Activity The French Revolution class 9

 The French Revolution

Class:IX History

ACTIVITIES

1. Explain why the artist has portrayed the nobleman as the spider and the peasant as the fly. 2. Fill in the blank boxes in Fig. 4 with appropriate terms from among the following:

Food riots, scarcity of grain, increased number of deaths, rising food prices, weaker bodies.

3. What message is Young trying to convey here? Whom does he mean when he speaks of slaves.?

Who is he criticising? What dangers does he sense in the situation of 1787?

4. Representatives of the Third Estate take the oath raising their arms in the direction of Bailly, the

President of the Assembly, standing on a table in the centre. Do you think that during the actual

event Bailly would have stood with his back to the assembled deputies? What could have been

David.s intention in placing Bailly (Fig.5) the way he has done?

5. Identify the symbols in Box

a]which stand for liberty, equality and fraternity.

b] Explain the meaning of the painting of the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen (Fig. 8) by

reading only the symbols.

6. Compare the political rights which the Constitution of 1791 gave to the citizens with Articles 1 and 6

of the Declaration (Source C). Are the two documents consistent? Do the two documents convey

the same idea?

7. Which groups of French society would have gained from the Constitution of 1791? Which groups

would have had reason to be dissatisfied? What developments does Marat (Source B) anticipate in

the future?

8. Imagine the impact of the events in France on neighbouring countries such as Prussia, Austria- Hungary or Spain, all of which were absolute monarchies. How would the kings, traders, peasants,

nobles or members ofthe clergy here have reacted to the news of what was happening in France?

9. Look carefully at the painting and identify the objects which are political symbols you saw in Box 1

(broken chain, red cap, fasces, Charter of the Declaration of Rights). The pyramid stands for

equality, often represented by a triangle. Use the symbols to interpret the painting. Describe your

impressions of the female figure of liberty.