Revolutions, Rebellions, and Revolts!

1. Revolutions, Rebellions, and Revolts! Connecting history and current events to Animal Farm

2. Lesson Launch • Make a list of the qualities of a good leader • What happens when people are dissatisfied with a leader?

3. French Revolution (1789) • Leading up to it… • Peasants were burdened with high taxes levied to support wealthy aristocrats and their sumptuous, often gluttonous, lifestyles • Power rested in the monarchy and those who were “privileged by birth” • French government was essentially bankrupt • Crop failures, shortage of grain, rising price of bread

4. The 1905 Russian Revolution • People's faith in Nicholas II, the Russian Tsar, was waning. (Russia was defeated by the Japanese in number of navy battles) • Cold-blooded shooting of hundreds of unarmed demonstrators in St Petersburg on 22 January 1905 • In Kurland, today Western Latvia, 184 estates were burned and 82 Baltic Germans were killed by angry farmers . • The Tsar reacted harshly to these uprisings -- Nearly one thousand people in the Baltic were captured and executed and thousands were exiled to Siberian prison camps. • Positive outcome to these uprisings? -- Not only did the people feel more empowered than ever before but one concession that the Tsar made was to grant people representation in the Russian government.

5. Mexican Revolution (1910) • Tremendous disagreement among the Mexican people over the dictatorship of President PorfirioDíaz, who stayed in office for thirty one years. • Power was concentrated in the hands of a select few. The people had no power to express their opinions or select their public officials. Wealth was concentrated in the hands of the few. • New generation of young leaders arose who wanted to participate in the political life of their country-- Denied the opportunity by the officials who were already entrenched in power and who were not about to give it up. • Although the Mexican Constitution called for public election and other institutions of democracy, Díaz and his supporters used their political and economic resources to stay in power indefinitely.

6. Looking at historical events… • Identify reasons why a government would be overthrown • What inspires a revolution? What is the purpose of a rebellion/revolution? • What do citizens, peasants, political groups hope to achieve with a revolution?

7. Aristotle’s Words… “Revolutions arise from inequalities … from a numerical mass claiming an equality denied them, or from a minority claiming a superiority denied them. A revolution may result either in a complete change of polity, or only in a modification of the existing one. The purposes with which [revolutions] are set on foot are profit, honor, or avoidance of loss or dishonor. The inciting occasions are many; jealousy of those who have wealth and honor, official arrogance, fear of the law or of its abuse, personal rivalries, failure of the middle class to maintain a balance, race antagonisms, antagonism of localities, and others….”