’. Justify.
29. What role did Louis play in bringing about the French Revolution?
30. List the accomplishments of the National Assembly of France from 1789 to 1791.
31. Write a short note on the fall of Napoleon.
32. The ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French Revolution .
Justify the statement by giving its impact on the world.
33. “Social disparity was one of the major causes of French Revolution.” Justify the statement by giving any
five examples.

Chapter 2 SOCIALISM IN EUROPE AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Q1) What were the view points of the liberals?
i) Liberals wanted a nation which tolerated all religions. Liberals also opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic
rulers. They wanted to safeguard the rights of individuals against governments.
ii) They argued for a representative, elected parliamentary government, subject to laws interpreted by a well-
trained judiciary that was independent of rulers and officials.
iii) However, they were not ‘democrats’. They did not believe in universal adult franchise, that is, the right of every
citizen to vote. They felt men of property mainly should have
the vote. They also did not want the vote for women.
Q2) What were the view points of the radicals?
Radicals wanted a nation in which government was based on the majority of a country’s population. Many
supported women’s suffragette movements. Unlike liberals, they opposed the privileges of great landowners and
wealthy factory owners. They were not against the existence of private property but disliked concentration of
property in the hands of a few.

Q3) What were the view points of the conservatives?

Earlier, in the eighteenth century, conservatives had been generally opposed to the idea of change. They did not
want any change in the existing system. By the nineteenth century, they accepted that some change was
inevitable but believed that the past had to be respected and change had to be brought about through a slow
process.
Q4) What changes did the industrialization bring to the then society?
i) It was a time of profound social and economic changes. It was a time when new cities came up and new
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 industrialized regions developed, railways expanded and the Industrial Revolution occurred.
ii) Industrialization brought men, women and children to factories. Work hours were often long and wages were
very low.
iii) Unemployment was common, particularly during times of low demand for industrial goods. Housing and
sanitation were problems since towns were growing rapidly.
Q5) What solutions did radicals and liberals find to the problem of the industrial society?
i) Almost all industries were the property of individuals. Liberals and radicals themselves were often property
owners and employers. Having made their wealth through trade or industrial ventures, they felt that such effort
should be encouraged – that its benefits would be achieved if the workforce in the economy was healthy and
citizens were educated.
ii) Opposed to the privileges the old aristocracy had by birth, they firmly believed in the value of individual effort,
labour and enterprise.
iii) If freedom of individuals was ensured, if the poor could labour, and those with capital could operate without
restraint, they believed that societies would develop.
Q6) To what changes did the socialists campaigned for? ( Explain the views of Socialist on private property)
Socialists were against private property, and saw it as the root cause of all social ills of the time. Individuals
owned the property that gave employment but the propertied were concerned only with personal gain and not
with the welfare of those who made the property productive. So if society as a whole rather than single
individuals controlled property, more attention would be paid to collective social interests. Socialists wanted this
change and campaigned for it.
Q7)What were the different visions of socialism?
i) Some believed in the idea of cooperatives. Robert Owen (1771-1858), a leading English manufacturer, sought to
build a cooperative community called New Harmony in Indiana (USA).
ii) Other socialists felt that cooperatives could not be built on a wide scale only through individual initiative: they
demanded that governments encourage cooperatives. In France, for instance, Louis Blanc (1813-1882) wanted
the government to encourage cooperatives and replace capitalist enterprises. Large number of people
voluntarily contribute to start a business for welfare of people.
iii) Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) added other ideas to this body of arguments. Marx
argued that industrial society was ‘capitalist’. Capitalists owned the capital invested in factories, and the profit
of capitalists was produced by workers. The conditions of workers could not improve as long as this profit was
accumulated by private capitalists. Workers had to overthrow capitalism and the rule of private property. Marx
believed that to free themselves from capitalist exploitation, workers had to construct a radically socialist
society where all property was socially controlled.
Q7 a) What was the second international?
By the 1870s, socialist ideas spread through Europe. To coordinate their efforts, socialists formed an
international body – namely, the Second International.
Q8) What were the efforts made to support the ideas of socialism in Europe by 1870's?
i) Workers in England and Germany began forming associations to fight for better living and working conditions.
They set up funds to help members in times of distress and demanded a reduction of working hours and the
right to vote.
ii) In Germany, these associations worked closely with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and helped it win
parliamentary seats.
iii) By 1905, socialists and trade unionists formed a Labour Party in Britain and a Socialist Party in France. However,
till 1914, socialists never succeeded in forming a government in Europe.
iv) Represented by strong figures in parliamentary politics, their ideas did shape legislation, but governments
continued to be run by conservatives, liberals and radicals.
Q9) What were the political , economic and social condition in Russia by year 1914?
i) Political Conditions: In 1914, Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia and its empire. Besides the territory around Moscow,
the Russian empire included current-day Finland, Lativia, Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Poland, Ukraine and
Belarus. It stretched to the Pacific and comprised today’s Central Asian states, as well as Georgia, Armenia and
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 Azerbaijan. The Tsar believed in divine rights of kings. As a ruler, he did not solve the problem of the people.
ii) Social Conditions: The majority religion was Russian Orthodox Christianity – which had grown out of the Greek
Orthodox Church – but the empire also included Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and Buddhists. The non-
Russian nationalities were not treated equal to that of Russian nationalities. They were not given freedom to
follow their culture and language.
iii) Economic conditions: Industry was found in pockets. Prominent industrial areas were St Petersburg and
Moscow. Craftsmen undertook much of the production, but large factories existed alongside craft workshops.
Many factories were set up in the 1890s, when Russia’s railway network was extended, and foreign investment
in industry increased. Coal production doubled and iron and steel output quadrupled. By the 1900s, in some
areas factory workers and craftsmen were almost equal in number. The workers were exploited by capitalists
which made their life miserable.
Q10) How were the peasants in Russia different from that of other European Countries?
i) About 85 per cent of the Russian empire’s population earned their living from agriculture. This proportion was
higher than in most European countries. For instance, in France and Germany the proportion was between 40
per cent and 50%.
ii) Like workers, peasants too were divided. They were also deeply religious. But except in a few cases they had no
respect for the nobility. Nobles got their power and position through their services to the Tsar, not through local
popularity. This was unlike France where, during the French Revolution in Brittany, peasants respected nobles
and fought for them.
iii) Russian peasants were different from other European peasants in another way. They pooled their land together
periodically and their commune (mir) divided it according to the needs of individual families. Thus they became
natural socialists.
Q11) How were the workers in Russia different from that of other European Countries?
i) Workers were a divided social group. Unlike in other European countries. Workers were divided by skill.
Metalworkers considered themselves aristocrats among other workers. Their occupations demanded more
training and skill.
ii) Women made up 31 per cent of the factory labour force by 1914, but they were paid less than men.
iii) Divisions among workers showed themselves in dress and manners too. Some workers formed associations to
help members in times of unemployment or financial hardship but such associations were few.
Q12) How did Russian peasants become natural socialists?
Some Russian socialists felt that the Russian peasant custom of dividing land periodically made them natural
socialists. So peasants, not workers, would be the main force of the revolution, and Russia could become socialist
more quickly than other countries.
Q13) In what ways were social democrats and social revolutionaries different in their approach?
i) The Socialist Revolutionary Party struggled for peasants’ rights and demanded that land belonging to nobles be
transferred to peasants.
ii) Social Democrats disagreed with Socialist Revolutionaries about peasants. Lenin felt that peasants were not one
united group. Some were poor and others rich, some worked as labourers while others were capitalists who
employed workers. Given this ‘differentiation’ within them, they could not all be part of a socialist movement.
Q14) What were the events preceding the 1905 Revolution?
i) The year 1904 was a particularly bad one for Russian workers. Prices of essential goods rose so quickly that real
wages declined by 20 per cent.
ii) The membership of workers associations rose dramatically. When four members of the Assembly of Russian
Workers, which had been formed in 1904, were dismissed at the Putilov Iron Works, there was a call for
industrial action.
iii) Over the next few days over 110,000 workers in St Petersburg went on strike demanding a reduction in the
working day to eight hours, an increase in wages and improvement in working conditions.
iv) When the procession of workers led by Father Gapon reached the Winter Palace it was attacked by the police
and the Cossacks. Over 100 workers were killed and about 300 wounded. The incident, known as Bloody
Sunday, started a series of events that became known as the 1905 Revolution.
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 v) Strikes took place all over the country and universities closed down when student bodies staged walkouts,
complaining about the lack of civil liberties. Lawyers, doctors, engineers and other middle-class workers
established the Union of Unions and demanded a constituent assembly.

Q15) What was the Bloody Sunday?

When the procession of workers led by Father Gapon, demanding a reduction in the working day to eight hours,
an increase in wages and improvement in working
conditions, reached the Winter Palace it was attacked by the police and the Cossacks. Over 100 workers were
killed and about 300 wounded. This incident is known as Bloody Sunday, which marked the 1905 revolution.
Q16) Explain the results of the 1905 Revolution. Or Describe any two reforms introduced by Czar
Nicholas II after the 1905 Revolution.
i) During the 1905 Revolution, the Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative Parliament or Duma. For a
brief while during the revolution, there existed a large number of trade unions and factory committees made up
of factory workers.
ii) The Tsar dismissed the first Duma within 75 days and the re-elected second Duma within three months. He did
not want any questioning of his authority or any reduction in his power.
iii) He changed the voting laws and packed the third Duma with conservative politicians. Liberals and revolutionaries
were kept out.
Q17) What were the conditions in Russia during the First World War?
i) In 1914, war broke out between two European alliances – Germany,Austria and Turkey (the Central powers) and
France, Britain and Russia (later Italy and Romania). Each country had a global empire and the war was fought
outside Europe as well as in Europe. This was the First World War.
ii) In Russia, the war was initially popular and people rallied around Tsar Nicholas II. As the war continued, though,
the Tsar refused to consult the main parties in the Duma. Support wore thin. Anti- German sentiments ran high,
as can be seen in the renaming of St Petersburg – a German name – as Petrograd.
iii) Russia’s armies lost badly in Germany and Austria between 1914 and 1916. There were over 7 million casualties
by 1917.
iv) As they retreated, the Russian army destroyed crops and buildings to prevent the enemy from being able to live
off the land. The destruction of crops and buildings led to over 3 million refugees in Russia. The situation
discredited the government and the Tsar. Soldiers did not wish to fight such a war.
v) The war also had a severe impact on industry. Russia’s own industries were few in
number and the country was cut off from other suppliers of industrial goods by German control of the Baltic
Sea.
vi) Industrial equipment disintegrated more rapidly in Russia than elsewhere in Europe. By 1916, railway lines
began to break down. Able-bodied men were called up to the war. As a result, there were labour shortages and
small workshops producing essentials were shut down.
vii) Large supplies of grain were sent to feed the army. For the people in the cities, bread and flour became scarce.
By the winter of 1916, riots at bread shops were common.
What was the impact of First World War on Russian industries? ( Answer points v, vi, and
vii above.)
Q18) Why did the Tsarist autocracy collapse in 1917?
i) In the winter of 1917, conditions in the capital, Petrograd, were grim. In February 1917, food shortages were
deeply felt in the workers’ quarters.
ii) On 22 February, a lockout took place at a factory. The next day, workers in fifty factories called a strike in
sympathy. In many factories, women led the way to strikes. This came to be called the International Women's
Day.
iii) As the fashionable quarters and official buildings were surrounded by workers, the
government imposed a curfew. Demonstrations dispersed by the evening, but they came back on the 24 th and
25th. The government called out the cavalry and police to keep an eye on them.
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 iv) On Sunday, 25 February, the government suspended the Duma. Politicians spoke out against the measure.
Demonstrators returned in force to the streets of the left bank on the 26th.
v) On the 27th, the Police Headquarters were ransacked. The streets thronged with people raising slogans about
bread, wages, better hours and democracy. The government tried to control the situation and called out the
cavalry once again. However, the cavalry refused to fire on the demonstrators.
vi) By the evening the soldiers and the striking workers had gathered to form a ‘soviet’ or ‘council’ in the same
building as the Duma met. This was the Petrograd Soviet.
vii) The very next day, a delegation went to see the Tsar Military commanders advised him to abdicate. He followed
their advice and abdicated on 2 March. Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a Provisional Government to
run the country. Petrograd had led the February Revolution that brought down the monarchy in February 1917.
Q19) What were the effects of the February revolution?
Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a Provisional Government to run the country. Russia’s future would be
decided by a constituent assembly, elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage. Petrograd had led the
February Revolution that brought down the monarchy in February 1917.
Q20) Who were the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks?
The Bolsheviks were the majority group led by Vladimir Lenin who thought that in a repressive society like Tsarist
Russia the party should be disciplined and should control the number and quality of its members. They were the
group who conducted the Russian revolution.
Mensheviks were the minority group who thought that the party should be open to all (as in Germany). They did
not believe in Revolution but wanted to bring changes through democratic means.
Q21) Trace the development in Russia after the February revolution.
i) Army officials, landowners and industrialists were influential in the Provisional Government. But the liberals as
well as socialists among them worked towards an elected government.
ii) Restrictions on public meetings and associations were removed. ‘Soviets’, like the Petrograd Soviet, were set up
everywhere, though no common system of election was followed.
iii) Through the summer the workers’ movement spread. In industrial areas, factory committees were formed
which began questioning the way industrialists ran their factories. Trade unions grew in number. Soldiers’
committees were formed in the army.
iv) In June, about 500 Soviets sent representatives to an All Russian Congress of Soviets. As the Provisional
Government saw its power reduce and Bolshevik influence grow, it decided to take stern measures against the
spreading discontent. It resisted attempts by workers to run factories and began arresting leaders. Popular
demonstrations staged by the Bolsheviks in July 1917 were sternly repressed. Many Bolshevik leaders had to go
into hiding or flee.
v) Meanwhile in the countryside, peasants and their Socialist Revolutionary leaders pressed for a redistribution of
land. Land committees were formed to handle this.
Encouraged by the Socialist Revolutionaries, peasants seized land between July and September 1917.
Q22) What were the ‘April Theses’?
Lenin the Bolshevik leader declared that the war be brought to a close, land be transferred to the peasants, and
banks be nationalized. These three demands were Lenin's "April Theses".
Q23) How did the Bolsheviks organize the October revolution? Or What were the events preceding the
October Revolution?
i) On 16 October 1917, Lenin persuaded the Petrograd Soviet and the Bolshevik Party to agree to a socialist seizure
of power. A Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed by the Soviet under Leon Trotskii to organize the
seizure. The date of the event was kept a secret.
ii) The uprising began on 24 October. Sensing trouble, Prime Minister Kerenskii had left the city to summon troops.
At dawn, military men loyal to the government seized the buildings of two Bolshevik newspapers.
iii) Pro-government troops were sent to take over telephone and telegraph offices and protect the Winter Palace. In
a swift response, the Military Revolutionary Committee ordered its supporters to seize government offices and
arrest ministers.

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 iv) Late in the day, the ship Aurora shelled the Winter Palace. Other vessels sailed down the Neva river and took
over various military points. By nightfall, the city was under the committee’s control and the ministers had
surrendered.
Q24) What were the main changes brought about by the Bolsheviks immediately after the October
Revolution? OR What were the effects of the October Revolution?
i) Most industry and banks were nationalized in November 1917. This meant that the government took over
ownership and management.
ii) Land was declared social property and peasants were allowed to seize the land of the nobility. In cities,
Bolsheviks enforced the partition of large houses according to family requirements.
iii) They banned the use of the old titles of aristocracy. To assert the change, new uniforms were designed for the
army and officials, following a clothing competition organised in 1918 – when the Soviet hat (budeonovka) was
chosen.
iv) The Bolshevik Party was renamed as the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).
v) In March 1918, despite opposition by their political allies, the Bolsheviks made peace with Germany and
withdrew from the 1st World War.
vi) In the years that followed, the Bolsheviks became the only party to participate in the elections to the All Russian
Congress of Soviets, which became the Parliament of the country.
vii) A process of centralised planning was introduced. Officials assessed how the economy could work and set
targets for a five-year period. On this basis they made the Five Year Plans. The government fixed all prices to
promote industrial growth during the first two ‘Plans’. Thus they established a socialist society.
Q25) Examine the circumstances that led to the Civil War in Russia after the October Revolution.
i) Non-Bolshevik socialists, liberals and supporters of autocracy condemned the Bolshevik uprising. Their leaders
moved to south Russia and organized troops to fight the Bolsheviks (the ‘reds’) to destroy socialism.
ii) During 1918 and 1919, the ‘greens’ (Socialist Revolutionaries) and ‘whites’ (pro-Tsarists) controlled most of the
Russian empire. They were backed by French, American, British and Japanese troops – all those forces who
were worried at the growth of socialism in Russia. As these troops and the Bolsheviks fought a civil war, looting,
banditry and famine became common.
Q26) What were the effects of establishing a socialist society in Russia?
Centralized planning led to economic growth. Industrial production increased (between 1929 and 1933 by 100
per cent in the case of oil, coal and steel). New factory cities came into being. An extended schooling system
developed, and arrangements were made for factory workers and peasants to enter universities. Crèches were
established in factories for the children of women. Cheap public health care was provided. Model living quarters
were set up for workers. The effect of all this was uneven, though, since government resources were limited.
Q27) What were the emergency measures adopted by Stalin?
i) He believed that rich peasants and traders in the countryside were holding stocks in the hope of higher prices.
Speculation had to be stopped and supplies confiscated.
ii) In 1928, Party members toured the grain-producing areas, supervising enforced grain collections, and raiding
‘kulaks’ – the name for well-to- do peasants. As shortages continued, the decision was taken to collectivize
farms.
iii) It was argued that grain shortages were partly due to the small size of holdings. After 1917, land had been given
over to peasants. These small-sized peasant farms could not be modernised.
iv) To develop modern farms, and run them along industrial lines with machinery, it was necessary to ‘eliminate
kulaks’, take away land from peasants, and establish state-controlled large farms. As a result collectivization
programme started.
Q28) Write a short note on Collectivisation programme of Stalin.
i) From 1929, the Party forced all peasants to cultivate in collective farms ( kolkhoz). The bulk of land and
implements were transferred to the ownership of collective farms.
ii) Peasants worked on the land, and the kolkhoz profit was shared. Enraged peasants resisted the authorities and
destroyed their livestock.
iii) Between 1929 and 1931, the number of cattle fell by one-third. Those who resisted collectivization were
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 severely punished. Many were deported and exiled.
iv) As they resisted collectivisation, peasants argued that they were not rich and they were not against socialism.
They merely did not want to work in collective farms for a variety of reasons. Stalin’s government allowed some
independent cultivation, but treated such cultivators unsympathetically.
Q29) Explain the Global influence of the Russian Revolution and the USSR.
i) In many countries, communist parties were formed like the Communist Party of Great Britain. It gave the world
a new economic system known as socialism.
ii) The Bolsheviks encouraged colonial peoples to follow their experiment. Thus it inspired a number of freedom
movements in other countries.
iii) Many non-Russians from outside the USSR participated in the Conference of the Peoples of the East (1920) and
the Bolshevik-founded Comintern (an international union of pro-Bolshevik socialist parties). Some received
education in the USSR’s Communist University of the Workers of the East.
iv) By the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, the USSR had given socialism a global face.
Q30) Name the person responsible for the Italian Unification.
Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian nationalist, was responsible for Italian unification.
Q 31 Why was the Kerensky government unpopular in Russia?
( He did not implement the demands ( April Theses) of Russian Revolutionaries-Explain the points. )

Ch. 3 NAZISM AND THE RISE OF HITLER

Q1. Explain the term Nazism.
Nazism is the German version of fascism. It was a system, a structure of ideas about the world and politics. It was
the name given to a number of political movements in Europe after the First World War. It was devised by Hitler
in Germany.
Q.2. Why was the Nuremberg tribunal set up?
An International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg was set up to prosecute Nazi war criminals for crimes against
peace, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. All the Nazi criminals except those who committed suicide
were punished.
Q.3. Write a short note on the genocidal war waged by Germany.
i) Under the shadow of the Second World War, Germany had waged a genocidal war, which resulted in the mass
murder of selected groups of innocent civilians of Europe. The number of people killed included 6 million Jews,
200,000 Gypsies, 1 million Polish civilians and 70,000 Germans who were considered mentally and physically
disabled, besides innumerable political opponents.
ii) Nazis devised an unprecedented means of killing people, that is, by gassing them in various killing centers like
Auschwitz.
Q.4. Write a short note on the Nuremberg trial. (OR) Why were the Nazis punished in the
Nuremberg trial?
i) An International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg was set up to prosecute Nazi war criminals for crimes against
peace, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
ii) Under the shadow of the Second World War, Germany had waged a genocidal war, which resulted in the mass
murder of selected groups of innocent civilians of Europe.
iii) Nazis devised an unprecedented means of killing people, that is, by gassing them in various killing centers like
Auschwitz.
iv) The Nuremberg Tribunal sentenced only eleven leading Nazis to death. Many others were imprisoned for life.
The retribution did come, yet the punishment of the Nazis was far short of the brutality and extent of their
crimes.
Q.5.What was the Weimar Republic? How was it formed?
The defeat of Imperial Germany and the abdication of the emperor gave an opportunity to parliamentary parties
to recast German polity. A national Assembly met at Weimar and established a democratic constitution with a
federal structure. Deputies were now elected to the German Parliament or Reichstag, on the basis of equal and
universal votes cast by all adults including women.
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Q.6.What were the problems faced by the Weimar republic?
i) The Weimar republic was not received well by its own people largely because of the terms it was forced to
accept after Germany’s defeat at the end of First World War. Germans held the new Weimar Republic
responsible for not only the defeat in the war but the disgrace at Versailles.
ii) Unfortunately, the infant Weimar Republic was being made to pay for the sins of the old empire. The republic
carried the burden of war guilt and national humiliation and was financially crippled by being forced to pay
compensation.
iii) The birth of Weimar republic coincided with the revolutionary uprising of the Spartacist League on the pattern
of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. The Weimar republic crushed the uprising with the help of a war veterans
organization called Free Corps.
iv) The Weimar constitution had some inherent defects, which made it unstable and vulnerable to dictatorship. One
was proportional representation. This made achieving a majority by any one party a near impossible task,
leading to a rule by coalitions.
v) Another defect was article 48, which gave the President the powers to impose emergency, suspend civil rights
and rule by decree.
What were the inherent defects of Weimar Republic? (Ans: Points iii and iv )
Q.7.Write any 4 provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. Or What was the experience of Germany at
the end of First World War?
i) Germany lost its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population, 13% of its territories, 75% of its iron and 26% of its
coal to France, Poland, Denmark, and Lithuania.
ii) The allied powers demilitarized Germany to weaken its power. Its army strength was reduced and should not
produce any war weapons.
iii) The War Guilt Clause held Germany responsible for the war and damages the Allied countries suffered. Germany
was forced to pay compensation amounting to 6 billion pounds.
iv) The Allied armies also occupied the resource-rich Rhineland for many years.
Q.8.What were the effect of World War I on Europe?
i) The war had a devastating impact on the entire continent both psychologically and financially. From a continent
of creditors, Europe turned into one of the debtors.
ii) The infant Weimar Republic in Germany was being made to pay for the sins of the old empire. The republic
carried the burden of war guilt and national humiliation and was financially crippled by being forced to pay
compensation.
iii) The First World War left a deep imprint on European society and polity. Soldiers came to be placed above
civilians.
iv) Politicians and publicists laid great stress on the need for men to be aggressive, strong, and masculine. The
media glorified trench life.
Q.9. Who were the November criminals?
The people who supported the Weimar Republic, mainly Socialists, Catholics and Democrats, became easy
targets of attack in the conservative nationalist circles. They were mockingly called the ‘November criminals’.
Q.10.What was the truth behind the trench life which was glorified by media?
The truth behind the trench life was that soldiers lived miserable lives in these trenches, trapped with rats
feeding on corpses. They faced poisonous gas and enemy shelling, and witnessed their ranks reduce rapidly.
Q.11. How did the Communist and the Socialist become irreconcilable enemies?
i) The Socialists, Democrats and Catholics formed democratic republic at Weimar in Germany. The birth of the
Weimar Republic coincided with the revolutionary uprising of the Spartacist League on the pattern of the
Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.

ii) The Weimar Republic crushed the uprising with the help of a war veterans organization called Free Corps.
iii) The anguished Spartacists later founded the Communist Party of Germany. Communists and Socialists
henceforth became irreconcilable enemies and could not make common cause against Hitler.
Q.12. What were the factors that led to hyper inflation in Germany?

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 i) In 1923 Germany refused to pay the war compensation, and the French occupied its leading industrial area, Ruhr
to claim their coal.
ii) Germany retaliated with passive resistance and printed paper currency recklessly. With too much printed money
in circulation, the value of the German mark fell. In April the US dollar was equal to 24,000 marks and by
December, the figure had run into trillions.
iii) As the value of the mark collapsed, prices of goods increased. The image of Germans carrying cartloads of
currency notes to buy a loaf of bread was widely publicized evoking worldwide sympathy. The crisis came to be
known as hyperinflation, a situation when prices rise phenomenally high.
Q.13. How did the Great Depression originate in USA?
i) Great Depression originated in USA as a result of over production in the factories. It led to closing of a few
factories.
ii) The Wall Street Exchange crashed in 1929. Fearing a fall in prices, people made frantic efforts to sell their shares.
On one single day, 24 October, 13 million shares were sold. All the American banks were closed. This was the
Great Economic Depression.
iii) Over the next three years, between 1929 and 1932, the national income of the USA fell by half. Factories shut
down, exports fell, farmers were badly hit and speculators withdrew their money from the market.
Q.14. What was the impact of the Economic Crisis in Germany?
i) The German economy was worst hit by the economic crisis. By 1932, industrial production was reduced to 40%
of the 1929 level. Workers lost their jobs or were paid reduced wages.
ii) As jobs disappeared, the youth took o criminal activities and total despair became commonplace. The economic
crisis created deep anxieties and fears in people.
iii) The middle classes, especially salaried employees and pensioners, saw their savings diminish when the currency
lost its value. Small businessmen, the self-employed and retailers suffered as their businesses got ruined. These
sections of society were filled with the fear of proletarianisation.
iv) Unemployment weakened their bargaining power. Big business was in crisis. The large mass of peasantry was
affected by a sharp fall in agricultural prices and women, unable to fill their children’s stomachs, were filled with
a sense of deep despair.
Q.15. What is meant by Proletarianisation?
Proletarianisation was the anxiety of German people during the Great Depression, being
reduced to the status of working class.
Q.16. How did Hitler come to power in Germany? Or Examine the circumstances that led to the rise of Hitler
in Germany.
i) Born in 1889 in Austria, Hitler spent his youth in poverty. When the First World War broke out, he enrolled for
the army, acted as a messenger in the front, became a corporal and earned medals for bravery.
ii) The German defeat horrified him and the Versailles Treaty made him furious. In1919, he joined a small group
called the German Worker’s Party. He subsequently took over the organization and renamed it the National
Socialist German Worker’s Party. This party came to be known as the Nazi party.
iii) In 1923, Hitler planned to seize control of Bavaria, march to Berlin and capture power. He failed, was arrested,
tried for treason, and later released.
iv) It was during the Great depression that Nazism became a mass movement. During the Great Depression, banks
collapsed and businesses shut down, workers lost their jobs and the middle classes were threatened with
poverty. In such a situation Nazi propaganda gave hopes for a better future.
v) Hitler was a powerful speaker. His passion and his words moved people. He promised to build a strong nation,
undo the injustice of the Versailles Treaty and restore the dignity of the German people. He promised
employment for the youth. He promised to weed out all foreign influences and resist all foreign ‘conspiracies’
against Germany.
vi) Hitler devised a new style of politics. He understood the significance of rituals and spectacle in mass
mobilization. Nazis held massive rallies and public meetings to demonstrate the support for Hitler and instill a
sense of unity among the people. The Red banners with the Swastika, the Nazi salute and the ritualized rounds
of applause after the speeches were all part of this spectacle power.
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 vii) Nazi propaganda skillfully projected Hitler as a messiah, a savior, as someone who had to deliver people from
their distress. Even though he lost in the election conducted he was invited to join the government by the
President Hindenburg on 30 January 1933
and offered the Chancellorship of Germany, the highest position in the cabinet of ministers.
( What was the new style of politics devised by Hitler? Ans. Point No. vi above)
Q.17. Describe the reign of terror let loose by Hitler soon after coming to power. O r (Highlight the steps taken
by Hitler to destroy democracy in Germany.)
i) Having acquired power, Hitler set out to destroy the structures of democratic rule. A mysterious fire that broke
out in the German Parliament building in February facilitated his move. The fire decree of 28 February 1933
indefinitely suspended civic rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly that had been guaranteed by the
Weimar constitution
ii) Then he turned on his arch-enemies, the Communists and democrats most of whom were hurriedly packed off
to the newly established concentration camps.
iii) On 3 March 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established dictatorship in Germany. It gave
Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions were banned
except for the Nazi Party and its affiliates.
iv) The state established complete control over the economy, media, army and judiciary.
Q.18. Why did Hitler pass the Enabling Act? What were its features?
On 3 March 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established dictatorship in Germany. It gave
Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions were banned
except for the Nazi Party and its affiliates.
Q.19. Write a short note on the Security Force of Hitler.
i) Special surveillance and security forces were created to control and order society in ways that the Nazis wanted.
Apart from the already existing regular police in green uniform and the SA ( Sturm Abteilung) or the Storm
Troopers, these included the Gestapo (secret state police), the SS (Schutz Staffel) (the protection squads),
criminal police and the Security Service (SD).(Sicherheits Dienst)
ii) People could now be detained in Gestapo torture chambers, rounded up and sent to concentration camps,
deported at will or arrested without any legal procedures. The police forces acquired powers to rule with
impunity.
Q.20. How did Hitler violate the Treaty of Versailles? Or Examine the foreign policy of Hitler soon after
coming to power.
i) Hitler pulled Germany out of the League of Nations in 1933, re-occupied the Rhineland in 1936, and integrated
Austria and Germany in 1938 under the slogan,’One people, One empire and One Leader’.
ii) He then went on to wrest German-speaking Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia and gobbled up the entire
country. Germany increased the army against the treaty.
iii) In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. This started a war with France and England. In September 1940, a
Tripartite Pact was signed between Germany, Italy and Japan, strengthening Hitler’s claim to international
powers.
Q21.Why did Hitler attack Soviet Union? Why was it a historical blunder?
i) Hitler wanted to ensure food supplies and living space for Germans. He attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941.
In this historic blunder Hitler exposed the German western front to the British aerial bombing and the eastern
front to the powerful Soviet armies.
ii) The Soviet Red Army inflicted a crushing and humiliating defeat on Germany at Stalingrad. After this the Soviet
Red Army hounded out the retreating German soldiers until they reached the heart of Berlin, establishing Soviet
hegemony over the entire eastern Europe for half a century thereafter.
Q22. Why did USA enter the Second World War?
Japan was expanding its power in the east during the Second World War. It had occupied French Indo-China,
Philippines under the US and the Dutch East Indies. When Japan extended its support to Hitler and bombed the
US naval bases at Pearl Harbor in the Pacific, the US entered the Second World War. The war ended with
Hitler’s defeat and the US dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima in Japan.

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Q23.What are the peculiar features of Nazi thinking?
i) According to Nazism there was no equality between people, but only a racial hierarchy existed. In this view,
blond, blue-eyed, Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while Jews were located at the lowest rung. They
came to be regarded as an anti-race, the arch-enemies of the Aryans.
ii) Hitler’s racism borrowed from thinkers like Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. According to this idea, only
those species survived on the earth that could adapt themselves to changing climatic conditions. However, his
ideas were used by racist thinkers and politicians to justify imperial rule over conquered people.

iii) The Nazi argument was simple: the strongest race would survive and the weak ones would perish. The Aryan
race was the finest. It had to retain its purity, become stronger and dominate the world.
iv) He believed that new territories had to be acquired for settlement and believed in establishment of a racial
state.
v) At 14, all boys had to join the Nazi youth organisation– Hitler Youth – where they learnt to worship war, glorify
aggression and violence, condemn democracy, and hate Jews, communists, Gypsies and all those categorized as
‘undesirable’.
Q24. How did Hitler establish a racist state?
i) Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating an exclusive racial community of
pure Germans by physically eliminating all those who were seen as ‘undesirable’ in the extended empire.
ii) Nazis wanted only a society of ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans’. They were alone considered ‘desirable’. Only
they were seen as worthy of prospering and multiplying against all others who were classed as ‘undesirable’.
iii) This meant that even those Germans who were seen as impure or abnormal had no right to exist. Under the
Euthanasia Programme, Nazi officials had condemned to death many Germans who were considered mentally
or physically unfit.
iv) Jews were not the only community classified as ‘undesirable’. There were others. Many Gypsies and blacks living
in Nazi Germany were considered as racial `inferiors’ who threatened the biological purity of the `superior
Aryan’ race. They were widely persecuted.
v) Even Russians and Poles were considered subhuman, and hence undeserving of any humanity. When Germany
occupied Poland and parts of Russia, captured civilians were forced to work as slave labour . Many of them died
simply through hard work and starvation.
vi) Jews remained the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany. They had been stereotyped as killers of Christ and usurers.
They were often persecuted through periodic organized violence, and expulsions from the land.
Q.25. Why did Hitler develop hatred towards Jews?
i) Jews remained the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany. Nazi hatred of Jews had a precursor in the traditional
Christian hostility towards Jews. They had been stereotyped as killers Christ and usurers.
ii) Until the medieval times Jews were barred from owning land. They survived mainly through trade and money
lending. They lived in separately marked areas called Ghettos.
iii) They were often persecuted through periodic organized violence, and expulsion from the land. However, Hitler’s
hatred of Jews was based on pseudoscientific theories of race, which held that conversion was no solution to
‘the Jewish problem’. It could be solved only through their total elimination.
Q26. How was Nazi schooling different from other schools?
i) All schools were cleansed and purified. This meant that teachers who were Jews or seen as politically unreliable’
were dismissed.
ii) Children were first segregated: Germans and Jews could not sit together or play together. Subsequently,
‘undesirable children’ – Jews, the physically handicapped, Gypsies – were thrown out of schools. And finally in
the 1940s, they were taken to the gas chambers.
iii) ‘Good German’ children were subjected to a process of Nazi schooling, a prolonged period of ideological
training. School textbooks were rewritten. Racial science was introduced to justify Nazi ideas of race;
stereotypes about Jews were popularized even through maths classes.
iv) Children were taught to be loyal and submissive, hate Jews, and worship Hitler. Even the function of sports was
to nurture a spirit of violence and aggression among children.

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 v) Hitler believed that boxing could make children iron-hearted, strong and masculine.
Q27. What were the Nazi ideas of motherhood?
i) Children in Nazi Germany were repeatedly told that women were radically different from men. The fight for
equal rights for men and women that had become part of democratic struggles everywhere was wrong and it
would destroy society.
ii) While boys were taught to be aggressive, masculine and steel hearted, girls were told that they had to become
good mothers and rear pure blooded Aryan children.
iii) Girls had to maintain the purity of the race, distance themselves from Jews, look after the home, and teach their
children Nazi values. They had to be the bearers of the Aryan culture and race.
iv) In Nazi Germany all mothers were not treated equally .Women who bore racially undesirable children were
awarded. They were given favoured treatment in hospitals and were also entitled to concessions in shops and
on theatre tickets and railway fares.
v) To encourage women to produce many children, honour crosses were awarded. A bronze cross was given for
four children, silver for six and gold for eight and more.
vi) All `Aryan’ women who deviated from the prescribed code of conduct were publicly condemned, and severely
punished.
Q 28 What were the various terms used by the Nazis to kill people?
i) Nazis never used the words `kill’ or `murder’ in their official communications.
ii) Mass killings were special treatment, final solutions for the Jews, euthanasia for the disabled, selections and
disinfections.
iii) Gas chambers were labelled `disinfections-areas, and looked liked bathrooms equipped with fake showerheads.
Q29) Explain why Nazi propaganda was effective in creating a hatred for Jews?
i) Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets. In posters,
groups identify as the `enemies’ of Germans were stereotyped, mocked, abused and described as evil.
ii) Socialists and liberals were represented as weak and degenerate. They were attacked as malicious foreign
agents.
iii) Propaganda films were made to create hatred for Jews. The most infamous film was The Eternal Jew.
iv) Orthodox Jews were stereotyped and marked. They were shown with flowing beards wearing kaftans, whereas
in reality it was difficult to distinguish German Jews by their outward appearance. They were referred as vermin,
rats and pests. Their movements were compared to those of rodents.
v) Nazism worked on the minds of the people, tapped their emotions and turned their hatred and anger at those
marked as ‘undesirable’.
Q30. How did the common people react to Nazism?
i) Many saw the world through Nazi eyes, and spoke their mind in Nazi language. They felt hatred and anger surge
inside them when they saw someone who looked like a Jew. They marked the houses of Jews and reported
suspicious neighbors. They genuinely believed Nazism would bring prosperity and improve general well-being.
ii) But not every German was a Nazi. Many organized active resistance to Nazism, braving police repression and
death. The large majority of Germans, however, were passive onlookers and apathetic witnesses. They were too
scared to act, to differ. They preferred to look away.
iii) Pastor Niemoeller, a resistance fighter, observed an absence of protest, an uncanny silence, amongst ordinary
Germans in the face of brutal and organized crimes committed against people.
Q31. Who was Pastor Niemoeller?
Pastor Niemoeller was a resistance fighter in Germany, who protested Nazism.
Q32. How did we know about the Nazi Cruelties and holocaust?
i) It was only after the Second World War when Germany was defeated that the world came to realize the horrors
of what had happened.
ii) The indomitable spirit to bear witness and to preserve the documents can be seen in many ghetto and camp
inhabitants who wrote diaries, kept notebooks and created archives.
iii) The memory of the holocaust live on memoirs, fiction, documentaries, poetry, memorials and museums in many

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 parts of the word today. These are a tribute to those who resisted it, an embarrassing reminder to those who
collaborated and a warning to those who watched in silence.
Q33. Describe the racial utopia of the Nazis.
i) Under the shadow of war, the Nazis proceeded to realize their murderous, racial ideal. Genocide and war
became two sides of the same coin.
ii) Occupied Poland was divided up. Much of north-western Poland was annexed to Germany. Poles were forced to
leave their homes and properties behind to be occupied by ethnic Germans brought in from occupied Europe.
iii) Poles were then herded like cattle in the other part called the General Government, the destination of all
‘undesirables’ of the empire. Members of the Polish intelligentsia were murdered in large numbers in order to
keep the entire people intellectually and spiritually servile.
iv) Polish children who looked like Aryans were forcibly snatched from their mothers
v) and examined by ‘race experts’. If they passed the race tests they were raised in German families and if not, they
were deposited in orphanages where most perished. With some of the largest ghettos and gas chambers, the
General Government also served as the killing fields for the Jews.
Q34. What was the Dawes Plan? Or How did Germany come out of the Hyper inflation?
The Americans intervened in the situation of Hyper inflation and bailed Germany out of the crisis by
introducing the Dawes Plan, which reworked the terms of reparation to ease the financial burden on Germans.
It was a plan by Charles G Dawes an American Banker who put forward a plan to help Germany by taking loan
from USA.
Q35. In What ways did the Nazi state seek to establish total control over its people?
i) The Fire Decree of 28 February 1933 which was passed immediately after burring of parliament building,
indefinitely suspended civic rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly that had been guaranteed by the
Weimar constitution.
ii) Then he turned on his archenemies, the Communists, most of whom were hurriedly packed off to the newly
established concentration camps. The repression of the Communists was severe. They were about 52 types of
victims persecuted by the Nazis across the country.
iii) On 3 March 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established dictatorship in Germany. It gave
Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions were banned
except for the Nazi Party and its affiliates. The state established complete control over the economy, media,
army and judiciary.
iv) Special surveillance and security forces were created to control and order society in ways that the Nazis wanted.
Apart from the already existing regular police in green uniform and the SA or the Storm Troopers, these
included the Gestapo (secret state police), the SS (the protection squads), criminal police and the Security
Service (SD).
v) Good German’ children were subjected to a process of Nazi schooling, a prolonged period of ideological training.
School textbooks were rewritten. Racial science was introduced to justify Nazi ideas of race.
vi) Youth organisations were made responsible for educating German youth in the ‘the spirit of National Socialism’.
Ten-year-olds had to enter Jungvolk. At 14, all boys had to join the Nazi youth organization – Hitler Youth –
where they learnt to worship war, glorify aggression and violence, condemn democracy, and hate Jews,
communists, Gypsies and all those categorized as ‘undesirable’.
Q36. Why was the invasion of Soviet Union considered a historic blunder on the part of Germany?
i) Germany was successful in its conquest till it attacked Soviet Union. Hitler exposed the German western front to
British aerial bombing and eastern front to the powerful Soviet army.
ii) The Soviet Red Army inflicted a crushing and humiliating defeat on Germany at Stalingrad. After this the Soviet
Red Army hounded out the retreating German soldiers until they reached the heart of Berlin, establishing Soviet
hegemony over the entire Eastern Europe for half a century thereafter.
Q37. What was Herbert Spenser’s idea of ‘survival of the fittest’?
According to this idea, only those species survived on earth that could adapt themselves to changing climatic
conditions. We should bear in mind that Darwin never advocated human intervention in what he thought was

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 a purely natural process of selection. However, his ideas were used by racist thinkers and politicians to justify
imperial rule over conquered peoples.
Q38. What is meant by ‘Lebensraum’?
Hitler’s ideology related to the geopolitical concept of Lebensraum means living space. He believed that new
territories had to be acquired for settlement. This would enhance the area of the mother country, while
enabling the settlers on new lands to retain an intimate link with the place of their origin. It would also
enhance the material resources and power of the German nation.
Q39. What was the Euthanasia Programme of Hitler?
Nazi officials had condemned to death many Germans who were considered mentally or physically unfit. They
were categorized as undesirables and killed brutally calling it mercy killing.

Additional Questions
1. Who was the propaganda minister of Hitler? Goebels.
2. Name the international tribunal set up to try Nazi criminals. Nuremberg Tribunal
3. Name the most notorious Concentration camp set up by Hitler. Auschwitz.
4. When did USA enter the First World War? 1917
5. Name the German Parliament. Reichstag.
6. What was the war guilt clause of the Treaty of Versailles? It was an armistice signed on 11 November 1918 which
justified Germany’s obligation to pay the war damages.
7. Who were the Free Corps? War veteran’s organization in Germany that suppressed revolutionary uprising of the
Spartacist League.
8. Why did the French occupy Rhur in Germany? Germany refused to pay the war
reparation in 1923 and France occupied Rhur to claim their coal.
9. When and where was Hitler born? 1889 in Austria
10. How was German Workers Party renamed by Hitler? National Socialist
German Workers Party. ( Nazi party)
11. When was the Fire Decree issued by Hitler? 28th February 1933
12. When was the Enabling Act passed by Hitler? 3rd March 1933
13. Who was Hjalmar Schacht? He was an economist in Germany who was assigned the
responsibility of economic recovery of Germany after the depression.
14. State any two contribution of Hjalmar Schachti in Germany. He built the German Super Highway and produced
the people’s car the Volkswagen.
15. Why was Hjalmar Schacht forced to leave Germany? He advised Hitler against investing
hugely in re-armament as the country was running on deficit finance.
16. Under what slogan did Hitler start his conquest in Europe? One people, one empire and one leader.
17. Why did Hitler attack Soviet Union in 1941? Hitler wanted to ensure food supplies and living space for the
Germans. He wanted to fulfill his ambition to conquer the whole of Europe.
18. Explain the impact on Germany because of her refusal to pay war compensation in1923
19. Explain in brief Hitler’s attitude towards children and youth.

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