HIS32320 France Since the Revolution

Academic Year 2018/2019

This module is aimed at providing students with a thorough understanding of the French Revolution and of the successive constitutional regimes. The module will follow a traditional chronological approach and examine the different constitutions until the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1958. Between freedom and despotism, these regimes, be they republics or royal restorations, struggled to come to terms with the ideals of 1789. The module will provide students with the necessary analytical and conceptual tools to understand the transformation of French politics over two centuries. The concept of protest will be analysed from various angles to bring into light the social, economic and ideological objections which dealt a death blow to twelve constitutions between 1789 and 1958. Beyond the notions of power and protest, the period 1789-1958 will be regarded as a long transition which gradually redefined the concept of national identity. Students will then examine the foreign constitutions the revolutionary élites envisaged to rely on before addressing the influence of the French Revolution on other European countries (such as Italy, Germany and Spain) and engaging in a transnational analysis of the reshaping of modern Europe following 1789.