Future+Units

9th Grade
The art and music of early humans. Questions on your paper. Can you trust Milton and Shostak? Homework = work on your essay. An outline will be checked for credit on Friday. [|The uses and abuses of history in politics.] [|Why Study History?]
 * Peter N. Stearns gives us nearly 10 reasons for why we should study history. Select the four of these reasons that you find most convincing and for each reason write a couple of sentences about why you thought this was a good reason.**

Class Topics Include:
Discuss the essay. The Tarahumara. Last thoughts on Nisa. History is about the present. History is a weapon. Discuss. Why did Hobbes and Rousseau speculate. Discuss whether history is really [|about the present.]

Tuesday, February 23rd.
The Ancien Regime

===HW: Packet, pp 12-23, 51-52 (Declaration of the Rights of Man)=== 1. What were the sources of France's financial troubles? What were the consequences? 2. The Estates General had difficulty making progress toward resolving France's financial problems. Is this surprising? Explain. 3. Why did the Bastille fall? 4. Why do some historians argue that the August 4th Decree was the most significant event of the Revolution? 5. What is the connection between the fall of the Bastille and the August 4th Decree? 6. What are the key provisions of the Declaration of the Rights of Man?

Wednesday, February 24th.
The Ancien Regime. The Coming of the Revolution

Thursday, February 25th.
Preparation for Constituent Assembly Meeting

===HW: Prepare written presentations and questions for Constituent Assembly Meeting.===

Friday, February 26th
Constituent Assembly Meeting

===HW: Read Packet, pp. 36-40 (stop at "The Republican Revolution") and complete the "National Constituent Assembly Evaluation Sheet" handed out during class on Friday.===

National Assembly Evaluation Sheet.doc

Reading Questions: 1. How did the National Assembly attempt to solve, at least temporarily, France's financial crisis? 2. What are three ways the National Constituent Assembly reformed the Catholic Church? 3. What is a counter revolutionary, who were they during the French Revolution and what were their motives? 4. What is an "active citizen?" Was the distinction in keeping with the ideals of the Revolution? 5. What were the two most significant reforms of the National Assembly? Explain. 6. Why was the Flight to Varennes a turning point in the French Revolution?

Tuesday, March 2nd
October 1789 - September 1791: The National Constituent Assembly, the Flight to Varennes and the Constitution.

HW: Read "Choices" Packet, pp. 40-43 and "The Trial of Louis XVI" pp. 1-9
Reading Questions: 1. Why did France go to war in April 1792? Why did the King support the war? Why did Robespierre oppose it? 2. Obviously, the Revolution did not end in 1789. Why not, according to //La Marseillaise//? 3. Who were the //sans culottes// and how did they influence French politics? 4. What was the attack on the Tuileries? What did it have in common with the Fall of the Bastille and the Women's March on Versailles? 5. What were the reasons for the September massacres?

Wednesday, March 3rd
October 1791 - September 1792: The Legislative Assembly and Fall of the Monarchy

And, in case you think anthems may have lost their emotional power, here (according to Steven Spielberg) is greatest movie scene of all time: Casablanca "La Marseillaise"

===HW: Read "The Trial of Louis XVI" pp. 10-25 and prepare for the Trial of Louis XVI. You will serve as delegates to the National Convention that tried Louis. On Thursday, you will have to vote in class to execute or acquit him. Tonight, after reading text, write one question to ask the prosecution or defense lawyers that will help you decide how to cast your vote. Post the question on the discussion board. Note that you __cannot__ post a question that has already been posted by someone else in your section. This means that 1) you have to read all the questions already posted before you post; and 2) there is an obvious advantage to posting earlier.===

6th Period Trial Questions 7th Period Trial Questions 8th Period Trial Questions

Thursday, March 4th
The Trial of Louis XVI

===HW: Read "Choices" pp. 44-48 (stop at "Thermidorian Reaction") and "War, Terror & Resistance" pp. 1-8===

1. Why did the Convention establish the Committee for Public Safety? 2. What was the purpose of the Law of the Maximum? 3. What provoked the revolt in the Vendee? Why was the struggle there so bitter? 4. Why was the admirable Convention of 1793 almost immediately suspended? 5. What was the purpose of the Law of Suspects? 6. What was the purpose of The Terror?

Friday, March 5th
September 1792 - April 1793: The National Convention and the Wars (Internal and External) The Terror: Is it all Rousseau's fault? [|The Tea Party Protesters] [|Glen Beck at the San Antonio Tea Party] [|Daily Show on the Tea Party][|Signs of the Tea Party]

===HW for 6th and 7th: Do two posts on the discussion board:=== ===Post #1 (due by Saturday) - state how you voted on Louis' guilt and provide a one paragraph justification/explanation for that vote=== ===Post #2 (due Monday) - review the postings of the class and respond to at least one post justifies a vote opposite your own. Explain why that justification does or does not persuade you to change your vote.=== ===Also, read "War, Terror & Resistance" pp. 9-14 & "Why Robespierre Chose Terror."=== Reading Questions: 1. What were the pressures that led to the Terror? 2. What were the "Federalist" revolts and how did they compare to the revolt in the Vendee? 3. Why did the French armies begin winning the foreign wars in 1794? 4. Why were the vast majority of those executed during the Terror from the Third Estate? 5. What was the difference, if any, between the September Massacres of 1792 and the Terror of 1793-94? 6. How many people were killed during the Terror? 7. How did Robespierre justify killing thousands of people is such summary fashion?

Homework for 8th Period
Do two posts on the discussion board: ===Post #1 (due by Saturday) - state how you voted on Louis' guilt and provide a one paragraph justification/explanation for that vote=== ===Post #2 (due Monday) - review the postings of the class and respond to at least one post that justifies a vote opposite your own. Explain why that justification does or does not persuade you to change your vote.===

Also, read "War, Terror & Resistance" pp. 9-14
6th Hour Justify Your Vote In The Trial of Louis XVI 7th Hour Justify Your Vote In The Trial of Louis XVI 8th Hour Justify Your Vote In The Trial of Louis XVI

Monday, March 8th
April 1793 - July 1794: The Committee of Public Safety and The Terror

===HW: Read "War, Terror & Resistance" pp. 18-19, 25-27 and prepare at least one question for Citizen Robespierre. Review Study Guide. (Note that a clever, multi-tasking student might try to use her question to Robespierre as part of her review for the test.)=== Reading Questions: 1. How could Robespierre, a passionate believer in equality and morality, be responsible for such bloodshed? 2. When Robespierre was first gaining attention, one politician said "That man will go far. He believes what he says." What do you think he meant? 3. Why did the pace of executions increase during June-July 1794? 4. What was the Cult of Reason? What was the Church of the Supreme Being? Why didn't either succeed in transforming France? 5. Why did Robespierre fall?

If you are really interested in The Terror (and who isn't?), here is a good BBC podcast that discusses it. [|BBC "In Our Time: The Terror"] (Listening to this would be good review for the test.)

French Revolution Study Guide.doc

Tuesday, March 9th
A conversation with Citizen Robespierre

HW: Read "Choices" 48-50, "War, Terror & Resistance" pp. 30-34.
Reading Questions: 1. What was the Thermidorian Reaction? 2. Why were the //sans culottes// no longer able to intimidate the government after 1795? 3. What were the Directory's policies? Why was it able to retain power? 4. What was the Conspiracy of Equals? 5. How and why did the Directory chose stability over democracy? 6. Why did the military assume ever greater influence over French society after 1795?

Wednesday, March 10th
August 1794 - 1799: The Directory and the Rise of Napoleon

Thursday, March 11th
The End of the Revolution and Test Review

Friday, March 12th
Objective Test

[|Top 10 Revolutions in world history]

[|NYtimes Revolution Resources]

[|Revolution worksheet]

Choices Iran

To Live---[|Old Black Joe]

All the Shah's Men? Marat sade play Was each revolution successful Deng Xiao Ping Can you have a Revolution from the right? How do Revolutions grapple with and shape human nature

Revolution Reed Anna templeton shaw Hinton documentary hist Chinese village The dragons village To the Finland station John Adams quote Hinton woman Edgar snow

//**The Anatomy of Revolution**// is a book by [|Crane Brinton] outlining the "uniformities" of four major political revolutions: the [|English Revolution] of the 1640s, the [|American], the [|French] , and [|1917 Russian Revolution]. Brinton notes how the revolutions followed a life-cycle from the Old Order to a moderate regime to a radical regime, to [|Thermidorian reaction]. The book has been called "classic, [|[1]] "famous" and a "watershed in the study of revolution," [|[2]] and has been influential enough to have inspired advice given to US President [|Jimmy Carter] by his National Security Advisor [|Zbigniew Brzezinski] during the [|Iranian Revolution] . Its title seems to have inspired others, such as [|Leo Huberman], who wrote "Cuba: Anatomy of a Revolution" in 1969. [|[3]] First published in 1938, revised editions of Brinton's book were published in 1952, and 1965, and it is still in print. [|[4]] Brinton summarizes the revolutionary process as moving from "financial breakdown, [to] organization of the discontented to remedy this breakdown ... revolutionary demands on the part of these organized discontented, demands which if granted would mean the virtual abdication of those governing, attempted use of force by the government, its failure, and the attainment of power by the revolutionists. These revolutionists have hitherto been acting as an organized and nearly unanimous group, but with the attainment of power it is clear that they are not united. The group which dominates these first stages we call the moderates .... power passes by violent ... methods from [|Right] to [|Left] ." (p.253)

Themes
According to Brinton, while "we must not expect our revolutions to be identical" (p. 226), three of the four (the English, French and Russian) began "in hope and moderation", reached "a crisis in a [|reign of terror] ," and ended "in something like [|dictatorship] — [|Cromwell], [|Bonaparte] , [|Stalin] ". The exception is the American Revolution, which "does not quite follow this pattern". (p. 24)

[ [|edit] ] Fall of the old regime
The revolutions begin with problems in the pre-revolutionary regime. These include problems functioning — "government deficits, more than usual complaints over taxation, conspicuous governmental favoring of one set of economic interests over another, administrative entanglements and confusions". There are also social problems, such as the feeling by some that careers are not "open to talents", and economic power is separated from political power and social distinction. There is a "loss of self-confidence among many members of the ruling class," the "conversion of many members of that class to the belief that their privileges are unjust or harmful to society." (p. 65) "Intellectuals" switch their allegiance away from the government. (p. 251) In short, "the ruling class becomes politically inept." (p. 252) Financial problems play an important role, as "three of our four revolutions started among people who objected to certain taxes, who organized to protest them .... even in Russia in 1917 the financial problems were real and important." (p. 78) The revolutions' enemies and supporters disagree over whether plots and manipulation by revolutionists, or the corruption and tyranny of the old regime are responsible for the old regime's fall. Brinton argues both are right, as both the right circumstances and active agitation are necessary for the revolution to succeed. (p. 85-6) At some point in the first stages of the revolutions "there is a point where constituted authority is challenged by illegal acts of revolutionists" and the response of security forces is strikingly unsuccessful. In France in 1789 the "king didn't really try" to subdue riots effectively. In England the king "didn't have enough good soldiers." In Russia "at the critical moment the soldiers refused to march against the people" and instead joined them. (p. 88)

[ [|edit] ] Background of the revolutionaries
Revolutions "are born of hope" rather than misery. (p. 250) Contrary to the belief that revolutionaries are disproportionately [|poor] or down-and-out, "revolutionists are more or less a cross section of common humanity". While revolutionaries "behave in a way we should not expect such people to behave," this can be explained by the "revolutionary environment" rather than their background. (p. 120) "` [|Untouchables] ` very rarely revolt," and successful slave revolutions, like [|Haiti] 's, are few in number. (p.250) Revolutionaries are "not unprosperous" but "feel restraint, cramp, ... rather than downright crushing oppression."(p. 250)

[ [|edit] ] Revolutionary regimes
In each revolution a short "honeymoon" period follows the fall of the old regime, lasting until the "contradictory elements" among the victorious revolutionaries assert themselves. (p. 91) Power then has a tendency "to go from Right to Center to Left." (p. 123) In the process, Brinton says, `the revolution, like [|Saturn], devours its children,` quoting [|Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud] (p. 121)

[ [|edit] ] Moderates and dual power
The revolutions being studied first produce a "legal" moderate government. It vies with a more radical "illegal" government in a process known as " [|dual power] ", or as Brinton prefers to call it "dual sovereignty". In England the "Presbyterian moderates in Parliament" were rivals of "the illegal government of the extremist Independents in the New Model Army." (p. 135) In France, the National Assembly was controlled by the " [|Girondin] moderates", while the [|Montagnard] "extremists" controlled "the Jacobin network," "the Paris commune," (p. 136) and the Societies of the Friends of the Constitution. (p. 162) In Russia, the moderate provisional government of the Duma clashed with the radical Bolsheviks whose illegal government was a "network of soviets." (p. 136) The **radicals** triumph because:
 * they are "better organized, better staffed, better obeyed," (p. 134)
 * they have "relatively few responsibilities, while the legal government "has to shoulder some of the unpopularity of the government of the old regime" with "the worn-out machinery, the institutions of the old regime." (p. 134)
 * the moderates are hindered by their hesitancy to change direction and fight back against the radical revolutionaries, "with whom they recently stood united," in favor of conservatives, "against whom they have so recently risen." (p. 140) They are drawn to the slogan `no enemies to the Left.` (p. 168)
 * the moderates are attacked on one side by "disgruntled but not yet silenced conservatives, and the confident, aggressive extremists," on the other. The moderate revolutionary policies can please neither side. An example is the Root and Brand Bill in the English Revolution which abolished the episcopacy, angering conservatives and established institutions without earning the loyalty of radicals. (p. 141-43)
 * they are the "poor" leaders of the wars which accompany the revolutions, unable to "provide the discipline, the enthusiasm," needed. (p. 144)

[ [|edit] ] Radicals and "Reigns of Terror and Virtue"
In contrast to the moderates, the radicals are aided by a fanatical devotion to their cause, discipline and (in recent revolutions) a study of technique of revolutionary action, obedience to their leadership, ability to ignore contradictions between their rhetoric and action, and drive boldly ahead. (p. 155-60) Even their small numbers are an advantage, giving them "the ability to move swiftly, to make clear and final decisions, to push through to a goal without regard for injured human dispositions." (p. 154) The radicals took power in Russia with the [|October Revolution], in France with the purge of the [|Girondins] , in England " [|Pride's Purge] " (p. 163). The American Revolution never had a radical dictatorship and [|Reign of Terror], "though in the treatment of Loyalist, in the pressure to support the army, in some of the phases of social life, you can discern .. many of the phenomena of the Terror as it is seen in our three other societies." (p. 254) The radical reign is one of "Terror and Virtue." [|Terror] steming from the abundance of summary executions, foreign and civil war, struggle for power; [|virtue] in the form of [|puritanical] "organized asceticism" and suppression of vices such as drunkenness, gambling and prostitution. (p. 180) In its ardor, revolutionary "tragicomedy" touches the average citizen, for whom "politics becomes as real, as pressing, as unavoidable ... as food and drink," their "job, and the weather." (p. 177) On taking power the radicals rule through dictatorship and "rough-and-ready centralization." "The characteristic form of this supreme authority is that of a committee." (p. 171) The [|Council of State] in England, [|Committee of Public Safety] in France. At some point in these revolutions, the "process of transfer of power from Right to Left ceases," and groups even more radical than those in power are suppressed. (p. 167) (In France, the [|Hébertists] are sent to the guillotine, (p. 168) in Russia the [|Kronstadt rebellion] is crushed.) At least in France and Russia, the accession of radicals is also accompanied by a decline in political participation measured in votes cast, as "ordinary, peaceful", "humdrum men and women" favoring moderation find no outlet for their political beliefs. (p. 153-4) Along with centralization, lethal force in suppression of opposition, rule by committee, radical policies include the spreading of "the gospel of their revolution" to other countries. This is found not only in the Russian and French revolutions, but even seventeenth century England, where [|Edward Sexby] "proposed to the French radicals" in [|Bordeaux] "a republican constitution which was to be called `L'Accord du Peuple` — an adaptation of the English Agreement of the People." (p.193) These attempts seldom make a significant impact as the revolutionaries "are usually too poor, and too occupied at home." (p. 213)

[ [|edit] ] "Thermidor"
The radical reign of terror, or "crisis" period, is fairly soon replaced by [|Thermidor] period, a period of relaxation from revolutionary policies or "convalescence" from the "fever" of radicalism. Thermidor is named for the period following the fall of [|Maximilien Robespierre] in the French Revolution, in Russia the [|New Economic Policy] of 1921 "can be called Russia's Thermidor" (p. 207), and "perhaps the best date" for that period in England is "Cromwell's [|dissolution of the Rump] ." (p. 206) The Thermidor is characterized by America did not have a proper Reign of Terror and Virtue, but "the decade of the 1780's displays in incomplete forms some of the marks of Thermidor," as evidenced by the complaint of historian J.F. Jameson [|[6]] that `sober Americans of 1784 lamented the spirit of speculation which war and its attendant disturbances had generated, the restlessness of the young, disrespect for tradition and authority, increase of crime, the frivolity and extravagance of society.` (p. 235-6)
 * the "establishment of a `tyrant`", i.e. "an unconstitutional ruler brought to power by revolution." (p. 207) The "`silken threads` of habit, tradition, legality" having been broken, "men must be held together in society by the `iron chains` of dictatorship." (p.208) [|[5]]
 * restoration of many pre-revolutionary ways. In Russia this meant an abandonment of the [|Bolshevik] 's avant-garde stance against the institution of the family — formerly disparaged as "a stuffy little nest breeding selfishness, jealousy, love of property, indifference toward the great needs of society." (p. 224) The Bolshevik regime restored roadblocks to divorce, (p. 225) laws against homosexuality, (p. 226) and moderated its anti-religious, anti-Orthodox Church stance.
 * reaction against Puritanism of the revolution. In England, the [|Restoration comedy] that appeared after the revolution is now "a symbol of naughtiness." (p. 220) In France the post-revolutionary [|Directory] era was known as boom time for reopened dance halls and swaggering //jeunesse doree//. (p. 218) During the New Economic Policy in Soviet Russia advertising began to appear (p. 225), as did a new class of entrepreneurs known as the [|Nepmen] who were reputed to be `exceptionally vulgar, profiteering, crude, and noisy.` (p. 221)
 * the replacement of "missionary spirit" to spread revolution by an "aggressive nationalism." (p. 213) In England Cromwell reconquered Ireland and seized [|Jamaica] . In France [|Napoleon] created an empire. (p. 213)

[ [|edit] ] Lasting results
Brinton finds the lasting results of the revolutions disappointing (his book was written before the [|fall of communism] in the Soviet bloc). In France, the revolution did away with "the old overlapping jurisdictions, the confusions and the compromises inherited from, the thousand-year struggle" between Crown and feudal nobility. Weights and measure "that varied from region to region, indeed from town to town" were replaced with the metric system. Also gone was non-decimal coinage unsuited "for long division."(p. 239) Some antiquated practices were also eliminated in England. (p. 239) In Russia, the Bolsheviks brought industrialization, and eventually the [|Sputnik] space satellite. (p. 240) Confiscated lands stayed in the hands of the new owners for the most part, redistributing land to many "small independent peasants" in France (p. 241-2), and [|Puritan] businessmen and clergymen in England.(p. 242) Remaining essentially "untouched" were day-to-day social relations between husband and wife and children. Attempts at establishing new religions and personal habits come to naught. The revolutions' "results look rather petty as measured by the brotherhood of man and the achievement of justice on this earth. The blood of the martyrs seems hardly necessary to establish decimal coinage." (p. 259)

[ [|edit] ] Comparisons
Brinton concludes that despite their ambitions, the political revolutions he studied brought much less lasting social changes than the disruptions and changes of "what is loosely called the [|Industrial Revolution] ", and the top-down reforms of Mustapha Kemal's [|reforms] in [|Turkey], and the [|Meiji Restoration] or post- [|World War II] [|MacArthur era] in Japan. (p. 246)

[ [|edit] ]
[|5 stages of Egypt's Revolution]