Reading and Writing Workshop

Revolution, Nationalism, and Industrialization in Europe (1789–1914)

Session 1: The French Revolution (1789–1799)
Key Topics:

• Causes: social, political, economic
• Estates-General and the National Assembly
• Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
• The Reign of Terror and Robespierre

Primary Source:

• The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)
  https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/rightsof.asp

Activities:

• Primary Source Analysis
• Short Response: How does the Declaration reflect Enlightenment ideals?
• Discussion: Was the French Revolution inevitable?

Session 2: Napoleon and Revolutionary Legacy (1799–1815)
Key Topics:

• Rise of Napoleon
• Napoleonic Code
• Napoleonic Wars
• Congress of Vienna

Primary Source:

• Excerpts from the Napoleonic Code (1804)
  https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1804napoleoniccode.asp

Activities:

• Debate: Napoleon – hero or tyrant?
• Mapping Activity: Trace Napoleon’s campaigns

Session 3: Agricultural and Early Industrial Revolutions
Key Topics:

• Enclosure movement, crop rotation
• Steam engines and textile factories
• Early capitalist thought

Primary Source:

• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300

Activities:

• Comparative Chart: Agricultural vs. Industrial Revolutions
• Simulation: A day in the factory
• Short Response: How did agriculture pave the way for industrial growth?

Session 4: Reactions to Industrialization
Key Topics:

• Social impact: working conditions, child labor
• Socialism, Marxism, labor movements

Primary Source:

• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1848)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61

Activities:

• Primary Source Analysis: Marx vs. Smith
• Debate: Socialism vs. Capitalism
• Creative Writing: Letter from a factory worker

Session 5: Nationalism and Liberalism (1815–1848)
Key Topics:

• Congress of Vienna
• 1830 and 1848 Revolutions
• Growth of political ideologies

Primary Source:

• Klemens von Metternich, Selections from Memoirs (1815)
  https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1815metternich.asp

Activities:

• Discussion: Did the Congress of Vienna preserve peace or suppress change?
• Short Response: Compare the revolutions of 1830 and 1848

Session 6: Italian and German Unification (1848–1871)
Key Topics:

• Mazzini, Garibaldi, Cavour in Italy
• Bismarck and German unification
• Realpolitik and military strategy

Primary Sources:

• Giuseppe Mazzini, “Duties of Man” (1844)
  https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1844mazzini.asp
• Otto von Bismarck, Speech on the Reichstag (1862)
  https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1862bismarck.asp

Activities:

• Map Analysis: Unification of Italy and Germany
• Political Cartoon Interpretation: Bismarck’s Realpolitik

Session 7: The Second Industrial Revolution (c. 1870–1914)
Key Topics:

• Electricity, steel, chemicals
• Urban public health and housing
• Changing gender roles

Primary Source:

• Emmeline Pankhurst, “Freedom or Death” (1913)
  https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1913pankhurst.asp

Activities:

• Primary Source Analysis: Women's roles in industrial society
• Simulation: Organizing a suffrage campaign

Session 8: Labor Movements and Social Reform
​Key Topics:

• Unions and strikes
• Anarchist and socialist movements
• Social legislation and reform

Primary Source:

• Engels’ Description of Working-Class Life in Manchester (1845)
  https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1844engels.asp

Activities:

• Simulation: Workers organizing a strike
• Short Response: How did workers advocate for change?

Weekly Assessments

• Quizzes on key concepts, people, and terms
• Short responses analyzing primary sources
• Debates and simulations to deepen understanding
• End-of-Unit Essay: Choose one essential question and answer with evidence from at least two primary sources