Learning from history

Teachers Pupils

These workbooks have been developed by history teachers. Five different historical episodes invite you to experience history and to slip into the role of different actors. People who were present at an important moment in the history of democracy. How would you decide in their place? For 4 episodes there are also short films produced by students.

Historical Episode 1: Bread for Paris!

An episode about the womens´ march in the French Revolution

Booklet

Interactive Presentations for Classroom

Online Interactive Presentation

Movie

Historical Episode 2: Step out of the shadow
An episode about the fight of women for their right to vote Booklet Interactive Presentations for Classroom Online Interactive Presentation Movie

Historical Episode 2: Step out of the shadow

Today it is naturally that men and women can vote from the age of 16. For a long time, women fought for better living conditions, for equal participation in public, social and cultural life. In addition to the right to work and earn money, women also asked for the opportunity for education as well as the right to political participation - the right to vote.

That is the starting point in this video located in Vienna: Vienna at this time is modern and cultural flourishing on the one hand, but on the other hand poverty of the masses is omnipresent. There is a lack of affordable housing, women serve as cheap laborers in industries, for example in the brick factory.

On 19 March 1911, an International Women’s Day is celebrated for the first time. It is a chilly Sunday morning, thousands of men and women gather in the centre of Vienna to take part in the demonstration.

To turn on Auto Translate in your language select Settings at the bottom of the video. Select Subtitles in the small pop-up window. At the top of the pop-up menu, choose Auto Translate, and then choose your language. If the Auto Translate option is not available select the language that is created automatically (usually English) and then select again Subtitles, Auto Translate, and then choose your language.

Historical Episode 3: The Day that changed Modern Greece
An episode about the struggle of Greek citizens for a constitution Booklet Interactive Presentations for Classroom Online Interactive Presentation Movie

Historical Episode 3: 3rd September 1843

Athens, 1843. Greece is ruled by the Bavarian king Otto-whose reign was imposed on Greece by England, France and Russia , the great powers of Europe –and his wife Amalia. The country is in a dire financial situation, the land is in the hands of few, Otto replaces Greeks with Bavarians in the army. The palace is overshadowed by general hatred. For the last few months there were rumors that an uprsing was being planned.

September 2nd, 1843. It’s getting late. From the outskirts of Athens soldiers are approaching the capital. Their cries stir up the people. More and more are joining the crowd and are heading to the palace, leaded by a proud man on his horse: Colonel Kallergis, the military commander of Athens.

It is past midnight. However no one is sleeping. Thousands of people are now surrounding the palace. Cries demanding a constitution are shaking the atmosphere. What is King Otto going to do?

That night, Lambros, a young waterseller from the outskirts of Athens, became witness of the historical events that changed the history of modern Greece. Inside the palace, queen Amalia and her dearest lady of honour Rosa, are facing their own dilemmas. Let’s listen to them…

To turn on Auto Translate in your language select Settings at the bottom of the video. Select Subtitles in the small pop-up window. At the top of the pop-up menu, choose Auto Translate, and then choose your language. If the Auto Translate option is not available select the language that is created automatically (usually English) and then select again Subtitles, Auto Translate, and then choose your language.

Historical Episode 4: The discovery of vanilla by a little former slave
An episode about the integration of ex-slaves into society after their liberation Booklet Interactive Presentations for Classroom Online Interactive Presentation Movie

Historical Episode 4: The true color of vanilla

Bourbon Island, a small island in the Indian Ocean, is a plantation colony with the slave system at the heart of its economy and societal structure since the middle of the 17th century. The story takes place in the 19th century, Edmond is a young slave, he did not go to school. Everything he learnt, he owed to himself, to his analytical mind and to the support of his master Ferréol Bellier de Beaumont. Little by little, his knowledge of botany equalled that of a great scholar, Jean Michel Claude Richard, director of the State Garden in St-Denis. But who would believe that a young slave could discover the solution to the pollination of vanilla, until then unproductive outside South America? Monsieur Eugène Focard, a court clerk and naturalist, stood up for him, but the recognition of Edmond Albius’ discovery was long overdue.

To turn on Auto Translate in your language select Settings at the bottom of the video. Select Subtitles in the small pop-up window. At the top of the pop-up menu, choose Auto Translate, and then choose your language. If the Auto Translate option is not available select the language that is created automatically (usually English) and then select again Subtitles, Auto Translate, and then choose your language.

Historical Episode 5: Riot in Adalen
An episode about the struggle of Swedish workers for their rights Booklet