The 25 years between the onset of the French Revolution in 1789 and the Bourbon Restoration after Napoleon in 1814 is an astonishing period in world history. Now you can learn the full story of this era that shook the foundations of the old world and marked a permanent shift for politics, religion, and society-not just for France, but for all of Europe-in Living the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon. These 48 thrilling lectures by Dr. Suzanne M. Desan of the University of Wisconsin√Madison will give you a broad and comprehensive survey of this pivotal era that speaks to some of the same issues and events in contemporary history, from the quest for civil rights in the United States to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Living the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon
Examine a crucial turning point for humanity-the French Revolution and its aftermath-in which common people threw off the shackles of oppression and seized freedom.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Sancho N from
Not the course I wanted, but ...
A long (48 lessons) course on The French Revolution has been on my Great Courses wish list for years. I had no wish for a course on Napoleon.
Well, I am happy that the professor chose to give me what I needed rather than what I wanted! There is a seamless connection between the two subjects and the professor obviously loves to teach both, which makes this course a joy to listen to.
Date published: 2024-10-10
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Jackbike from
Outstanding and one of the best courses
The French revolution had an impact on world history far beyond my understanding prior to this course. As I approached the last lecture I found myself wishing that it had been even more detailed. The consequences of the revolution were far beyond what I had known. One example: the revolution made it possible for the United States to make the Louisiana purchase.
Date published: 2024-09-23
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Betsy Haun 82 from
A Great Lecture Series
I have enjoyed the series; it gives a broad sense of Revolution not only the effects in France but other nations abroad at that time and how it can relate today.
This series is a must and with a great instructor who makes you feel as if you're right there. It has answered so many questions I had and has inspired me to read more in depth of the cast of characters mentioned in this lecture series.
Date published: 2024-08-28
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Retired Diplomat from
A Brilliant Explanation of a Critical Period!!
This was THE BEST of the many Great Course lectures I’ve listened to. Prof. Desan breaks down this incredibly complex and important period of world history into digestible pieces. While the course’s basic framework is chronological, within that chronology Desan organizes each lecture around an important theme. I found her presentations brilliantly clear and delivered with great enthusiasm for her subject. Brava!
Date published: 2024-08-21
Rated 5 out of
5
by
kim kemal from
Comprehensive!
I have been just mesmerized by this class! I knew a lot about the revolution - although the details about the Catholic Church were fascinating and new to me. Napolean, again, I've read and taken classes, but still learned! And the 'in-between bits' as my husband put it, so much detail. I'm ready to take my midterm, prof! What I especially like is that she looks at all aspects of society, and at the street level, looking at how one thing led to so many unexpected results, every time. Human history is like that. I just love history below the 10,000 foot level. Her voice keeps you interested and if she stumbles over words from time to time, very understandable, at the fire-hose meter she's sharing her knowledge with us.
Date published: 2024-06-26
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Baruch XIX from
Splendid, exciting, and illuminating
I took a 'gap year in the middle of my Bachelor degree to follow a course in The History of Ideas. Before leaving I was presented with an essay title which asked whether 'Napoleon had 'betrayed the French Revolution'?
'The History of Ideas is a compelling discipline' because it requires a student to study the many facets of a problem and so this question with which I I was presented took on a new aspect It was no longer a merely 'Historical Problem but one of Politcal Science, of Sociology and Philosophy but as it would prove one of language . We did not 'deal' with the French Revolution as a topic but with the multifarious problems of Democracy' per se. It changed my opinions and perspectives and although I was on 'The left' politically I came to consider 'revolution' and 'democracy' as realities of governaunce rather than as slogans, to consider how they worked, and what were the inherent weaknesses in the reality even when it had ascendancy in Reason; and the objections are cogent. In the first place 'Equality' ceases to be a mere legal issue, but rather one of education, experience, rearing, home environment, parentage, cognition , Fraternity presented fewer problems , but cogent ones, none the less, but 'liberty' .Cocurrent with the section of the course on Goethe and the intellectual history of Germania [sensu lato to include Austria, and Switzerland] we had a course on 'translation' We had to translate from French into Grman, from German into Italian or French or any of those into English, or. since there were Russians and Swedes in the course, into a Mother tongue other than English. Professor Lauers had a knowledge of English and Russian but not Swedish, and in one of these sessiions he made a point that I had never heard before and hardly hear since
the instructor made an interesting distinction between 'Freheit' and 'Liberté' He said that it would convey the wrong, a mistaken notion of meaning to translate, ' Freiheit' into English as 'Freedom' for what the Germans understood as 'Freiheit 'approximated more closely to the meaning the French understood as Liberté. A Frenchman and a German understood Liberty as distinct from 'license' ,as a democratic recognition of commitments, obligations, responsibilities and convictions ,not their abdication, but rather a tacit covenant recognising laws and conventions and the thrust of such challenges to the status quo would be the lack of reciprocity in the covenant so that equality, justice, were absent where a law bore down excessively on one section of the community. Freedom abrogates those tacit constraints, it is a spectrum condition at one end positing licence at the other implying slavery and subjection and discrimination by one privileged section of society of another such as Feudalism Apartheidt, National Socialism, and if ideologically practised, by what passes for Communism. The essence of the meaning and the social and legal distinctions might not be appreciated in English but it would be crucial in understanding in the other languages. It is not a mere semantic distinction but a distinction where Freedom was a potential tyranny. 'Freedom is not a legitimate slogan because it challenges the very relationships between individuals and between individuals and Society. That is at the root of the concept of Heimat. Although this term has sadly acquired opprobrium because of National Socialism and Southern States of the USA in the 'non conformist churches especially.
This distinction I experienced in France, where I received my upper secondary Education, and by virtue of my Father, who was German..The approach to the essay that hung ,like a Sword
of Damocles over my head, was transformed and instead of writing an 'Historian's reply I wrote a political Science reply and resortedto such classics as Norman Cohn's study of chiliastic responses to Millennium and J.L .Talmon and I argued that the experience of democracy however splendid in theory was subject to a number of objections : not least the different experiences that one may have of 'democracy' depend less on Philosophy, than on the lack of equality in mental and intellectual endowments, on the real conditions of life that pertain, the vicissitudes of chance, in short that no matter how one proclaims equality in law that reality is never sustained by the experience of the citizen. I argued, in short, that reality, [experience, vicissitudes] had so far etiolated the pristine hopes of the revolution that as it progressed because chaos, invasion, harvests, weather, the power was concentrated in fewer and fewer people, from the Convention to the Directorate to the Consulate, and culminating in the Emperor so that by the time he proclaimed himself Emperor the Revolution had been vanquished by reality. I adhere to that argument despite the harsh criticism that my tutor at a British University levelled at my 'None Historical approach' and he accused me of being a 'continental' My attitudes he said was 'contaminated' by a European restlessness, and I think he rather resented that my course in The History of Ideas had earned me a Master's degree before I had attained a British Bachelor's degree.
The British Tutor' is well nigh dead, and so too the professor who had originally alerted me to this difference between Liberté' and Freedom. Professor Desan's course made me aware afresh of this difference, not merely of nuance in meaning but the direct contrary meanings of Liberty and Freedom because this course traces with vitality and an awareness of the incidental realities that will intrude on the purity of Political, and Philosophical assumptions and their ideological implications, in such as the 'Invasions', the 'Terror', 'the whiff of grape shot'. I wished that this course had existed when my Tutor gave in to his acrimonious objections to my 'European intellect' because it vividly and persuasively sustains my thesis, and Professor Desan also reminds me in this splendid course, what profound differences issue from the confusion between a German sense of 'Freiheit' being a matter of community rather than an Anglosphere Society ad libitum impatient in use of the slogan, without any clear idea of what it means, beyond a desire for a lack of constraint. Freedom is a very dangerous word when it is used promiscuously, not only dangerous for Governaunce and Law but the very survival of democracy that exists when the understanding and intention of constitutions is at issue. This course should be mandatory in the education of potential citizens before they coin concepts that can contain the very antithesis in their very assumptions. between the ad lib confusion. Professor Desan's assessment of Napoleon taught me another lesson, the almost amphibian nature of the Emperor as he tried to reconcile the accomplishment of Revolution and the limitations that are inherent in revolution to graduate to stability
Date published: 2024-04-20
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Rick H from
Fantastic course - a tour de force
This is a sensational course and a masterpiece in scholarship. We started with the video course and did not like that format. The camera work was clunky and the format did not suite her well (at least in the first couple of lectures). We then changed to an audio version. In that format it is terrific!! She doesn't have an agenda, as she presents all sides, displaying her vast reading with quotes that illustrate her points. The story of the revolution itself resonates today as it has lessons for current political activities. In a sense, we see history repeated over and over, despite the lessons from the French Revolution. She makes you feel that you are living the revolution, as it unfolds both chronologically and socially. I can't recommend this course highly enough. We have listened to well over 100 courses over the past 30 years and this ranks among the best.
Date published: 2024-03-16
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Russell2000 from
Good Comprehensive Course
Very important pivotal influential part of Western History, so very important for all to study. Enthusiastic passionate instructor. Very well organized and presented. She sprinkled in just a few of her personal experiences which I think enriched the course.
I started this course a long time ago and it's pretty long: 48 lectures. I'm always working on many courses simultaneously, so it is typical that it takes me such a long time to get through one. I sorted stalled with about 8 lectures to go, but decided to focus only on this course for a couple of nights and got it finished. I've very glad I did because the last few lectures and especially the last relates the French Revolution and Napoleon to succeeding history and other revolutions such as 1848, 1871, 1917 and 1989-90. And moreover, how the ideas and ideals have reverberated and influenced history and thinking in general.
So, in all, very good course and very entertaining and a vibrate and enthusiastic lecturer.
Date published: 2024-03-16
Overview
About
Professor Suzanne M. Desan is the Vilas-Shinners Distinguished Achievement Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Professor Desan is a historian of early modern Europe, specializing in 18th-century France. She holds a B.A. in History from Princeton University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley.
Professor Desan’s love of teaching has been recognized by various awards, including the University of Wisconsin Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award (2007) and the UW–Madison Undergraduate History Association’s Professor of the Year Award (2013). She has sought out wider audiences for her teaching by participating in Wisconsin Public Radio’s University of the Air, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and seminars and workshops sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Professor Desan’s research has often probed how individuals experienced French revolutionary politics in their daily lives. She has especially tried to understand the Revolution’s impact on ordinary men and women and to analyze how they engaged in politics in households, churches, and villages. More recently, her writing has examined the international circulation of revolutionary ideas and practices and has explored the influence of foreigners on French politics and political culture.
Professor Desan has written or coedited Reclaiming the Sacred: Lay Religion and Popular Politics in Revolutionary France; The Family on Trial in Revolutionary France; Family, Gender, and Law in Early Modern France; and The French Revolution in Global Perspective.
Professor Desan has spent many happy hours delving into archives in France. Her research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Philosophical Association, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Fulbright Program, and American Council of Learned Societies.
Trailer
01: Introduction and the Old Regime Monarchy
Take a first look at the complexities of overthrowing a monarchy and constructing a democracy. This first lecture introduces you to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and lays the groundwork for the gripping drama of the French Revolution.
33 min
02: Privilege-Old Regime Society
Look at the hierarchical society of France in the 1780s, which was divided into three estates-those who prayed (the clergy), those who fought (the nobles), and those who worked and paid taxes (the peasants). This system placed a heavy burden on the peasantry and set the stage for revolution.
30 min
03: The Enlightenment
Enter 18th-century salons and cafés to join the debates over modernity and politics. While writers such as Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau argued over natural rights, political reform, the social contract, and more, the Old Regime cracked down on dissidents and threw writers in jail for criticizing the government.
32 min
04: France, Global Commerce, and Colonization
See how global trade, the mercantilist system, and the slave trade disrupted traditional notions of societal hierarchy as non-nobles benefited greatly from the new economy. Additionally, global warfare-especially between France and Great Britain over colonization-left France weakened and deeply in debt.
31 min
05: American Revolution and the Economic Crisis
Explore the economic problems of France in the 1780s. The nation was deeply in debt, due to war with Britain and participating in the American Revolution. The opening of free trade hit the textile market and caused high unemployment. Finally, years of poor harvests and famine spurred grain riots.
30 min
06: The Political Awakening of 1789
When the Estates-General met in 1789 to tackle the nation's woes, several questions were on the table: Who would have political power? How could France reform its tax system? What would happen to the system of privilege? Explore how the Third Estate challenged the status quo and created a revolutionary new Assembly to represent all France.
32 min
07: July 14th-Storming the Bastille
Unpack the story of one of the most famous days in French history. In the wake of the Estates-General crisis, hungry crowds gathered in the streets of Paris. As the king gathered troops around Versailles, the politics of hunger took over in the streets and the crowds stormed the Bastille, sparking a nationwide revolution.
30 min
08: Peasant Revolt and the Abolition of Feudalism
In the weeks after the storming of the Bastille, panic gripped the countryside. Peasants revolted against their lords, and rumors about grain hoarding, bandits, and foreign invasion swirled around France. Amid this "Great Fear of 1789," the National Assembly met and dismantled the feudal system as the political revolution morphed into a radical social revolution.
32 min
09: The Declaration of the Rights of Man
Study the origins and significance of this shocking declaration, from its influences in the Enlightenment and American rights declarations to its implications for religious liberty and the role of the king. Who would get these "universal rights"? How would they be implemented?
33 min
10: Paris Commands Its King
March to Versailles with thousands of women and National Guardsmen to protest the price of bread and to lobby the king for political changes. This huge demonstration compelled the king and queen to move to Paris and revealed the power of popular activism.
29 min
11: Political Apprenticeship in Democracy
The press, political clubs, and elections-these three pillars of democratic, revolutionary politics set the agenda for the nation as France redistributed power, redrew its administrative map, and instituted a host of reforms that gave local voting power to the provinces.
31 min
12: Religion and the Early Revolution
Shift your attention from politics to the Catholic Church, which was at the heart of local communities throughout France. Despite an overall decline in religion in the 18th century, revolutionaries were playing with fire as they sought to reform the church, and their actions divided the country.
31 min
13: The Revolution and the Colonies
Turn to the French colonies and ask what the Revolution meant in places such as Saint-Domingue, the colony that would soon become the independent nation of Haiti. Did the Declaration of the Rights of Man apply to free people of color? Would the Revolution abolish the slave trade? These questions would take several years to answer.
30 min
14: Women's Rights in the Early Revolution
Women had no official political role in the Old Regime, but the Revolution raised the question of women's rights and their place in the public sphere. Find out how two of the era's key feminists-Condorcet, a male mathematician, and Olympe de Gouges, a female writer-framed the demand for women's rights, and observe the many ways women engaged in politics.
30 min
15: The King's Flight
On June 20, 1791, King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette disappeared, having fled into the night. This lecture shows you the king's secret-and ultimately doomed-attempt to escape France. This act became a significant turning point for the Revolution because it allowed the French to imagine their country without a king.
30 min
16: Foreign Reactions-A Divided Europe
Travel to Great Britain to explore the foreign reactions to the French Revolution. Professor Desan walks you through Edmund Burke's defense of tradition and the aristocratic system, as well as Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man," a response to Burke that lays out an argument for equality and a series of reforms.
31 min
17: The Path to War with Europe
Discover why France went to war with Austria and Prussia in 1792, and meet some of the key players in that decision-including the Jacobin Maximilien Robespierre who, ironically, feared war could destroy the Revolution and lead to a dictatorship. Study the causes of the war that would transform the Revolution.
32 min
18: Overthrowing the Monarchy
Turn to ordinary citizens as they overthrow their king and embark on a bold political experiment. With France losing the war with Austria and angry crowds in the streets, the Legislative Assembly declared the homeland in danger. See how revolutionary leaders and Parisians took matters into their own hands to press for creation of a republic.
30 min
19: The King's Trial
Experience the stunning trial and execution of King Louis XVI. This lecture begins by surveying the political alignments of the new republic and the debates between the radical Jacobins and the moderate Girondins over what to do with the king-a political division that would only deepen after the king's execution.
29 min
20: The Republic at War
Consider the international issues while France was at war. How did the French army save the republic at the battle of Valmy? Could the French spread the Revolution abroad? Could they continue to face their growing list of enemies? You'll also learn about the French military and what it was like to be a soldier in the revolutionary army.
32 min
21: Revolutionary Culture and Festivals
Step back and explore the culture of France as revolutionary leaders tried to stamp out the power of religion and the monarchy. From a new republican calendar to festivals that celebrated the goddesses Liberty and Reason, radicals enacted a fascinating series of changes.
31 min
22: Family and Marriage
Look beyond the larger issues of politics and economics and reflect on how the Revolution introduced new ideas of liberty and equality into family relationships. The revolutionaries legalized divorce, challenged the authority of fathers, and abolished unfair inheritance laws. Families became a microcosm of the Revolution as individuals figured out what liberty meant in everyday life.
31 min
23: Slave Revolt and the Abolition of Slavery
The largest slave revolt in history took place in Saint-Domingue in the early 1790s. What made the revolt possible? How did insurgent slaves convince France that slavery should be abolished? Uncover the suspenseful story of Toussaint Louverture's rise to power, which paved the way for an independent Haiti.
31 min
24: Counterrevolution and the Vendee
Not everyone was on board with the Revolution. In fact, tens of thousands of peasants and artisans in the provinces were dissatisfied with what they saw as the atheism and the anarchy of the revolutionaries. Learn about the civil war in western France and the counterrevolutionary efforts to restore the king and the old way of life.
31 min
25: The Pressure Cooker of Politics
Return to Paris during the crisis months of spring 1793 as the leading revolutionaries wrestled with the ongoing economic crisis, war losses, and the growing fear of conspiracy and counterrevolution. The government took emergency measures and created the Committee of Public Safety, thus sowing the seeds for the Terror.
32 min
26: Revolution in Crisis-Summer 1793
Witness the Jacobins' struggle to hold the republic together. French Federalists wanted local power, especially in the south and in Normandy. Although their revolt never gained traction, it stunned Jacobins in Paris. Another dramatic calamity came in July, with the actions of a woman named Charlotte Corday.
31 min
27: Terror Is the Order of the Day
The beginning of the Terror is difficult to pinpoint, but by the fall of 1793, all the institutions of the Terror were in place. This lecture shows you how the Jacobins built the Terror, introduces you to some of its victims-including its most famous victim, Marie-Antoinette-and wrestles with the philosophical question of how the Terror emerged from the Revolution.
32 min
28: The Revolution Devours Her Children
Continue your study of the Terror and explore the fundamental contradiction of using brutal means to create an egalitarian republic. Delve into the clandestine political plots and see how Robespierre tried to negotiate a middle path between the extremists who were for or against the Terror.
31 min
29: The Overthrow of Robespierre
How was Robespierre overthrown? As the Terror intensifies, you will follow an exhausted Robespierre as he battles to maintain control, and you will meet a group known as the Thermidorians, who would take control of France and dismantle the Terror.
31 min
30: The Thermidorian Reaction
After the fall of Robespierre, France shifted to the right as the Thermidorians struggled to save the republic and create a social order free from the violence of the Terror. Witness the last great uprising of the Revolution, yet again over bread and politics, and trace the construction of the short-lived government called the Directory.
31 min
31: The Directory-An Experimental Republic
Examine the moderate new republic and its attempts to find a middle way to carry out the promise of the Enlightenment and the Revolution without the disorder of the preceding years. Because this curious moment is wedged between the Terror and Napoleon, it tends to be ignored in historical surveys, but it was a significant time as France expanded and experimented with revolutionary innovations.
30 min
32: Young Napoleon
Meet the famous Corsican who would one day crown himself emperor of France. This lecture introduces you to Napoleon as a young man. The context of his early military career will enhance your understanding of the mature general, and it demonstrates his complexity as an outsider striving to gain power.
31 min
33: The Italian Campaign and the Sister Republics
As commander of the French army in Italy in 1796, Napoleon marched into Milan, drove Austria to its knees, and set up a sister republic in Italy, astonishing the rest of Europe. See what made Napoleon such a brilliant military strategist, and learn about Napoleon's politics and diplomacy as a young leader.
30 min
34: Sister Republics? France and America
Review the relationship between France and the United States. Coming off the heels of the American Revolution, the two nations had a cozy relationship in 1789, but the friendship soured over the next decade. By 1798, they were nearly at war, thanks to U.S. proclamations of neutrality, the Jay Treaty with Great Britain, and the XYZ Affair.
32 min
35: Bonaparte in Egypt
Return to Napoleon's military conquests-this time in Egypt, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire. After his Italian campaign, he grew restless in Paris and led an expedition to Egypt in an attempt to colonize it and spread French civilization abroad.
30 min
36: Bonaparte Seizes Power
How did Napoleon seize power in France in 1799? Tensions were high between the royalists and the neo-Jacobins, and in this climate of crisis, Napoleon led a military coup and drew up yet another constitution for France, bringing the Revolution to an end.
31 min
37: Building Power-General and First Consul
Trace the early years of Napoleon's rule and see how he built his power step by step. At war, he maneuvered boldly against the Austrians and had an uncanny ability to make peace. At home, he combined repression with conciliation to secure his power, and in 1802 he was elected First Consul for life.
31 min
38: Napoleon Becomes Emperor
As his power grew, Napoleon's ties to the Revolution shifted. He spoke of the "nation" rather than the "republic," and he became more formal and remote. After a failed plot against his life, he declared himself emperor. Despite this shocking seizure of power, he built on some of the Revolution's better achievements.
31 min
39: Napoleon's Ambitions in the New World
In 1803, despite Napoleon's colonial ambitions, France sold 800,000 square miles of the Louisiana territory to the United States. Find out why by considering the international situation, especially Napoleon's attempt to re-establish slavery and the loss of Haiti after the slave revolt.
30 min
40: Taking on the Great Powers
While Napoleon's ambitions in the Americas had been thwarted, he was ready in 1805 to take on the great powers of Europe. Go inside the Grande Armée and learn about Napoleon's corps system. Then take a look at several key battles, including Trafalgar at sea and the Battle of Austerlitz.
30 min
41: Expanding the Empire
From 1806 to 1808, Napoleon pushed his empire beyond the limits of what he could actually rule, from Poland to Spain. Take a closer look at his military strategy as he reached the pinnacle of his power. He concentrated his forces for decisive victories in the Battle of Jena-Auerstädt, and he hammered out a peace with Tsar Alexander of Russia.
31 min
42: France during the Empire
Perhaps because Napoleon rose to power so unexpectedly, his legitimacy was always fragile. Survey the ways in which he built his own glory by transforming Paris and creating a new nobility. Then see how, needing an heir, he divorced Josephine.
32 min
43: Living under the Empire
Was Napoleon a modernizer who brought efficient and liberal reforms throughout his European empire, or was he a cultural imperialist who tried to export his vision of a centralized, authoritarian state? Historians debate this even today, and this lecture shows you each side of the Napoleonic legacy.
31 min
44: The Russian Campaign
Follow Napoleon's harrowing march across Russia in 1812, and witness his doomed campaign from the viewpoint of his soldiers. Napoleon's fateful decision to invade Russia marked a turning point for his empire.
30 min
45: Napoleon's Fall and the Hundred Days
Experience the drama that followed the disastrous Russian campaign, where several European nations formed an alliance against France and forced Napoleon into exile. But in a surprising turn of events, he escaped the island of Elba and regained control of France without firing a single shot.
31 min
46: Waterloo and Beyond
Against all odds, Napoleon struggled to hang onto power, but in the spring of 1815, all the major European powers had declared war against him. He needed one great victory to secure his reign, but the Battle of Waterloo became his final undoing and reverberated for years to come.
31 min
47: Emerging Political Models
Take a look at the politics of France after Napoleon. The nation had changed too much over the preceding 25 years to simply return to a stable monarchy. See the emergence of competing political models of conservatism, liberalism, and Bonapartism during the Bourbon Restoration of King Louis XVIII.
33 min
48: Revolutionary Legacies
In this concluding lecture, you'll look at how the ideas, symbols, and practices of the Revolution had far-ranging consequences that are still being debated today. From the European uprisings of 1848 to the civil rights issues of the 20th and 21st centuries, the questions raised by the French Revolution are still being asked.
32 min
