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Britain and the Age of Revolution, 1775-1832

Module description

The ‘Age of Revolution’ was a transformative period that made a deep and lasting impact on Britain’s politics, people and culture. Confronted by political radicalism, social upheaval and a series of global conflicts for national survival, Britain was forced to question long-held beliefs and uproot established traditions. This module explores this tumultuous period of British history through a series of interlinked themes, including the impact of revolutionary ideas, popular politics, lived experience, conflict, empire, and the shaping of identity and nationhood. From the American Revolution through to the Peterloo Massacre and its aftermath, we will consider the various ways the ‘Age of Revolution’ touched the lives of women and men from across the British Isles. No prior knowledge of the period or subject is required, but a familiarity with Blackadder III and Alexander Hamilton: The Musical will stand you in good stead.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module encourages students to consider the ‘Age of Revolution’ from multiple historical perspectives. Rather than focusing purely on the political and military dimensions of the period, it requires a deep and critical engagement with the broader social, cultural, and economic contexts in which women and men acted. It engages with contemporary scholarly debates about the impact of revolutionary ideas on Britain, radical politics, the emergence of a proto-feminism, the significance of impressment, and the impact of war on British society and culture. A key question central to the module is: why was there no ‘British’ revolution in this period? Students will also align the history of this era 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 British national identity. Finally, students will also be encouraged to think about other revolutions that align with this period – for example the consumer revolution, or the early phases of the industrial revolution – and thus 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. Identify the different sources available for the study of war and revolution during the 1775-1832 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 a range of diverse and complex sources relating to Britain in the period 1775-1832.
• 3. Describe the changing causes of and responses to social and political unrest and war in Britain during the ‘age of revolution’.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 4. Analyse closely original sources and to assess their reliability as historical evidence.
• 5. Comprehend complex historical texts and debates.
• 6. Understand and deploy relevant historical terminology in a comprehensible and sophisticated manner.

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 7. Select, organise and analyse material for written work and/or oral presentations of different prescribed lengths and formats.
• 8. Present complex arguments orally.
• 9. Present an argument in a written form in a clear and organised manner, with appropriate use of correct English
• 10. Through essay development process, demonstrate ability to reflect critically on your own work, to respond constructively to feedback, and to implement suggestions and improve work on this basis

Syllabus plan

While the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or most of the following topics:

• Revolution or Revolutions?
• Political radicalism and the reform movement
• Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Women
• Romanticism
• Pitt’s Terror
• Women and political culture
• Heroes and celebrity
• The Haitian Revolution
• The Irish Revolution
• Slavery and abolition
• War and popular culture
• The Peterloo Massacre
• The Cato Street Conspiracy
• The Luddites
• The Swing Riots
• The Volunteer movement
• Balladry, caricature and state propaganda
• Naval mutiny
• Food and impressment riots
• ‘Britishness’ and national identity
• Legacies of revolution

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 8,000 word portfolio of source work, as in the original assessment, but replaces the individual presentation with a word written script that could be delivered in such a presentation and which is the equivalent of 30 minutes of speech (3,000 words).

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

• Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1798-1848 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1962, but many later reprints).
• C.A. Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004).
• Wim Klooster, Revolutions in the Atlantic World: A Comparative History (New York: New York University Press, 2018).
• Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992).
• Dror Wahrman, The Making of the Modern Self: identity and culture in eighteenth-century England (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007).
• Rachel Hewitt, A Revolution of Feeling: The Decade that Forged the Modern Mind (London: Granta, 2017).
• Boyd Hilton, A Mad, Bad, and Dangerous People: England 1783-1846 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006).
• Jennifer Mori, Britain in the Age of the French Revolution (Routledge, 2000)
• Edward Royle, Revolutionary Briannia? Reflections on the Threat of Revolution in Britain, 1789-1848 (Manchester University Press, 2001).
• Chris Evans, Debating the Revolution: Britain in the 1790s (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006).
• Roger Wells, Insurrection: The British Experience (Gloucester: Allan Sutton, 1986)
• Jenny Uglow, In These Times: Living in Britain through Napoleon’s Wars 1793-1815 (London: Faber and Faber, 2014).
• Christer Petley, White Fury: A Jamaican Slaveholder and the Age of Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2018).
• P.J. Marshall, ed. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Vol. II the Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
• Roger Knight, Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory (London: Allen Lane, 2013).
• James Davey, Tempest: The Royal Navy and the Age of Revolutions (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2023).
• Catriona Kennedy, Narratives of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: Military and civilian experience in Britain and Ireland (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)

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, ideology, politics, protest, society, culture