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Seminar Questions Modern History
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Week 2 Periodisation: The Long Nineteenth Century / TheFrench Revolution
SEMINAR 1
Questions on Noble, chapter 19:
1. What in uence did the American Revolution have on the build-up towards the French
Revolution?
- Socio-cultural: thousands of French soldiers, skippers and aristocrats fought in the
American Revolution. The most famous example is Marquis de Lafayette. These people
were given the ideas of enlightenment such as rationality, natural rights and universal laws
and brought them back to France. This also leads to the outbreak of the French
Revolution.
- Economically: The arch enemy of the France was Great Britain. As the thirteen colonies of
the United States turned against the British, France seemed the best way to turn against
Britain too. As a result, France started to support the colonies economically, resulting in a
large national debt -> this national debt is a factor that is important for the history of the
French Revolution
- Politics: America's Declaration of Independence in uenced the Declaration of Human
Rights and France's later Constitution
2. What did the crisis of the ancien r gime in France consist of?
- Economic factor: the national debt to a nancial crisis in France. This was a result of the
involvement of France in the American revolution. The bad harvests and the high interest
rate were paid through loans and the Tried Estate had to pay all taxes.
- Political factor: Institutional constraints ensure that rst and second estate privileges are
defended.
- Socio-cultural factor: public opinion tried to bring about economic and political change.
3. Characterise the di erent phases of the French Revolution, noting important years,
events and persons.
- Phase 1: The Outbreak of the Revolution 1789-1791
- Estates General meets in Versailles (5 May 1789)
- Third Estates declares itself the National Assembly (17 June)
- All but one deputy of the National Assembly (Third + Second Estate) meet on a Tennis
Court and on may 20th sign the Tennis Court Oath
- They pledged to meet until a constitution was drafted.
- Storming of the Bastille (14 July 1789)
- French citizens storm a prison, the Bastille, where huge quantities of weapons
and other military means were held.
- Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (27 augustus 1789)
- Document issued by the National Assembly of France in August 1789. Modelled on
the US Constitution, it asserted “the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of man.”
- The rst constitution of France is implemented (september 1791)
- Phase 2: The Downfall of Monarchies and Foreign War, 1791-1793
- Louis XVI ees (20 juni 1791)
- Louis XVI refuses to accept the constituent and with that a constitutional
monarchy and thus ees.
- Louis XVI is captured in Varennes.
- This became a turning point because people started getting ideas about an
administrative form without a monarch, i.e. a republic.
- Pressured by the Estates General, Louis XVI declares war on Austria (april 1792)
- Storming of the Tuileries by the sans-culots (10 august 1792)
- The monarchy is ended.
- The National Convention replaces the National Assembly (20 september 1792)
declares France a republic.
- What happens to the king now?
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, - Louis XVI is convicted and declared a traitor (15 januari 1793) and is later beheaded
by guillotine (21 januari 1793)
- Phase 3: The Faltering Republic and the Terror, 1793-1794
- The radical Jacobins seize power from the Girondins (June 1793)
- Start of The Terror, led by Maximilien Robespierre
- First Law of the Maximum (may 1793)
- The law makes sure there’s a maximum price on grains, so everyone could a ord
food.
- The Terror is thus not only perceived to be negative.
- Law of suspects (17 September 1793)
- The law that orders anyone who is suspected of having contrarevolutionair ideas
to be arrested.
- Robespierre decapitated by guillotine (29 July 1794)
- Phase 4: The Thermidorian Reaction and the Directory, 1794-1799
- Famine (spring 1975)
- The famine leads to riots which lead to a new constitution and a new
administration.
- The new constitution is implemented (22 august 1795)
- The new constitution ended the Convention and the new government
established the Directory.
- The Directory is established (oktober 1795)
- Napoleon seizes power (9 november 1799)
- Napoleon seizes power with his brother Lucien through a coup d’état
4. The French Revolution has two faces: on the one hand, it shows a striving towards a
(moderate) constitutional programme, moving towards a constitutional monarchy like
the British; on the other hand, it shows the radical face of revolution: the guillotine, the
reign of terror and an extreme atheism. Could this radical phase of the French
Revolution have been avoided, and if so, how?
- The radical phase of the French Revolution could have been avoided if a constitution was
passed within the Estates General.
5. How and why did Napoleon rise to power? How can we explain his downfall?
- Napoleon could come to power because of instability in France. In 1799, the conditions of
France had once again ended in a crisis situation in which a national debt arose as a result
of the wars, rising prices and the value of paper money. In addition, the government lost
control of the countryside, resulting in uprisings.
- This chaotic situation made it easy for Napoleon to come to power.
- He came to power when he staged a coup in November 1799 that overthrew the Directoire
and turned it into a consulate in which Napoleon became the " rst consul" and had most
of the power in the French government. He eventually crowned himself emperor in 1804,
giving him absolute power.
- In contrast to the rise of Napoleon, there is downfall.
6. Which similarities and di erences seem to be visible between the revolutions of 1789,
1830 and 1848?
- 1789: French Revolution
- 1830: July revolution
- 1848: Liberal, Social, and Nationalist Revolution
- Similarities:
- In both the 1789 and 1848 revolution in France, women were eventually excluded
from politics, their newspapers were censored and their clubs banned
- All three revolutions wanted to create a more liberal regime and opposed the ancien
régime
- All three wanted an empire with a constitution
- Di erences:
- In the revolution of 1789, there was less ghting for "su rage" / the right to vote than
in the other revolutions. In the 1789 revolution, it was notably the most elite men of
the highest incomes who were allowed to vote and even that was later withdrawn.
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, SEMINAR 2
Questions: Read the texts by O’Gorman and Stearns and compare these to the discussion
on periodisation addressed during the rst lecture. Prepare the following questions in
writing:
1. Why does Frank O’Gorman deviate from the concept of the ‘long nineteenth century’?
- He looks at it from a British perspective.
- He explains why he opted for his periodization, namely his long eighteenth century that
applies to Great Britain. In 1688 the Stuart monarchy is rejected and a new monarchy
takes its place, because it had major changes and reforms in the political system.
- The thesis of the long eighteenth century is particularly well applicable to the British
context given the continuity of the political system, parlimentary and constitution
monarchy, the very dominant position of the upper classes and a very restrictive census up
until the rst reform act (1832)
2. Which arguments does Peter Stearns provide against the concept of the ‘long
nineteenth century’?
- Stearns does not agree with the periodization of the 19th century and the contemporary
era, because from a world perspective one notices the in uence of new revolutionary
principles, which is happening in the Western world at this time around 1700-1800, only
much later. Therefore, one must order the times di erently in an early modern period of
1450-1850 and one modern times from 1850
3. Why is periodisation important to historians?
- In world history, periodisation has come to convey, particularly, shifts in the pattern of
interactions and contacts among many, though not always all, major society.
4. Why does periodisation always lead to discussion?
- Because there’s no period division that applies to all of world history, i.e. a period might
end in Europe but that same period might still be going on in Asia.
Questions on Doyle:
1. How do Marxist historians explain the outbreak of the French Revolution?
- Marxist historians believe that the real cause dor the French Revolution was the rise of the
bourgeoisie. According to Levebre, the bourgeoisie rose to power in 1789 and took over
France.
2. According to Marxist historians, which four revolutions occurred between 1787 and
1789, and what connected these revolutions?
- The revolt of the aristocracy
- Aristocracy vs the monarchy.
- Lead to summoning the estates general by votes cast by the rst and second estate.
- The revolution of the bourgeoisie
- Bourgeoisie vs the aristocracy.
- The Third estate couldn’t win from the rst and second estate by themselves so they
gathered at the tennis court and created the National Assembly.
- The popular revolution
- Citizens vs the king / nobility.
- The citizens and the bourgeoisie both turned against the king / nobility.
- The peasant revolution
- Farmers vs nobility / the king.
- Through rejecting the privileges of the nobility they hoped to become less dependent
on them.
—> The connection between these four revolutions has to do with the connections between each
successive event. Thus, the revolt against the aristocracy, or the fall of the old order, means that
the bourgeoisie can seize power. As the bourgeoisie seizes power, the popular revolution arises,
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