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Year 8

British responses to the French Revolution

I can explain how historians study pamphlets to understand reactions to the French Revolution in Britain.

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Year 8

British responses to the French Revolution

I can explain how historians study pamphlets to understand reactions to the French Revolution in Britain.

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Share activities with pupils
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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The French Revolution led to the execution of King Louis XVI and social upheaval in France.
  2. Burke and others feared that the French Revolution would inspire similar social upheaval across Europe.
  3. Pamphlets became popular at this time which historians use to understand British responses to the French Revolution.
  4. Wollstonecraft and Paine believed Britain should implement a written constitution like the French or US constitution.
  5. Pitt feared the unrest that the French Revolution was causing in Britain and brought in new laws to deal with this.

Keywords

  • Revolution - a revolution is the forcible overthrow of a government: a great or complete change

  • Status quo - the status quo is a term used to refer to the way things are or the existing way society is set up

  • Pamphlet - a pamphlet is a small booklet or leaflet written to argue for or against an idea

  • Upheaval - when there is a great change in society it is known as a social upheaval

  • Constitution - a constitution is a set of basic principles or laws that govern a nation

Common misconception

All contemporary British thinkers were complete supporters of the French Revolution.

Levels of support for the French Revolution amongst contemporary British thinkers varied.


To help you plan your year 8 history lesson on: British responses to the French Revolution, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Help students to understand that the surge in pamphleteering in Britain at this time was driven by a combination of Enlightenment ideas and revolutionary fervour, and also made possible by the invention of the printing press during the preceding scientific revolution.
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Adult supervision recommended

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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Put these time periods into the correct chronological order.
1 - the 'Dark Ages'
2 - the Renaissance
3 - the Scientific Revolution
4 - the Enlightenment
5 - the Industrial Revolution
6 - the 20th century
Q2.
During the Scientific Revolution of the 1500s, which of these people challenged the teachings of the Church by explaining that the Earth revolved around the Sun, rather than the other way around?
Isaac Newton
Correct answer: Galileo
Correct answer: Copernicus
Stephen Hawking
Q3.
Which of the following thinkers do we class as belonging to the Enlightenment movement of the 1700s?
Correct answer: John Locke
Correct answer: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Correct answer: Benjamin Franklin
Isaac Newton
Q4.
Match the events with the year they took place
Correct Answer:King Louis XVI of France is executed,1793
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1793

Correct Answer:Britain imposes the Stamp Act on America,1765
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1765

Correct Answer:Haiti wins its revolt against France,1804
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1804

Q5.
What word is used to describe a country without a monarch?
Correct Answer: republic, Republic, A Republic, a Republic, a republic
Q6.
What effect did revolutions that were happening all around the world have on monarchs in the 1700s and 1800s?
little effect - monarchs remained calm despite revolutions in other countries
no effect - monarchs just ignored what was going on in other countries
Correct answer: large effect - monarchs worried that revolution would spread to their countries

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which laws were brought in by the British government due to discontent caused by the French Revolution?
Correct answer: The Seditious Meetings Act
The Revolutionary Ideas Act
Correct answer: The Factory Act
Correct answer: The Treason Act
Q2.
Was Edmund Burke for or against the spread of French revolutionary radical ideas?
For
Correct answer: Against
Q3.
Match the British political thinker to the pamphlet that they wrote.
Correct Answer:Edmund Burke,Revolution in France
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Revolution in France

Correct Answer:Mary Wollstonecraft,A Vindication of the Rights of Man
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A Vindication of the Rights of Man

Correct Answer:Thomas Paine,Rights of Man
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Rights of Man

Q4.
In what year did the French people execute their king, Louis XVI?
Correct Answer: 1793
Q5.
Which group in French society broke away from the Estates-General and launched the French Revolution in 1789?
The First Estate (the clergy)
The Second Estate (the nobility)
Correct answer: The Third Estate (the commoners)
Q6.
Which of these British political thinkers wanted to encourage the spread of radical revolutionary ideas from France to Britain?
Edmund Burke
Correct answer: Mary Wollstonecraft
Correct answer: Thomas Paine

Additional material

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