Answer:
(a) French slave trade: An acute shortage of labour in the French Caribbean colonies - Martinique, Guadeloupe and San Domingo led to a triangular slave trade between Europe, Americas and Africa in the 17th century. French merchants sailed from Bordeaux or Nantes to the African coast where they bought slaves from local chiefs and sold them to plantation owners in the Caribbean. Slave labour enabled the Caribbean colonies to meet the demand for sugar, coffee and indigo. The Convention in 1794 passed laws freeing slaves in the French overseas possessions. However ten years later, slavery was reintroduced by Napoleon. It was finally abolished in 1848. (b) The 'Reign of Terror' was unleashed by the Jacobins and lasted nearly a year. Tribunals were set up to try persons who opposed the government. Eventually more than 15,000 persons including the Queen Maria Antoinette were guillotined. But under public pressure the special courts identified with terror were wound up and the Jacobin club was closed. (c) The fall of Napoleon can be traced to his ill-fated Russian campaign. In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia in winter with a large army. Though his entry into Moscow was triumphant, it soon turned into one of the most terrible military disasters in history. His army was reduced to half a million due to scarcity of food, clothes, the excessive cold and disease. The European nations now rose against him and in 1813 he suffered a decisive defeat in a battle near Leipzig. The Allied powers restored the Bourbon dynasty by enthroning Louis XVIII. Napoleon attempted to make a comeback but was finally defeated in the famous battle of Waterloo. He was imprisoned in the island of St. Helena where he died six years later.
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