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The short period dominated by Napoleon Bonaparte (1795-1815) brought together a beginning and an end: it concluded the eighteenth-century era of Enlightenment and Revolution and opened the modern age of nationalism and mass politics. Napoleon simultaneously assured his contemporaries that the gains of the Revolution were safe with him and boasted of funding an empire like no other in history. This course will examine famous military expeditions, grandiose political projects, administrative innovations, and artistic representations to understand the complexities and contradictions of the Napoleonic era. We will follow common scholarly practice in approaching Napoleon and the period to which he gave his name through a few couples of opposites: tyranny and liberty, method and improvisation, innovation and continuity, adventure and necessity.
Literature: Several pdf files (primary sources and scholarly articles) downloaded from the excellent online library and sourcebook made available in both French and English by the Napoleon Foundation in Paris Napoleonica. La Revue: fondationnapoleon.org. Rafe Blaufarb, Napoleon. Symbol for an Age. Brief history with documents (2008), Owen Connelly, Blundering to glory (2006), Isser Woloch, Napoleon and his collaborators (2001), Nina Burleigh, Mirage: Napoleon’s scientists and the unveiling of Egypt (2008). For each lecture we will have a Powerpoint with images, primary sources, quotations, and other material relevant to the topic of the day. |
