HIST104

This course examines European revolutions and their legacies—social, cultural, political, and ideological. The French Revolution of 1789 brought unprecedented promises of reform to old Europe, introducing new democratic and egalitarian possibilities. Yet it also brought counterrevolution and new authoritarian rulers, a cycle that seemed to repeat itself in 1848, "the first time as tragedy, the second as farce," as Karl Marx lamented. We consider these revolutions together with the Communist uprisings waged in Marx's name, the "velvet" revolutions of 1989, and the relationship between these last European revolutions and the populism that engulfs the continent today. We investigate these histories as lenses to understand the dynamics of modern revolution; the engagement of ordinary Europeans in these processes; and, not least, the making of modern Europe over the past 300 years.