280B.005 -- Problems and Topics in Revolutionary France: 1750-1850
Professor Hesse
chesse@berkeley.edu
Mon. 12:00-2:00, 2231 Dwinelle
Office hours: Mon. 2:00-3:30: 3315 Dwinelle
Course Description:
Traditionally, the French Revolution has been studied as the last chapter in the history of
the "Old Regime." After 1989 this periodization changed. Revisionist historiography has
given shape to a new unit of French history, "revolutionary France," spanning roughly
from the Enlightenment through the Revolution of 1848. The purpose of this course is to
give students an opportunity to develop foundational knowledge of the most turbulent
period in French history. It will introduce participants to the major areas of research in
this field--political history, social history, economic history, military history, race and
colonialism, women's history, the history of religion and, not least, intellectual and
cultural history. The aim is to achieve a solid understanding of the causes, course and
consequences of the Revolution of 1789-99 and the successive regimes that followed: the
Napoleonic empire, the Bourbon Restoration, and the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848. Not
least, students will have an opportunity to engage with the major traditions of
interpretation of the revolutionary era, both classical and contemporary. Reading
knowledge of French is preferred, but not required.
Course Requirements:
The emphasis of this course is on reading. However, along with energetic reading and
discussion, participants will be required to give two seminar presentations and to write
two short (3-5 page) papers and one longer (20 page) final paper. 285 option negotiable.
Reading and Seminar Schedule:
Week I: Introduction: A Bird’s Eye View and a Close-Up (1/28)
Reading:
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Those who need an introduction to the history of this period should read François
Furet, Revolutionary France, 1770-1880, available in paperback from Blackwell,
or his shorter volume, The French Revolution (Cambridge).
Mystery document (to be distributed in class).
Some suggestions for further reading:
 Colin Jones, The Great Nation: France From Louis XV to Napoleon (Columbia U
Press, 1983).
 Norman Hampson, A Social History of the French Revolution
 Georges Lefebvre, The French Revolution (2 vols).
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Week II Social and Political Origins (2/4)
Reading:
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Tocqueville, Old Regime and the French Revolution (entire)
Michael Kwass, Privilege and the Politics of Taxation in 18th Century France
(Into & Chs 1, 5, 6 & Conclusion) (150 pgs)
William Doyle, “The Parlements,” in Keith Michael Baker, ed., The French
Revolution and the Creation of Modern Political Culture, vol. 1: The Political
Culture of the Old Regime (Oxford, New York: Pergamon Press, 1987), pp. 157167.
Some suggestions for further reading:
 Alfred Cobban, The Social Origins of the French Revolution
 George V. Taylor, “Non-Capitalist Wealth and the Origins of the French
Revolution,” AHR (1967)
 Daniel Gordon, Citizens Without Sovereignty
 Daniel Roche, France in the Enlightenment (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1998) (Chs. 7-8), pp. 251-286.
Week III Cultural and Intellectual Origins (2/11)
Reading:
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Robert Darnton, “The High Enlightenment and the Low-Life on Literature,” in
Darnton, The Literary Underground of the Old Regime (Cambridge MA: Harvard,
1982), pp. 1-40.
Roger Chartier, The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution (Durham: Duke
University Press, 1991), Intro and chs. 1, 6-8 & Conclusion), pp. 1-19 & 92-198.
Keith Michael Baker, Inventing the French Revolution (Cambridge University
Press, 1990), chs. 1, 9 &10; pp. 12-27 & 203-251.
Dale Van Kley, The Religious Origins of the French Revolution: From Calvin to
the French Revolution, 1560-1791 (New Haven: Yale U Press) ch. 6 &
conclusion, pp. 303-375
John McManners, French Ecclesiastical Society under the Ancien Regime, A
Study of Angers in the Eighteenth Century (Manchester: Manchester University
Press), chs. 1, 2 &7, pp. 1-25 & 129-162.
Some suggestions for further reading:
 H.T. Mason, The Darnton Debate (Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation: 1999).
 Daniel Mornet, Les Origines Intellectuelles de la Révolution française
 Sarah Maza, Private Lives, Public Affairs
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Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre
Dena Goodman, The Republic of Letters
Jürgen Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
Week IV The Pre-Revolutionary Crisis (2/18)
Reading:
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William Doyle, The Origins of the French Revolution (Oxford: 1980), Intro. &
Part I, pp. 1-40.
Colin Lucas, “Nobles, Bourgeois and the Origins of the French Revolution,” in
Douglas Johnson, ed., French Revolution and Society (Cambridge: 1976), pp. 88P. M. Jones, “The Crisis of the Late Ancien Regime,” in, Jones, The Peasantry in
the French Revolution (Cambridge U Press, 1988), ch. 2, pp. 30-60.
Georges Lefebvre, The Coming of the French Revolution (entire)
Documents: Sieyès, “What is the Third Estate?” and “Regulations for the
Convocation of the Estates General” in the Baker, Old Regime and French
Revolution documents collection.
Some suggestions for further reading:
 Jean Egret, The French Pre-Revolution
 William Doyle, “Was there an Aristocratic Reaction in Pre-revolutionary
France?” in Douglas Johnson, ed., French Revolution and Society (Cambridge:
1976), pp. 3-28.
 Douglas Dakin, “The Breakdown of the Old Regime,” in A. Goodwin, ed., The
New Cambridge Modern History, vol. 8 (Cambridge U Press), 1968), pp. 592617.
 David Bell, “Lawyers into Demagogues: Chancellor Maupeou and the
Transformation of Legal Practice in France, 1771-1789,” Past and Present 130
(Feb. 1991), pp. 107-141.
Week V The Revolutions of 1789-1790 (2/28)
Reading:
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Timothy Tackett, “Nobles and the Third Estate in the Revolutionary Dynamic of
the National Assembly, 1789-1790,” American Historical Review, 94: 2 (April
1989), pp. 301.
Rolf Reichardt and Hans Lusebrinck, The Bastille (Duke: 1997), chs. 1-2, pp. 178.
Lynn Hunt, “National Assembly,” in Keith Michael Baker, ed., The French
Revolution and the Creation of Modern Political Culture, vol. 2 (Oxford, New
York: Pergamon Press, 1987).
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P. M. Jones, “1789: Between Hope and Fear,” in, Jones, The Peasantry in the
French Revolution (Cambridge U Press, 1988), ch. 3, pp. 60-85.
Document: The ‘August Decrees’ and The Declaration of the Rights of Man and
Citizen, in Baker collection.
Some suggestions for further reading:
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Jean Starobinski, 1789: The Emblems of Reason
Marcel Gauchet, La Révolution des Droits de l’Homme
Georges Lefebvre, The Great Fear
Week VI Constitutional Monarchy, 1791-92 (3/4)
Reading:
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Timothy Tackett, When the King Took Flight (Cambridge: Harvard, 2003), entire
Keith Michael Baker, Inventing the French Revolution (Cambridge University
Press, 1990), ch. 11; pp. 252-305.
Ted Margadant, Urban Rivalries in the French Revolution (Princeton: 1992), chs.
1-2, 6-7 & conclusion, pp. 21-110, 220-286 & 442-456.
Documents: The Constitution of 1791, the ‘Debates on the King’s Trial’
Some suggestions for further reading:
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Keith Michael Baker, “Transformations of Classical Republicanism in Eighteenth
Century France,” Journal of Modern History (2001), pp. 32-53.
Keith Michael Baker, “The Political Languages of the French Revolution,” in
Mark Goldie and Robert Wolker, eds, The Cambridge History of EighteenthCentury Political Thought (Cambridge: 2006).
Week VII Popular Revolutions (3/11)
Reading:
 P. M. Jones, “Dismantling the Seigneurial Regime,” and “The Land Settlement,”
in, Jones, The Peasantry in the French Revolution (Cambridge U Press, 1988),
chs. 4 & 5, pp. 87-166.
 John Markoff, The Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords and Legislators in the
French Revolution (Penn State Press, 1996), ch. 8, pp. 427-516.
 Albert Soboul, The Sans-Culottes (entire).
 Colin Lucas, “The Crowd and Politics between Ancien Regime and Revolution
in France,” Keith Michael Baker, ed., The French Revolution and the Creation of
Modern Political Culture, vol. 1: The Political Culture of the Old Regime
(Oxford, New York: Pergamon Press, 1987).
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Brian Singer, “Violence in the French Revolution: Forms of Ingestion/Forms of
Expulsion,” in Ferenc Feher, ed., The French Revolution and the Birth of
Modernity (Berkeley: 1990), pp. 150-173.
Document: “What is a Sans-Culotte?” in Baker documents.
Some suggestions for further reading:
 Hilton Root, “The Rural Community and the French Revolution,” in Keith
Michael Baker, ed., The French Revolution and the Creation of Modern Political
Culture, vol. 1: The Political Culture of the Old Regime (Oxford, New York:
Pergamon Press, 1987), pp. 141-153.
 Charles Tilly, The Vendée.
 John Markoff, The Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords and Legislators in the
French Revolution (Penn State Press, 1996).
 Reynald Secher, Le Génocide franco-français: La Vendée-vengée (Paris: 1986)
 Jacques Godechot, The Counter Revolution
 Suzanne Desan, Reclaiming the Sacred: Lay Religion and Popular Politics in
Revolutionary France (Cornell: 1990).
 Marc A. Goldstein, The People in French Counterrevolutionary Thought (Peter
Land: 1988).
Week VIII War, Terror and Republic, 1792-1794 (3/18)
Reading:
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Robert R. Palmer, The Twelve Who Ruled (Robespierre and Carnot)
Alison Patrick, The Men of the First French Republic; Political Alignments in the
National Convention of 1792 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1972) (chs. 1-4, 67 and Conclusion).
Richard Cobb, The People’s Armies (Yale: 1987), Pt I: ch. 3 & Pt. II: ch. 3, pp.
102-158 &313-372.
Carla Hesse, “Tribunals” (in manuscript)
François Furet, “Terror” and Denis Richet, “Revolutionary Government,” in
François Furet and Mona Ozouf, eds, Criticial Dictionary of the French
Revolution (Harvard: 1989)
“The Causes of the Revolt in the Vendée of 1793,” in Frank A. Kafker, James M.
Laux and Darlene Gay Levy, eds, The French Revolution: Conflicting
Interpretations (5th ed. 2002), ch. 5, pp. 155-85.
Documents: ‘Law on Suspects’,’ Frimaire Laws, Ventôse Laws, Prairial Laws, in
Baker documents.
Some suggestions for further reading:
 Colin Lucas, The Structure of the Terror (chs. 1-2, 4-6, 9-12 and Conclusion).
 Françoise Brunel et Sylvain Goujon, Les Martyrs de Prairial
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Jean-Pierre Gros, Fair Shares for all: Jacobin Egalitarianism in Practice
(Cambridge: 1997)
Patrice Higonnet, Goodness beyond Virtue: Jacobins during the French
Revolution (Harvard: 1998).
Pierre Serna, Antonelle (Paris: 1998).
Donald Greer, Incidence of the Terror During the French Revolution: A Statistical
Interpretation (Cambridge: 1935)
Donald Greer, Incidence of the Emigration During the French Revolution: A
Statistical Interpretation (Cambridge: 1935)
Arno Mayer, The Furies (2000)
Patrice Gueniffey, La Politique de la Terreur (2000)
Gary Kates, The Cercle Social, the Girondins and the French Revolution
(Princeton: 1985).
Albert Matiez, Girondin et Montagnard (Paris: 1930)
J.M. Thompson, Robespierre (2 vols.)
M.J. Sydenham, The Girondins (London: 1961)
Michael L. Kennedy, The Jacobin Clubs in the French Revolution (Princeton:
1983-)
Crane Brinton, The Jacobins
Week IX Religion and Cultural Revolution (4/8)
Reading:
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Darrin McMahon, Enemies of Enlightenment (selections)
Mona Ozouf, Festivals of the French Revolution (selections)
Carla Hesse, “Reading in Extremis: Revolutionaries Respond to Rousseau” John
McManners, The French Revolution and the Church (Harper: 1969)
Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution (entire)
Documents: ‘Civil Constitution of the Clergy,’ Robespierre, ‘On Political
Morality,’ Robespierre, ‘Festival of the Supreme Being’
Some suggestions for further reading:
 Suzanne Desan, Reclaiming the Sacred: Lay Religion and Popular Politics in
Revolutionary France (Cornell: 1990).
 Marc A. Goldstein, The People in French Counterrevolutionary Thought (Peter
Land: 1988).
 Michel de Certeau, et. al., Une Politique de la langue
 Jean Starobinski, 1789: The Emblems of Reason
 Serge Bianchi, La Révolution culturelle de l’an II
 James Johnson, Listening in Paris
 Michel Vovelle, La mentalité révolutionnaire
 Antoine de Baecque, The Body Politic
 Antoine de Baecque et Françoise Mélonio, Histoire culturelle de la France, vol. 3
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Jean-Claude Bonnet, La Carmagnole des Muses
Thomas Crow, Painters and Public Life
Robert Darnton and Daniel Roche, eds., Revolution in Print
Week X The Problem of Thermidor, 1795-1799 (4/15)
Reading:
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Bronislav Baczko, Ending the Terror (entire).
James Livesey, Making Democracy in the French Revolution (Harvard 2001),
Intro, chs. 1-3 & Conclusion.
Howard Brown, Ending the French Revolution: Violence Justice and Repression
from the Terror to Napoleon (Charlottesville: U VA Press, 2006) Intro & chs. 1-4,
pp. 1-119.
Andrew Jainchill, “The Constitution of the Year III and the Persistence of
Classical Republicanism,” French Historical Studies 26, no. 3 (Summer 2003):
399-435.
Documents: The Constitutions of 1793 and 1795
Some suggestions for further reading:
 Isser Woloch, The Jacobin Legacy (Princeton: 1970)
 Sergio Luzzatto, Mémoires de la Terreur
 Philippe Buonarroti, Conspiration de l’égalité dite de Babeuf (Paris: 1957)
 François Gendron, The Gilded Youth of Thermidor (McGill: 1993).
 David Thomson, The Babeuf Plot.
 Martyn Lyons, France Under the Directory.
Week XI The Napoleonic Experiment, 1799-1814 (4/22)
Reading:
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Louis Bergeron, France Under Napoleon (entire)
Isser Woloch, Napoleon and his Collaborator the Making of a Dictatorship
((Norton: 2001), chs. 1-5, pp. 1-155
Bell, The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of War as We Know
It (Houghton Mifflin, 2007), chs. 6-8 & conclusion, pp. 187-316
Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby, Extremities: Painting Empire in Post Revolutionary
France (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), Intro. And ch. 2, pp. 1-7 & 65103.
Some suggestions for further reading:
 Steven Englund, Napoleon: A Political Life (NY: Scribner, 2004)
 Peter Geyl, Napoleon: For and Against
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Georges Lefebvre, Napoleon (2 vols.).
José Cabanis, Le Sacré de Napoléon (Paris: 1970)
Jacques Godechot, L’Europe et l’Amérique à l’époque napoléonienne (Paris:
1967)
Jakob Walter, The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier (Penguin: 1991)
Harold T. Parker, Three Napoleonic Battles (Duke: 1983)
Week XII Socio-Political Legacies (4/29)
Reading:
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Isser Woloch, The New Regime: Transformations of the French Civic Order,
1789-1820s (Norton: 1994), Preface, chs. 1-3 & Reflections, pp. 13-113 & 427433.
Sheryl Kroen, Politics and Theater: The Crisis of Legitimacy in Restoration
France, 1815-1830 (Berkeley: UC Press, 2000), Intro. & chs. 1 & 4, pp. 1-39 &
161-201.
Pierre Rosanvallon, “ François Guizot and the Sovereignty of Reason” and
“Political Rationalism and Democracy in France) in, Rosanvallon, Democracy,
Past and Future, Samuel Moyn, ed. (NY: Columbia U Press, 2006), ch. 5 & 6, pp.
117-146.
Documents: Selections from Joseph De Maistre, “Considerations on France,” and
Benjamin Constant, “Ancient and Modern Liberty Compared,” in Baker
document collection
Some suggestions for further reading:
 Bertier de Sauvigny, The Restoration
 D. P. Resnick, The White Terror and the Political Reaction after Waterloo
(Cambridge: 1966)
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David Pinkney, The French Revolution of 1830 (Princeton: 1972)
Maurice Aghulon, The Republican Experiment, 1848-1852 (Cambridge: 1983)
William Sewell, Work and Revolution in France.
Mark Traugott, Armies of the Poor (Berkeley: 1981).
John M. Merriman, The Agony of the Republic: Repression of the Left in
Revolutionary France, 1848-1851 (New Haven: 1978)
Peter H. Amann, Revolution and Mass Democracy; The Paris Club Movement in
1848 (1975).
Ted Margadant, French Peasants in Revolt: The Insurrection of 1851 (Princeton:
1979).
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Week XIII Cultural and Intellectual Legacies (5/6)
Reading:
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Steven B. Smith, “Hegel and the French Revolution: An Epitaph for
Republicanism,” in, The French Revolution and the Birth of Modernity, Ferenc
Fehér, ed. (Berkeley: UC Press, 1990), pp. 219-239
Ferenc Fehér, “Practical Reason in the Revolution: Kant’s Dialogue with the
French Revolution,” in The French Revolution and the Birth of Modernity, Ferenc
Fehér, ed. (Berkeley: UC Press, 1990), pp. 201-218.
Document: Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (entire).
Some suggestions for further reading:
 Steve Laurence Kaplan, Farewell, Revolution (Cornell: 1995)
 George C. Comninel, Rethinking the French Revolution: Marxism and the
Revisionist Challenge
 François Furet, Marx and the French Revolution
 Jack Censer, ed., The French Revolution and Intellectual History
 Lynn Hunt, “Forgetting and Remembering: the French Revolution then and now
(American historical study of the Revolution in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries and present perspective),” AHR, 100:4 (October 1995): 1119.
Week XIV: SPECIAL EVENING SESSION: THE MEANING OF IT ALL
Reading:
 Hannah Arendt, On Revolution, Intro & ch. 1, pp. 11-58.
 Albert Soboul, “The French Revolution and the Modern World,” in, Albert
Soboul, The French Revolution, 1787-1799, Alan Forrest and Colin Jones, trans.
(London: Unwin Hyman, 1974).
 François Furet, Interpreting the French Revolution (Cambridge: 1981), Pt I: “The
Revolution is Over,” pp. 1-81.
 Colin Jones, “Bourgeois Revolution Revivified: 1789 and Social Change,” in
Colin Lucas, ed., Rewriting the French Revolution (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1991).
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