History at key stage 3 (Year 8)

Unit 8: The civil wars was England 'turned upside down' in the seventeenth century?

About this unit

In this unit pupils will learn about the main personalities and events in the story of the English civil wars. They will consider the connections between conflicting ideas and the events of the war. They will study questions of cause, consequence and interpretation.

This unit is expected to take 8-11 hours. There is scope to adjust some of the teaching activities to take account of time constraints in different schools.

Sections in this unit

This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.


	1. Why was 1649 a year of reckoning?
	2. What do successful monarchs do? What did Charles I do?
	3. How do historians disagree about the causes of the civil wars?
	4. How did the civil wars divide families?
	5. Why did Parliament win the civil wars?
	6. Why did the winners of the civil wars argue among themselves?
	7. Why do people interpret Cromwell in very different ways?
	8. What happened at the Restoration?
	9. Was 'the world turned upside down'?