Week 1
Week 1: Thursday, October 5, 2023
Kings, and Revolutionaries
What happened in the Revolution?
Was reform possible without violent revolution?
Where did the revolution go wrong?
Why did the revolution end in dictatorship?
How did one general end up with all the power of the revolution?
The Coup of 1799.
Remember that we have this great one-volume, paperback, history of France that we used last year; it is still just as useful this year. If you did not do "History of France" and did not buy this book, we probably have copies left over from last year. Check our bookstore.
REQUIRED READING:
La Belle France,
Vintage paperbacks,
ISBN 1400034876
Reviews
"Fascinating. . . . Engaging. . . . Filled with 'hot-blooded' kings, royal mistressesÉand tales of cruelty, treachery and even, occasionally, heart-warming loyalty."
–San Francisco Chronicle
"[Horne] is a virtuoso of the character sketch and the illuminating vignette. . . . La Belle France, with its refreshingly subjective style, possesses more treasures than a whole wall full of textbooks."
–The Wall Street Journal
"A breathtaking tour of French history, from its earliest kings through the Mitterrand government. . . . There are few countries with a more fascinating history than France."
–The Seattle Times
"A useful and charming introduction to a nation that has oh-so-definitely helped make the modern world what it is. . . . Horne does a service in helping the reader navigate the complexities of French history."
–Los Angeles Times
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
France in Modern Times, Fifth edition,
Norton paperback,
ISBN 9780393967050
This Amazon review is for: France in Modern Times (Fifth Edition) (Paperback) "Gordon Wright's "France In Modern Times" is an all-encompassing book about French history from the start of the 1789 Revolution to contemporary times. This book has been required reading in all of my French history classes and with good reason: it clearly defines the main themes of French history in language that everyone can understand. In other words, one does not have to be a professional historian or a graduate student like myself in order to understand the points that Wright is highlighting. Furthermore, Wright gives an outstanding bibliography that enables one to continue their research on the various topics that he discusses within the book. If you are looking for one book on modern French history, this is the one that you should buy!"
About the Author: Gordon Wright was William H. Bonsall Professor of History Emeritus at Stanford University. He was a past president of both the American Historical Association and the Society for French Historical Studies, and was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His many other books include Raymond Poincare and the French Presidency; Rurual Revolution in France; The Ordeal of Total War: 1939-1945; and Between the Guillotine and Liberty: Two Centuries of the Crime Problem in France.
RECOMMENDED READING
The Old Regime and the French Revolution,
Anchor; First Thus edition (October 1, 1955),
ISBN 0385092601
About the Author:
From Wikipedia: Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (born July 29, 1805, Paris, died April 16, 1859, Cannes) was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America (appearing in two volumes: 1835 and 1840) and The Old Regime and the Revolution(1856). In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in western societies. Democracy in America (1835), his major work, published after his travels in the United States, is today considered an early work of sociology and political science. An eminent representative of the classical liberal political tradition, Tocqueville was an active participant in French politics, first under the July monarchy (1830–1848) and then during the Second Republic (1849–1851) which succeeded the February 1848 Revolution. He retired from political life after Louis Napoléon Bonaparte's 2 December 1851 coup, and thereafter began work on The Old Regime and the Revolution, Volume I.
Amazon Reviews:
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) wrote many books, but his best-known one is probably "Democracy in America". Despite that, reading "The Old Regime and the Revolution" (1856) is essential in order to understand how much Tocqueville contributed to an accurate analysis of the present and past of his society, and to Political Science.
Why is "The Old Regime and the Revolution" a classic?. Why do teachers keep recommending it to their students?. In my opinion, the answer to both those questions is that this book is an example of the kind of work a political scientist is capable of producing, if inclined to do so. Here, Tocqueville doesn't pay attention to the conventionally accepted truth, but looks beyond it, in order to form his own opinion. And when the result of that process is shocking, he doesn't back down bounded by conventions: he simply states his conclusions.
In "The Old Regime and the Revolution" Alexis de Tocqueville does what at his time was considered more or less unthinkable: to put into question the revolutionary character of...the French Revolution. He said that the only way to understand what happened in 1789 was to study the previous social processes, and to find what they have in com Thurs. with what came about later. This change of perspective was radical, but effective. It didn't presuppose anything, and so it helped the author to arrive to a seemingly strange conclusion: that the French Revolution had not only continued with the social processes that were taking place in France, but accentuated them. For example, the governmental centralization was much worse after 1789. In a way, then, the French Revolution only carried forward with what the Old Regime had already started.
On the whole, I recommend this book mainly to those interested in French History and Political Science. It isn't overly easy to read, but you will realize that it is full of interesting information, and permeated by a painstakingly careful analysis regarding social processes that is remarkable. In my opinion, "The Old Regime and the Revolution" is a book that you won't regret buying :)
2
Week 2: Thursday, October 12, 2023
The Bonapartes
Week 2
The rise of Napoleon.
The family.
The Bonapartes in Corsica
Corsica, Italy.
RECOMMENDED READING
Napoleon: A Life,
Penguin,
ISBN 0143037455
From Library Journal: In this newest addition to the "Penguin Life" series, Johnson (The Birth of the Modern) produces an "unromantic," "skeptical," and "searching" study of a person who exercised power "only for a decade and a half" but whose "impact on the future lasted until nearly the end of the twentieth century." Characterizing Bonaparte primarily as an opportunist "trained by his own ambitions and experiences to take the fullest advantage of the power the Revolution had created," Johnson suggests that, by 1813, the emperor "did not understand that all had changed ... and events were about to deposit him ... on history's smoldering rubbish dump." Why another biography of Napoleon now? Johnson's answer is that the great evils of "Bonapartism" "the deification of force and war, the all-powerful centralized state, the use of cultural propaganda..., the marshaling of entire peoples in the pursuit of personal and ideological power came to hateful maturity only in the twentieth century." Thus, Napoleon's is a grandly cautionary life. Readers might wish to counterbalance Johnson's deliberately sparse outline of Bonaparte's amazing career by examining James M. Thompson's Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall. But Johnson's antiromantic treatment brings into sharp focus the ills he identifies with "Bonapartism," and that focus certainly justifies this new look at the much-studied old general. Recommended for larger public libraries. Robert C. Jones, Warrensburg, MO Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
3
Week 3: Thursday, October 19, 2023
Josephine
Week 3
Josephine helped make Napoleon what he became. She was well connected, experienced, and much more sophisticated in the ways of French politics than he was. Together they created a brilliant couple whose obssession was the advancement of their family
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING
The Rose of Martinique,
Grove Press paperback,
ISBN 0802142028
From Booklist:
Even though the lives of lovely Josephine and her insanely ambitious second husband, Napoleon Bonaparte, have become legendary, Stuart takes a fresh and revelatory approach to portraying the Creole from Martinique who became empress of France by emphasizing both Josephine and Napoleon's outsider status as emigres from small islands. She was from a lush Caribbean wonderland poisoned by slavery, and he hailed from Corsica, and both were greatly underestimated when they first arrived in Paris. Writing with magnetic animation and vivid specificity, Stuart tracks the astonishing vicissitudes of Rose's life (Napoleon called her Josephine) as she evolved from a gauche country girl into a "seasoned voluptuary," a "high priestess of style," and the famously kind, poised, and diplomatic wife of the most powerful man in Europe. Part and parcel of this gripping tale of love, adversity, loss, and survival is the story of the rapidly fluctuating status of women in France and the terrors of the French Revolution, harsh realities Stuart chronicles with acumen and finesse. But what makes this altogether moving biography truly unforgettable are Stuart's deep insights into Josephine's devotion to beauty, adaptability, compassion, and capacity for joy and love. Donna Seaman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
4
Week 4: Thursday, October 26, 2023
Napoleon in Egypt
Week 4
On July 2, 1798 Napoleon and his army arrived at Alexandria. This Egyptian campaign has always been vie as a waste of time and effort in Napoleon's rise to power. But for Napoleon it was a necessary stop on the journey to becoming a world ruler. Napoleon always had imperial pretensions and extraordinary ideas of his own destiny. Egypt and Alexandria was part of the plan for one reason: Alexander. Napoleon saw himself as another Alexander; another Julius Caesar.
REQUIRED READING
Napoleon: A Life,
Penguin,
ISBN 0143037455
From Library Journal: In this newest addition to the "Penguin Life" series, Johnson (The Birth of the Modern) produces an "unromantic," "skeptical," and "searching" study of a person who exercised power "only for a decade and a half" but whose "impact on the future lasted until nearly the end of the twentieth century." Characterizing Bonaparte primarily as an opportunist "trained by his own ambitions and experiences to take the fullest advantage of the power the Revolution had created," Johnson suggests that, by 1813, the emperor "did not understand that all had changed ... and events were about to deposit him ... on history's smoldering rubbish dump." Why another biography of Napoleon now? Johnson's answer is that the great evils of "Bonapartism" "the deification of force and war, the all-powerful centralized state, the use of cultural propaganda..., the marshaling of entire peoples in the pursuit of personal and ideological power came to hateful maturity only in the twentieth century." Thus, Napoleon's is a grandly cautionary life. Readers might wish to counterbalance Johnson's deliberately sparse outline of Bonaparte's amazing career by examining James M. Thompson's Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall. But Johnson's antiromantic treatment brings into sharp focus the ills he identifies with "Bonapartism," and that focus certainly justifies this new look at the much-studied old general. Recommended for larger public libraries. Robert C. Jones, Warrensburg, MO Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
5
Week 5: Thursday, November 2, 2023
Napoleon in Spain
Week 5
In 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain. He pretended to be protecting the poor feeble King but no one was fooled. The Spanish operation was the turning of the tide. Whereas in other operations Napoleon's brilliant planning guaranteed success, in Spain he had it all wrong and had totally misunderstood the Spanish people. Goya witnessed the war and produced some of his greatest paintings in response.
Art: Goya's "Third of May"
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era. The subversive and imaginative element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet and Picasso. His "Third of May" is considered one of the greatest paintings of the nineteenth century and the single most important painting to reflect Spanish reactions to the Napoleonic invasion of Spain.
6
Week 6: Thursday, November 9, 2023
Napoleon in Russia
Week 6
Everyone warned him not to do it. But by 1811, the few voices to whom he truly listened were gone. Josephine was gone. Talleyrand was gone. The great foreign minister was the only independent thinker left within the government. He told Napoleon not to do it, so Bonaparte simply pushed Talleyrand out of his inner circle. Napoleon was more and more isolated, surrounded by weak servants who did what he ordered. His new wife was a sweet child who had no influence on her husband's policy. Josephine had had good impulses especially in matters of personnel. And so the Emperor plunged ahead with one of the most disastrous military campaigns in all of history.
REQUIRED READING:
RECOMMENDED READING:
War and Peace,
Anthony Briggs, Translator,
Penguin Classics; Deluxe edition (November 28, 2006),
ISBN 0143039997
7
Week 7: Thursday, November 16, 2023
The Congress of Vienna
Week 7
Wikipedia: The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. This objective resulted in the redrawing of the continent's political map, establishing the boundaries of France, Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw, the Netherlands, the states of the Rhine, the German province of Saxony, and various Italian territories, and the creation of spheres of influence through which Austria, Britain, France and Russia brokered local and regional problems. The Congress of Vienna was the first of a series of international meetings that came to be known as the Concert of Europe, which was an attempt to forge a peaceful balance of power in Europe, and served as a model for later organizations such as the League of Nations and United Nations. The immediate background was Napoleonic France's defeat and surrender in May 1814, which brought an end to twenty-five years of nearly continuous war. Negotiations continued despite the outbreak of fighting triggered by Napoleon's dramatic return from exile and resumption of power in France during the Hundred Days of March–July, 1815. The Congress's "Final Act" was signed nine days before his final defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815.
RECOMMENDED BOOK
Napoleon's Master: A Life of Prince Talleyrand,
Thomas Dunne Books (November 13, 2007),
ISBN 0312372973
From Publishers Weekly
Charles-Maurice de Tallyrand-Perigord (1754-1838) was a diplomat for all regimes. He had major French governmental posts, including brief stints as prime minister, for nearly four decades: during the post-terror phase of the French Revolution and then under Napoleon and the Bourbon King Louis XVIII. As portrayed by Lawday, a former correspondent for the Economist, Talleyrand was a womanizer (he and Gouverneur Morris, then the American ambassador to Paris, competed for the same mistress) and a Thurs.ey-grubber, with a certain aristocratic hauteur. Yet Tallyrand was gifted at diplomacy: he was patient, an exceptional listener and, most important, a conciliator. Having had an exceptionally close relationship with Napoleon, he came to staunchly oppose the emperor's insatiable ambition and even committed near-treason in his complicity with Austria and Russia against Napoleon. Lawday devotes appropriate space to Talleyrand's finest moment, the 1815 Congress of Vienna, where his skills steered the assembled diplomats to allowing France to remain an integral part of the concert of Europe. Though comprehensive and quite good, Lawday's biography is long on narrative, hewing closely to the details of Tallyrand's unfolding life, but short on analyses of Tallyrand's choices and of the broader French and European contexts in which he acted. 8 pages of b&w photos; maps. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Reviews
"Swift, informed and literate." ---Kirkus Reviews
"Comprehensive and quite good." ---Publishers Weekly
RECOMMENDED BOOK
Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna,
Broadway; Reprint edition (March 24, 2009),
ISBN 0312372973
From Publishers Weekly
Leaders from the world's five major diplomatic forces - Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia - convened in Vienna in 1814 to found a new order for post-Napoleonic Europe. Historian King (Finding Atlantis) calls it the greatest and most lavish party in history, at which delegates would plot, scheme, jockey for position, and, in short, infuriate each other as they competed in affairs of state and the heart. King covers the diplomatic wrangling well, particularly over the fates of Poland, Saxony and the Kingdom of Naples. His greater strength is in depicting the personalities and motivations of the key players, such as Metternich's daring love affair with a baroness and Czar Alexander I's growing reliance on a German mystic. Despite endless parties, the Congress achieved pioneering work in culture and human rights, including Jewish rights and a vote to abolish slavery. Most important, it established alliances that defeated Napoleon's attempt to regain power in 1815 and helped foster a spirit of cooperation that, in some ways, has still not been surpassed. King's fine work is not quite as scholarly as the book it recalls, Margaret Macmillan's Paris 1919, but it is more deftly paced and engagingly written. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
"King reveals his talent for narrative flow and portraiture in a biography that will thoroughly inveigle history readers." - Booklist
"A teeming…personality-rich panorama of the first truly international peace conference." - Kirkus Reviews
"A fascinating tale that shines light on a unique aspect of the relationship between scholarship and nationalism." - Choice
Thanksgiving Vacation. No meeting week of Nov 20-24.
Thanksgiving week.
Students have stated they prefer having the week off.
Many are traveling for the holidays.
So no classes during Thanksgiving Week.
8
Week 8: Thursday, November 30, 2023
Waterloo and Beyond
Week 8
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18, June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. An Imperial French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon was defeated by combined armies of the Seventh Coalition, an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington combined with a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard von Blücher. It was the culminating battle of the Waterloo Campaign and Napoleon's last. The defeat at Waterloo put an end to Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French and marked the end of his Hundred Days' return from exile. The defeat of Napoleon was not only a defeat of his personal power, but also it signaled the end of French domination of continental affairs for a generation.
BYRON ON NAPOLEON
"Napoleon's Farewell to France"
Farewell to the Land where the gloom of my Glory Arose and o'ershadow'd the earth with her name, She abandons me now, but the page of her story, The brightest or blackest, is fill'd with my fame. I have warr'd with a world which vanquish'd me only, When the meteor of conquest allured me too far; I have coped with the nations which dread me thus lonely, The last single Captive to millions in war. II. Farewell to thee, France! when thy diadem crown'd me, I made thee the gem and the wonder of earth, But thy weakness decrees I should leave as I found thee, Decay'd in thy glory, and sunk in thy worth. Oh! for the veteran hearts that were wasted In strife with the storm, when their battles were won. Then the Eagle, whose gaze in that moment was lasted, Had still soar'd with eyes fix'd on victory's sun! III. Farewell to thee, France! but when Liberty rallies Once more in thy regions, remember me then. The violet still grows in the depth of thy valleys; Though wither'd, thy tear will unfold it Yet, yet, I may baffle the hosts that surround us, And yet may thy heart leap awake to my voice. There are links which must break in the chain that has bound us, Then turn thee and call on the Chief of thy choice!
RECOMMENDED BOOK #1
One Hundred Days: Napoleon's Road to Waterloo,
Oxford University Press,
ISBN 0195081773
From Publishers Weekly
Schon ( Trafalgar ) writes of Napoleon's escape from Elba in February 1815 and his return "like a thunderbolt" to France. Rallying the nation behind him, he mustered his army and marched off to meet Wellington at Waterloo. Schon describes the extraordinary logistical feat carried out jointly by War Minister Louis Davout and Interior Minister Lazare Carnot while Napoleon himself concentrated on mobilizing the troops. Waterloo was a crushing defeat, to be sure, but Schon argues that Napoleon's basic plan of campaign was a good one. The main problem, he maintains, was that the senior army commanders (marshals Soult, Ney and Grouchy) either disobeyed Napoleon's orders or deliberately hindered their execution. No admirer of Bonaparte, Schon describes how, "in utter defiance of the facts," his reputation rebounded after his death and developed into the Napoleon myth. This is a first-class reconstruction of Napoleon's final campaign. Illustrations. Paperback rights to Oxford. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
RECOMMENDED BOOK #2
The Battle: A New History of Waterloo,
Walker & Company (June 13, 2006),
ISBN 0802715001
From Publishers Weekly
This new and valuable history of the 1815 French defeat begins with a minimum of background for the non-Napoleonic student, but does superlatively well once Wellington and Napoleon have arrayed their armies for battle (and does not forget the Prussians waiting in the wings). The narrative is unusually accessible, and as experienced readers march on, they will find some novel insights and analyses. For Barbero, cavalry was not on the whole effective, but it could usefully suppress artillery, a welcome change from the usual denigration of everybody's equine forces (even the British are given credit for superior horses). The role of the Prussians, and also of German allied troops in Wellington's ranks, is studied in much more detail than in more Anglocentric accounts, and that many of the Prussians were half-trained militia is emphasized. Finally, Napoleon's army did not go off completely thrashed and in disarray, but substantially maintained order and discipline for several days. The author also does a better job than many popular historians in dealing with factors such as rate of fire, accurate range and the sights, sounds and smells of a Napoleonic battlefield. And while rejecting certain "patriotic myths," he supports the concept of Waterloo as a battle of unusual intensity. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
9
Week 9: Thursday, December 7, 2023
France After Napoleon: Balzac
Week 9
The author who most perfectly reveals the post-Napoleonic France is Balzac. This week we will read one of his best novels, Pere Goriot, which brilliantly recreates the Paris of the 1820's and 1830's. Le Père Goriot ( Old Goriot) is an 1835 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), included in the Scènes de la vie privée section of his novel sequence La Comédie humaine. Set in Paris in 1819, it follows the intertwined lives of three characters: the elderly doting Goriot; a mysterious figure named Vautrin; and a naive law student named Eugène de Rastignac.
REQUIRED READING:
10
Week 10: Thursday, December 14, 2023
The Raft of the Medusa
Week 10
The Raft of the Medusa (French: Le Radeau de la Méduse) is an oil painting of 1818–1819 by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791–1824). Completed when the artist was just 27, the work has become an icon of French Romanticism. At 491 cm × 716 cm (193.3 in × 282.3 in), it is an over-life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse, which ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania on July 5, 1816. At least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the 13 days before their rescue, and those who survived endured starvation, dehydration, cannibalism and madness. The event became an international scandal, in part because its cause was widely attributed to the incompetence of the French captain acting under the authority of the recently restored French monarchy.(Wikipedia)
RECOMMENDED READING:
The Wreck of the Medusa,
Grove Press paperback,
ISBN 080214392X
From Booklist:
An iconic painting of the Romantic era, Le radeau de la Méduse, by Théodore Géricault (1791–1824), immortalized a French maritime disaster in 1816. Unpacking the visual power of the image, author Miles proves to be both an astute art historian and a dramatic chronicler of the catastrophe. Several people survived to record accounts; these ignited a political scandal in France as the royalist captain's incompetence and callousness stoked criticism of the restored Bourbon Thurs.archy. Sensing an opportunity, Géricault faced the challenge of determining what moment of the survival drama to depict, for survivors' accounts contained discrepancies. He decided to omit riot, murder, and cannibalism and to include elements condemning Louis XVIII's regime, such as the accusing, outstretched arm of survivor Alexandre Corréard. Since Corréard's story changed in successive editions, Miles is wary about Corréard's factual fidelity, lending historical depth to the narrative without detracting from Miles' insights into the suffering and betrayal provoked by Géricault's morbid masterpiece. Relating its popular reception, along with the subsequent lives of artist and subject, Miles crafts a captivating gem about art's relation to history. Taylor, Gilbert Copyright © American Library Association.
All
Week 1: Thu., Oct. 5, 2023
Kings, and Revolutionaries
What happened in the Revolution?
Was reform possible without violent revolution?
Where did the revolution go wrong?
Why did the revolution end in dictatorship?
How did one general end up with all the power of the revolution?
The Coup of 1799.
Remember that we have this great one-volume, paperback, history of France that we used last year; it is still just as useful this year. If you did not do "History of France" and did not buy this book, we probably have copies left over from last year. Check our bookstore.
REQUIRED READING:
La Belle France,
Vintage paperbacks,
ISBN 1400034876
Reviews
"Fascinating. . . . Engaging. . . . Filled with 'hot-blooded' kings, royal mistressesÉand tales of cruelty, treachery and even, occasionally, heart-warming loyalty."
–San Francisco Chronicle
"[Horne] is a virtuoso of the character sketch and the illuminating vignette. . . . La Belle France, with its refreshingly subjective style, possesses more treasures than a whole wall full of textbooks."
–The Wall Street Journal
"A breathtaking tour of French history, from its earliest kings through the Mitterrand government. . . . There are few countries with a more fascinating history than France."
–The Seattle Times
"A useful and charming introduction to a nation that has oh-so-definitely helped make the modern world what it is. . . . Horne does a service in helping the reader navigate the complexities of French history."
–Los Angeles Times
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
France in Modern Times, Fifth edition,
Norton paperback,
ISBN 9780393967050
This Amazon review is for: France in Modern Times (Fifth Edition) (Paperback) "Gordon Wright's "France In Modern Times" is an all-encompassing book about French history from the start of the 1789 Revolution to contemporary times. This book has been required reading in all of my French history classes and with good reason: it clearly defines the main themes of French history in language that everyone can understand. In other words, one does not have to be a professional historian or a graduate student like myself in order to understand the points that Wright is highlighting. Furthermore, Wright gives an outstanding bibliography that enables one to continue their research on the various topics that he discusses within the book. If you are looking for one book on modern French history, this is the one that you should buy!"
About the Author: Gordon Wright was William H. Bonsall Professor of History Emeritus at Stanford University. He was a past president of both the American Historical Association and the Society for French Historical Studies, and was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His many other books include Raymond Poincare and the French Presidency; Rurual Revolution in France; The Ordeal of Total War: 1939-1945; and Between the Guillotine and Liberty: Two Centuries of the Crime Problem in France.
RECOMMENDED READING
The Old Regime and the French Revolution,
Anchor; First Thus edition (October 1, 1955),
ISBN 0385092601
About the Author:
From Wikipedia: Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (born July 29, 1805, Paris, died April 16, 1859, Cannes) was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America (appearing in two volumes: 1835 and 1840) and The Old Regime and the Revolution(1856). In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in western societies. Democracy in America (1835), his major work, published after his travels in the United States, is today considered an early work of sociology and political science. An eminent representative of the classical liberal political tradition, Tocqueville was an active participant in French politics, first under the July monarchy (1830–1848) and then during the Second Republic (1849–1851) which succeeded the February 1848 Revolution. He retired from political life after Louis Napoléon Bonaparte's 2 December 1851 coup, and thereafter began work on The Old Regime and the Revolution, Volume I.
Amazon Reviews:
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) wrote many books, but his best-known one is probably "Democracy in America". Despite that, reading "The Old Regime and the Revolution" (1856) is essential in order to understand how much Tocqueville contributed to an accurate analysis of the present and past of his society, and to Political Science.
Why is "The Old Regime and the Revolution" a classic?. Why do teachers keep recommending it to their students?. In my opinion, the answer to both those questions is that this book is an example of the kind of work a political scientist is capable of producing, if inclined to do so. Here, Tocqueville doesn't pay attention to the conventionally accepted truth, but looks beyond it, in order to form his own opinion. And when the result of that process is shocking, he doesn't back down bounded by conventions: he simply states his conclusions.
In "The Old Regime and the Revolution" Alexis de Tocqueville does what at his time was considered more or less unthinkable: to put into question the revolutionary character of...the French Revolution. He said that the only way to understand what happened in 1789 was to study the previous social processes, and to find what they have in com Thurs. with what came about later. This change of perspective was radical, but effective. It didn't presuppose anything, and so it helped the author to arrive to a seemingly strange conclusion: that the French Revolution had not only continued with the social processes that were taking place in France, but accentuated them. For example, the governmental centralization was much worse after 1789. In a way, then, the French Revolution only carried forward with what the Old Regime had already started.
On the whole, I recommend this book mainly to those interested in French History and Political Science. It isn't overly easy to read, but you will realize that it is full of interesting information, and permeated by a painstakingly careful analysis regarding social processes that is remarkable. In my opinion, "The Old Regime and the Revolution" is a book that you won't regret buying :)
Week 2: Thu., Oct. 12, 2023
The Bonapartes
Week 2
The rise of Napoleon.
The family.
The Bonapartes in Corsica
Corsica, Italy.
RECOMMENDED READING
Napoleon: A Life,
Penguin,
ISBN 0143037455
From Library Journal: In this newest addition to the "Penguin Life" series, Johnson (The Birth of the Modern) produces an "unromantic," "skeptical," and "searching" study of a person who exercised power "only for a decade and a half" but whose "impact on the future lasted until nearly the end of the twentieth century." Characterizing Bonaparte primarily as an opportunist "trained by his own ambitions and experiences to take the fullest advantage of the power the Revolution had created," Johnson suggests that, by 1813, the emperor "did not understand that all had changed ... and events were about to deposit him ... on history's smoldering rubbish dump." Why another biography of Napoleon now? Johnson's answer is that the great evils of "Bonapartism" "the deification of force and war, the all-powerful centralized state, the use of cultural propaganda..., the marshaling of entire peoples in the pursuit of personal and ideological power came to hateful maturity only in the twentieth century." Thus, Napoleon's is a grandly cautionary life. Readers might wish to counterbalance Johnson's deliberately sparse outline of Bonaparte's amazing career by examining James M. Thompson's Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall. But Johnson's antiromantic treatment brings into sharp focus the ills he identifies with "Bonapartism," and that focus certainly justifies this new look at the much-studied old general. Recommended for larger public libraries. Robert C. Jones, Warrensburg, MO Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Week 3: Thu., Oct. 19, 2023
Josephine
Week 3
Josephine helped make Napoleon what he became. She was well connected, experienced, and much more sophisticated in the ways of French politics than he was. Together they created a brilliant couple whose obssession was the advancement of their family
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING
The Rose of Martinique,
Grove Press paperback,
ISBN 0802142028
From Booklist:
Even though the lives of lovely Josephine and her insanely ambitious second husband, Napoleon Bonaparte, have become legendary, Stuart takes a fresh and revelatory approach to portraying the Creole from Martinique who became empress of France by emphasizing both Josephine and Napoleon's outsider status as emigres from small islands. She was from a lush Caribbean wonderland poisoned by slavery, and he hailed from Corsica, and both were greatly underestimated when they first arrived in Paris. Writing with magnetic animation and vivid specificity, Stuart tracks the astonishing vicissitudes of Rose's life (Napoleon called her Josephine) as she evolved from a gauche country girl into a "seasoned voluptuary," a "high priestess of style," and the famously kind, poised, and diplomatic wife of the most powerful man in Europe. Part and parcel of this gripping tale of love, adversity, loss, and survival is the story of the rapidly fluctuating status of women in France and the terrors of the French Revolution, harsh realities Stuart chronicles with acumen and finesse. But what makes this altogether moving biography truly unforgettable are Stuart's deep insights into Josephine's devotion to beauty, adaptability, compassion, and capacity for joy and love. Donna Seaman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Week 4: Thu., Oct. 26, 2023
Napoleon in Egypt
Week 4
On July 2, 1798 Napoleon and his army arrived at Alexandria. This Egyptian campaign has always been vie as a waste of time and effort in Napoleon's rise to power. But for Napoleon it was a necessary stop on the journey to becoming a world ruler. Napoleon always had imperial pretensions and extraordinary ideas of his own destiny. Egypt and Alexandria was part of the plan for one reason: Alexander. Napoleon saw himself as another Alexander; another Julius Caesar.
REQUIRED READING
Napoleon: A Life,
Penguin,
ISBN 0143037455
From Library Journal: In this newest addition to the "Penguin Life" series, Johnson (The Birth of the Modern) produces an "unromantic," "skeptical," and "searching" study of a person who exercised power "only for a decade and a half" but whose "impact on the future lasted until nearly the end of the twentieth century." Characterizing Bonaparte primarily as an opportunist "trained by his own ambitions and experiences to take the fullest advantage of the power the Revolution had created," Johnson suggests that, by 1813, the emperor "did not understand that all had changed ... and events were about to deposit him ... on history's smoldering rubbish dump." Why another biography of Napoleon now? Johnson's answer is that the great evils of "Bonapartism" "the deification of force and war, the all-powerful centralized state, the use of cultural propaganda..., the marshaling of entire peoples in the pursuit of personal and ideological power came to hateful maturity only in the twentieth century." Thus, Napoleon's is a grandly cautionary life. Readers might wish to counterbalance Johnson's deliberately sparse outline of Bonaparte's amazing career by examining James M. Thompson's Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall. But Johnson's antiromantic treatment brings into sharp focus the ills he identifies with "Bonapartism," and that focus certainly justifies this new look at the much-studied old general. Recommended for larger public libraries. Robert C. Jones, Warrensburg, MO Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Week 5: Thu., Nov. 2, 2023
Napoleon in Spain
Week 5
In 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain. He pretended to be protecting the poor feeble King but no one was fooled. The Spanish operation was the turning of the tide. Whereas in other operations Napoleon's brilliant planning guaranteed success, in Spain he had it all wrong and had totally misunderstood the Spanish people. Goya witnessed the war and produced some of his greatest paintings in response.
Art: Goya's "Third of May"
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era. The subversive and imaginative element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet and Picasso. His "Third of May" is considered one of the greatest paintings of the nineteenth century and the single most important painting to reflect Spanish reactions to the Napoleonic invasion of Spain.
Week 6: Thu., Nov. 9, 2023
Napoleon in Russia
Week 6
Everyone warned him not to do it. But by 1811, the few voices to whom he truly listened were gone. Josephine was gone. Talleyrand was gone. The great foreign minister was the only independent thinker left within the government. He told Napoleon not to do it, so Bonaparte simply pushed Talleyrand out of his inner circle. Napoleon was more and more isolated, surrounded by weak servants who did what he ordered. His new wife was a sweet child who had no influence on her husband's policy. Josephine had had good impulses especially in matters of personnel. And so the Emperor plunged ahead with one of the most disastrous military campaigns in all of history.
REQUIRED READING:
RECOMMENDED READING:
War and Peace,
Anthony Briggs, Translator,
Penguin Classics; Deluxe edition (November 28, 2006),
ISBN 0143039997
Week 7: Thu., Nov. 16, 2023
The Congress of Vienna
Week 7
Wikipedia: The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. This objective resulted in the redrawing of the continent's political map, establishing the boundaries of France, Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw, the Netherlands, the states of the Rhine, the German province of Saxony, and various Italian territories, and the creation of spheres of influence through which Austria, Britain, France and Russia brokered local and regional problems. The Congress of Vienna was the first of a series of international meetings that came to be known as the Concert of Europe, which was an attempt to forge a peaceful balance of power in Europe, and served as a model for later organizations such as the League of Nations and United Nations. The immediate background was Napoleonic France's defeat and surrender in May 1814, which brought an end to twenty-five years of nearly continuous war. Negotiations continued despite the outbreak of fighting triggered by Napoleon's dramatic return from exile and resumption of power in France during the Hundred Days of March–July, 1815. The Congress's "Final Act" was signed nine days before his final defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815.
RECOMMENDED BOOK
Napoleon's Master: A Life of Prince Talleyrand,
Thomas Dunne Books (November 13, 2007),
ISBN 0312372973
From Publishers Weekly
Charles-Maurice de Tallyrand-Perigord (1754-1838) was a diplomat for all regimes. He had major French governmental posts, including brief stints as prime minister, for nearly four decades: during the post-terror phase of the French Revolution and then under Napoleon and the Bourbon King Louis XVIII. As portrayed by Lawday, a former correspondent for the Economist, Talleyrand was a womanizer (he and Gouverneur Morris, then the American ambassador to Paris, competed for the same mistress) and a Thurs.ey-grubber, with a certain aristocratic hauteur. Yet Tallyrand was gifted at diplomacy: he was patient, an exceptional listener and, most important, a conciliator. Having had an exceptionally close relationship with Napoleon, he came to staunchly oppose the emperor's insatiable ambition and even committed near-treason in his complicity with Austria and Russia against Napoleon. Lawday devotes appropriate space to Talleyrand's finest moment, the 1815 Congress of Vienna, where his skills steered the assembled diplomats to allowing France to remain an integral part of the concert of Europe. Though comprehensive and quite good, Lawday's biography is long on narrative, hewing closely to the details of Tallyrand's unfolding life, but short on analyses of Tallyrand's choices and of the broader French and European contexts in which he acted. 8 pages of b&w photos; maps. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Reviews
"Swift, informed and literate." ---Kirkus Reviews
"Comprehensive and quite good." ---Publishers Weekly
RECOMMENDED BOOK
Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna,
Broadway; Reprint edition (March 24, 2009),
ISBN 0312372973
From Publishers Weekly
Leaders from the world's five major diplomatic forces - Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia - convened in Vienna in 1814 to found a new order for post-Napoleonic Europe. Historian King (Finding Atlantis) calls it the greatest and most lavish party in history, at which delegates would plot, scheme, jockey for position, and, in short, infuriate each other as they competed in affairs of state and the heart. King covers the diplomatic wrangling well, particularly over the fates of Poland, Saxony and the Kingdom of Naples. His greater strength is in depicting the personalities and motivations of the key players, such as Metternich's daring love affair with a baroness and Czar Alexander I's growing reliance on a German mystic. Despite endless parties, the Congress achieved pioneering work in culture and human rights, including Jewish rights and a vote to abolish slavery. Most important, it established alliances that defeated Napoleon's attempt to regain power in 1815 and helped foster a spirit of cooperation that, in some ways, has still not been surpassed. King's fine work is not quite as scholarly as the book it recalls, Margaret Macmillan's Paris 1919, but it is more deftly paced and engagingly written. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
"King reveals his talent for narrative flow and portraiture in a biography that will thoroughly inveigle history readers." - Booklist
"A teeming…personality-rich panorama of the first truly international peace conference." - Kirkus Reviews
"A fascinating tale that shines light on a unique aspect of the relationship between scholarship and nationalism." - Choice
Thanksgiving Vacation. No meeting week of Nov 20-24.
Thanksgiving week.
Students have stated they prefer having the week off.
Many are traveling for the holidays.
So no classes during Thanksgiving Week.
Week 8: Thu., Nov. 30, 2023
Waterloo and Beyond
Week 8
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18, June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. An Imperial French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon was defeated by combined armies of the Seventh Coalition, an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington combined with a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard von Blücher. It was the culminating battle of the Waterloo Campaign and Napoleon's last. The defeat at Waterloo put an end to Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French and marked the end of his Hundred Days' return from exile. The defeat of Napoleon was not only a defeat of his personal power, but also it signaled the end of French domination of continental affairs for a generation.
BYRON ON NAPOLEON
"Napoleon's Farewell to France"
Farewell to the Land where the gloom of my Glory Arose and o'ershadow'd the earth with her name, She abandons me now, but the page of her story, The brightest or blackest, is fill'd with my fame. I have warr'd with a world which vanquish'd me only, When the meteor of conquest allured me too far; I have coped with the nations which dread me thus lonely, The last single Captive to millions in war. II. Farewell to thee, France! when thy diadem crown'd me, I made thee the gem and the wonder of earth, But thy weakness decrees I should leave as I found thee, Decay'd in thy glory, and sunk in thy worth. Oh! for the veteran hearts that were wasted In strife with the storm, when their battles were won. Then the Eagle, whose gaze in that moment was lasted, Had still soar'd with eyes fix'd on victory's sun! III. Farewell to thee, France! but when Liberty rallies Once more in thy regions, remember me then. The violet still grows in the depth of thy valleys; Though wither'd, thy tear will unfold it Yet, yet, I may baffle the hosts that surround us, And yet may thy heart leap awake to my voice. There are links which must break in the chain that has bound us, Then turn thee and call on the Chief of thy choice!
RECOMMENDED BOOK #1
One Hundred Days: Napoleon's Road to Waterloo,
Oxford University Press,
ISBN 0195081773
From Publishers Weekly
Schon ( Trafalgar ) writes of Napoleon's escape from Elba in February 1815 and his return "like a thunderbolt" to France. Rallying the nation behind him, he mustered his army and marched off to meet Wellington at Waterloo. Schon describes the extraordinary logistical feat carried out jointly by War Minister Louis Davout and Interior Minister Lazare Carnot while Napoleon himself concentrated on mobilizing the troops. Waterloo was a crushing defeat, to be sure, but Schon argues that Napoleon's basic plan of campaign was a good one. The main problem, he maintains, was that the senior army commanders (marshals Soult, Ney and Grouchy) either disobeyed Napoleon's orders or deliberately hindered their execution. No admirer of Bonaparte, Schon describes how, "in utter defiance of the facts," his reputation rebounded after his death and developed into the Napoleon myth. This is a first-class reconstruction of Napoleon's final campaign. Illustrations. Paperback rights to Oxford. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
RECOMMENDED BOOK #2
The Battle: A New History of Waterloo,
Walker & Company (June 13, 2006),
ISBN 0802715001
From Publishers Weekly
This new and valuable history of the 1815 French defeat begins with a minimum of background for the non-Napoleonic student, but does superlatively well once Wellington and Napoleon have arrayed their armies for battle (and does not forget the Prussians waiting in the wings). The narrative is unusually accessible, and as experienced readers march on, they will find some novel insights and analyses. For Barbero, cavalry was not on the whole effective, but it could usefully suppress artillery, a welcome change from the usual denigration of everybody's equine forces (even the British are given credit for superior horses). The role of the Prussians, and also of German allied troops in Wellington's ranks, is studied in much more detail than in more Anglocentric accounts, and that many of the Prussians were half-trained militia is emphasized. Finally, Napoleon's army did not go off completely thrashed and in disarray, but substantially maintained order and discipline for several days. The author also does a better job than many popular historians in dealing with factors such as rate of fire, accurate range and the sights, sounds and smells of a Napoleonic battlefield. And while rejecting certain "patriotic myths," he supports the concept of Waterloo as a battle of unusual intensity. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Week 9: Thu., Dec. 7, 2023
France After Napoleon: Balzac
Week 9
The author who most perfectly reveals the post-Napoleonic France is Balzac. This week we will read one of his best novels, Pere Goriot, which brilliantly recreates the Paris of the 1820's and 1830's. Le Père Goriot ( Old Goriot) is an 1835 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), included in the Scènes de la vie privée section of his novel sequence La Comédie humaine. Set in Paris in 1819, it follows the intertwined lives of three characters: the elderly doting Goriot; a mysterious figure named Vautrin; and a naive law student named Eugène de Rastignac.
REQUIRED READING:
Week 10: Thu., Dec. 14, 2023
The Raft of the Medusa
Week 10
The Raft of the Medusa (French: Le Radeau de la Méduse) is an oil painting of 1818–1819 by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791–1824). Completed when the artist was just 27, the work has become an icon of French Romanticism. At 491 cm × 716 cm (193.3 in × 282.3 in), it is an over-life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse, which ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania on July 5, 1816. At least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the 13 days before their rescue, and those who survived endured starvation, dehydration, cannibalism and madness. The event became an international scandal, in part because its cause was widely attributed to the incompetence of the French captain acting under the authority of the recently restored French monarchy.(Wikipedia)
RECOMMENDED READING:
The Wreck of the Medusa,
Grove Press paperback,
ISBN 080214392X
From Booklist:
An iconic painting of the Romantic era, Le radeau de la Méduse, by Théodore Géricault (1791–1824), immortalized a French maritime disaster in 1816. Unpacking the visual power of the image, author Miles proves to be both an astute art historian and a dramatic chronicler of the catastrophe. Several people survived to record accounts; these ignited a political scandal in France as the royalist captain's incompetence and callousness stoked criticism of the restored Bourbon Thurs.archy. Sensing an opportunity, Géricault faced the challenge of determining what moment of the survival drama to depict, for survivors' accounts contained discrepancies. He decided to omit riot, murder, and cannibalism and to include elements condemning Louis XVIII's regime, such as the accusing, outstretched arm of survivor Alexandre Corréard. Since Corréard's story changed in successive editions, Miles is wary about Corréard's factual fidelity, lending historical depth to the narrative without detracting from Miles' insights into the suffering and betrayal provoked by Géricault's morbid masterpiece. Relating its popular reception, along with the subsequent lives of artist and subject, Miles crafts a captivating gem about art's relation to history. Taylor, Gilbert Copyright © American Library Association.