French Revolution · 1789-1791

1789: France in revolution

A bankrupt king calls an old assembly, and within months Paris storms the Bastille and a National Assembly declares the rights of man. Students explore how a money crisis turned into a revolution.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1789
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

A bankrupt king calls an old assembly, and within months Paris storms the Bastille and a National Assembly declares the rights of man. Students explore how a money crisis turned into a revolution.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain how the debts of the French crown led to the meeting of the Estates-General in 1789.
  • Put the main events of 1789 in order: Estates-General, Tennis Court Oath, Bastille, Declaration of the Rights of Man.
  • Judge who gained from the new rights of 1789 and who was still left out.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1789

France in 1789

Open the map in 1789 and zoom in on France. Find Paris. The king lived at Versailles, about 20 km to the south-west. Which states border France to the north and east?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1789

A patchwork next door

Stay in 1789 and turn on Historical Maps. A scanned map of the Holy Roman Empire in 1789 appears. Count some of the small states between France and Austria. Why might their rulers fear a revolution?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1789

The flight to Varennes

Type "Where is Varennes?" in Ask the atlas. In June 1791 the royal family fled Paris and was stopped there. Estimate how far they still were from the border of France.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why did a king who needed money call the Estates-General, which had not met since 1614?
  2. The Third Estate was the vast majority of the people but had one vote out of three. How would you have counted the votes?
  3. The Bastille held only seven prisoners when it was stormed. Why did it still become the symbol of the Revolution?
  4. The Declaration of the Rights of Man said men are born free and equal in rights. Who was left out?
  5. After the flight to Varennes, many French people stopped trusting their king. Can a country keep a king it does not trust?
4

Game round

10 min

Play the first round of Rule History as Napoleon Bonaparte (1799) on the classroom screen. The Revolution is ten years old and the government is weak. Discuss: how did a revolution for liberty end with a general in charge?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.