Hey! I'm doing History:Revolutions this year! I'm doing French and Russian Revolutions. Our teacher gave us a list of major events for area of study one French Revolution for us to take notes on who, what, when, where, how and why.
We were given holiday homework on taking notes and reading some dot points on ancien regime and also questions.
What textbook are you using? 'Cambridge's Analysing the X Revolution?' While it's helpful to an extent, I used other resources (such as Access to History: France in Revolution/ HTAV's Liberating France etc) would provide more information and an understanding into why and how the revolution occurred. While these 'major events' in the French Revolution were particularly useful and the prominent examples as to why it contributed to the revolution, note that during the exam almost, if not, everyone would be referencing. Hence I can only suggest finding
smaller events ; or events not given/mentioned in the study design and integrate it into your writing. This would persuade the examiners and demonstrate that you've actually researched the subject. For example, the Day of Tiles.
While you're at it, write down the significance of such events: in addition to other major events, these smaller - yet not often written- often demonstrate the growing contempt against the ancien regime, but furthermore, created or established an effect on a local, psychological effect. The Day of Tiles for example, would often be highlighted that it "demonstrated general public rowdiness". However, diving deeper into a more analytical level, would also be a factor for not only an example of the revolution's spread to the lower classes, but also
how the people in Grenoble saw the monarchy itself - one of growing corruption, which of course, laminates their uneducated views of the actual events of the crisis. This in effect, would be a primal factor into establishing more vocal opposition through the use of physical violence, evident by events such as the Fall of Bastille. Think contextually. This will give you a leverage in your 10-mark response in Section A as long as you have evidence (statistics, individuals, pamphlets, or events that is not referenced in your own study guide.)
However, in another light, I would have to say that Revolutions is a very, very content heavy subject. Achieving a great score would require more than just the reading you're given by the teachers. I would also add that I suggest you find local examples (such as what people thought of it/saw of the events) during that time period itself, because establishing a sense of
historical empathy, in my opinion, would be the fastest way of understanding why preceding events occurred. Calonne's 'radical' reforms are often determined by historians to be deemed as 'radical', which I failed to properly understand as to why it was deemed radical. It was deemed 'radical' because the taxation and privilege system was altered to only allocate wealth and power to a certain percentage of the population, hence, Calonne's reforms for 'tax equality' was heavily criticised. But, like you *might* feel -- how is that radical? It seems pretty understandable to me. The problem is that, as a reader itself, you have to understand that we live in a democratic society, and also have adopted the ideas of egalitarianism. Hence, when reading/understanding about events, it is never wise to
substitute contemporary ideas into the past -- doing would not only compromise (as I view it) your understanding, but also bring about claims that almost all students studying the revolution would argue ( was not fair..blah blah blah) (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, SCHAMA). That's why I adore reading historian opinions.
Also, if you have time, try and research/find some quotes of what historian X would suggest in this situation. Building up this skill early on means that during the exam, you can extrapolate a plethora of historians and their suggestions onto the said event. This would further boosting your mark. Examples from the textbook is okay, but when everyone is using it, examiners are going to be pissed off. Heck, even Adcock said that Schama's 'violence was the motor of the revolution', was overused.
Make good notes as well. Good notes means you can revise easier.
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