This course is no longer offered

10217 The Age of Revolution: 1760-1830

Credits: 6 intermediate credits in Modern History

Prerequisites: none

Recommended: Basic knowledge of the history of Europe in the modern age

Author: Giora Kulka

The course presents and analyzes central issues related to the history of the European-Atlantic world during the last third of the 18th century and the first third of the 19th century. The analysis focuses on the critical events which, to a large extent, shaped the Western world in the modern age: the establishment of a constitutional independent state in North America, the French Revolution and its effects on Europe, the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath, economic and social changes related to the industrial revolution, the political, ideological and social events which paved the way for the revolution of 1830 and the rise of cultural and political nationalism in various countries.

The course provides students with basic knowledge and methods of analysis to understand the problems central to the revolutions of the modern age. The materials include: F. Ford, Europe: 1780-1830; J. Godechot, France and the Atlantic Revolution; T. S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution; E. J. Hobsbawn, The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848.

Topics: The old regime and the European system; The Atlantic revolution – the thesis of Palmer and Godechot; The American revolution; The French revolution, 1789-1799; Agitation and backlash in Britain; Napoleon; The Restoration; The industrial revolution; Summary – revolution, backlash and nationalism.