A curriculum unit on revolutions should begin with an exploration of the concept in order to ensure a shared understanding among all students. Among historians and political scientists there exists many definitions of the term. Goldstone, in his short introduction of revolutions defined a revolution as a “forcible overthrow of a government through mass mobilization [...] in the name of social justice, to create new political institutions.”3 If this definition of a revolution is to be taken as correct, then does this exclude more abstract revolutions like the Enlightenment and even some components of the Scientific Revolution? At various points of the unit, “Do Now” questions will prompt students to reexamine their understanding of the definition of revolution. A helpful addition to the definition of a revolution could be the destruction of traditional ideas in favor of a new political or social order.
In an effort to refrain from listing revolutions one-by-one and to encourage students to draw connections between revolutions, this unit will consist of three pairings of revolutions. It will start with the intellectual revolutions known as the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution. These two revolutions are a natural pair considering that they both involved the diffusion of ideas that questioned religious and political dogma in favor of reason. The next pairing will consist of the French and Haitian Revolutions, because of the influence of Enlightenment ideals on both revolutions. Additionally, through this pairing, students will learn more about the French Revolution’s causal impact on the Haitian, and the objects that demonstrate how the Haitians adopted French revolutionary symbols. The last pair will consist of the Industrial and Russian Revolutions. This pairing will help highlight the impact of the Industrial Revolution beyond the manufacturing of influential inventions, cities, and factories. The lessons concerning the Russian Revolution will demonstrate how Bolsheviks seized industries and utilized visual culture for propaganda purposes. Lastly, the unit will end with a student-centered project on Latin American revolutions, where students will be prompted to investigate the revolutionary objects of a Latin American country of their choice.
