This course offers a broad survey of modern European history, from the end of the Thirty Years’ War to the aftermath of World War II. Along with the consideration of major events and figures such as the French Revolution and Napoleon, attention will be paid to the experience of ordinary people in times of upheaval and transition. The period will thus be viewed neither in terms of historical inevitability nor as a procession of great men, but rather through the lens of the complex interrelations between demographic change, political revolution, and cultural development. Textbook accounts will be accompanied by the study of exemplary works of art, literature, and cinema.

Course Structure

This Yale College course, taught on campus twice per week for 50 minutes, was recorded for Open Yale Courses in Fall 2008.

About Professor John Merriman

John Merriman was Charles Seymour Professor of History at Yale University. Specializing in French and modern European history, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. His publications include The Agony of the Republic: The Repression of the Left in Revolutionary France, 1848-1851, A History of Modern Europe Since the Renaissance, and Police Stories: Making the French State, 1815-1851. He is currently at work on Dynamite: Emile Henry, the Café Terminus, and the Origins of Modern Terrorism in Fin-de-Siecle Paris. In 2000, Professor Merriman was the recipient of the Yale University Byrnes-Sewall Teaching Prize.

Sadly John Merriman died in 2022 This is a legacy course filmed in 2008 gifted for free to anyone interested and not for profit.

Lecture 1 Tuesday 4 March 7.00 p.m.

Introduction

Lecture 2 Tuesday 11^th. March 7.00 p.m.

Absolutism and the State

Lecture 3 Tuesday 18^th. March 7.00 p.m.

Dutch and British Exceptionalism

Lecture 4 Tuesday 1 April 7.00 p.m.

Peter the Great

Lecture 5 Tuesday 8^th. April 7.00 p.m.

The Enlightenment and the Public Sphere

Lecture 6 Tuesday 15^th. April 7.00 p.m

Maximillian Robespierre and the French Revolution

Lecture 7 Tuesday 29^th April 7.00 p.m.

Napoleon