French and Russian Revolutions

• The upcoming section explores the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and the rise of Nazism, all pivotal events in shaping the modern world.

French Revolution

• Chapter I will focus on the French Revolution stressing the importance of grasping the history behind even familiar concepts like liberty, freedom, and equality.
• The French Revolution brought an end to monarchy in France.
• The Declaration of the Rights of Man, created during the revolution, heralded a new era, establishing rights and equality as fundamental political principles.
• These concepts later influenced anti-colonial movements worldwide, with countries like India, China, Africa, and South America developing unique interpretations.

Russian Revolution

• Chapter II examines socialism's emergence in Europe, focusing on Tsar Nicholas II's abdication during the Russian Revolution.
• This revolution raised the question of economic equality and the well-being of workers and peasants.
• The new Soviet government initiated changes and faced challenges while industrializing and mechanizing agriculture.
• Soviet Russia's denial of essential rights contrasted with these ideals.
• The Soviet Union's breakup and socialism's crisis do not negate its significant 20th-century impact on shaping the modern world.

Rise of Nazism

• Chapter III delves into Germany's rise of Hitler and the politics of Nazism, including the Nazi denial of rights to minorities and the persecution of Jews.
• The working of the system was elaborate, leading to the massacres and killings.
• While some in India were impressed with Hitler's ideas, it was seen with horror by most.
• The modern world's history includes violence, tyranny, death, and destruction alongside freedom and democracy.

The French Revolution: Initial Unrest

• On July 14, 1789, Paris was in turmoil due to rumors that the king would use troops against citizens prompting about 7,000 people to form a militia and search for arms in government buildings.
• A group stormed the Bastille, a fortress-prison, seeking ammunition leading to an armed conflict that killed the commander and freed prisoners.
• The Bastille, symbolizing the king's despotic power, was demolished.
• Its stone fragments were sold as souvenirs. Moreso rioting over bread prices spread to Paris and into the countryside.
• Historians later viewed this period as a catalyst for the execution of the king.

French Society in the Late 18th Century

• In 1774, Louis XVI of the Bourbon family became king of France, only to face an empty treasury.
• Years of war and the extravagant court at Versailles had drained France's resources.
• France's support for the thirteen American colonies against Britain under Louis XVI added to the financial strain.
• France accumulated over a billion livres in debt with lenders charging 10% interest, forcing the government to allocate more funds to interest payments.
• To cover regular expenses like the army and government operations, the state increased taxes, which was an insufficient remedy.
• French society was divided into three estates, with only the third estate paying taxes.
• The estate system, part of the feudal system from the Middle Ages, defined France's Old Regime before 1789.
• Peasants comprised 90% of the population, but a minority owned land. Nobles, the Church, and rich members of the third estate owned 60% of the land.
• The clergy and nobility, i.e. the first and second estates, enjoyed birth privileges, mainly tax exemption.
• Nobles had feudal privileges, extracting dues from peasants who had to work for them, serve in the army, or build roads.
• The Church collected tithes (taxes) from peasants, and the third estate paid direct taxes (taille) and indirect taxes on everyday items like salt and tobacco.
• The third estate bore the burden of financing the state through taxes.

The Subsistence Crisis

• From 1715 to 1789, France’s population increased from 23 million to 28 million, increasing the demand for food.
• Grain production lagged, causing the price of bread.
• Bread was the main food for most people which increased rapidly due to the inability to fulfill demand.
• Laborers' wages, fixed by workshop owners, did not keep pace with rising prices.
• Drought or hail worsened conditions, reducing harvests and leading to subsistence crises.
• "The nobleman is the spider, the peasant the fly", depicts the nobleman as a spider and the peasant as a fly demonstrating the imbalance in powers.

The Growing Middle Class

• The 18th century saw the rise of the middle class, who gained wealth through expanding overseas trade and manufacturing textiles.
• The third estate included merchants, manufacturers, lawyers, and officials and had access to education and new ideas.
• Educated middle-class citizens believed that social position should depend on merit rather than birth, thereby envisioning a society based on freedom, equal laws, and opportunities.
• Enlightenment philosophers, including John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau, further developed these ideas.
• Rousseau advocated for a social contract-based government, and Montesquieu suggested dividing power among the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches.
• The American constitution and individual rights inspired political thinkers in France.
• The ideas of the philosophers spread through discussions in salons and coffee houses via books and newspapers.
• The news that Louis XVI planned to extract more taxes ignited anger and protest against the privilege system.

The Outbreak of Revolution

• The French monarchy cannot impose taxes without the Estates General approval. This was a political body where 3 estates sent over representatives.
• Louis XVI called an Estates General assembly on May 5, 1789, to propose new taxes with the last meeting being in 1614.
• The first and second estates sent approximately 300 representatives each, while the third estate had 600 members.
• Peasants, artisans, and women were denied representation, but 40,000 letters of grievances and demands were listed.
• The Estates General followed the rule of each estate having one vote, which Louis XVI wanted to continue,.
• In response, third estate members demanded individual voting, based on the democratic principles of Rousseau's The Social Contract.
• When the king refused, the members of the third estate considered themselves spokespersons for the French nation and walked out.

The National Assembly

• On June 20, the third estate formed a National Assembly in an indoor tennis court at Versailles.
• The third estate members vowed not to disperse until they had drafted a constitution to limit the monarch's powers.
• This group was led by Mirabeau and Abbé Sieyès, who was convinced of the need to abolish feudal privileges.
• Sieyès wrote "What is the Third Estate?".
• Concurrent to the National Assembly, turmoil seethed in France due to a harsh winter and bad harvest.
• Bakers were exploiting limited wheat, and angry women stormed bakeries after waiting in lines.
• The king ordered troops to move into Paris inciting an agitated crowd to storm and destroy the Bastille on July 14.
• Rumors of landlords hiring brigands to destroy crops caused peasants to attack chateaux, loot grain, and burn manorial documents.
• Nobles fled, and Louis XVI recognized the National Assembly, accepting a constitution that limited his powers.
• A decree was passed on August 4, 1789, abolishing the feudal system abolishing obligations and taxes.
• The clergy gave up privileges, like land, and the Church lost its land.
• The French government acquired assets worth at least 2 billion livres.

France Becomes a Constitutional Monarchy

• The National Assembly completed the Constitution in 1791 limiting the monarch’s powers and dividing powers between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches.
• Under the Constitution of 1791, the National Assembly was responsible for making laws but was indirectly elected by the citizens.
• Active male citizens over 25, who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a laborer’s wage, had a total of 4 million.
• Three million passive citizens did not have these voting rights.
• These 3 million included women, children, and youth below 25.
• To qualify as an elector and then as a member of the Assembly, a man needed belonged to the highest bracket of taxpayers.
• The Constitution introduced the rights to life, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, equality before law, were founded as 'natural and inalienable' rights.
• Rights can not be restricted because they belonged to citizens; furthermore, protecting citizen natural rights was the state's responsibility.

France Abolishes Monarchy

• France was still tense.
• Louis XVI was negotiating with the King of Prussia in secret, and monarchs were planning to to stop revolutionary events with troops.
• The National Assembly declared war against Prussia and Austria in April 1792, and thousands volunteered, viewing it as a war against kings and aristocracies.
• The Marseillaise, composed by Roget de L'Isle became the national anthem of France.
• The revolutionary wars led to economic difficulties, with women managing families.
• It was widely held that the revolution had to extend further from 1791.
• Political clubs became rallying points, with the Jacobins being most successful.

The Jacobins

• Jacobin club members included shopkeepers, artisans, and workers.
• Maximilian Robespierre led them, and they began wearing striped trousers to distinguish themselves from the nobles who wore knee breeches.
• The sans-culottes (those without knee breeches), the male Jacobins, also wore red caps symbolizing liberty.
• In the summer of 1792, anger amongst the people caused the the Jacobins to plan an insurrection due to the short food supplies and inflated prices.
• On August 10, Parisians stormed the Palace of the Tuileries, massacred the king's guards, and held the king hostage.
• The royal family was forced to be imprisoned after a vote was held.
• After the vote, new elections were held.
• All men of 21 years and above, regardless of wealth, got the right to vote.
• The newly elected assembly, the Convention, abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic on September 21, 1792.
• A republic is a non-hereditary government with an elected head.
• Louis XVI was convicted of treason and executed on January 21, 1793, at the Place de la Concorde.

Reign of Terror

• The period from 1793 to 1794 was the Reign of Terror, led by Robespierre, and imposed severe control and punishment.
• Perceived 'enemies' of the republic were arrested, imprisoned, and tried by a revolutionary tribunal.
• "Enemies" included ex-nobles, clergy, members of other political parties, and dissenters within his own party -- Robspierre.
• The Guillotine was used, invented by Dr. Guillotin and used to behead the convicted "criminals".
• The "laws of Robespierre" included placing maximum ceiling on wages and prices and rationing meat and bread.
• The bread rationing forced peasants to transport grain and sell it to the cities at government-fixed prices.
• White flour was banned and pain d’égalité, which was a loaf made of wholewheat.
• Instead of using titles French men and women used titles like Citoyen and Citoyenne.
• Churches were shut down and buildings became barracks or offices.
• Robespierre imprisoned anyone who supported moderation, until he himself was convicted
• He was arrested and guillotined in July 1794.

France Rules By Directory

• An elite group (wealthy middle class) seized power following the fall of the Jacobin party during the Reign of Terror.
• Denied the right to vote, a new constitution was introduced as well as two legislative councils who went on to appoint a Directory.
• The Directory was an executive made up of 5 members who sought to prevent the concentration of party power.
• These five members of the Directory would frequently clash which would lead to political instability, paving way for Napoleon Bonaparte a military dictator.
• Through all the changes in leadership, the ideals of freedom, equality, and fraternity continued to inspire change.
• Inspired, French and the the rest of Europe motivated political movements of the following century and those ideals continue to inspire to this day.

Did Women Have a Revolution?

• Though women were still an underrepresented group, they were active participants.
• They hoped to influence women's rights.
• The majority of Third Estate women worked to provide an income in different professions.
• Convent was the only viable option for schooling amongst nobles and wealthy members of the third estate followed by later marriages.
• Families were the responsibility of working women (cook, childcare, etc).
• Women forming new political clubs and newspapers allowed them to voice their concerns and debate.
• A known example includes the Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women.
• Women's basic demands were the same political rights as men who were, at the time, made to be passive citizen by the new laws of the Constitution of 1791.
• Only if interests are made known to the new government can their basic issues be resolved.
• The new revolutionary government enacted laws that improved the lives of women.
• The laws introduced state schools and made schooling compulsory for all girls.
• Marriage had to be registered under civil code, divorce was made legal, and women had opportunities to train for jobs and run small businesses.
• During the Reign of Terror, women's political clubs & movements were outlawed.
• Political action women were arrested and executed.
• Women in France still kept the hope of equal voting rights going and after two years of fighting, women won the right to vote to political office (1946).

The Abolition of Slavery

• The implementation of the abolition of slavery was one of the most socially transformative and revolutionary reforms that came about from the Jacobin regime.
• Colonies that were based in the Caribbean (Martinique, Guadeloupe, and San Domingo) were suppliers of tobacco, indigo, sugar, and coffee.
• Due to the reluctance from Europeans to go and work on distant and unfamiliar lands meant that they would have labor shortages
• The labor shortage was met when they turned to the triangular slave trade, where they could receive labor throughout Africa, Europe and the Americas.
• French merchants set sail from the ports of Bordeaux or Nantes to buy slaves. They sought out the local chieftains.
• African men and women were tightly packed into ships to make their voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean.
• Plantation owners exploited the new, acquired group, but it made possible to meet the demands of sugar and coffee as they became more popular.
• Through the 1700s, there were more little resistance and critism of slave ownership throughout France.
• After the rights of man in 1789, debates were held as to whether it extended to any other French subjects including those that were in colonies.
• Fear of opposition among wealthy owners and those that relied on it economically led to government not passing any change.
• Only by 1794 when the law was written to legislate to all overseas was there finally change.

The Revolution and Everyday Life

• Politics changed clothing, language, and reading after 1789 in France and impacted all its citizens (men, women, and children).
• The revolutionary governments established laws and ideals (liberty and equality) into everyday practice.
• The Bastille brought forth the abolishment of censorship in the summer of 1789.
• In the Old Regime cultural activities like newspaper writing, plays, etc. required approval from the King.
• Now the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen allowed for open expression and speech.
• Books, pamphlets, newspapers, etc. flooded towns and attracted a lot more people to these new means, as before it required special "clearance".
• These new plays, songs and other media aimed at the understanding with those without the knowledge of the new society, i.e. non-readers or non-writers.

Explore the French Revolution's impact on liberty and equality, influencing global anti-colonial movements. Examine the Russian Revolution, focusing on Tsar Nicholas II's abdication and the rise of socialism. Understand the historical context and global implications of these pivotal events.