HST 337 - France from Napoleon to the Great War, 1814-1914

1 course unit

In the century between 1814 and 1914, France transformed itself from a land dominated by diverse agrarian traditions to Europe’s most modern and unified nation. At the same time, France lost its Napoleonic mastery of Europe, declined as a great power, and sought a new future along two different paths: Imperialism and democracy. Students will examine the fall of old France: the decline of its monarchy, the frustration of its aristocracy, and the end of peasants’ rural isolation. The course gives particular attention to the rise of a new industrial France: a nation of deepening class divisions and tensions that exploded in four great revolutions.
Meets general academic requirement HU.