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Britain in an Age of Revolution: War, Society and Culture, 1789-1815: Sources

Module description

In the aftermath of the French Revolution, Britain was confronted by widespread political radicalism, the very real prospect of social upheaval and a near-continuous war fought for national survival. This module uses a variety of approaches to consider the crucial period of British history between the onset of Revolution in 1789 and the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. Alongside the political and military dimensions the period, it will also explore how war and revolution made a deep and lasting impact on British society and culture. Whether through conflict, insurrection, songs, art or literature, the ‘age of revolution’ touched the lives of peoples from across the British Isles.

Module aims - intentions of the module

Together with its co-requisite, the module aims to:

• Encourage you to consider ‘the age of revolution’ from multiple historical perspectives, engaging closely with a wide variety of sources documenting both the course and impact of war and revolution during the 1790s and early 1800s
• Draw on published and translated source collections as well as a growing number of online digital archives, to use a wide range of source material, including letters, diaries, manuscripts, memoirs, pamphlets, government archives, diplomatic records, caricatures, prints, oil paintings, newspapers, ballads, poetry, novels, history books and other forms of material culture

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the different sources available for the study of war and revolution during the 1789-1815 period, together with a very close specialist knowledge of those sources which the students focus upon in their seminar presentations and written work
• 2. Analyse the complex diversity of the sources studied

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Analyse closely original sources and to assess their reliability as historical evidence. Ability to focus on and comprehend complex texts
• 4. Show understanding of and deploy, relevant historical terminology in a comprehensible manner
• 5. Follow the developments to revolution and war across the period

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Carry out independent and autonomous study and group work, including presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
• 7. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
• 8. Present complex arguments orally

Syllabus plan

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

The re-assessment consists of a 4000 word portfolio of source work, as in the original assessment, but replaces the individual presentation with a written script that could be delivered in such a presentation and which is the equivalent of 20 minutes of speech.

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Published Primary Sources – Indicative Examples:
• The publications of the Navy Records Society https://www.navyrecords.org.uk/category/1714-1815/
• The publications of the Society for Army Historical Research http://www.sahr.org.uk/he
• David Andress (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution (Oxford, 2013)
• Peter McPhee (ed.) A Companion to the French Revolution (Oxford, 2012)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• The Burney Newspaper Collection, British Library (http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/news/newspdigproj/burney/ )
• British Museum collections online (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx )
• National Maritime Museum online collections (http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!cbrowse )
• National Army Museum online collections (https://www.nam.ac.uk/collections )
• Art UK (https://artuk.org/ )
• Hansard Parliamentary Archive (http://www.hansard-archive.parliament.uk/ )
• British History Online (https://www.british-history.ac.uk/ )
• Eighteenth Century Collections Online (http://gale.cengage.co.uk/product-highlights/history/eighteenth-century-collections-online.aspx )
• Broadside Ballads Online (http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ )
• Georgian Papers online (http://gpp.royalcollection.org.uk )
• Kenneth S. Goldstein Broadsides (http://clio.lib.olemiss.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/kgbroadsides )
• Vice la difference! The English and French stereotype in satirical prints, 1720-1815 (http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/gallery/viveladifference//index.html )
• Princeton Gillray collection (http://pudl.princeton.edu/collections/pudl0015 )
• Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians (https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/collection-items?formats=broadside# )
• Edmund Burke, Reflections on the revolution in France, and on the proceedings… (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015024493143;view=1up;seq=9 )

Key words search

Revolution, warfare, society, culture, Napoleon