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History Notes General History X: Europe 1715-99 Notes

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General History X: Europe 1715-99 Notes

General History X: Europe 1715-99

Approximately 667 pages

These notes contain all the work that I did during the term on the Oxford University module: General History X: 1715-99.

They include extremely detailed notes on these topics:
The Enlightenment
Ancien Regime France
The French Revolution and the Terror
Jesuits
The Partitions of Poland
The Ottoman Empire
Demography and Economy
Family Life, Gender and Childhood

I did a large amount of work on this module and these notes also include all my final revision for finals.
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The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our General History X: Europe 1715-99 Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

! ! ! Enlightenment Professor Brockliss 18th century -- alternative way of thinking about society => the Enlightenment Establishment ideology ! Based around belief that human beings are essentially corrupted by the Fall ! Augustinian -- human beings couldn't find way back to God by themselves => need mediation of Christ's atonement *> Can be no material or moral progress in this life ! Nature is a dangerous + alien phenomenon *> Some ability to control it but will never dominate it Some ability to control ourselves but we cannot behave in the manner that God would ! approve of *> We have to receive divine grace ! 5--10% of the population may be able to control themselves *> Majority lack education -- kept down by political authority, hierarchy + punishment ! View shared by all Christian denominations -- Catholic + Protestant ! Frequently intolerant + persecutory ! Poland 1753 -- Archbishop Cajetan Soltyk rounded up Polish Jews with accusation of blood ritual => promoted by Catholic Church *> Those who refused to confess -- 6 were flayed alive + quartered *> Those who confess were simply quartered ! Enlightenment -- group v. mood Rejection of Augustine ! Critique of this worldview ! Anglo--American world -- tendency to see it as a relatively programmatic movement *> Small group of people *> Peter Gay -- the philosophes *> Critique of Augustinian world + programme of reform ! ! Outside this, there is a second view -- not so much a programme or of a small group of people ! More of a mood embracing a larger group of people -- allows one to look at the entire 18th century *> More of a new way of thinking than a particular programme of reform ! Enlightenment as a mood consists of people rejecting Augustine *> Moral + material progress is possible => can control nature Concept of utility ! *> Are the institutions of the 18th century useful for understanding + improving what we are? *> Otherwise need to be replaced or reformed ! ! Medicine -- key idea of human potential ! Had been seen fairly critically ! Medicine is the new science -- contains the possibility of improving humanity ! Improvement -- major idea of improving health ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! *> Key to man's future development Not necessarily anti--Christian Enlightenment as a mood is a very Christian movement Socinus New type of Christianity -- Christ is not necessarily God or at least not in the same way Anti--trinitarians -- just a very perfect man Christ as an exemplar -- can be followed + imitated *> Cannot just rely on his sacrifice Yet Arians + Socinians still see themselves as Christian Millenarians -- must make way for Christ by altering the world *> Moral + material improvement Abbe Pernety -- 4fold godhead => includes Virgin Mary *> Frederick the Great's librarian *> Millenarian + believed he could speak to angels - Belief in guardian angels - Idea of New Jerusalem in 1789 Enlightened to the extent that they believe it is necessary to improve man morally + materially Pernety is not seen as part of the Enlightenment of the Anglo--American approach ! Are others who are even more Augustinian -- Pietists, Jansenists + Methodists ! ! ! ! ! *> Established ideas were not being fully promoted + accepted Is our Enlightenment the same as the Republic of Letters? *> Similar on the surface if one includes all those who believe in possibility of improving one's knowledge *> Ideas of utility + religious tolerance Clear overlap About 30,000 in the Republic of Letters -- those who are engaged in research *> Active members of Enlightenment Yet many in Republic of Letters who are anti--Enlightenment *> Support of the establishment *> Samuel Johnson -- not Enlightened => Augustinian view of material + moral progress - Lack of belief in change for the better ! About 3,000 active writers in France + 6,000 in Germany on eve of Revolution ! *> Far fewer than those corresponding with each other *> 3% are women? ! Anglo--American Enlightenment -- could be argued to be the 'radical' Enlightenment *> Against Israel ! Enlightenment -- general mood *> Particular group of people with specific views -- more radical Radical -- whether or not you accept the Bible as the word of God ! ! ! ! ! Radical Enlightenment -- treat it as any other book Voltaire -- mocks the Bible yet does not show much critical acumen Lack of Bible -- no work of reference to underpin our ideas Bitter divisions amongst the radicals *> Different attitudes to Christianity - Voltaire -- completely absurd + untrue - Rousseau -- Christianity is something that has a level of truth => even if he does not think the Bible is the word of God ! Baron d'Holbach -- seen as atheist => went to church every Sunday ! ! Also differ in how the state can play a part ! German -- greater emphasis on the state reforming from above => cameralism *> State can improve economy, education etc. ! France -- physiocrats => free traders + anti--state *> Louis XVI -- advisers divided => cameralists v. physiocrats ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! These people are not modern Growing acceptance that there is not a very 'radical' programme Primarily interested in themselves Do not envisage opening up opportunity *> Promote elementary education but do not intend for large numbers to compete with them for positions in the state Pre--industrial philosophy *> No understanding of present world *> No way of getting away from fact that majority must work most of the time to support them - True of Adam Smith -- operates in a pre--industrial model Most are not interested in women *> Condorcet -- one who does start thinking about rights of women Arguments for keeping women in their place -- secularised versions of theological ones Lack of signs of racial tolerance *> Voltaire -- extremely anti--Jewish => connected to OT which is even worse than the NT By and large object to slavery -- yet not one of their primary concerns ! Whole area of the world + mankind who are excluded from liberation ! Very unliberated view of sexuality *> Emphasise the natural *> Homosexuality is very unnatural *> Masturbation is also very unnatural Something has to be done because Europe's population is falling -- by the middle of the ! 18th century *> First gathering of hard data - Europe's population was much smaller than anyone thought -- assumption that something has happened *> Blame of women for not breastfeeding *> People not sacrificing themselves to have a family ! *> Tax rewards for large families in France ! From the 1730s there is a growing belief that we should do our best to save people who are drowning *> Population should be kept up *> Humanitarian By the 1760s there are societies dedicated to saving the drowning ! ! Boxes by rivers -- insert small tube into anus + blow smoke into it *> Not modern ! Diffusion of the Enlightenment ! New institutions -- coffeehouses, societies, clubs, Masonic societies + above all, the salon ! Idea of salon with moderate, feminised discussion *> Old view -- lack of evidence *> None of these institutions are primarily owned by the enlightened ! Salons were not places of Enlightenment ! One location is the academies -- circles of enlightened people *> About 6,400 academicians in the 40--60 academies of France Academies also reach out to a wider audience ! *> Set prize essay competitions *> Kant -- 'age of enlightenment, not an enlightened age' => appears in a Berlin prize essay - Question was 'what is Enlightenment' -- not the Enlightenment ! 12--15k people in France participated in prize essay competitions *> 2,000 contests across C18th -- 50 won by women ! Location for Enlightenment is the academies *> Not in new institutions of sociability -- these are colonised by anti-- enlightenment as well as enlightenment ! ! Many ideas spread through simple correspondence ! Publications -- expands very fast *> More + more journals -- many books are reviewed in these - No need to even read books ! Newspapers -- not really outside England + United Provinces *> French newspapers produced in London + Amsterdam -- main newspaper came out every 3 days New forms of diffusion are also being used by those who dislike the Enlightenment ! *> Enlightenment did not control public sphere ! ! Darnton -- society of publishers in Prussia *> Source of all radical publications *> New digital technology has disproved his conclusions ! Large majority of publications was very conservative + for local area ! ! Public sphere is not the same as the Enlightenment ! *> Much conservatism ! Enlightenment exists side by side with a powerful establishment ideology throughout ! ! ! ! the entire age *> Must look at the traditional worldview There is a contest over which of the 2 ways of looking at the world is correct *> Experiments e.g. wild boy phenomenon -- corrupt by nature or by civilisation? - Nothing was concluded *> Tahiti -- seen to be a 'natural' society There is some movement towards the enlightened way of thinking -- primarily in science *> From about 1760, Newtonian science has captured the universities -- possibility of understanding + controlling nature - Particularly in medicine *> Less movement towards beliefs in human progress -- although some movement away from extreme pessimism Many of the enlightened are within the Protestant churches *> Arian v. Socinian view of society -- deeply rooted in the church *> Geneva -- is the heart of the Socinian way of thinking - Where Rousseau came from Enlightenment ideas were deeply embedded in the state *> Not just on the fringes *> Contested yet had made inroads into positions of power + authority States Professor Brockliss ! ! ! ! ! ! Sovereignty *> Bodin -- invented term in 16th century - Broadly understood by the 18th century Owners of sovereignty have complete + absolute power *> Resistance is illegitimate Legitimacy of resistance *> Locke *> Not a theory that was appealed to very much French Revolution -- none of the revolutionaries legitimised action through Lockean theory *> In some ways just a transference of power -- power goes to National Assembly - Not a true revolution in 1789 ! Founding fathers of America appeal to Locke *> Quite exceptional ! General acceptance of absolute sovereignty -- wherever it is deemed to be *> Governments cannot do what they like -- constrained - Natural Law -- should promote moral value Those who broke this were acting illegitimately *> Issue of raison d'etat ! ! None of these states are large enough to enforce will on the majority of the population ! Yet in French Revolution, manage to round up 500,000 people + lock them up *> Large number of people for a pre--industrial state to incarcerate - Did not even have enough prisons -- old convents + churches ! Numbers of murders per head in population was declining *> Violence against property is much more important ! ! Great deal of opportunity to question the authority of the state *> Dispute as to where sovereignty lies Allows those who are aggrieved to show opposition without necessarily being rebellious ! ! Poland -- members of the nobility claim that it is part of the constitution that they can rebel against government when it is not working in their interests *> State allows for legitimate rebellion ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Can divide states into 2 kinds -- bureaucratic + representative Bureaucratic -- France + Prussia Representative -- Britain + Poland France + Prussia *> Little connection between distribution of power + wealth + power in the state

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