Course information |
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Title |
The Age of Revolutions: An Intellectual History |
Lecturer |
Tőke Márton |
Course code |
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Credit |
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Location |
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Time |
(Suggestion: Wednesday, 10.00) |
Course description |
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Short description |
The aim of this lecture course is to guide students through the history of the most significant intellectual movements in the “Age of Revolutions” (from roughly 1774 to 1849). Since it is practically impossible to understand this epoch without a comprehension of the theoretical background of revolutions, and that of the Enlightenment, we place our point of departure a bit earlier, devoting the first classes to this intellectual predecessor of paramount importance. Afterwards, the course covers two major topics: the highly consequential ideas underlying the American Revolution and the multi-faceted intellectual landscape of the French Revolution. It also examines briefly the subsequent emergence of conservatisms in England and all across the Continent. To conclude, we turn our attention to the aftermath and intellectual impact of the era, from Vladimir Lenin to Henry Kissinger, and beyond. Although presupposing a rudimentary familiarity with the events themselves, the course is firmly to focus on the ideas that governed these historical affairs: on the pamphlets and speeches, not the battlefield, or the conference tables of congresses. |
Schedule |
No reading necessary, but attendance is recommended, since a full introductory class will take place.
>Goldstone, Jack. Revolutions: Theoretical, Comparative, and Historical Studies. Belmont: Wadsworth Thomson Learning, 2003. 1-20., 37-55.
>Edelstein, Dan. The Enlightenment – A Genealogy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
> Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Enlarged ed. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1992. Chapter I-II.
> Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Enlarged ed. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1992. Chapter III-IV.
> Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Enlarged ed. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1992. Chapter V-VI.
> Freehling, William W. The Founding Fathers and Slavery, The American Historical Review 1972 77/1, 81-93.
>Israel, Jonathan. Revolutionary Ideas – An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013. Chapter I-IV.
> Israel, Jonathan. Revolutionary Ideas – An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013. Chapter V-X.
>Israel, Jonathan. Revolutionary Ideas – An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013. Chapter X-XV.
> Israel, Jonathan. Revolutionary Ideas – An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013. Chapter XV-XXI.
>Kissinger, Henry. A World Restored. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957. Chapter XI.
>François Furet, « 1789-1917 : aller et retour », Le Débat 1989/5 (n° 57), 4-15. (An English translation will be provided, if required). |
Semester |
2018-2019-1 |
Requirements |
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Requirements to get the grade |
Course attendance is not mandatory, but highly recommended, since the course concludes with an oral exam based on the core readings and the material presented in class. |
Reading list |
Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Enlarged ed. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1992.
Edelstein, Dan. The Enlightenment – A Genealogy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Freehling, William W. The Founding Fathers and Slavery, The American Historical Review 1972 77/1, 81-93.
Furet, François, « 1789-1917 : aller et retour », Le Débat 1989/5 (n° 57), 4-15.
Goldstone, Jack. Revolutions: Theoretical, Comparative, and Historical Studies. Belmont: Wadsworth Thomson Learning, 2003.
Israel, Jonathan. Revolutionary Ideas – An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013.
Kissinger, Henry. A World Restored. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957.
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Suggested reading list |
Arendt, Hannah. On Revolution. London: Penguin Books, 1963.
Bobrick, Benson. Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997.
Breunig, Charles. The Age of Revolution and Reaction, 1798-1848. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1977.
Doyle, William The Oxford History of the French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Jones, Colin. The Longman Companion to the French Revolution. New York: Longman, 1990.
McDonald, Forrest. We the People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1992.
Parker, David, ed. Revolutions and the Revolutionary Traditions in the West 1560-1991. New York: Routledge, 2000.
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