HIS 424 - The Global French Revolution

This seminar explores the history and historiography of the French Revolution of 1789 as a global event. The Revolution released potent new ideals of political participation and social mobility, and unleashed decades of warfare in Europe, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. It marked a decisive and violent rupture between the Old and the Modern, created “sister republics” across Europe, and touched off the revolutions of free and enslaved people of color in the Caribbean, especially in the Haitian Revolution. We consider historical debates about the origins of the Revolution, and investigate the symbols and rituals of revolutionary culture. What were the consequences of the revolutionary moment for groups not included in triumphal rhetoric of liberty, equality and fraternity (women, workers, enslaved and free black people)? And how has the Revolution been remembered and commemorated around the world in the two centuries since the Bastille fell?