The French revolution and its enemies
Start date
21 January 2011
Venue
Madingley Hall
End date
23 January 2011
Madingley
Cambridge
Tutor
Dr Sean Lang
For further information on
this course, please contact
To book
Course code
1011NRX083
Linda Fisher, Academic Programme Manager on 01223 746218
Sandy Haylock, Administrative Secretary on 01223 746227
See: www.ice.cam.ac.uk or telephone 01223 746262
Tutor biography
Dr Sean Lang is Senior Lecturer in history at Anglia Ruskin University where he specialises in
modern history. He has lectured for the Cambridge University International Summer School on a
variety of historical topics, including the French Revolution, Napoleon, the American Revolution and
the British Empire. He is the author of Parliamentary Reform 1785-1928 (Routledge) and Nazi
Foreign Policy 1933-1939 (Hodder) and has also published on medical history in British India. He
was Head of History at Hills Road Sixth Form College 1992-2001 and has acted as adviser on the
teaching of history to government and to the Council of Europe.
University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, Madingley Hall, Cambridge, CB23 8AQ
www.ice.cam.ac.uk
Course Programme
Friday 21 January 2011
Please plan to arrive between 4:30 and 6:30. You can meet other course members in the bar which
opens at 6:15. Tea and Coffee making facilities are available in the study bedrooms.
7.15 pm
Dinner
8.30 pm – 10.00 pm
France at the heart of 18th century Europe
10.00 pm
Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Saturday 22 January 2011
8.00 am
Breakfast
9.00 am – 10.30 am
1789 – Dawn of Liberty?
10.30 am
Coffee
11.00 am – 12.30 pm
Royalists and Republicans
1.00 pm
Lunch
2.00 pm
Free
4.00 pm
Tea
4.30 pm – 6.00 pm
The Terror
7.15 pm
Dinner
8.30 pm – 10.00 pm
The French Revolution on film
10.00 pm
Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Sunday 23 January 2011
8.00 am
Breakfast
9.00 am – 10.30 am
Wars of Liberation?
10.30 am
Coffee
11.00 am – 12.30 pm
The Revolution and the Military
1.00 pm
Lunch
The course will disperse after lunch
Course syllabus
Aims:
•
To extend and deepen understanding of events in the French Revolution
•
To gain an understanding of the Revolution’s long-term significance
•
To understand and discuss the political and philosophical ideas of the Revolution
Content:
The course will look at the European background to the French Revolution and the immediate causes
of the crisis of 1789; the events of 1789 and the attempt at constitutional monarchy; the political clubs
and political culture in Paris; the fall of the monarchy and the establishment of a Republic; the
National Convention and the operation of the Terror; the effect of the war on the development of the
Revolution; reactions to the Revolution elsewhere in Europe; the fall of the Jacobins and government
under the Directory; the role of the army in the Revolution and the rise of Bonaparte.
Presentation of the course:
The course will consist of a mixture of illustrated lectures, document study, discussion and film
showings
Outcomes:
As a result of the course, within the constraints of the time available, students should be able
to:
•
understand the events of the French Revolution
•
have a grasp of the political and philosophical ideas at stake in the Revolution
•
feel confident in using and analysing source material from the period
•
understand the significance of the Revolution for the modern day
Reading and resources list
Listed below are a number of texts that might be of interest for future reference, but do not need to be
bought (or consulted) for the course.
Author
Title
Publisher and date
David Andress
The Terror: Civil War in the French Revolution
Abacus 2006
T.C.W. Blanning
The French Revolution: Aristocrats versus
Bourgeois?
Macmillan 1987
Richard Cobb
The French and their Revolution
John Murray 1998
William Doyle
The Oxford History of the French Revolution
Oxford 1989
William Doyle
The French Revolution: A Very Short
Introduction
Oxford 2001
William Doyle
The Origins of the French Revolution
Oxford 1999
Francois Furet
The French Revolution, 1770-1814
Blackwell 1996
Hugh Gough
The Terror in the French Revolution
Palgrave Macmillan 2010
Christopher Hibbert
The French Revolution
Penguin 2001
Gwynne Lewis
The French Revolution: Rethinking the Debate
Routledge 1993
Simon Schama
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
Penguin 1989
Ruth Scurr
Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French
Revolution
Vintage 2007
Albert Soboul
Understanding the French revolution
Merlin 1988
D.M.G. Sutherland
France, 1789-1815: Revolution and CounterRevolution
Fontana 1986
Alexis de Tocqueville
The Ancien Regime and the Revolution
Penguin 2008
D.G. Wright
Revolution and Terror in France, 1789-1795
Longman 1991
Website Addresses
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/
http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~andressd/frlinks.htm
Note Students of the Institute of Continuing Education are entitled to 20% discount on books
published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) which are purchased at the Press bookshop, 1
Trinity Street, Cambridge (Mon-Sat 9am – 5:30pm, Sun 11am – 5pm). A letter or email confirming
acceptance on to a current Institute course should be taken as evidence of enrolment.
Information correct as of
January 2011