3. The Opposition

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we consider the range of opposition to the Bourbon Restoration in the period 1815-20, including the moderate 'dynastic' opposition that operated within the framework of the constitutional monarchy, as well as the more radical and revolutionary elements such as the Charbonnerie and the Chevaliers de la Liberté ('Knights of Liberty').

Course

In this course, Dr Michael Rapport (University of Glasgow) explores the Bourbon Restoration, the period of French history between the defeat of Napoleon in 1814 and the July Revolution of 1830. The first module provides a basic introduction to what the Bourbon Restoration was, focusing in particular on the Charter of 1814, in which the restored King, Louis XVIII, attempted a compromise between the liberal and conservative elements in French society. In the second module, we explore the impact of Napoleon's return to France during the Hundred Days of 1815, his final defeat at Waterloo and the acceptance of the Treaty of Paris, before moving on in the third module to consider the range of opposition to the monarchy in the period 1815-20. In the fourth module, we trace how the regime became increasingly royalist in the period 1820-24, and even more so during the reign of Charles X from 1824 onwards – which is the subject of the fifth module. In the sixth and final module, we trace events in the final years of the 1820s, leading up to the July Revolution itself.

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.