A Tale of Two Cities

UNDERSTANDING HISTORICAL CONTEXT

• The circumstances in which a story takes place or was written

• For Tale of Two Cities…

WHAT IS HISTORICAL CONTEXT?

Story takes place during the French Revolution

Story was published in England after the fall of France’s Second Republic

http://dickens.stanford.edu/tale/historical_context.html

“THE BEST OF TIMES”- THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

LockeRoussea

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Voltaire

• Also known as Age of Reason• Movement in the arts, sciences,

and politics

Thinkers

• Bread Famine • Malnutrition• Tooth Decay

• Taxation• Oppression

“THE WORST OF TIMES”

Image Credit: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7743702v/

Monarchy

The Estates General

1. Clergy 2. Nobility 3. Commoners

PRE-REVOLUTION GOVERNMENT

Tennis Court Oaths

Storming of the Bastille

The Rights of Man

March on Versailles

September Massacres

Republic Proclaimed

Death of Louis XVI

Reign of Terror

Paris Commune

Directory

Napoleon

• The meeting of the Third Estate on a tennis court

• They break away from the Estates General

• They form “The National Assembly”

• Their goal was to draft a new French Constitution

TENNIS COURT OATH

Image Credit: Eleni Kioussis http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/587409/Tennis-Court-Oath

• Housed Political Prisoners

• Attempt for Revolutionaries to acquire

gun powder

• The following webpage includes more information and quizzes to test your

knowledge:

http://bastille-day.com/

STORMING OF THE BASTILLE

Image Credit: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7743702v/

• “The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing

that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public

calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a

solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man”

DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN

The full text can be found here: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/rightsof.asp

• Women storm the palace

• Protest of high bread prices and bread

shortages

• Bring the monarchy to Paris

MARCH ON VERSAILLES

Image Credit: Clip Art, Word for Mac 2010

• A series ok killings from September 2 to September 6, 1792

• The first MASS KILLING of the revolution

• Also known as The First Terror

THE SEPTEMBER MASSACRES

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/535103/September-Massacres

• The First French Republic was proclaimed on September 22,

1792

• Follows the themes of Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood

• Established by the National Convention

…• The revolution is far from over

REPUBLIC PROCLAIMED

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalfrance/152408174/

DEATH OF LOUIS XVI

Image Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Execution_of_Louis_XVI.jpg

• Many Mass Killings- GUILLOTINE

• Rejection of Catholicism

• Notre Dame becomes The Temple of Reason

• Chaos and Fear

Robespierre

REIGN OF TERROR

Image Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Execution_of_Louis_XVI.jpg

• Robespierre’s rule was even more oppressive

than the King’s

• Attempted to Reconcile with a Directory of 5

members

• Ultimately results in Napoleon’s Rule

ATTEMPTS TO RESTORE ORDER

Image Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gros_-_First_Consul_Bonaparte_(Detail).png

AND I CARE BECAUSE…?

Develops Understanding of the Text

Adds Significance to Events in Plot

Similar to the American Revolution

Establishes Principles we Live by Today

Gives Insight into the Past

Ideas that can be Useful in the Future