| The French
Revolution remains one of the crucial events of modern European
and world history; for over 200 years, it has been celebrated,
commemorated, and debated. This class will introduce students
to the dramatic events which saw the end of Old Regime Europe
through the displacement of the Church as the source of
moral authority; the dismantling of the feudal social system;
and the overthrow of a 1000-year old monarchy. We will discuss
in detail the Revolutionary debates over how to enshrine
new principles of human rights, individual liberty, representative
democracy and social equality in law and to establish the
largest republic in history to that time. We will consider
the relationship between political reform and warfare, since
throughout the period of the Revolution, France was at war
internally and with much of the rest of Europe. We will
also analyze the ways in which the Revolution transformed
culture, so that men and women came to think of themselves
in new ways. Finally, we will seek to understand the unexpected
culmination of these epic struggles in a powerful, central
government in France under Napoleon.
This course proposes not
merely a narration of the events of the Revolution but also
an in-depth exposure to primary sources - texts, images,
and songs of the period. Furthermore, we will engage with
the rich and sophisticated historiography of the Revolution,
which has made the topic a matter of contemporary debate
around the world. This course then will give students not
only a greater understanding of a crucial transformation
in world history, but also of why that event remains relevant
and crucial, even in twenty-first century America.
Undergraduates should acquire
the following required books, available for purchase at
the bookstore:
-
Jeremy Popkin, A Short History of the French
Revolution (3rd
ed.)
-
Jack Censer & Lynn
Hunt, ed, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
-
William Doyle, Origins
of the French Revolution (3rd ed.)
-
R. R. Palmer, Twelve
Who Ruled
-
Isser Woloch, Napoleon
and His Collaborators
Graduate students are required and undergraduates recommended
to acqurie the following books:
-
David Garrioch, Neighborhood and Community
in Paris, 1740 - 1790
-
Joan Landes, Visualizing
the Nation: Gender, Representation and Revolution
-
James Livesey, Making
Democracy in the French Revolution
-
Isser Woloch, The
New Regime
Note that Liberty,
Equality, Fraternityincludes a Cd-Rom that includes
primary source documents, maps, images, songs and other
multi-media materials that will be the basis for much of
our class discussions and for your papers. Some of this
material is also available on the web at <http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution>
and via links from the course webpage, <http://faculty.unlv.edu/gbrown/hist462>
The course requirements,
in addition to regular class attendance and participation
in discussions (10% of semester grade), will include three
short (3-5 page) papers based on the course readings (25%
of semester grade each), and a final examination (15% of
semester grade). |
