This week we look at the Revolution of 1789 and its causes. We will explore the tensions and conflicts that led to the crisis of the Old Regime. The focus will be on the Third Estate and the revolt of the bourgeoisie, the 'menu peuple' and the peasantry. We will look at the Declaration of the Rights of Man and citizen and you will be asked to reflect on its 'universal' significance.

Week three of this MOOC deals with the reforms introduced in 1789-91. We look at the institutional and administrative reorganisation of France. We will then consider three critical turning points of the Revolution: the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, the King's attempted flight in 1791 and the outbreak of war in 1792. Finally we will look at the fate of the King and the ultimate failure of the monarchy. You will be asked to reflect on the immediate effects and longer-term consequences of these events.

Week four deals with the crisis of the Republic in 1792-93. We will examine the conflicts and disunity within the National Convention and consider the balance between revolutionary and counter-revolutionary forces by mid-1793. We will explore the civil war in the Vendee region of Western France and attempt to make sense of the growing revolutionary violence. We will look at the origins of the 'Terror', its institutions and its ideology, and students will be asked to reflect more broadly on the role of violence during the Revolution.

This week we look at the ideology and culture of the 'Terror' and the nature of the Jacobin and sans-culottes alliance. We will consider possible explanations for the increasing intensity of revolutionary violence and ask whether such violence was a proportionate, emergency response to the growing counter-revolutionary threat. This module also deals with the end of the 'Terror', and the overthrow of Robespierre and the ensuing 'Thermidorian reaction'. Finally we look at the 'settlement' of 1795 and ask whether the Revolution was indeed over.

This final week of the course offers you the opportunity to reflect broadly on the significance of the Revolution. We begin by looking at Napoleon Bonaparte and the Restoration of the monarchy in 1814-15. We then consider the ways in which the revolutionary experience affected the lives of women and slaves. We will discuss the Revolution's global implications and ask whether or not 1789 can be understood more broadly, as part of an international 'Age of Revolution'. Finally we explore the 'minimalist' and 'maximalist' approaches to the significance of the Revolution and you will be asked to reflect on the impact of the Revolution on the lives of French citizens.