Origins

About the lecture

In this module, we think about the longer-term background to the 1848 Revolutions, focusing in particular on the international order within Europe after the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) and the Congress of Vienna (1815)—an order which focused on avoiding another major European war and promoting political conservatism across the continent. After this, we think about the three major challenges to the political conservatism of the period: (i) the rise of civil society, especially among the middle classes; (ii) the rise of liberalism and nationalism; and (iii) population growth, industrialisation and other economic crises.

About the lecturer

Dr Michael Rapport is a Reader in Modern European History at the University of Glasgow. His research interests include, firstly, the French Revolution (both within France and in pursuit of its wider geographical impact), secondly, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and, thirdly, the ‘domino’ revolutions, meaning such revolutionary waves as those of 1848 in Europe.

Michael was born in New York, but studied History at the University of Edinburgh, undertook his PhD thesis on the French Revolution at the University of Bristol (under the supervision of Professor William Doyle) and, after a short spell at the University of Sunderland, taught at the University of Stirling for seventeen years before joining the School of Humanities at Glasgow in February 2013.