Hi there, I'm Mr. Roberts, and thanks for joining me for today's history lesson, where my job will be to guide you through our history resources.

I'll be making sure that by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to securely meet our lesson objective.

In today's lesson, which is part of our unit on the Enlightenment, we're familiarising ourselves with some of the key features of the Enlightenment movement.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain why the French Revolution took place.

There are five key words which will help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

These are Ancien Regime, taille, Estates-General, republic, and absolute.

The Ancien Regime was the name for the political and social system in France before the Revolution.

Ruled by the monarch, King Louis XVI.

The taille was a land tax paid in France by peasants and non-nobles before the Revolution, and was not paid by clergy or nobility.

An Estates-General was an emergency meeting of people from all areas of French society that the king could call to advise him.

A republic is a country without a king or queen.

The ability of a monarch to do as they please without having to answer to anyone for their actions is known as absolute power.

Today's lesson will be split into three parts, and we'll begin by thinking about the Enlightenment and the American Revolution.

And the role that both of these would play in inspiring unrest in France.

During the 1600s and 1700s, the Enlightenment prompted thinkers, known as philosophers, to gather together.

This accelerated scientific understanding and promoted ideas about equality.

Enlightenment philosophers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed in the social contract, which was the idea that having great power gave governments great responsibility to protect ordinary people and rule in a way that was good for everyone.

(mouse clicks) These ideas spread to Britain's colonies in North America where people like Benjamin Franklin were inspired to gain independence from British rule.

The American Revolution ended with the British army surrendering in 1781, allowing the founding fathers to set up the new United States of America, in line with Enlightenment values of equality, freedom, and the social contract.

Enlightenment thinkers in France who believed in the social contract, saw how their ideas had helped cause the American Revolution, and as a result, now began to look at the problems in their own country, which they blamed on King Louis XVI and his Ancien Regime.

So now let's see if we've secured what we've just heard.

Alex says, "The American Revolution had a direct impact on France." Based on what we've learned, do you agree with Alex's opinion? Yes or no? Pause the video and press play when you've made a decision.

Welcome back, and well done if you said yes, it is true to say that the American Revolution had a direct impact on France.

Now let's justify Alex's opinion.

Which justification is the most meaningful? a, when the Americans beat the British, it inspired the French people to fight the British too.

Or b, Americans overthrowing their king made the French question the role of their king too.

Pause the video, have a think about the answer, and when you've reached your decision, restart the video to find out the answer.

Hello again, and well done if you selected b as the correct justification for Alex's opinion.

It is true to say that the American Revolution had a direct impact on France because the Americans overthrowing their king made the French question the role of their king too.

Another learning check before moving on.

True or false? The Enlightenment started in America.

Pause the video and return when you're ready for the answer.

Welcome back, and well done if you said the answer is false.

Let's justify it now.

Which statement offers the most meaningful justification? a, the Enlightenment started in Europe and spread to America.

Or b, the Enlightenment started in Europe and stayed in Europe.

Pause the video once more and press play for the answer.

Hello again, and congratulations if you said the best justification was a.

The correct sequence of events is that the Enlightenment started in Europe and then spread to America.

Let's have a go at a quick written task now.

I would like you to pause the video and complete the sentence starter on the screen using what you now know, and then come back when you're ready for some feedback.

Hello again.

I asked you to complete the sentence starter on the screen.

Everyone's answer might look slightly different, but you could have written, Alex is correct because the ideas of the Enlightenment inspired the Americans to believe they were being treated badly and to overthrow their king, which inspired the French to think that they could do the same.

That brings us now nicely on to the second part of today's lesson.

Just as a reminder that overall, we are exploring how Enlightenment ideas led to the French Revolution.

And the next part of our story very much centres around the growing frustrations of the French people at this time.

France had spent a huge amount of money supporting the American Revolution against Britain in the 1770s, and now had to tax its own people heavily to make up for it.

At this time, King Louis XVI's Ancien Regime therefore continued to collect taille from French peasants, the poorest people in society, many of whom were already starving due to a series of poor harvests over the past few years.

Under the Ancien Regime, only the peasants had to pay taille, whereas richer people whose family's own land, known as the nobility, did not.

The same was also true for anyone who worked for the church, known as clergy, which was very unfair in the eyes of the peasants since they had the least and yet had to pay the most.

Before we move on, it's really important to know about the tax in France, known as the taille, so let's check we are really secure in our understanding of it.

True or false? Ordinary French people were happy to pay taille.

Pause the video while you come to a decision and press play when you'd like me to reveal the answer.

Hello again, and well done if you said it was false.

But before we move on, we need to justify our answer.

Which of the following offers the most meaningful justification? a, taille was a hated tax because only the poorest members of French society had to pay it.

Or b, taille was a hated tax because the king made sure that everyone in France paid it.

As ever, pause the video while you work out the correct answer and return to this video when you are ready.

Welcome back, and well done if you selected a as the correct justification for the statement at the top of the screen.

In full, it is false to say that ordinary French people were happy to pay the taille, because taille was a hated tax because only the poorest members of French society had to pay it.

To make things worse, Louis XVI continued spending vast sums of money on his own lifestyle, including regularly holding grand banquets at his golden palace in Versailles.

His wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, also became disliked by the French people because she was seen as the person responsible for a lot of the king's extravagant spending.

Some believed at first that the king simply did not know about his people suffering and that only if he knew about how bad things had become that he would do something about it.

Many blamed the queen, as they believed she knew how bad things were but was not telling the king.

Enlightenment beliefs about equality, freedom, and the social contract directly disagreed with how French people saw themselves being treated.

Inspired by Enlightenment ideas of freedom and equality, the French people became angry at the king and queen's lavish spending, and started to look to the American Revolution for ideas about how to improve their own lives.

Now, before we go any further, I would like you to slightly change the statements below to make them correct.

The incorrect statements are as follows, during the period of bad harvests and starvation amongst the ordinary French people, Louis and Marie Antoinette stopped spending lavishly on their lifestyles.

And Louis and Marie Antoinette looked as if they really cared about the welfare of the ordinary French people at this time.

Pause the video while you make the slight changes to the statements, and press play when you're ready to check your corrections.

Welcome back, and well done If your statements look like the following, during the period of bad harvests and starvation amongst the ordinary French people, Louis and Marie Antoinette continued to spend lavishly on their lifestyles.

And Louis and Marie Antoinette looked as if they really did not care about the welfare of ordinary French people at this time.

Everyone in France at this time belonged to an estate.

The First Estate, the clergy.

The Second Estate, the nobility.

And the Third Estate, ordinary commoners who paid the taille.

(mouse clicks) In times of difficulty, the king of France would call an Estates-General meeting, gathering representatives of each estate in French society to debate and give advice on new laws.

Louis decided now was one of those times.

Louis called the Estates-General, hoping to avoid a revolution like the one in the former British colonies in North America.

Let's do another check now, that we are carrying forward the knowledge we need.

Which three of the following answers are accurate reasons why ordinary French people were so angry by 1789.

a, the king and queen lived a luxurious lifestyle while a lot of them were starving.

b, there was an understanding amongst the French people that some people should have more than others.

c, the ordinary French people had to pay taille while the nobility and clergy did not.

And d, France had got into a great deal of debt from supporting the American Revolution.

Pause the video while you decide on the correct three answers, and press play again when you would like me to reveal which of the statements are correct.

Welcome back, and well done if you said a, c, and d.

Now, on the screen, you'll be able to see an illustration designed to be entertaining.

Each person that you can see represents one of the three estates of French society.

Pause the video and look closely to see if you can work out who represents the First Estate, the Second Estate, and the Third Estate, based on what you've learnt about them.

When you've made your decisions, restart the video for the answers.

Welcome back, and well done if you identified the man in the top left as the figure representing the First Estate.

This is because members of the First Estate were the clergy, meaning priests and other members of the church.

You can tell this by his jewellery, which is in the shape of a cross, the traditional symbol of Christianity hanging around his neck.

Well done too, if you identified the figure on the right as the person representing the Second Estate.

This is because members of the Second Estate were nobles who were richer than ordinary peasants, and could therefore afford the type of clothing that this person is wearing.

Finally, congratulations if you identified the figure towards the bottom as the representative of the Third Estate, which was made up of all other French people, the vast majority of whom were poor, which you can hopefully see by the person's tattered clothing.

Now, let's do a written task that's based on this illustration, which has been created in a way that suggests the Third Estate is carrying the First and Second Estate.

Now, this doesn't mean that they were carrying them in a literal sense, but I would now like you to write a paragraph based on what you've learned that attempts to explain why the Third Estate felt like they were carrying the rest of French society.

Pause this video while you complete your paragraph, and press play when you are ready for a model answer.

Welcome back.

I asked you to write a paragraph to explain why the Third Estate felt like they were carrying the First and Second Estate.

It's worth saying here that everybody's answer will look different, but well done if you included any of the following in your answer.

The Third Estate probably felt like they were carrying the First and Second Estate because under the Ancien Regime they had to pay the most tax.

For example, ordinary common people who belonged to the Third Estate had to pay taille, whereas nobles of the Second Estate and clergy of the First Estate did not.

They therefore felt they were unfairly carrying the burden of repaying France's debts all on their own.

Very well done.

And now it's time to move on to the third and final part of today's lesson.

Here, we're about to explore the events and key features that sparked revolution in France and what happened as a result.

I mentioned earlier that Louis had called a meeting of the three groups in French society, known as an Estates-General, in order to try and sort out the problems France was facing, and the anger that was being aimed at him by the Third Estate, thanks to the taille, the series of poor harvests, the amount of debt France was in, and his own lavish lifestyle.

Louis XVI presented himself as a friend of the French people who cared about these problems. However, Jacques Necker, the king's main financial advisor, made a big mistake of arguing that the Estates-General should raise even more taxes.

This made the ordinary peasants of the Third Estate who felt they were already at breaking point, even angrier.

The Third Estate was so angry at Jacques Necker's suggestion and the lack of progress being made that they broke away from the Estates-General, assembling a new group to make their own decisions, calling it the National Assembly, which was somewhere that the king and the First and Second Estates had no power.

They took an oath to keep the National Assembly alive as long as it took for France to gain a constitution, a set of written laws that apply to everyone, which was a key Enlightenment idea and something that the USA had done at the end of their revolution.

The creation of the National Assembly by the Third Estate very much signalled that the downfall of the Ancien Regime and the absolute power of Louis XVI to do as he pleased had begun.

Now it's time for another learning check.

Sofia's opinion is that Jacques Necker, the financial advisor to King Louis XVI, made a big mistake at the Estates-General.

Pause the video and decide based on what you've just learned, whether or not you agree with Sofie.

Come back when you're ready.

Hello again, and well done if you said yes.

It very much seems like Jacques Necker made a big mistake at the Estates-General, but which one of the following statements meaningfully justifies Sofia's opinion? a, Jacques Necker's mistake was arguing that the Third Estate should pay even more tax.

Or b, Jacques Necker's mistake was arguing that the Third Estate should pay less tax.

Pause the video and press play when you've made a decision.

Welcome back, and well done if you said a, Jacques Necker's mistake was arguing that the Third Estate should pay even more tax.

So in July, 1789, shortly after the National Assembly was set up by the Third Estate, rumours spread around Paris, the capital city of France, that King Louis XVI was about to arrest its members.

A crowd of angry Parisians gathered and overran a prison known as the Bastille, which was a hated symbol of the power of the king over ordinary people.

The National Assembly demanded further changes and a debate formed about what to do about the king and queen.

Some believed they should be allowed to retire, whereas others believed France would only truly become a republic if the royal family was dead.

Eventually, Louis and Marie Antoinette were executed in January, 1793.

Bringing about an end to absolute monarchy in France, just as Enlightenment thinkers such as Rousseau had wanted.

Due to this, other countries with monarchies such as Britain and Russia became very worried that revolutions might spread, and so they went to war with France in the following years.

France would now have to fight to protect its new republic, founded on Enlightenment ideals of freedom and equality.

A couple more learning checks now before we move on to our final written task.

What caused the protests in Paris that led to the storming of the Bastille in July, 1789? a, rumours that the National Assembly were going to try to arrest the king because he wasn't listening to them.

b, rumours that the king was going to arrest the members of the Third Estate who set up the National Assembly.

Or c, rumours that the king was going to arrest any members of the Third Estate who were refusing to pay taille.

Pause the video, select the right answer, then press play when you're ready to check it.

Welcome back, and well done if you said b.

The protests in Paris that led to the storming of the Bastille in 1789 were caused by rumours that the king was going to arrest the members of the Third Estate who had set up the National Assembly.

Which two of the following statements are correct? a, Louis and Maria Antoinette were executed in 1793 because they had ignored the unhappiness of the Third Estate for too long.

b, Louis and Marie Antoinette were executed in 1793 because they had ignored the unhappiness of the First Estate for too long.

Or c, the Enlightenment and the American Revolution sparked a chain of events that led to the end of absolute monarchy in France.

Pause the video and select the two statements that you think are true based on your learning so far.

Hello again, and well done if you said a and c.

Now, let's try our final written task, which will be an attempt to bring together all of your learning from today's lesson.

We firstly have to decide whether we agree or disagree with Andeep's opinion.

Andeep says, "Louis's execution was inevitable because there was just too much anger against him and his Ancien Regime." So once you've decided whether you agree or disagree with Andeep, and bear in mind that some historians would agree with Andeep, and some historians would disagree with him, decide what you think.

Then I would like you to write one or two paragraphs justifying yourself using your knowledge of some of the following: the Enlightenment, the American Revolution, bad harvests, taille, the Estates-General, and the storming of the Bastille.

Also, bear in mind, that the more of these features you include, the more fully you will have answered the question.

Pause the video and when you're done with your one or two paragraphs, restart the video and I'll provide you with a model answer for agreeing with Andeep, and a model answer for disagreeing with him.

Welcome back.

Really well done on completing that task, which required you to think hard about the causes of the French Revolution and Louis XVI's execution.

The question was though, whether we agreed with Andeep or not as to whether Louis's death was inevitable or we could say whether it was unavoidable.

You might have agreed with Andeep and said, "I agree with Andeep that Louis XVI's execution was inevitable.

This is because Louis made some bad decisions, such as living an extravagant lifestyle while the Third Estate was starving.

Also, the ideas of the Enlightenment, such as the social contract and the influence of the American Revolution meant that whatever he did, he would never be able to calm the anger of the Third Estate.

Once rumours about him were spread, it was unavoidable that he would be executed at some point." Or you might have disagreed with Andeep and said, "I disagree with Andeep because I think there were many opportunities for Louis XVi to calm down the Third Estate, but he made bad decisions.

For example, he continued to charge the Third Estate taille, even though he knew how angry it was making them, and he refused to lower his spending on expensive events.

Louis could've avoided execution by listening to the Third Estate.

So his execution wasn't inevitable, it was a result of his own choices." Remember, the historians disagree as to whether the French Revolution and Louis XVI's execution were inevitable, so whether you agreed with Andeep or disagreed with him, the important thing here was being able to justify your opinion using your knowledge of the events that led up to his death.

And with that, we've arrived at the end of our lesson today, enabling us to summarise the key learning points that we've covered.

We began by learning these Enlightenment ideas spread from Europe to America, inspiring America's Revolution, which France had supported.

We then moved on to how the French monarchy was deep in debt as a result of this support and taxed the poorest in society the most, which was unfair.

We explored the inequality of the Ancien Regime, and we learned how the inequality of the Ancien Regime and years of poor harvest angered the ordinary people of the Third Estate.

And we finished with seeing how the people of France rose up in 1789, executing the king in 1793.

Thank you so for joining me today.

It's been a pleasure to guide you through our history resources, and I look forward to seeing you again in the future as we explore how the French Revolution sent shock waves throughout Europe and the rest of the world.