WAR AND SOCIETY IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE
HISTORY 254
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Instructor: Terence McIntosh
Office: Hamilton Hall 472
Phone: 962‑3969
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Purpose: The principal goal of this course is to examine how warfare shaped political, social, and economic developments in western Europe from roughly 1450 to 1815. Three major issues will receive attention. First, the course explores how warfare changed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries because of the so-called military revolution and during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries because of the French Revolution and Napoleon. Second, the course examines the complex fiscal and bureaucratic responses of governments to these changes in warfare. This issue, in short, focuses on warfare's cardinal contribution to the development of centralized state power in early modern Europe. Third, the course examines important examples of how art and literature imaginatively interpreted the experience of war. Together these three issues provide a broad assessment of warfare and its impact on society and government during the early modern period.
The course also seeks to develop your analytical and expository skills. In particular, the reading assignments will enhance your ability to interpret historical evidence and analyze scholarship, while the writing assignments will hone your proficiency in crafting clear, reasoned, and well-documented arguments about historical issues.
Readings: A HIST 127B course pack is available from UNC Student Stores Course Pack Publishing. The following required texts are available in the textbook department of Student Stores:
N. Machiavelli, The Prince
G. Parker, The Military Revolution
H. J. C. Grimmelshausen, The Adventurous Simplicissimus
J. Brewer, The Sinews of Power. War, Money and the English State, 1688-1783
A. Forrest, Soldiers of the French Revolution
J. Walter, The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier
Organization and Assignments: The course requirements include regular class attendance. The calendar below gives the scheduled dates, subject matter, and reading assignments for each of our class meetings. To assure the productiveness of these meetings, you should complete the assigned readings beforehand.
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Each student must also write two short papers (two and four pages in length, respectively) on assigned topics and a seven- to nine-page research paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor. There will also be a midterm and a final examination. The first paper will count for 5 percent, the second for 10 percent, and the third for 30 percent of the final grade. The midterm will count for 10 percent and the final examination for 30 percent of the final grade. Class participation will determine the remaining 15 percent of the grade.
Grading of Papers: The grade is a composite measure of the paper's strengths in three specific areas:
· the effective use of evidence in support of the paper's thesis and main points;
· the clear and logical development of an argument that has both breadth and insight;
· the expression of ideas in concise and engaging prose.
In general, the scale used for determining grades is as follows:
A—excellent. Outstanding in all three areas of assessment. An integrated, insightful paper characterized by its rich content, its effective recognition of the complexities of the topic, and its extensive use of sound evidence.
B—good. Strong in all three areas or notable strengths in one offset by weaknesses in another. A paper that delivers substantial information but lacks the stylistic refinement of an A paper.
C—average. Adequate performance in one or more areas offset by significant weaknesses in others. A generally competent paper, but lacking both imagination and intellectual rigor.
D—poor. Serious problems in all three areas. A paper that treats the subject rudimentarily.
F—unacceptable. Fundamental flaws in all three areas. A paper with both garbled or stylistically primitive prose and a superficial treatment of the subject.
Honor Code: All papers and exams must bear either the full honor code pledge ("On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this examination/assignment.") or the word "Pledge" followed by your name to indicate your adherence to the UNC Honor Code. No grade will be recorded without the pledge.
In signing the pledge, you affirm that the work that bears your name is indeed yours. Unauthorized aid includes all forms of plagiarism such as the submission of ghost-written papers and the presentation of another's ideas or words as your own. During examinations, the aid of books, notes, or other people is also unauthorized.
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In writing papers, you may develop and refine your own ideas in conversation with classmates. Your paper should not, however, incorporate the ideas of others if you did not contribute substantively to the formulation of those ideas. Any student with a question about the Honor Code or its violation should consult either the instructor or a teaching assistant.
Calendar of topics and assignments for seminar meetings:
August
Wed, 21st Introduction and Organization
Fri, 23rd The Hundred Years' War
Reading: Keegan, The Face of Battle, 79-116 (course pack).
Mon, 26th Government during the Hundred Years' War
Reading: Allmand, ed., Society at War. The Experience of England and France during the Hundred Years War (section III.6), 87-91 (course pack).
Wed, 28th The Italian Wars
Fri, 30th Machiavelli's Reflections
Reading: Machiavelli, The Prince.
September
Wed, 4th FIRST PAPER DUE
Machiavelli as Military Strategist
Reading: Machiavelli, The Discourses, bk. 1, chap. 21; bk. 2, chaps. 10, 16‑18, 20, 24, 32 (course pack).
Fri, 6th The Origins of the Dutch Revolt
Mon, 9th The Division of the Low Countries
Wed, 11th Reading: Parker, The Military Revolution, 1-81.
Fri, 13th The Failed Reconquest
Mon, 16th The Twelve Year Truce
Wed, 18th Reading: Parker, The Military Revolution, 82-175.
Fri, 20th The Origins of the Thirty Years' War
Mon, 23rd The Bohemian Revolt and Habsburg Victories
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Wed, 25th Swedish and French Intervention
Fri, 27th Warfare and Literature
Reading: Grimmelshausen, The Adventurous Simplicissimus, 17‑195.
Mon, 30th Peace of Westphalia
October
Wed, 2nd France and Spain under the Pressure of War
Fri, 4th Dutch Primacy in World Trade
Mon, 7th Warfare and Literature
Reading: Grimmelshausen, The Adventurous Simplicissimus, 199-382.
Wed, 9th French Aggression under Louis XIV
Fri, 11th Review
Mon, 14th MIDTERM
Wed, 16th NO CLASS
Mon, 21st SECOND PAPER DUE
The English State before 1688
Reading: Brewer, The Sinews of Power, xiii-xxii, 1-24.
Wed, 23rd The British-French Rivalry
Reading: Brewer, The Sinews of Power, 27-63, 88-101.
Fri, 25th The British Economy
Reading: Brewer, The Sinews of Power, 114-34, 165-90.
Mon, 28th Austria and Warfare on Two Fronts
Wed, 30th The Rise of Brandenburg-Prussia
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November
Fri, 1st The War of the Austrian Succession and Its Consequences
Reading: "Maria Theresa's Political Testament (1749/50)" in Macartney, ed., The Habsburg and Hohenzollern Dynasties, pp. 94-132 (course pack); "Frederick the Great's Political Testament (1752)," in Macartney, ed., The Habsburg and Hohenzollern Dynasties, pp. 331-46 (course pack).
Mon, 4th The Seven Years' War
Wed, 6th The Origins of the French Revolution
Fri, 8th The Enemies of the Revolution
Mon, 11th Reading: Forrest, The Soldiers of the French Revolution, 1-88.
Wed, 13th Reading: Forrest, The Soldiers of the French Revolution, 89-197.
Fri, 15th Napoleon's Victories
Mon, 18th Central Europe under Napoleonic Hegemony
Wed, 20th The Peninsular War
Fri, 22nd Reading: The Diary of a Napoleonic Soldier.
Mon, 25th NO CLASS
December
Mon, 2nd THIRD PAPER DUE
War and British Society
Reading: Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837, 177-93, 250-62, 283-319 (on reserve).
Wed, 4th Review
Fri, 13th FINAL EXAMINATION
4:00 P.M.