CC 235 (x7322)
T,Th, 10:30-11:50 am
Michael P. Breen
Eliot 216
Weds. 10am-noon or by appt.
Summary & Course Goals
“What is the goal toward which we are heading? The peaceful enjoyment of liberty and equality; the reign of that eternal justice whose laws have been inscribed, not in marble and stone, but in the hearts of all men, even in that of the slave who forgets them and in that of the tyrant who denies them.”
- Maximilien Robespierre (1794)
For historians of Europe, few events are as central, or as problematic, as the French Revolution of 1789-99. From one perspective, the Revolution can be seen as the sudden, violent end of the ancien régime, a 1000 year-old political, social and cultural system. In the space of a few years, the revolutionaries replaced France’s absolute monarchy, first with a constitutional monarchy and then with a republic. They abolished the corporate, hierarchical society of the ancien régime, eliminating such distinctive features as the aristocracy, trade guilds, legal privileges and seigneurial land rights. Finally, they attacked the central role of the Church, confiscating ecclesiastical property, instituting state supervision of the clergy and undertaking a large-scale program of de-Christianization. From another perspective, the French Revolution can be seen as the beginning of the modern world. Its struggles were to be replayed across Europe throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (with 1848 & 1917 being the most obvious examples). Furthermore, modern concepts such as universal human rights, nationalism, mass democratic politics and even our understanding of “Revolution” as a historical process of social, political and cultural transformation can be traced to the events that unfolded in France from 1789 to 1799.
While historians generally agree on the Revolution’s centrality in European history, they differ widely when it comes to explaining its causes, its trajectory and its historical significance. For Marxist historians, the Revolution was the inevitable triumph of the bourgeoisie and capitalism over aristocracy and feudalism. Revisionist historians of the past thirty years have challenged this social interpretation of the Revolution, arguing that it should be seen, not as the product of inexorable historical forces, but as the result of a series of contingencies which led to the monarchy’s political collapse in the late eighteenth century. The Revolution took shape, they argue, as new groups and new ideas rushed to fill the resulting vacuum. In the past decade or so, however, this revisionist model of a “revolution in political culture” has come under increasing scrutiny by historians who question the emphasis it places on intellectual and linguistic factors at the expense of relevant social realities and developments.
This course, then, will be an examination of both the French Revolution as a historical event and the various ways historians have interpreted and debated its causes, course and significance. Consequently, this course has several main goals. By the end of the semester, students should have developed:
A familiarity with the historical events, figures, ideas and forces that caused the French Revolution and helped to shape its ultimate course, with a particular sensitivity to the historical connections (or lack thereof) between the fall of the Old Regime and the subsequent course of the Revolution. - An understanding of different historical interpretations—Marxist, Revisionist & Post-Revisionist—of the Revolution, as well as the ability to critically evaluate these interpretations.
- The ability to develop their own arguments in response to some of the central issues facing all historians of the French Revolution. These include:
- Was the Revolution primarily a social, political or cultural event?
- Was the period from 1789-99 primarily a “bourgeois” Revolution? If so, how should we define the term “bourgeois”? If not, which social groups (if any) were responsible for the Revolution?
- What were the fundamental issues and problems facing the Revolutionaries?
- What was the relationship between the Revolutionaries and the rest of French society, including women, the peasantry and the urban popular classes?
- What was the connection between the liberal (1789) and radical (1793) Revolutions? Was the Terror a historical accident or the inevitable outcome of 1789?
- Did the Revolution transform French government, society and culture? Or was it, as Tocqueville argued, simply a culmination of trends that started under the Old Regime?
Readings
The following books are available at the bookstore and on reserve at the library:
- Aston, Nigel, Religion and Revolution in France, 1780-1804 (Catholic University of America)
- Baker, Keith Michael, ed., The Old Regime & the French Revolution (Chicago)
- Chartier, Roger, The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution (Duke)
- Darnton, Robert, The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France (Norton)
- Desan, Suzanne, The Family on Trial in Revolutionary France (California)
- Doyle, William, The Oxford History of the French Revolution, 2nd ed. (Oxford)
- Fitzsimmons, Michael, The Remaking of France: The National Assembly & the Constitution of 1791 (Cambridge)
- Jordan, David, The King’s Trial: Louis XVI vs the French Revolution (California)
- Kates, Gary, ed., The French Revolution: Recent Debates & New Controversies, 2nd ed. (Routledge)
- Palmer, R.R., Twelve Who Ruled: The Year of the Terror in the French Revolution (Princeton)
- Sewell, William H., Jr., A Rhetoric of Bourgeois Revolution: Abbé Siéyes & “What is the Third Estate” (Duke)
- Storey, William Kelleher, Writing History: A Guide for Students (Oxford) [recommended]
- Tackett, Timothy, When the King Took Flight (Harvard)
N.B.: Additional required readings (marked with an [E]) are available on e-reserves.
Required Assignments
Conference: Regular conference attendance and participation is expected. It goes without saying that you are expected to come to conference having done the reading for that day and prepared with questions, observations and/or ideas to discuss. If you must miss a conference, please try to let me know in advance.
First essay (due Mon. Feb. 12th): A 3-4 page essay on a topic to be distributed in advance.
Midterm essay (due Fri. Mar 9th): A 6-8 page essay. Topics will be distributed in advance. No additional reading or research will be required.
Final essay (due Weds. May 9th): A 12-15 page research essay on a topic to be chosen in consultation with me.
Policies: I do grant extensions, but never on the day a paper is due (except in the case of serious emergencies). If you need additional time, you must contact me more than 24 hours before the paper is due, provide a reasonable explanation for your request and an alternate due date. I reserve the right to refuse any extension, so just getting in touch with me does not in itself guarantee an extension. I write fewer comments on late papers and will consider the extra time an advantage, consequently expectations will be raised accordingly.