131-081 Republican France: Society and Culture 1870-1950

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Prerequisites

Usually 25 points of first year History, see Prerequisites.

Semester

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Subject Description

This subject will cover French history from the founding of the Third Republic and its establishment during the 1870s, to the re-establishment of the Republic after World War II. We will show how the emergence of a Republican culture enabled the settlement of the issues raised in the great Revolution; how its failure to resolve social problems caused its downfall and replacement by the Vichy régime in 1940, and how the resolution of social issues permitted the Fourth and Fifth Republics to endure. To establish the nature of the difficulties inherent in the Republican project is the first task of the subject. We will discuss the class nature of the Republican project and the argument of Robert Nye extending the Pateman thesis about its masculine nature. The evolution of the Republic and its culture will be examined from this dual perspective. We will discuss World War I, the position of women between the wars, the struggle against Fascism, the Popular Front and its failure, and the Vichy régime and the French holocaust. We will conclude with an effort to understand the nature of the republican settlement that has endured since World War II.

Assessment

Written work totalling 4000 words.