Lesson #13 - The Revolution and the Terror

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PLEASE NOTE that the order of these events in 2nd Hour may be different as I'm also helping out in Ms. Murr's World History 9 class.

Go ahead, do all your complaining about having TWO reading quizzes today. (All I can say is, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but your names will never hurt me...) We'll start with those two Napoleon quizzes.

DBQ Activity - We'll start things out giving you ten minutes to work through a DBQ activity on the French Revolution.

The French Revolution - Chronology of Events: You were asked to draw a "fever chart" and place at least fifteen events/things from the French Revolution along the chart. We'll talk about what you've done. In addition, I've got another list for us all below so that we can check and see if we're at a similar point in our understanding of the model. (You can download a description of the Brinton model for revolutions if you need it.) We'll take a very short field trip to a location where we can build our own "fever chart" for these events.

Old Regime rules France
high taxes on nobles and peasants
American Revolution occurs
bad weather leads to grain shortages
price of bread doubles
King Louis XVI increases war debt
Marie Antoinette becomes increasingly unpopular
Estates-General meets for first time in 175 years (May 5, 1789)
Third Estate becomes the National Assembly, drafts laws (June 17, 1789)
Tennis Court Oath is taken (June 20, 1789)
French mob storms the Bastille (July 14, 1789)
Great Fear rolls through France (Summer/Fall 1789)
National Assembly ends feudal privileges of 1st and 2nd Estates (August 4, 1789)
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen passed (August 1789)
Parisian "women's march" over bread prices (October 1789)
Louis and Marie Antoinette flee Versailles (October 1789)
King and Queen caught trying to flee France (June 1791)
New constitution; limits monarchy and creates Legislative Assembly (September 1791)
War declared on Prussia and Austria (April 1792)
September Massacres kill more than 1000 prisoners (September 1792)
National Convention declares France a republic, ends monarchy (September 21, 1792)
Jacobins try Louis XVI for treason; execute him (January 21, 1793)
Maximilien Robespierre becomes leader of "Committee of Public Safety" (July 1793)
"Reign of Terror" grips France (mid-1793 to mid-1794)
Robespierre sent to the guillotine (July 28, 1794)
Moderates create the Directory - giving power to upper middle class (1795)
Napoleon protects Directory from royalist rebels (October 1795)
Napoleon stages coup d'etat (November 1799)


Remembering the French Revolution - You can get a good feel for the impact of the French Revolution when you see how many areas of art, literature, music and politics that it affected. We'll take quick looks at some of those.

Human Rights
Music
Art and Images
Literature
  • Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities - You probably recognize this opening... (Download it all for free from Project Gutenberg if you want.)
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way . . ."

Speeches
Contemporary Analysis
  • Edmund Burke was a British politician who severely criticized the revolution as early as 1790. Here's an excerpt. Skip down to the last paragraph.
  • American Thomas Paine responded with a defense of the French Revolution that he called, "The Rights of Man."

French Revolution - Cast of Characters
From Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities to Les Miserables, the years surrounding the French Revolution and Napoleon have been frequently depicted in literature, film and on stage. Here's your chance to cast your own production. Below is a list of "characters" from this time period. Your job is to cast these parts by naming "actors" to play each role. The idea is that you'll make appropriate choices that show your understanding of these figures. You can select from history, literature, politics, film, music, television, mythology, MPA or whatever makes sense to you. "Bonus points" for casting with some sort of theme in mind. We'll have you share these cast lists and your rationale for them tomorrow. (If you need some examples to spark your thinking, all of these have been done. "The Office," modern politicians, "Glee," superheroes, Disney, sports figures, etc.)

  • member of the First Estate
  • member of the Second Estate
  • member of the Third Estate
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  • King Louis XVI
  • Marie Antoinette
  • Parisian woman rioting over bread prices
  • radical member of Legislative Assembly
  • moderate member of Legislative Assembly
  • conservative member of Legislative Assembly
  • Jean-Paul Marat
  • Charlotte Corday
  • Jacobin
  • Georges Danton
  • Maximilien Robespierre
  • Napoleon Bonaparte


HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Friday, September 17th 

Please finish your reading in Chapter 23 with Section 5, "The Congress of Vienna," (pp. 672 -  675)  for tomorrow.

If you would like, have your cast of characters ready to share tomorrow.

We're still looking at the Unit #5 Exam on Monday, September 27th and Tuesday, September 28th. I'll have more information about the format by Monday's class.


About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Mike Vergin published on September 17, 2009 2:00 AM.

Lesson #12 - The French Revolution was the previous entry in this blog.

Lesson #14 - The Rise and Fall of Napoleon is the next entry in this blog.

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