M. C. Meijer's "Absolutism, Enlightenment, and Revolution" Syllabus

University of Central Arkansas	Professor M. C. Meijer ("Mayor")
Spring Semester 1996	Office: Harrin Hall 207
HIST 4378/5378	Phone: 450-5642
Classroom: Main 202	Hours: MWF 8-9; TTh 8-9, 1:40-2:40

Absolutism, Enlightenment, and Revolution

Comparison and contrast between seventeenth-century Europe with eighteenth-century Europe, with emphases on the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. Readings include a basic textbook, library readings, books by a medical historian, an aristocratic female historian, and the brilliant Alexis de Tocqueville. Students are encouraged to write a major research term paper. They receive a "Paper Topics for Early Modern Europe" as a biographical guide to help them find a topic that personally interests them. Class discussion in the twelfth week revolves around a fifteen-page anthology entitled "Food for Thought from the Philosophes. " Graduate students present oral reports in class on specific items that interest them. The four essay exams test students on their developing ability to explain primary texts in the historic terms of Absolutism, industrialization, the Enlightenment, Enlightened Absolutism, and the Great French Revolution.

I. Course Requirements:

Birn, Raymond.
Crisis, Absolutism, Revolution: Europe 1648-1789 (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992).

De Madariaga, Isabel.
Catherine the Great: A Short History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).

Porter, Roy.
The Enlightenment (Hong Kong: Macmillan, 1993).

Tocqueville, Alexis de.
The Old Regime and the French Revolution, trans. Stuart Gilbert (New York: Doubleday, 1983).

The final grade for the class will be calculated from the following:
20% = First Essay Exam (Blue Book) - Thursday, February 15.
20% = Second Essay Exam (Blue Book) - Thursday, March 14.
20% = Third Essay Exam (Blue Book) - Thursday, April 18.
20% = Term Paper (10-15 pp.) - Due in class on Thursday, May 2.
20% = Comprehensive Final - Tuesday, May 7 @ 2:00-4:00 pm.

II. Books on Reserve at Torreyson Library:

Bruun, Geoffrey.
The Enlightened Despots. New York: Henry Holt, 1929.
D286.B7 Cop.1

Church, William F.
Louis XIV in Historical Thought from Voltaire to the Annales School. New York: W. W. Norton, 1976.
DC126.C44 1976

Goubert, Pierre.
Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen, trans. Anne Carter. New York: Vintage Books, 1966.
DC129.G613 1972

Hobsbawm, E. J.
The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962.
D299.H6 1962C

Packard, Laurence Bradford.
The Age of Louis XIV. New York: Henry Holt, 1947.
DC125.P3

III. Reading Assignments:

Week I: Introduction: Tuesday, January 9: Introduction.; Thursday, January 11: Birn, pp. 1-13.
Week II: Demography and Social Orders of Early Modern Europe: Tuesday, January 16: Birn, pp. 13-33.; Thursday, January 18: Birn, pp. 34-44.
Week III: Constitutional Monarchy of Seventeenth-Century England: Tuesday, January 23: Birn, pp. 44-81.; Thursday, January 25: Birn, pp. 81-111.
Week IV: Absolute Monarchy of Seventeenth-Century France: Tuesday, January 30: Packard, pp. 1-60.; Thursday, February 1: Packard, pp. 60-136.
Week V: Louis XIV the Sun King: Tuesday, February 6: Church, ch. 1-4.; Thursday, February 8: Goubert, Parts I-II.
Week VI: Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen: Tuesday, February 13: Goubert, Parts III-V.; Thursday, February 15: FIRST ESSAY EXAM.
Week VII: The Agricultural Revolution: Tuesday, February 20: Birn, ch. 5.; Thursday, February 22: Hobsbawm, ch. 1.
Week VIII: The Industrial Revolution: Tuesday, February 27: Hobsbawm, ch. 2.; Thursday, February 29: Birn, ch. 6.
Week IX: Eighteenth-Century Society: Tuesday, March 5: Birn, ch. 7.; Thursday, March 7: Hobsbawm, ch. 9 and ch. 12.
Week X: Secularization of Europe: Tuesday, March 12: Hobsbawm, ch. 13.; Thursday, March 14: SECOND ESSAY EXAM.
SPRING BREAK
Week XI: The Enlightenment: Tuesday, March 26: Birn, ch. 8-9.; Thursday, March 28: Bruun, Part I.
Week XII: The Enlightenment: Tuesday, April 2: Porter, ch. 1-4.; Thursday, April 4: Porter, ch. 5-8.
Week XIII: Enlightened Absolutism: Tuesday, April 9: De Madariaga, ch. 1-8.; Thursday, April 11: De Madariaga, ch. 9-16.
Week XIV: Enlightened Absolutism: Tuesday, April 16: Bruun, Part II.; Thursday, April 18: THIRD ESSAY EXAM.
Week XV: The French Revolution: Tuesday, April 23: Tocqueville, Part I.; Thursday, April 25: Tocqueville, Part II.
Week XVI: The French Revolution: Tuesday, April 30: Tocqueville, Part III.; Thursday, May 2: PAPER DUE IN CLASS.

FINAL COMPREHENSIVE EXAM: Tuesday, May 7 @ 2:00-4:00 p.m.

IV. Handouts:

"Paper Topics for Early Modern Europe"
"Roman Numerals & European Map"
"Outline of the Seventeenth-Century Wars"
"Enlightened Absolutism"
"Food for Thought from the Philosophes"
"List of European Rulers"
"Outline of the French Revolution"
"Historiography of the French Revolution"
"Timeline"
"Revolutionary Calendar"

V. Assistance:

On reserve in Torreyson Library at the Circulation Desk is the highly recommended UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) pamphlet, Writing Historical Essays, under the call number "MEIM 001."

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Miriam Claude Meijer, Ph.D.
03/01/05