TEACHER’S G UIDE
TEACHER’S GUI DE
Follow-up Activities
Suggested Internet Resources
• In 1792, Englishman Arthur Young published his Travels in France, an
account of his journeys to France between 1787 and 1790. Read selections of his observations with your class and ask students to discuss
Young’s thoughts about Paris, the French countryside and the French
people. Portions of Young’s work may be found at this web site:
history.hanover.edu/texts/young.html.
• La Marseillaise, the national anthem of France, was written by ClaudeJoseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792. Revolutionaries sang the song as they
entered Paris and marched to the Tuileries Palace.Ask students to
analyze the lyrics of La Marseillaise and discuss their connotations,
theme, tone and imagery. Students may write alternative anthems based
on their knowledge of the French Revolution.The French national
anthem (including audio file) may be found at this web site:
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/marseill.html
• The founding fathers of both the American and the French Revolutions
were influenced by Enlightenment thinking. Compare portions of the
following three documents: the second paragraph of the American
Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Bill of Rights, and France’s
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Make a list of the features
contained in these documents that reflect Enlightenment philosophy.
The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen may be found
at the following web site: www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/
rightsof.htm.
• King Louis XVI turned to Jacques Necker to help with France’s economic problems in the 1780s. Necker’s failed policies helped set the
stage for the French Revolution, as the country found it difficult to
generate enough revenue through taxes to service its huge debt.Ask
students to research the types of taxes that existed at the time, such as
the taille, gabelle and corvee and develop materials such as letters to
the editor, pamphlets and posters that express the animosity that
members of the Third Estate felt towards them.
• From 1792 to 1795, France had been at war with most of Europe. In
1796, Napoleon Bonaparte, only in his twenties, drew up a plan for an
Italian campaign.Ask students to read addresses such as Napoleon’s
1796 proclamation to his troops in Italy and, based on it and other
speeches, write journal entries evaluating his use of language and
describing his leadership qualities.A wide selection of Napoleon’s
speeches may be found at this web site: www.napoleon-series.org/
research/napoleon/c_speeches.html
• There are many interesting personalities who formed part of the vast
drama of the French Revolution.Ask groups of students to develop
detailed biographies of notables, such as Lafayette, Mirabeau, Danton,
Marat,Talleyrand, Charlotte Corday, Jacques-Louis David and Henri de
Saint-Simon and describe their roles during the French Revolution.
Students should share their information with the rest of the class.
Periodically, Internet Resources are updated on our web site at
www.LibraryVideo.com
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TEACHER’S G UIDE
• chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/
A university history project site with links to a wealth of topics about the
French Revolution, such as the Enlightenment, women and the revolution,
songs, maps and many more.
• www.metaphor.dk/guillotine/
Complete history, facts and information about the guillotine.
• www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/PHIL.HTM
This site has information about the famous French “philosophes” of the
Enlightenment: Rousseau,Voltaire, Diderot and Montesquieu.
Suggested Print Resources
• Cadbury, Deborah. The Lost King of France: How DNA Solved the Mystery
of the Murdered Son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. St. Martin’s
Griffin, New York, NY; 2003.
• Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola,
NY; 1999.
• Fraser,Antonia. Marie Antoinette: The Journey. Anchor Books, New York,
NY; 2002.
• Hibbert, Christopher. The Days of the French Revolution. Perennial, New
York, NY; 1999.
TEACHER’S GUIDE
Rudolph Lea
Historian
Jeffrey W. Litzke, M.Ed.
Curriculum Specialist, Schlessinger Media
TITLES IN THIS SERIES
CASTRO AND THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
THE CHINESE REVOLUTION (1911–1989)
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
GANDHI AND INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE
REVOLUTIONARY MEXICO (1910–1940)
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
THE SOUTH AFRICAN ANTI-APARTHEID MOVEMENT
Teacher’s Guides Included
and Available Online at:
800-843-3620
Teacher’s Guide and Program Copyright 2005 by Schlessinger Media,
a division of Library Video Company
P.O. Box 580,Wynnewood, PA 19096 • 800-843-3620
Executive Producer:Andrew Schlessinger
Programs produced and directed by Issembert Productions, Inc.
All rights reserved.
D6903
V6073
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
Grades 9–12
T
his guide is a supplement designed for teachers
to use when presenting pro grams in the series
World Revolutions for Students.
Before Vi e w i n g: G i ve students an introduction to
the topic by re l aying aspects of the pro gram
ove rview to them. Select pre-viewing discussion
questions and vocabulary to provide a focus for students when they view the program.
After Viewing: R ev i ew the pro gram and vo c abulary, and use the fo l l ow-up activities to inspire cont i nued discussion. E n c o u rage students to re s e a rch
the topic further with the Internet and print
resources provided.
Program Overview
In the 18 century, France was undergoing social and economic ch a n ges that
undermined its old society, in which a ve ry small minority of land-ow n i n g
nobles, powerful churchmen, and absolutist kings had held total sway over the
vast majority of French peasants and commoners.
Facing a financial crisis in the 1780s, King Louis XVI consulted the EstatesG e n e ra l , a legislative body made up of three groups of Fre n ch society. The
Third Estate, made up of commoners , p ro m p t ly demanded fundamental
changes toward creating a new constitution and limiting the monarchy.When
the First and Second Estates, consisting of the clergy and nobility respectively,
objected to losing their pri v i l e ge s , the T h i rd Estate pro claimed itself the
National A s s e m bly. Revo l u t i o n a ry fe rvor boiled over on Ju ly 14th, 1789 as
Pa risians stormed the Bastille prison, sparking violent peasant upri s i n g s
throughout the country.
In 1791, the king and Marie Antoinette we re foiled in their attempt to escape
to Austria, a move which cast doubt on their loyalty to France as Au s t ria
d e cl a red war to quell the revolution. Under the threat of treason and foreign
i nvasion, the National Convention became the new national gove rnment in
1792, when it abolished the monarchy and decl a red France a re p u bl i c . Louis
XVI was convicted of treason and guillotined; Marie Antoinette later met the
same fa t e . The moderate Girondins, then the radical Jacobins rose to powe r,
culminating in the rule of Robespierre and the Reign of Terror in which thousands of suspected traitors were sent to the guillotine.
After Robespierre ’s death, the Dire c t o ry was fo rm e d , w h i ch ach i eved some
stability but had only tenuous control of the country. Napoleon, a powe r f u l
military ge n e ra l , staged a coup in 1799 and became the dictator and later
emperor of Fra n c e . His defeat at Waterloo in 1815 resulted in the official
restoration of the French monarchy.While Napoleon made attempts at reform,
it would take repeated conflicts between ri ch and poor throughout the 19th
century to make the liberal ideals of the French Revolution a reality.
th
1795 — The French Directory, made up of five directors, takes power.
1799 — Napoleon overthrows the Directory.
1804 — Napoleon declares himself the Emperor of France.
1814 — The French monarchy is restored; Louis XVIII becomes king.
1815 — Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo.
Vocabulary
1780s — France is nearly bankrupt.
1788 — The Estates-General convenes.
1789 — The Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly.
1789 — The Third Estate issues the Tennis Court Oath.
1789 — Bastille prison is stormed on July 14th.
1789 — March of the Women to Versailles.
1791 — Royal family attempts to escape to Austria.
1792 — France declares war on Austria.
1792 — Mobs attack the Tuileries Palace.
1792 — National Convention is established and the monarchy is abolished.
1793 — Louis XVI, and later Marie Antoinette, are guillotined.
1793–1794 — The Reign of Terror results in thousands of deaths.
1794 — Robespierre is guillotined.
(Continued)
Bastille — The state prison in Paris, the storming of which by Parisians on
July 14, 1789 symbolized the start of the French Revolution.
Age of Enlightenment — A time of new ideas in the 18th century when
European philosophers, thinkers and writers proposed that man could
change society for the better.
Estates-General — The representative assembly of the three estates under
the French monarchy before the Revolution.
Third Estate — The commoners in pre-revolutionary France.
Second Estate — The nobility or the land-owning upper class in pre-revolutionary France.
First Estate — The clergy in pre-revolutionary France.
Tennis Court Oath — The sworn act of defiance and promise of the Third
Estate on a Versailles tennis court, on June 20, 1789, to stay assembled until
they wrote a new constitution for France.
sans-culottes — The nickname for ordinary French citizens, meaning
“without fancy pants.”
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen — France’s charter of
human rights, which was adopted in 1789 and served as the preamble to the
1791 Constitution.
constitutional monarchy — A government with a constitution, elected
representative body and monarch with limited powers.
Constitution of 1791 — France’s first democratic constitution that set up a
constitutional monarchy.
counterrevolutionaries — People who oppose and actively fight against a
revolution.
Girondin — A moderately radical revolutionary faction that controlled
France briefly during 1792 and 1793 before the rise of the more radical
Jacobins.
Jacobins — A revolutionary party that became increasingly radical during
the Revolution, expelled the Girondins and led the Reign of Terror.
guillotine — The instrument of execution during the French Revolution.
Committee of Public Safety — The ruling executive committee of the
National Convention that presided over the Reign of Terror.
Robespierre — The radical leader of the Jacobins and of the Committee of
Public Safety during the Reign of Terror.
Reign of Terror — A period of turmoil during the French Revolution,
characterized by the executions of thousands of suspected traitors and
counterrevolutionaries.
(Continued)
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3
Time Line
Napoleonic Code — A code of civil laws established by Napoleon in
1804 that recognized the equality of all citizens.
Pre-viewing Discussion
• Ask students if they know what Bastille Day, France’s July 14th national
holiday, commemorates.
• Based on their prior knowledge of the American Revolution, ask students to describe France’s role during the Revolutionary War. Speculate
about America’s role in the French Revolution.
• Discuss the meaning of the French revolutionary slogan,“Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity.”
Focus Questions
1. How did the population boom affect France in the 18th century?
2.What was the Age of Enlightenment?
3.Why did King Louis XVI convene the Estates-General in 1788?
4.What were the three estates of the Estates-General?
5.What was the Tennis Court Oath?
6. How did peasants react to the storming of the Bastille?
7.What rights are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and
Citizen?
8.Why did women lead a march to Versailles in October 1789?
9.What forces inside and outside of France opposed the Revolution?
10. How did the 1791 Constitution affect the power of Louis XVI?
11.Who were the Girondin?
12.What was the Committee of Public Safety?
13. How did Robespierre justify the Reign of Terror?
14.What was the Directory?
15. How did Napoleon become the leader of France?
Follow-up Discussion
• In the summer of 1791, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette tried to flee to
Austria but were caught and brought back to Paris. Discuss why this
event became a fateful turning point in the Revolution.
• Outline the political changes that took place from the storming of the
Bastille in 1789 to the restoration of the French monarchy in 1814. How
were the lives of French people changed during this period?
• Ask students to rank the importance of those who took part in the
events of the French Revolution: nobles, priests, businessmen, peasants,
city workers, women and intellectuals. Students should justify their
answers.
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