Question

Which group/s of French society benefited from the revolution? Which section/s of society were forced to relinquish power?

Answer 1

Instructions:

The answer to this question can be broken into 3 parts:

1. Mention the structure of French society. (1 mark)
2. Who benefited? Brief explanation. (1 mark)
3. Who had to relinquish power? (1 mark)

Solution:

French society was divided into 3 estates. The third estate consisted of Peasants, artisans, small peasants, landless labour, servants, big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers etc. benefitted the most from the revolution. The groups that were forced to relinquish power were the people belonging to the 1st and 2nd estates. These people had enjoyed certain privileges by birth. With the revolution, the people in the 1st and 2nd estates lost their privileges. Since inequality was one of the root causes of the revolution, the revolution tried to bring equality to society.