Dr Paul Keenan, EAS.E391

For MA/MSc History of International Relations, MSc Empires, Colonialism, Globalisation and LSE-Columbia University Double Degree in International and World History. Other Master's students may take this course as permitted by the regulations for their degree.

The Napoleonic Empire was crucial in the formation of modern Europe. Much of Europe was dominated by the Napoleonic Empire and its impact was felt across the continent and in parts of the non-European world. Through an analysis of both those areas directly incorporated into the Napoleonic empire and of those that lay beyond it, this course will examine the extent of the direct and indirect influence of this era on the development of what we understand by a modern European society and a modern state system. The course analyses how this empire was created, as well as the states and societies that it forged. The varied and sometimes contradictory elements of this era will be analysed - from the impact of the growth of secularisation, constitutionalism and the codification of laws to the beginnings of Romanticism, manifestations of early nationalism and monarchical reaction after 1815. The course will also assess the significance of both the reality and the 'myth' of empire, not only at the time but also in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The making of the Empire; changes in armies and warfare; analysis of the changing nature of the Napoleonic Empire from the core to the periphery; the impact of the empire on countries which remained outside it and on the non-European world; the diplomacy of war and the diplomatic 'system' which emerged after 1815; the impact of the Napoleonic era on the modernisation of society, the economy, law and the state; early manifestations of nationalism in the Italian and German lands, Spain and Russia; reaction against the Napoleonic 'system' after 1815; The course will also assess the significance of both the reality and the 'myth' of Napoleon and his empire, for contemporary commentators and also in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

22 two-hour seminars.

Students will be required to write three essays. They will also be required to answer a mock examination question.

A detailed Reading List will be issued at the beginning of the course.

Useful introductory works include: G. Ellis, Napoleon; G. Ellis, The Napoleonic Empire; M. Broers, Europe under Napoleon 1799-1815; S. J. Woolf, Napoleon's Integration of Europe; P. O'Dwyer (ed), Napoleon and Europe; C. Esdaile, The French Wars 1792-1815; O. Connelly, Napoleon's Satellite Kingdoms; P. Geyl, Napoleon, For and Against.

A three-hour written examination in the ST.