HSTEU 302    17-18TH CENTURY EUROPE   FALL 2010          

Course Description This course surveys European history in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, from the Thirty Years War to the French Revolution. Major currents in intellectual history,
from the Scientific Revolution to Enlightenment, are examined in relation to political and social developments.
Political theory and institutional structures associated with the rise of absolutism on the continent and
constitutional monarchy in England provide a central focus. The course concludes with the revolutionary
decade in France, the rise of Napoleon and European wide reaction against the French Revolution.

Course requirements:
Response papers
(10% of grade): PLEASE E-MAIL ME IF TH
ESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE NOT CLEAR.
Since there are no sections in the class, we will have scheduled discussions in lecture. Students
need to do the reading before the day a discussion is scheduled. Each student should write
3 short
response papers (one page maximum) to be turned in the day of the discussion. These can be handwritten
or typed (double spaced), and should raise questions about the reading or bring up one or two significant
issues for discussion. I will post questions before the discussion; you can
format your response paper around one or two of the issues raised in the discussion questions (please stay within one page maximum).
One
response paper should be turned in before the midterm, one after the midterm, and the other one
either before or after the midterm.

First paper 4-5 pages, FIRST PAPER DUE TUESDAY OCT 19 (20% of grade)
                    [1st paper topics below]
Midterm exam, TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2 IN CLASS (20% of grade)
Second paper 5-7 pages due THURSDAY DECEMBER 2 (25% of grade)
Final exam
Wednesday December 15th 4:30-6:30 PM (25% of grade)

Required Readings
: books are available at Bookstore (also on OUGL Reserve):
Readings in this course focus on the history of political and social thought in 17-18th century Europe.
Our goal is to understand the evolution of theories about society and government in their historical context.
This means asking where specific ideas came from, and what kinds of historical circumstances led people
to
question existing political arrangements and to imagine new ones . These multiple circumstances included
economic, social
and cultural forces as well as political ones; all these factors need to be integrated into our
analysis. Lectures
and textbook will provide the context for the readings to be discussed on the days indicated below.

Secondary Sources:
Text:
Palmer & Colton, History of Modern World Vol. I to 1815 (10th ed.) . [P&C]
                       If you have an earlier edition, follow chapter assignments or contact Professor O’Neil for specific page numbers
          Margaret Jacob, The Enlightenment: A Brief History with Documents
          Jack R. Censer & Lynn Hunt, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution [C&H]

Primary Sources: plus a few selections available in xerox &/or E-reserve
          John Locke, Second Treatise of Government
           Descartes, Discourse on Method
           Rousseau, Discourse on Origin of Inequality
           Voltaire, Candide edited by Daniel Gordon   (other editions OK, but read Gordon's  Introduction on E-reserve)

WK I THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY CRISIS

READING: Selections from Hobbes’ Leviathan [available via link from web page]
Palmer (10th ed) Ch 3 (#12-15) pp. 107-135 background; (#16) 30 Years War, pp. 135-141
                         Ch 4 (#19) England pp. 155-162; Ch 7 (#30) Hobbes & Locke pp. 249-255

Th 9/30  Introduction: 17th Century Crises;  Thirty Years War and its Aftermath    
                  P&C, Ch 3 (#16), pp. 135-141
             SLIDES: Mars and Venus: Images of War & Peace in 17th C Painting

WEEKEND: Start on Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Discussion Thursday October 7
                   Read selection from Hobbes Leviathan on e-reserve and link on web site

WK II REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT: ENGLAND AND DUTCH REPUBLIC

READING: Palmer and Colton, Ch 4 (# 17-20) pp. 143-167, Ch 6 (#30), pp. 249-252;
                  Jacob, Introduction, pp. 1-15
                  Selection from Hobbes Leviathan on e-reserve and link on web site
                  Censer & Hunt, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Doc. 1.11, pp. 35-7
                  Locke, Second Treatise of Government, any edition (approx. 135 pages) 

Tu 10/5      English Civil War (1640-1660), Puritan Revolution  
and                 P&C, Ch 4, (#19) pp. 155-62, Ch 6 (#30), pp. 249-252
Th 10/7       DISCUSSION: Hobbes Leviathan   (10 pp. selection;  see link on web site)
 

WEEK III
Tu 10/12    England: Restoration and the Revolution of 1688
 READING:      P&C, Ch 4, (#20), pp. 162-169; Ch 6 (#30), pp. 252-255
                       Censer & Hunt, English Bill of Rights, 1689, pp. 35-7
                 Political Theory: Divine Right vs Constitutional Monarchy 
                          DISCUSSION: Locke, Second Treatise of Government
                 Dutch Republic to William of Orange    
                          P&C, Ch 3 (#14) pp. 121-130, Ch 4 (#18) pp. 149-155

RATIONALISM, EMPIRICISM AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

READING: Palmer & Colton, Ch 6 (# 27-29) pp. 225-249 
                Descartes, Discourse on Method Jacob, The Enlightenment Introduction, pp. 27-33
                 [Omit  Kant, What is Enlightenment?, in Jacob pp. 202-208 due to schedule change]

Th 10/14 The Scientific Revolution: Galileo to Newton   
              Seventeenth Century Philosophy: Rationalism and Empiricism
              DISCUSSION: Descartes, Discourse on Method

** FIRST PAPER DUE IN CLASS, TUESDAY OCT 19  **

WEEK IV LOUIS XIV AND THE EMPERORS

READING:  Palmer & Colton, Ch 3 (#15) pp. 130-35,
                                           Ch 4 (#17) pp. 146-48, (# 21-22) pp. 169-188;
                   Jacob, Introduction, pp. 15-22, 33-43, 94-137

T 10/19    French Monarchy & Society under Louis XIII
                         P&C, Ch 3 (#15) pp.130-35, Ch4 (#17)  pp.146-48
                France: Mazarin and The Fronde      P&C Ch 4 (#21),  pp.169-181

Th 10/21 Louis XIV: Absolutism at Versailles P&C, Ch 4 (#22) pp.181-188             
                Religion in the Age of Reason & Enlightenment
                   DISCUSSION: Jacob, Treatise of the Three Impostors, pp. 94-114,
                            and Voltaire, Letters concerning the English Nation,  pp.114-137 

WEEK V EASTERN EUROPE: absolutism & enlightened despotism

READING: Palmer & Colton, Ch 5 (# 23-26) 189-224; Ch 8 (# 36-37), 311-329
                  Jacob, The Enlightenment, Introduction, pp. 20-27, 43-46

Tu 10/26   Habsburgs and the Austro-Hungarian Empire: P&C, Ch 5 (#23-4) pp. 189-203
                Russia under Peter the Great & Catherine the Great
                   P&C, Ch 5 (#26-27), pp. 211-224; Ch 8 (#37) pp. 320-29

Th 10/28 Prussia to Frederick the Great P&C, Ch 5 (#25), pp. 203-211;
                 Ch 8 (#36) pp. 311-320;  Ch 7 (#34), pp. 282- 288,
              Montesquieu: The Persian Letters and Spirit of the Laws
              DISCUSSION:       Review for midterm (covers reading through Week V)

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2 MIDTERM EXAM, IN CLASS

WEEK VI THE ENLIGHTENMENT ON NATURE AND SOCIETY 

READING: Palmer and Colton, Ch 8 (# 35) pp. 297-311
                 Voltaire, Candide: Intro by Daniel Gordon, pp. 1-30, Text pp. 35-119
                 Jacob, Intro pp. 46-55, on Voltaire and Diderot, Encyclopedia, 156-159

T 11/2     MIDTERM EXAM IN CLASS
               Philosophes: From Laws of Nature to Laws of Society  P&C Ch 8 (#35), pp. 297-311
              Diderot and the Encyclopedia: Jacob, pp. 156-159

Th 11/4    Voltaire: Theorist of Enlightened Absolutism and Critic of Religion:;
               Leibniz & the problem of evil (theodicy)
               DISCUSSION: Candide, or Optimism; Pope, Essay on Man (xerox)

WEEK VII ROUSSEAU AND ROMANTICISM

READING:  Jacob, Intro pp. 55-65;   Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality

T 11/9    Natural Law and Enlightenment Ethics: from Sade to Kant
             Rousseau: between Enlightenment and Romanticism

Th 11/11   VETERAN'S DAY HOLIDAY: NO CLASS

WEEK VIII ORIGINS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

READING: Palmer and Colton, Ch 9 (# 41-42) pp. 349-370
                 Censer & Hunt, Liberty, Equality, Ch 1, 1-21 & 28-35 (Damiens Affair, Doc. 1.6);
                                                                    Ch 2, 50-62; Ch 4, 115-138
                 Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality; Social Contract selections in Jacob, pp 178-201 

T 11/16      Rousseau: from state of nature to social contract
                 DISCUSSION: Rousseau, Discourse on the Origins of Inequality
                                       Voltaire, Letter to Rousseau, link from web page

                                       Rousseau, Social Contract selections in Jacob, pp 178-201

Th 11/18   18th Century France:
                Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette SLIDES: C&H, Doc 1.13, pp. 39-41
                Fiscal Crisis and Estates General: P&C Ch 9, (#42), pp. 355-370

                    Censer & Hunt, Damiens Affair, Doc. 1.6, pp. 28-35
           

WEEK IX THE FIRST FRENCH REPUBLIC:

READING: Palmer and Colton, Ch 9 (#43-44) pp. 370-383;  Jacob, Introd. pp. 65-72
                Censer & Hunt, Ch 1 Docs (#1.4-1.5), pp. 25-28;Ch 2, pp. 62-84; Ch 3-4 pp. 85-138

Tu 11/23   From Constitutional Monarchy to War and Regicide: 1789-1792
               DISCUSSION: Documents in Censer & Hunt, pp. 24-25, 42-47, 129-138, including
                         Declaration of Rights of Man & Citizen, and The Emancipation of Negroes
                        Olympia de Gouges, Declaration of Rights of Women on CD ROM  

Th 11/25 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY: brought to you by English Puritans (from Week I)

WEEK X WAR, TERROR AND COUP D'ÉTAT

Tu 11/30    Robespierre, the Republic of Virtue and the Terror:   P&C Ch 9, (#44), pp. 367-377
                 DISCUSSION: Freedom & terror: Censer & Hunt, Ch 2, pp. 62-84;                          
                  Ch 3-4, 85-138; Ch 1 Babeuf & Enragés, Docs (#1.4-1.5, 25-28;
                   Robespierre’s Temple of Reason, Kramnick 168-173 (link from web page)

Th 12/2       The Directory, 1795-1799     P&C, Ch 9 (#45) pp. 383-388
                  Rise of Napoleon and Napoleonic Europe 
                  P&C, Ch 9 (#46) pp. 389-394; Ch 10 (#47-48) pp. 395-409

*** SECOND PAPER DUE THURSDAY DECEMBER 2 ***

WEEK XI NAPOLEONIC EUROPE AND THE NATIONALIST REACTION

READING: Palmer and Colton, Ch 9 (#45) pp. 377-87; Ch 10 (#47-51) pp. 395-431
                   Censer & Hunt, Ch 5, 139-161, 163-4, 166-169; Ch 6, 172-178, 186-189


T 12/7     Nationalism and the Opposition to Napoleon  P&C, Ch 10 (#49-51), pp. 409-431
               DISCUSSION: Napoleon

Th 12/9    Congress of Vienna and the Bourbon Restoration
               Review for Final            

** FINAL EXAM: WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 15, 4:30-6:30
 in our regular classroom