HIS 8241-001 European Nationalism 1815-1870 (CRN: 40299) Dr. Jeffrey A. Johnson
Class meets: Wed., 7:30-9:30 pm, SAC 401 Spring 2005
Instructor's contact information: office hrs., SAC 440, T-Th 4-5 pm, W. 6:45-7:15 pm & by appt.
Tel. 610-519-7404 email: Jeffrey.Johnson@villanova.edu
website: http://www11.homepage.villanova.edu/jeffrey.johnson/
Description & Aims:
This graduate seminar will analyze the shaping of politics and culture in the era of European nation-building from the end of the Napoleonic Wars through the revolutions of the 1830s and 1840s to the national unifications of the 1860s and 1870s. Among the clashing ideologies of the period that we will discuss are the transformation of conservatism from the anti-nationalist "Metternich System" and Pope Pius IX to Bismarck, along with the development of various liberalisms (constitutionalist, nationalist, and free-trade) and radicalisms (democratic, anarchist, and socialist). We will examine these clashes within the context of the ongoing European industrialization, mechanization, and urbanization; environmental crises such as epidemics and famines; and cultural trends as Romanticism and Realism.
Format & Work:
This course will meet once a week for discussions of common readings. Except for the first two and last two or three weeks, each weekly session will normally also have one or two short oral reports (approx. 10-15 minutes each) based on assigned supplementary reading [see list below] (topics not allocated for oral reports will serve as topics for general discussion). Written work will include two short reports (5-6 pp. each), at least one of which will be based on an oral report, as well as a longer (approx. 15-20 pp. in final draft) bibliographical essay or analytical case-study on a topic selected by the student in consultation with the instructor. There will be no examinations. In the last two weeks, students will join the instructor in critiquing each other's rough drafts (which may be as short as 10-15 pp.) before writing final versions.
Late work and plagiarism: The following
warnings are included for the record. If you do not complete your written work
when it is due, and if you do not have an adequate excuse (such as
hospitalization), your grade may have to be reduced. The instructor will not tolerate plagiarism
and other forms of academic dishonesty; students handing in work which is
demonstrably not their own, or which involves dishonest manipulation or
misrepresentation of sources, can expect to be disciplined according to
standard university procedures.
Course materials: will include the following books (available in the Villanova University Shop):
Riall, Lucy & David Laven, eds. Napoleon's Legacy: Problems of Government in Restoration Europe (2002)
Aminzade, Ronald. Ballots and Barricades: Class Formation and
Republican Politics in France, 1830-1871 (1993).
Beales, Derek & Eugenio F Biagini. The
Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy
(2nd ed., 2003)
Heine, Heinrich; transl. T J Reed. Deutschland:
A Winter's Tale (2nd ed.,1997)
Marx, Karl & Friedrich Engels; ed. C J Arthur. The German Ideology, Pt. 1 & Selections From Pts 2 & 3. (1970)
Sperber, Jonathan, The European Revolutions, 1848-1851 (1994)
Williamson,
D. G. Bismarck and Germany, 1862-1890
(2nd ed., 1998)
Other materials will be available on-line (some through the WebCT electronic course reserve).
OUTLINE AND READING SCHEDULE:
Week 1 (1/19): Introduction (no reading); discussion of the scope of the course, readings & report topics
Week 2 (1/26): From the French revolution to the Congress of Vienna
Read: Beales & Biagini, ch. 1, documents 1-5; Laven & Riall, chs. 1, 4, 7, 10, 12-15;
on-line: B. Croce, http://college.hmco.com/history/west/mosaic/chapter13/source434.html; Fichte, Addresses to the German Nation (1806), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1806fichte.html
Points for discussion (among others): How do you characterize and evaluate the influence of the French Revolution and Napoleonic empire on Europe? Consider similarities and differences in their regional impact; as well as their differential effect on various tendencies (liberalism, democracy, authoritarianism, nationalism, etc.) (oral reports will begin in Week 3)
Week 3 (2/2): Restoration Europe: political issues & the "Metternich System"
Read: Laven & Riall, chs. 2-3, 5-6, 8-9, 11;
on-line: Metternich. Political
Confession of Faith (1820) [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1820metternich.html];
Memoirs of Prince Metternich, On Censorship
(1808) & Renewal of the
Carlsbad Decrees (1824) [both at: http://www.h-net.org/~habsweb/sourcetexts/mettsrc.htm];
Byron, "The Isles of Greece" (182 ), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/byron-greece.html;
Treaty of London for Greek Independence (1827), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1827gktreaty.html
Reports/discussion: 1) Evaluate the "Metternich system": goals, methods, effectiveness? [Phillip Barainyak]
2) What was the significance of the Greek independence movement for liberal nationalists and democrats? Its relationship to Romanticism? (cf. C. M. Woodhouse, The Philhellenes, 1971; Tsigakou, The Rediscovery of Greece, 1981) [Anthony Nardini]
Week 4 (2/9): France after 1830: industrialization, class formation & radicalism
Read: Aminzade, chs. 1-6; on-line: French Constitution of 1830, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1830frenchconstitution.html; Guizot on the July Monarchy (excerpts from speeches), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1848guizot.html
Reports/discussion: 3) Characterize the politics of the Orleanist monarchy and its ministers: liberal? conservative? nationalist? Did the “July monarchy” betray the 1830 revolution? [Joshua Souliere]
4) Was there a “typical” French pattern of industrialization? A “typical” French worker? How did the nature of French industrialization and the conditions in different localities affect the workers’ political outlook and actions? [Mindy Mancini]
SUBMIT preliminary topic proposals for bibliographical essays (1 paragraph with 4-5 initial sources [books or articles])
Week 5 (2/16): The Italian Risorgimento before 1848
Read: Beales & Biagini, chs. 2-4, documents 6-14; on-line: Mazzini, Duties of Man (excerpts), links at http://history.hanover.edu/texts/mazzini/mazintro.html & On Nationality (1852), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1852mazzini.html; Verdi, excerpts from libretti (1842, 1871), at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/NATMUSIC.html
Reports/discussion: 5) Considering the icons of Italian cultural nationalism, from Manzoni to Verdi: how important were literature, music & art to the Italian nationalist movement? [Faith Charlton]
5a) Characterize and evaluate the role of Giuseppe Mazzini as Italian nationalist propagandist and leader.
Week 6 (2/23): mid-nineteenth century German culture and society: liberalism and nationalism
Read: Heine (entire); on-line: Friedrich List, The National System of Political Economy (1841), browse links at http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/list/national.html, especially Part Four.
Reports/discussion: 6) Who was Heinrich Heine; what was his cultural significance in the German context? Evaluate his critique of German politics, society and culture in “A Winter’s Tale” [Tim Maloney]
7) What effect might the Prussian-led Zollverein (Customs Union) have had on German economic development and the process of German unification? Characterize and evaluate List’s views of British “free trade” and his reasons for supporting the Zollverein.
ALL Topics for bibliographical essays must be submitted & approved by today (Feb. 23)
Week 7 (3/2): Central European philosophical & revolutionary movements before 1848
Read: Marx & Engels, entire; on-line: Hegel (excerpts, 1812, 1820), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/hegel-summary.html; Feuerbach, Philosophy of the Future (1843), browse using links at http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/feuerbach/; Stirner, The Ego and His Own (1844 [more properly translated, The Individual and his Property]), browse using links at http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/stirner/theego0.html (I particularly recommend the sections on liberalism in the last sections of Part First).
Reports/discussion: 8) What might Hegel’s philosophy of history have had to do with German (or Prussian) nationalism or with liberalism? What was the relationship of the “Young Hegelians” (particularly Feuerbach and Stirner) to Hegelian ideas, and why were they considered “revolutionaries”?
9) Characterize and evaluate the Marx-Engels approach to society and to history in the “German Ideology”; what aspects of the latter attract their strongest criticism? [Alex Bethke]
Villanova Spring Break (3/10) No class; work on bibliographical essays
Week 8 (3/16): "Springtime of the peoples": Origins of the 1848 revolutions
Read: Sperber, chs. 1-3; on-line: St. John, French Revolution of 1848, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1848johnson.html; Lamartine, Revolution of 1848 (1849), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1848lamartine.html; Petofi, National Song of Hungary (1848), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1848hungary-natsong.html;
Reports/discussion: 10) Was there a “European revolution” in 1848? What were its principal causes, and did they differ from one region to another? [Phillip Marshall]
11) Did the 1848 revolutionaries have common goals? In what sense(s) were they “liberal”? “National”? “Democratic”? Other? [Mindy Mancini]
Week 9 (3/23): The 1848 revolutions and their failure
Read: Sperber, chs. 4-6; Beales & Biagini, ch. 5; documents 15-17; on-line: Documents of the Revolution of 1848 in France, ed. Robinson, http://history.hanover.edu/texts/fr1848.html; Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, ch. 1, http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/ch01.htm;
Reports/discussion: 12) Why did the 1848 revolutionaries fail? Was their failure a matter of their own political weakness, or the strength of their reactionary opposition? Consider various cases. [Carolyn Tracey]
Week 10 (3/30): Italian unification after 1848; the papacy vs. liberal nationalism
Read: Beales & Biagini, chs. 6-10, documents 18-23; on-line: Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors (1864), http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9syll.htm; Victor Emmanuel, Address to Parliament (1871), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1871victoremm.html
Reports/discussion: 13) In what sense(s) did Cavour and Garibaldi collaborate in the process of Italian unification? Evaluate the methods, goals, and accomplishments of each. [Nick Lock]
14) Aside from purely theological considerations, what political goals may have motivated Pope Pius IX to issue the Syllabus of Errors? Did this document attain these goals? [Carolyn Tracey]
Week 11 (4/6): France from Second Empire to Third Republic; the Communards; First International
Read: Aminzade, chs. 7-8; on-line: L. Gambetta, Belleville Manifesto (1869), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1869gambetta.html;
Eichhoff, The International Workingmen’s Association [follow links
at: http://www.marxists.org/history/international/iwma/archive/eichhoff/iwma-history/index.htm];
Bakunin, "On the International Workingmen's Association and Karl
Marx" (1872), http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/1872/karl-marx.htm
Reports/discussion: 15) How solid did the government of the French Second Empire appear in 1869? Was its fall in 1870 and the subsequent creation of the French Third Republic inevitable? Were the French Republicans a united force at this time? [Alex Bethke]
16) What were the origins and goals of the Paris and other urban “communes” established after the fall of the Second Empire? Compare them to the varieties of radicalism represented in the First International. [FIRST DRAFTS WILL BE DUE 4/13]
Week 12 (4/13) Bismarck & German unification; Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich
Read: Williamson, entire (except 77-85);
WebCT: TBA; on-line: Count von Beust, Memoirs (excerpt), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1867beust.html
Discussion (no reports today): How successful was the German Progressive Party (Fortschrittspartei) in opposing Bismarck’s policies during the 1860s?
Was the reshaping of the German and Austrian state system in 1866-1871 a victory for liberalism as well as nationalism?
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY FIRST DRAFTS DUE: email the draft paper to Dr. Johnson by 7pm or bring disk copies to class TODAY for distribution to all members of the seminar.
Week 13 (4/20) Discuss 1st set of analytical/bibliographical essay drafts; return commented copies to authors for revision
Week 14 (4/27) Complete discussion of first drafts; return commented copies to authors for revision
Week 15 (5/4) Final discussion: nationalism, internationalism & late-19th-century European culture
Review
notes from previous discussions; read Bagehot, Physics and Politics
(1873 - excerpts), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1873bagehot.html;
Freeman, "Race and Language" (1879), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/freeman-race.html
PLEASE MAIL [OR DROP OFF] REVISIONS OF BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAYS, WITH COMMENTED FIRST DRAFTS, to Dr. J. A. Johnson at: Dept. of History, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Ave., Villanova, PA 19085 (please postmark no later than Friday, May 6, unless otherwise announced). Note: you may email the drafts, but I will need the hard copy of the rough draft that I critiqued, in order to compare with the final version.