History at key stage 3    (Year 8)

• Describe in the broadest of outlines the story of the civil wars 1642-8. A timeline may be appropriate.
• Focus on 1649 as a year of reckoning, as the winners of the civil wars demonstrated their power over the losers.
• Tell three graphic stories: the sombre scene at Whitehall as Charles I is beheaded in public, the drama at Burford church as the leaders of the Leveller mutiny are shot dead by firing squad, and the killing of Irish Catholic civilians at Drogheda and Wexford. Pupils make brief notes of the main points.
• Use each violent incident to identify different ideas about power. Who should have power? How much should they have? Should the king share power with Parliament?
• Pupils examine the narrative of the stories (either as a whole class or in groups), compare these with their notes and look for indicators of the different views held by the protagonists in the events of 1649.

• Remind pupils that all monarchs face problems in their reigns. Use a question-and-answer session to establish the different sorts of problems faced by medieval, Tudor and Stuart monarchs 1500-1625. Ask pupils to construct a checklist of 'dos and don'ts' for monarchs, eg Be successful in war, Try to avoid arguments about religion, Don't go into debt, Stay on good terms with Parliament.
• Tell pupils the story of the reign of Charles I 1625-42.
• Emphasise particular decisive and dramatic moments and encourage discussion about whether they made the civil wars more or less likely.
• Ask pupils to evaluate how well Charles measures up against the checklist for successful monarchs.

• Give pupils, in groups, a range of 'cause cards' relating to the origins of the civil wars and ask the groups to sort them. Do not, at this stage, suggest the criteria that should/could be used.
• Discuss the different criteria each group has used. Suggest use of social, economic, political, religious, role of the individual.
• Introduce pupils to the idea that historians disagree about why the civil wars broke out. Explain, in very simple terms, the dispute between the traditional view that the conflict was caused by long-term factors and the more recent view that the causes were relatively short-term.
• Pupils sort, and re-sort, the 'cause cards' into short-term and long-term causes and try to identify the most significant ones.
• Lead a class discussion comparing the classification of the groups and exploring the reasons for their choices of significant causes.

• Tell pupils the story of the Verney family of Buckinghamshire, which had divided loyalties during the civil wars. The Verney story is particularly poignant because two of the main characters were killed in the fighting.
• Pupils consider both the story of the family conflict and surviving sources, such as the Verney letters, in order to produce an explanation of how family members could choose different sides in the conflict.

• Guided by the teacher, pupils consider a range of possible explanations for the eventual defeat of the Royalist forces by the Parliamentarians, eg better generals, better weapons, mistakes made by the king, the organisation of the army, more money, support from abroad.
• Pupils use a narrative of the wars and focus on some of the decisive moments. By reflecting on the detail of the narrative of the wars, pupils work out that some factors did not apply, eg the weaponry on both sides was very similar, the Royalist army had good generals and brave troops, the Royalist side was let down by factors such as the poor leadership of Charles and the emergence of the New Model Army.

• Describe the very different views held by Republicans, Levellers, Diggers, and Royalists.
• Ask the pupils to use their knowledge to say how radical/conservative the ideas were, eg on a scale of 1 to 10, and to explain their choices.
• Establish that the radicals in the army were eventually defeated and that there were two winners of the civil wars: Parliament and conservative army generals.
• Tell pupils that there was then a battle for power between the two.
• Pupils study the events of 1649-53 and decide which side triumphed in this struggle.

• Pupils consider the different views of Cromwell that were common in the seventeenth century and the way this disagreement has continued to the present day.
• Pupils consider the widespread nineteenth-century English view of Cromwell as a great reformer and man of principle. Contrast this with examples from modern Ireland of the view of Cromwell as an inhuman monster.
• Pupils briefly research Cromwell's campaign in Ireland and the rules of warfare in the seventeenth century in order to answer the question Did Cromwell keep to the rules of warfare?
• Give pupils a set of cards containing information about Cromwell's 'rule' as Lord Protector. Get them to sort these under the headings 'Protector' and 'Dictator' and ask them to reach a conclusion as to whether Cromwell was a protector of the people or a dictator.

• Tell pupils about the recall of the Long Parliament and the delicate negotiations with Charles II concerning his possible return to England as king.
• Describe in simple terms the offer made by Charles in the Declaration of Breda.
• Pupils examine his motives in agreeing to make these 'concessions'.
• Discuss the questions Did Charles keep his promises? What was restored? Tell pupils what happened to the body of Cromwell, to his former supporters, to the House of Lords and the bishops, to Catholics, Anglicans and dissenters, and to former Royalists.

• Give pupils a range of sources that describe aspects of life in England during the reign of Charles I and up to the Restoration. Using these sources and their own knowledge of the period, they construct a timeline which highlights the key political and religious changes, the episodes of peace and war, and the conflict of radical and conservative ideas.
• Pupils use the timeline to make substantiated judgements about the episodes of greatest change during the period, and about the extent to which England had changed by the time of the Restoration.