Contemporary History (18th and 19th Century) - 1st semester
Code
711051017
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
História
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Daniel Ribeiro Alves
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
a) Acquire a critical view of the \"long nineteenth century\", from 1789 to 1914, as a crucial time for understanding the contemporary world.
b) Review the \"long nineteenth century\" in its main features of modernity, but also trough the persistence of tradition, in political, economic and social perspective, primarily in the European context.
c) Understanding the history of Europe in a comparative perspective in relation to other world regions.
d) Know the different historiographical perspectives on the period.
e) Be able to search, select and work documents and historiographical texts and themes of the period under study.
f) Being able to produce a written work and make oral presentations about any of the subjects taught.
g) To acquire knowledge that enable to pursue a thorough study of the modern epoch.
Prerequisites
None.
Subject matter
1. Introduction to the \"long nineteenth century\" (1789-1914)
a. Chronological and geographical framework
b. Themes and perspectives of an era of modernity
2. Europe´s at shock (1789-1815)
a. Background of the French Revolution
b. Revolution and war: the end of the \"ancien regime\"?
c. Revolution conquers Europe: The Napoleonic Empire
d. The Industrial Revolution: the pioneering England
3. The return of the European balance (1815-1851)
a. The Congress of Vienna and the \"system\" of Metternich
b. Liberal Europe vs. Conservative Europe
c. The revolutionary eruption of 1848-1851
4. New nationalism in Europe (1850-1871)
a. The Crimean War
b. Italian Unification
c. The unification of Germany and the defeat of France
5. A domineering and divided Europe (1871-1914)
a. The Industrial Revolution: other actors, new achievements
b. The crisis of liberalism
c. The new political alliances
d. The race to empire
e. Towards the Great War
6. The Europe of contrasts (1789-1914)
a. Modernity and Persistence
b. Bourgeois society: between the public and the private
7. One legacy of the nineteenth century: the \"isms\"
Bibliography
BLANNING, T. C. W. (ed.), The Short Oxford History of Europe. Europe, 1789-1914, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000.
DOYLE, William, The French Revolution. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001.
GILDEA, Robert, Barricades and Borders: Europe, 1800-1914, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003.
HUDSON, Pat, The industrial revolution, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1992.
KAELBLE, Harmut (ed.), The European way: European Societies during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Oxford,
Berghahn Books, 2004.
PORTER, Andrew N., O Imperialismo Europeu (1860-1914), Lisboa, Edições 70, 2011.
SPERBER, Jonathan, Revolutionary Europe, 1780-1850, Pearson Education, 2000.
Teaching method
The lectures will be mainly expository, with the possibility of involvement of students to clarify questions or comments. The
practical classes will be devoted to the analysis, commentary and discussion of historiographical texts, contemporary
documents, movies or web sites about the nineteenth century, previously selected by the teacher and analyzed by students.
Evaluation method
Students will be assessed through their participation in practical classes (20% of final quotation), by an individual written work (40%) and a final written exam without consultation (40%).