HIST3340 法國大革命

This course will focus on the history of France, from the late-eighteenth century until the early nineteenth century. Though a relatively short time-span, the events of this era were of crucial importance in determining the future trajectories not only of France, but of all of Europe and, to a lesser though still significant extent, the entire world. Though the course will span the period from the “Old Regime” (France before 1789) until 1815, the bulk of the course will focus on the period from 1789 through 1794.

Readings

The following are the readings for the semester. They will be available online, either directly (as a .pdf) or as a link (often via JSTOR.org)

*Note that some more readings will be added and that every week – or almost every week – will have at least some readings, though the reading load as a whole will be reasonable.

Main textbook:

            

McPhee, Peter. Liberty or Death : the French Revolution. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. 

Dwyer, Philip G. Citizen Emperor : Napoleon in Power. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013. 

Schedule each week

(* “McPhee, Ch 1” means the first chapter of this book: McPhee, Peter. Liberty or Death : the French Revolution. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. )

• Week 1              

Topic:

France and its empire in the 1780s

Primary material: –

Reading: –

Group Work: –

 

• Week 2              

Topic:

The Enlightenment

Primary material:

https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/condorcet-outlines-of-an-historical-view-of-the-progress-of-the-human-mind – intro, epoch 9, epoch 10 if time

https://revolution.chnm.org/d/278

Reading:

McPhee Ch 2.

Robert Darnton, Readers Respond to Rousseau, from The Great Cat Massacre.

Group Work:

 

• Week 3             

Topic:

The Year 1789

Primary material:

KMB: 184-99; 228-237; LMTR:51-54

Reading:

McPhee Ch 4.

Suzanne Desan, “Gender, Radicalization, and the October Days: Occupying the National Assembly,” French Historical Studies 43, no. 3 (August 2020): 360–61.

Group Work:

 

• Week 4             

Topic:

Rights and Debates

Primary material:

LMTR:98-109

Reading:

McPhee Ch 5.

Wallerstein, Immanuel. “Citizens All? Citizens Some! The Making of the Citizen.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 45, no. 4 (2003): 650–79. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3879492.

Group Work:

 

• Week 5             

Topic:

From the Civil Constitution of the Clergy to the Flight to Varennes

Primary material:

KMB: 240-242, 270-278

Reading:

McPhee Ch 7.

Dale Lothrop Clifford, “The National Guard and the Parisian Community, 1789-1790,” French Historical Studies 16, no. 4 (Autumn 1990).

Group Work:

 

• Week 6           

Topic:

1792: war and revolution

Primary material:

KMB: 287-290; 295-311

Reading:

McPhee Ch 8-9.

Rhys Jones, “Time Warps During the French Revolution,” Past & Present 254, no. 1 (February 2022): 109.

Group Work:

 

• Week 7            

Topic:

The Vendee

Primary material:

KMB: 218-219

Reading:

McPhee Ch 10-11.

Hufton, “In Search of Counterrevolutionary Women” from Women and the Limits of Citizenship in the French Revolution.

Group Work:

 

• Week 8             

Topic:

The Haitian Revolution

Primary material:

Popkin, Facing Racial Revolution, 46-48, 235-244.

Reading:

Geggus, Haitian Revolution, Ch 1

Getachew, Adom. “Universalism After the Post-Colonial Turn: Interpreting the Haitian Revolution.” Political Theory 44, no. 6 (2016): 821–45. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26419440.

Group Work:

 

• Week 9           

Topic:

The Terror

Primary material:

KMB: 331-337, 340-354, 369-384

Reading:

McPhee Ch 12-13.

Kafka, Ben. “The Demon of Writing: Paperwork, Public Safety, and the Reign of Terror.” Representations (Berkeley, Calif.) 98.1 (2007): 1–24. Web.

Group Work:

 

• Week 10            

Topic:

Thermidor and Directory

Primary material:

LMTR: 263-275, 311-313, 323-327

Reading:

McPhee Ch 14-15.

Desan, Suzanne. “Redefining Revolutionary Liberty: The Rhetoric of Religious Revival during the French Revolution.” The Journal of Modern History 60, no. 1 (1988): 2–27. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1880404.

Group Work:

 

• Week 11            

Topic:

Napoleon: domestic

Primary material:

LMTR: 334-347

Reading:

Dwyer, Citizen Emperor, Ch 1-2.

Martin, “Napoleonic Friendship in the Ranks,” from Napoleonic Friendship: Military Fraternity, Intimacy, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century France.

Group Work:

 

• Week 12           

Topic:

Napoleon: conquest

Primary material:

https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/images/goethe-and-napoleon-i-meeting-in-erfurt-germany-in-the-governors-palace/

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/letters/1806-10-13.htm

Reading:

Dwyer, Citizen Emperor, Ch 9-11.

Tozzi, Christopher. “Jews, Soldiering, and Citizenship in Revolutionary and Napoleonic France.” The Journal of Modern History 86, no. 2 (2014): 233–57. https://doi.org/10.1086/675484.

Group Work:

 

• Week 13           

Topic:

Napoleon: retreat

Primary material:

LMTR: 348-351

Reading:

Dwyer, Citizen Emperor, Ch 19-20, 25.

Buck-Morss, Susan. “Hegel and Haiti.” Critical Inquiry 26, no. 4 (2000): 821–65. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1344332. Buck-Morss, Susan. “Hegel and Haiti.” Critical Inquiry 26, no. 4 (2000): 821–65. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1344332.

Group Work:

Other Readings

            

Keith M. Baker. University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization, Volume 7 The Old Regime and the French Revolution,  University of Chicago Press, 1987. 

             

Mason Laura and Tracey Rizzo. The French Revolution: A Document Collection. Houghton Mifflin 1999.

Darnton, Robert. The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. [Rev. Ed.]. New York: Basic Books, 2009. 

Assignments and Assessments

*Please note that the requirements and assignments will likely change depending on the number of students who enroll in the course.

• Quizzes (in-class):

There will be 4 short quizzes at the start of class. 10 points for the first quiz, 15 points for each of the following quizzes.

• Secondary source write-ups:

Each student will, in their group, complete 3 write-ups of an assigned article. Those who choose to use AI in this exercise may, though they should do it critically. More detail on this to come. 5 points each.

• Take-home final:

This will be based on the primary sources from the semester. 10 points.

• Tutorial:

20 points.

請注意大學有關學術著作誠信的政策和規則，及適用於犯規事例的紀律指引和程序。詳情可瀏覽網址：http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/。

學生遞交作業時，必須連同已簽署的聲明一併提交，表示他們知道有關政策、規則、指引及程序。

• 如屬小組習作，則所有組員均須簽署聲明；所有組員（不論有否簽署聲明及不論有否直接或間接撰寫有問題的內容）均須負上集體責任及受到懲處。
• 如作業以電腦製作、內容以文字為主，並經由大學「維誠」系統 (VeriGuide) 提交者，學生將作業的電子檔案上載到系統後，便會獲得收據，收據上已列明有關聲明。

未有夾附簽署妥當的聲明的作業，老師將不予批閱。

學生只須提交作業的最終版本。

學生將作業或作業的一部份用於超過一個用途（例如：同時符合兩科的要求）而沒有作出聲明會被視為未有聲明重覆使用作業。學生重覆使用其著作的措辭或某一、二句句子很常見，並可以接受，惟重覆使用全部內容則構成問題。在任何情況下，須先獲得相關老師同意方可提交作業。