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Essay:  “Two sides of the same coin”

A Tale of Two Cities” (1859), by Charles Dickens, is a novel set in London and Paris before the onset of the French Revolution. Throughout the plot, and though the story of the different characters, the author described the situation and events of these two countries (England and France) in these years. It can be seen clearly, that the setting in which these fictional characters are placed, describes the real events that took place since 1775 until some years after the French Revolution broke out.

There are several reasons that led to the French Revolution. In the first place, the lower classes were very poor and they were immersed in terrible misery, poverty and hunger. “The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris, where it was spilled. It had stained many hands, too, and many faces, and many naked feet, and many wooden shoes. The hands of the man who sawed the wood, left red marks on the billets; and the forehead of the woman who nursed her baby, was stained with the stain of the old rag she wound about her head again. Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth; and one tall joker so besmirched, his head more out of a long squalid bag of a nightcap than it, scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy wine-lees-blood.” (Book the first, Chapter 5, pages 37-38). The author narrates in the novel how a casket of wine was dropped in the streets of Paris. He described how the miserable lower classes desperately reacted to this, and made as well a description of their appearance.

In the second place, another reason that led to revolution was that these poor peasants from the lower classes were contrasted with the rich high classes in France. The lower classes were forced to pay for high taxes, while the rich high classes were corrupted and refused to pay them. This clear differences created tension and hatred between them, being this another reason for the French Revolution, which was led by this poor, oppressed and resentful lower classes. “It is extraordinary to me that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your children. One or the other of you is forever in the way. How do I know what injury you have done to my horses? See!” (Book the second, Chapter 7, page 116). The quote was said by the Marquis, a character who belonged to the aristocracy, after having killed with his carriage a young peasant boy. This scene, and specially this quote, show, show the contrast between the classes  and the hatred they had for each other. It is a perfect example of the rage that unchained, together with other things, the revolution.

Lastly, the revolution broke out. Peasants and lower classes took over power and fought for the revolution ideals. To maintain this power and defend themselves against the counter-revolutionaries, revolutionary groups began a regime of terror. The Jacobins executed every person they considered a possible enemy, and throughout the time, the executions went out of their hands and thousands of people were killed. “Along the Paris streets, the death-carts rumble, hollow and harsh. Six tumbrels carry the the day’s wine to La Guillotine. All the devouring and insatiate Monsters imagined since imagination could record itself, and fused in one realization, Guillotine. And yet there is not in France, with its rich variety of soil and climate, a blade, a leaf, a root, a sprig, a peppercorn, which will grow the maturity under conditions more certain than those that have produced this horror, Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind.” (Book the third, Chapter 15, page 362). After justifying the causes of the revolution throughout the novel, the author finally states his point of view of how the goodness of the lower classes has been perverted by the terrible conditions under which the aristocracy has forced them to live. The quotation shows clearly a harsh criticism to the reign of terror the revolution ended up in.

As a conclusion, the novel seems to be a constant contrast between good and evil. There is a juxtaposition between the first part of the novel, were sympathy for the revolutionaries can be felt by the reader and the ending, in which the author shows the cruelty the revolution led to. At first, the narration leads readers to feel sympathy towards the low classes, oppressed by the aristocracy and in the ending, the reader is led to be against such cruelty and terror this same oppressed people became capable of.

George III

Match the years with the different events during The Jacobite's Risings

George I - Religious

Matching exercise

Match the items on the right to the items on the left.

Activities: Religious Rebellions during the Hanoverian Dynasty

Gap-fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues!

In 1707, under the Act of Settlement, George's mother, Sophia, was nominated heiress to the English throne if the reigning monarch William III and his heir Anne died without issue. The act sought to guarantee a succession. In August 1714, became king.
The following year, George was faced with a rebellion with the , supporters of the Catholics James Stuart, who has a strong claim to the throne. However, on 4 February 1716 admitted defeat and returned to France.
In Jacobite plans for regaining the British throne continued. By that year they had managed to enlist the help of the Spanish for another military expedition. The precise reasons for the Spanish support were born out of complex European power politics. Surprisingly England's old enemy, France, and Britain had come to a peace settlement in 1713, which ended the ''. Amongst other things the treaty required the 'Old Pretender' to move his exiled court from France. The Jacobites had therefore to cast about for support elsewhere. Spain had also signed a peace treaty with Britain but did not respect the provisions which excluded Spanish influence in Italy. By 1718 Spain had seized the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia and planned to invade the mainland in the south. This was a direct challenge to Austria which had inherited Spain's Italian lands but it was also a challenge to which was a guarantor of the Peace of Utrecht. The Royal Navy promptly smashed the Spanish navy near Messina. The Spanish knew that Britain's George I was involved in an expensive naval campaign in the Baltic so they declared war on Britain.
The old pretender did indeed land in . He was also a very dispiriting and frigid leader. Morover, Louis XIV had just died, consequently no help came from France. Finally the goverment dealt energetically with the situation, because “” left Scotland in less than six weeks.
In the early Hanoverian period, the nation was sunk into a condition of moral apathy. was a minister for two years in Georgia. In 1739 he built the first of his chapels at Bristol, and formed the first of his regular Methodist societies in London. He was a great social reformed as well as a great religious leader. He influenced the religious life of the whole British people. He restored as a living force in the personal creed of men and in the life of the nation.
Between 1719 and 1745, Jacobitism had decome almost entirely a Scottish movement. Charles Edward, the of the Old Pretender, was determined to win back the throne of his fathers. Some tried to dissuade him but he didn't listen. Seeing his determinations, they gave him their support and also some other clans joined in. Charles marched south. , who was an opposing general, came north to meet him, but Charles was joined with a very capable officer called and entered Edinbourgh unopposed. He won a decisive victory and Scotland seemed to be at his feet. Meanwhiles, General Wade was sent north to prevent an invation of England. Charles advanced south and swered west to avoid . He entered England by Carsile, took Manchester and reached Derby. So, Prince Charles retreated against his wishes. He reached Scotland safely. After the failure of this rising, the hopes of the jacobites were forever crushed.

Hanoverian Dynasty: Religious aspect

Should Scotland become an Independent nation?

War of Spanish Succession

Essay nº 1

        The series of events in 1688/1689 which culminated in the exile of the King, James II and the accession to the throne of William III and Mary II were know as The Glorious Revolution. The historical interpretations of these events, in which Parliament asserted its rights over the Monarchy were handled by featured sources. In this case, we are going to work (or we will work) with the BBC and the Parliament website(s). In addition, both have excellent records about our topic and a marked difference in the point of view.

        One of the main reasons of the Glorious Revolution was the discontent of the people with James II policies. Quickly James's opponents invited William of Orange, who was Europe’s leading Protestant statesman to bring an army of liberation to England and to safeguard Mary’s inheritance. Both versions about the Glorious revolution, the one from the BBC and the Parliament website agree that the British causes of the revolution were as much religious as political.

        Secondly, was William´s main reason for interfering in English affairs, This was essentially pragmatic ( He wished to bring England into his war against Louis XIV¨s and a free parliament was seen as more likely to support this. The forces that the prince of Orange amassed for his invasion were vast: Firstly, they agree that the Declaration of Indulgence allowed dissenters and catholics to work freely and to suspend all the religious penal laws against the catholics, although there is a difference about the date of this event, in which BBC states that it happened in 1688 and the Parliament mentions that it was in 1687. Secondly, we can mention that in 1689 Parliament gave William and Mary the crown jointly and before they were offered it, both were presented with a document called, the Declaration of Rights, later embodied in law as the Bill of Rights by the Parliament, in December of 1689.

         All in all, Parliament gained power over taxation, over the royal succession, over appointments and over the right of the crown to wage war independently;William´s wars deeply changed British state. Their massive cost to allow modern financial institutions and bureaucracy grow up . The revolution caused negative aspects in Ireland and Scotland . For example political and religious decision were taken like Irish Protestants established a monopoly over land-ownership and political power.

          The revolution failed to limit the power of parliaments and created no body of protected constitutional law.

Wordle

The glorious revolution ppt 1 from Romi Varela