The French Revolution

Module overview

It can be difficult to reconcile the two most famous achievements of the French Revolution - the declaration of the rights of man and citizen of 1789 and the use of the guillotine to crush dissent in 1793-4. This module offers you an introduction to the complexities of this subject. First, we seek to grasp the eighteenth-century world in which the revolution took place; then we consider the principal features of the Revolution up to 1794 and identify the challenges that led to its radicalisation. The rest of the module invites you to think about three questions: 1) how committed were the revolutionaries to the idea of equality; 2) what explains the slide into Terror and execution in 1793; and 3) how deeply did the Revolution shape the daily life of French people?

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

synthesise a wide variety of material and present the synthesis in written form
recover, digest and to make use of information drawn from a wide variety of sources.
prepare for an unseen test of your understanding of a restricted body of material and present that understanding in written form
present an effective argument orally and defend a reasoned point of view

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

describe and assess various historical approaches to the period
display and utilise the historiographical skills necessary to proceed to a study of History at level 2 of the undergraduate degree.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

the social and political reality of late eighteenth-century France.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include • lecture • tutorials The module consists of 20 contact hours involving (subject to timetabling constraints) 10 plenary double sessions in which the first hour takes the form of a lecture and the second hour the form of a tutorial discussion, usually involving an analysis of one or more primary sources. The lecture component will take the traditional monologue form, complemented by the use of images and structured readings of primary source material. Discussion in tutorials will be facilitated by the breaking down of the plenary group into study cells, each comprising no more than six students. Analysis of documents and understanding of secondary source material will proceed from small group discussion in the study cells to a whole group feedback session, thus maximizing your participation in the teaching and learning process.

Study time
Type	Hours
Independent Study	126
Teaching	24
Total study time	150

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Examination	40%
Commentary exercise	20%
Essay	40%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Analytical essay	100%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External