1^res européennes

4 September 2025

What should pupils do ?

In class, listen, read the documents and participate as often as you can. According to several surveys, more than 80% of an individual pupil's efficiency depends on what is done (or not done!) in class.
At home, read the documents and classroom notes again. The learning of new words and new grammatical skills deserves top priority. Visit the links and watch the proposed videos, prepare the subject for the next class.
The evaluation grid is used at the final exam. Look at it to understand what is expected. The grid is based on three independent scales: the first one (6 points) relates to the knowledge in history and geography ; the second one (6 points) to understanding questions and answering them ; the last one is about linguistic skills (8 points).
In the final exam, you'll choose one of two subjects, each one based on a different part of the syllabus. Once your choice is made, you have got twenty minutes to prepare a speech of ten minutes: using the documents and your knowledge, answer the question. The second part of the exam consists in Q&As, independent from the subject. It's a conversation in English.

On 10 August 1792, the French monarchy was overthrown. Even though many Britons had been impressed by the revolution of 1789, it was now obvious that the French revolution was escalating into a civil war. The British idea of liberty, based on the parliamentary monarchy established in 1688, following the “Glorious revolution” was challenged by French radicalism. More, the French revolution was becoming a threat to its European neighbours. Propaganda leaflets like this one were intended to convince the British public to reject the ideology of revolutionary France and to support the British government in its efforts to contain it. War actually began on 1 February 1793. King Louis XVI had been executed on 21 January.

The French revolution: a view from England

➣ Why are English (and American) historians so interested in our revolution ?

➣ How did the English public react to the French Revolution (FR)? And why did the English government eventually wage war against it?

➪ Subject № 1 : The Contrast.

1 | The viewpoint of a British historian : Richard Clay

➣ WATCH: Richard Clay, “Tearing up history” (BBC, 2014). A study of revolutionary violence and of its relationship to political emancipation. Professor Clay is an English historian who has focused on iconoclasm. Iconoclasm means the destruction of images, statues and symbols. R. Clay admires the FR which “changed the world”. He admires it because of its values: liberty, equality and brotherhood (universal values). He likes the FR, notwithstanding (in spite of) its dark episodes.

he admires the FR which, he says, “represents the spirit of Enlightenment”.
he shares the values of the French Revolution : “liberty, equality and freedom of speech”.
he considers the Tennis Court oath (20 June 1789) as the birth of constitutional democracy. On that day, the representatives of the third estate, joined by a few noble men and clergymen, took an oath to stay united until France would have a constitution.

➙ For Richard Clay, the FR is still inspiring.

11 September 2025

➪ Ordre de passage des oraux pour le premier trimestre (mis à jour le 11/9).

2 | The viewpoint of an American historian : Timothy Tackett

➪ READ: Timothy Tackett's vision of the French revolution. Tackett is an American historian. In his book, When the king took flight (Harvard, 2004) he puts stress on the contrast between the lofty ideals of the revolution and the regime of Terror that followed. He takes sides with the revolution and argues that the monarchy, not the people, is to blame for the violence that happened. The people were oppressed, their rebellion was legitimate, and king Louis XVI failed to implement the social and political reforms that might have prevented the outburst of violence.

➪ Subject № 2 : a text by Mary Wollstonecraft and an etching representing the execution (“martyrdom”) of king Louis XVI.

18 September 2025

Tackett's comments on the French revolution (completed).

25 September 2025

How did the British react to the French Revolution ?

❑ In 1789, the news of the revolution in France raised a lot of sympathy in England, especially among intellectuals. For them, the French revolution would bring about more freedom (See Mary Wollstonecraft in subject № 2).

❑ But very soon, some British politicians started to criticise the rising violence in France. Among them Edmund Burke, member of parliament, one of the Commons’ best orators. Burke believed that violence would grow further. And events proved him right.

❑ Things went worse after the fall of the monarchy on 10 August 1792. See “The Contrast”. The end of the monarchy was followed by massacres (see the “Petit souper à la parisienne” in subject № 4).

❑ In the end, war started, just after the execution of the king. Louis XVI died on 21 January 1793 and the war was declared on February 1^st. It was going to last until 1815, with short intervals of peace. The reason why that England did not want France to dominate the continent. Spreading her ideology, the FR had become a mortal danger for the UK.

➪ Subject № 3 : An utterly subversive revolution.

➪ Subject № 4, also for available for orals.

2 October 2025

3 | For the French revolution : Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), English feminist and political writer

➣ WATCH: Simon Schama's history of Britain, episode 12. Look at 23 minutes from the beginning for our extract on Mary Wollstonecraft.

➪ Subject № 5 English polemics on the French revolution (Cartoon of Burke by Cruikshank, letter from Walpole to Hannah More on Mary Wollstonecraft).

9 October 2025

❑ Wollstonecraft loved the ideals of the FR. Therefore, she went to France. She hoped that revolutionary France would stand for her ideal of gender equality. She was disappointed. The French arrested her, and she was only saved because an American businessman married her. Later, he abandoned her and their daughter. Wollstonecraft is remembered for her Vindication of the rights of women, published in 1792. She was a forerunner of feminism.

❑ A revolution in arts, criticised by a British historian of Arts : Simon Schama on David’s painting, The dead Marat. Marat was a bloodthirsty revolutionary leader. He was assassinated by a young woman, Charlotte Corday. David, his friend, painted him as a martyr, just like a Christian Pietà.

➪ WATCH Simon Schama's documentary on Dailymotion.

1res européennes