Through the use of various primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the story behind Leonardo’s most famous oil painting the Mona Lisa, how and why the painting was created, how the painting ended up in the Louvre and why it continues to be studied by scholars and artists to this day.

Through the use of various primary and secondary sources, including excerpts from the Edict of Nantes (1598) and the Edict of Fontainebleau (1685), students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain who the French Huguenots were, the religious persecution they faced in the 16th and 17th centuries in France and how the exodus of Protestants from France after 1685 left its legacy around the world.

Through the use of various primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain how and why the Catholic Church transferred the papacy to Avignon, what role the French crown played in the Avignon Papacy during the fourteenth century, and how the years in Avignon ultimately hurt the Church’s prestige in European society.

Through the use of various primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the basic design and structure of the Maginot Line, why the French constructed the Maginot Line in the 1920s and 1930s, and whether the line ultimately succeeded or failed in what it was designed to do when the war came in 1940.

Through an examination of both primary and secondary sources on the subject, including various types of visual media in addition to electronic and written sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the basic plot of Hemmingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises and how the main characters in the book represent different aspects of societal change and the rejection of Victorian social norms inherent in the “lost generation” of the 1920s.

Through an in-depth analysis of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain how the details behind the story of Joan of Arc, her role during the Hundred Years War, the details behind her trial and execution by English and Church officials, how she was later exonerated by another Church court, and why she stands today as a symbol for French nationalism.

Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources, students here will identify, understand and be able to explain the basic facts behind Wilson’s “Fourteen Points”, how they spelled out the ideas of self-determination and equality among nations, why Allied representatives to the Peace Conference in Paris objected to many of the president’s ideas, what role the League of Nations was supposed to play in Wilson’s mind and how ultimately the Treaty of Versailles (1919) contained clauses contrary to both the spirit and the language of the Fourteen Points.

Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain how the First Battle of the Marne saved France, forced the German army to abandon the Schlieffen Plan and ultimately led to a four year stalemate on the Western Front.

Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources, students here will understand the basic facts of the Battle of Verdun, including the reasons behind the German attack, the progress of the battle itself over the 10 months of fighting, including how the French Army was able to turn back the German assault, and finally how the failure of the German offensive at the Battle of Verdun was a critical turning point in the war, foreshadowing, ultimately, the defeat of the German forces on the Western Front.

Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the reasons behind Clemenceau’s desire to cripple Germany after the Great War and how the final treaty contained many of those ideas.

Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources, students here will understand the basic facts of the Battle of the Somme, the strategy and objectives of the British and French commanders in the offensive, how allied mistakes cost tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of lives unnecessarily, why the British and French “success” at the Somme was ultimately seen as a failure, and how the Somme ultimately doomed the German army to eventual defeat on the Western Front.

Through an in-depth analysis of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain how the use of poison gas on the Western Front dramatically altered the nature of fighting in the Great War, why each side decided to use gas even though it violated international treaties signed before the war and how the legacy of those Great War gas attacks continues to influence modern views of warfare.

Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the details, ideas and motivations the Haussmannization of Paris, how he used wide boulevards and ring streets to “modernize” the city and how the remaking of the city allowed governmental leaders to control any potential problems inherent in the antagonistic relationship between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the details, ideas and motivations behind Robespierre’s Jacobin Terror phase of the French Revolution, the basic structure and powers of the Committee of Public Safety, and how the Terror finally collapsed with Robespierre’s death and the victory of more conservative elements in the Thermidorian Reaction.

Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the structure, details and purposes behind Napoleon’s Domestic Plan through a comprehensive investigation of the Napoleonic Code, his educational reforms and the establishment of the Bank of France.

Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the details, ideas and motivations behind the Bourgeois phase of the French Revolution, the basic structure and points both the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen and the liberal French Constitution of 1791, and how the bourgeois phase collapsed due to a disastrous war program and the rise of radicals who were determined to “cleanse” France and to remake society from top to bottom.

Through an in-depth analysis of various primary and secondary sources including excerpts from contemporary accounts on both sides of the conflict, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the importance of the Battle of Tours (732 CE), how the Frankish army at Tours under Charles Martel was able to stand its ground against overwhelming Muslim forces, and how the battle set the stage for the eventual re-conquest of all of Western Europe by Christians in the centuries to come.

Through the use of various primary and secondary sources, including excerpts from the Franco American Alliance (1778), students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the basic terms of the 1778 alliance between France and the United States, how and why an absolutist French government under Louis XVI that was diametrically opposed to republican principals decided to support the American colonial cause against his arch rival Britain, and how the alliance was the deciding factor in a colonial victory over Britain and thus how the alliance undoubtedly helped cause the downfall of the Ancient Regime in France itself.

Through an examination of both primary and secondary sources on the subject, including various types of visual media in addition to electronic and written sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain French absolutism and the divine right theory as it developed under Louis XVI, how he used his power to subjugate the Roman Catholic Church in France, and how he turned the Palace at Versailles into one of the largest and grandest royal palaces in the world.