French Revolution & Napoleon - Ch. 18
The outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 stirred the imagination of Europeans. Both participants and observers sensed that they were living in a pivotal age. On the ruins of the Old Order, founded on privilege and despotism, a new era that promised to realize the ideals of the Enlightenment was forming. These ideals included the emancipation of the human person from supersition and tradition, the triumph of liberty over tyranny, the refashioning of institutions in accordance with reason and justice, and the tearing down of barriers to equality. It seemed that the natural rights of the individual, hitherto a distant ideal, would now reign on earth, ending centuries of oppression and misery. Never before had people shown such confidence in the power of human intelligence to shape the conditions of existence. Never before had the future seemed so full of hope.
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Reading Schedule:
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Chapter 14: Crisis and Absolutism in Europe
Sec. 3: Absolutism (pgs. 464 - 471) Chapter 18: French Revolution and Napoleon Sec. 1: The French Revolution Begins (pgs. 576 - 583) Sec. 2: Radical Revolution and Reaction (pgs. 586 - 593) Sec. 3: The Age of Napoleon (pgs. 596 - 603) French Revolution and Napoleon (pdf) |
Assignments
Enduring Understanding
1. A different social class led each phase of the revolution & each phase had different causes.
2. The French Revolution resulted from a combination of traditional class conflicts, economic insecurity and Enlightenment ideals.
3. The ideals of the revolution introduced by Napoleon to conquered territories, lit the spark of freedom in many parts of Eastern Europe.
4. Napoleon used a variety of methods to maintain absolute control over France while also offering a degree of freedom to the French people.
2. The French Revolution resulted from a combination of traditional class conflicts, economic insecurity and Enlightenment ideals.
3. The ideals of the revolution introduced by Napoleon to conquered territories, lit the spark of freedom in many parts of Eastern Europe.
4. Napoleon used a variety of methods to maintain absolute control over France while also offering a degree of freedom to the French people.
Essential Questions
1. What were the causes of the French Revolution?
2. How did the Enlightenment and American Revolution influence the French Revolution?
3. Why are the reforms of the National Assembly described as the death warrant of the Old Regime?
4. Why and how did the French Revolution move from a moderate to a radical stage?
5. Why does the career of Napoleon Bonaparte continue to fascinate?
6. How did Napoleon both preserve and undermine the ideals of the French Revolution?
7. How did Napoleon speed up modernization of Europe?
8. Why is the French Revolution a decisive period in the shaping of the modern West?
2. How did the Enlightenment and American Revolution influence the French Revolution?
3. Why are the reforms of the National Assembly described as the death warrant of the Old Regime?
4. Why and how did the French Revolution move from a moderate to a radical stage?
5. Why does the career of Napoleon Bonaparte continue to fascinate?
6. How did Napoleon both preserve and undermine the ideals of the French Revolution?
7. How did Napoleon speed up modernization of Europe?
8. Why is the French Revolution a decisive period in the shaping of the modern West?
