This course explores the history of France in the 'long nineteenth century'. It provides a chronological framework by discussing the political regimes that rose and fell in this period and it examines specific themes such as gender, the urban experience (particularly the place of Paris in French politics and culture), the integration of the peasantry into a 'French' identity, and the overseas empire: overarching them all is the search for a French identity.

10 x 1 hour lectures and 5 x 2 hour seminars. This is one of the honours options in History and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.  

None.

None.

The standard assessments for this course are: 

■ Course essay - 3,000 words - 60% 

■ Report - 1,500 words - 30% - identifying and commenting on source material (including non-textual sources) from the period. 

■ Oral Assessment (Seminar Contribution) - 10% 

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available: 

■ There are no alternatives to the Essay and Report, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustment (Students should follow the usual process for extensions). 

■ Written responses to seminar material after the seminar as alternative to seminar contribution.

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.  

 The aims of this course are:

■ To introduce students to a broad, transformative period of French history.

■ To provide students with the knowledge of how forms of French identity have been shaped in the past.

■ To give students the opportunity to investigate different types of political order and the forming and collapse of consensus.

■ To provide students with a knowledge of revolutions, their causes, processes and consequences.

■ To hone students' historical skills by providing them with the opportunity to adopt a variety of approaches to the past, including gender and imperial perspectives.

■ To give students the opportunity to enhance their skills in source criticism with the use of primary materials in seminars and in the assessment.

■ To make connections and comparisons between the past and the present.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Display in-depth knowledge and understanding of French history from the Revolution to the outbreak of the First World War.

■ Comment on the relationship between the present and the past in French society.

■ Recognise the relationship between domestic and external developments and between different forms of identity.

■ Analyse the causes, processes and results of social and political upheavals and of cultural conflict.

■ Critically assess the validity of different sides of historical debates.

■ Critically examine, assess and comment upon a variety of textual and non-textual sources and make judicious use of it in constructing an argument.