Britain in an Age of Revolution: War, Society and Culture, 1789-1815: Context
| Module title | Britain in an Age of Revolution: War, Society and Culture, 1789-1815: Context |
|---|---|
| Module code | HIH3037 |
| Academic year | 2019/0 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr James Davey (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 18 |
|---|
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:
- Consider ‘the age of revolution’ from multiple historical perspectives
- Critical engagement with the broader social, economic and cultural contexts in which statesmen, soldiers and sailors acted
- Focus on parliamentary proceedings, but complement this with discussions about political culture, early labour movements and the continuing academic debates over the extent of popular political radicalism
- Discuss Britain’s success in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. not just through tactics, leadership and operations, but also in terms of economic and industrial mobilisation, manpower, and the development of the ‘fiscal-military state’
- Consider the manifold ways in which revolutionary ideology and warfare impacted more broadly on British society and culture
- Engage in key contemporary scholarly debates, such as the patriotic nature of the British volunteer movement that saw hundreds of thousands of men come forward to defend the country, or the significance of impressment, which threatened the liberty of countless others
- Align the history of war and revolution with other prominent historiographies, such as the growth of the periodical press and satirical art, the creation of ‘military masculinities’, the emergence of celebrity culture and the forging of a British national identity
- Think about other revolutions that align with this period – for example the consumer revolution or the early phases of the industrial revolution – and consider the manifold ways in which this period can be considered ‘revolutionary’
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Evaluate the different complex themes in British history during the age of revolution, 1789-1815
- 2. Make close specialist evaluation of the key developments within the period, developed through independent study and seminar work
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 3. Analyse the key developments within political, military, social and cultural approaches to history
- 4. Focus on and comprehend complex issues
- 5. Show an understanding of and deploy, relevant historical terminology in a comprehensible manner
- 6. Follow the changing causes of and responses to revolution and war across the period
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Carry out independent and autonomous study and group work, including presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
- 8. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
- 9. Present complex arguments orally
Syllabus plan
This module will allow students to engage with a wide variety of sources. Some seminars will focus on specific types of source (for example on caricature or political treatises) but most will encourage students to grapple with a range of different sources. As such, the module might include such topics as:
- Revolution or Revolutions?
- Radicalism and British political culture
- Volunteers and impressment
- Balladry, caricature and state propaganda
- Trade and imperial expansion
- The literature of revolution
- Mutiny in the fleet!
- Nelson, the Nile and naval celebrity
- Napoleon in the British imagination
- The threat of invasion
- Trafalgar and the war at sea
- Slavery and abolition
- ‘Britishness’ and national identity
- Fighting the Peninsular War
- The Battle of Waterloo: myth and reality
- Legacies of war and revolution
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 44 | 256 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 44 | 22 x 2 hour seminars |
| Guided independent study | 256 | Reading and preparation for seminars, coursework and presentations |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seminar discussion | Ongoing through course. | 1-7, 9 | Oral from tutor and fellow students |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 50 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 25 | 3000 words | 1-8 | Oral and written |
| Essay | 25 | 3000 words | 1-8 | Oral and written |
| Unseen exam | 50 | 2 questions in 2 hours | 1-8 | Oral and written |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Essay | 1-8 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Essay | Essay | 1-8 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Unseen examination | Unseen examination | 1-8 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
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
- David Andress, The Savage Storm: Britain on the Brink in the Age of Napoleon (London: Little Brown, 2012)
- S Andrews, The British Periodical Press and the French Revolution, 1789-99 (Palgrave, 2000)
- David Bell, The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Modern Warfare (London, 2007)
- Roger Chickering and Stig Förster, eds. War in an Age of Revolution, 1775-1815 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
- Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837 (Yale University Press, 2005).
- John Cookson, The British Armed Nation: 1793-1815 (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1997)
- James Davey, In Nelson’s Wake: The Navy and the Napoleonic Wars (London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015)
- J.R. Dinwiddy, Radicalism & Reform in Britain, 1780-1850 (London: Continuum, 1992)
- Diana Donald, The Age of Caricature: Satirical Prints in the Reign of George III (Yale, 1996)
- Roger Knight, Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory (London: Allen Lane, 2013)
- Jennifer Mori, Britain in the Age of the French Revolution (Routledge, 2000)
- Mark Philp, The French Revolution and British Popular Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991)
- Mark Philip, The British Response to the Threat of Invasion, 1797-1815 (Ashgate, 2006)
- Edward Royle, Revolutionary Britannia?: Reflections on the Threat of Revolution in Britain, 1789-1848 (Manchester University Press, 2001)
- Jenny Uglow, In These Times: Living in Britain through Napoleon’s Wars, 1793-1815 (London: Faber and Faber, 2014)
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
- ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7502
- Exeter Electronic Library resources include: ProQuest Theses and Dissertations
- Key journals for the module are available via JSTOR, Project Muse, Taylor & Francis, Cambridge Journals Online, Oxford Journals
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | At least 90 credits of History at Level 1 and/or Level 2 |
| Module co-requisites | HIH3036 Britain in an Age of Revolution: War, Society and Culture, 1789-1815: Context |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 16/02/2018 |
| Last revision date | 20/12/2018 |