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Browsing History - Student Works by Subject "French Revolution"
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Item The historiographical afterlives of Maximilien Robespierre(2019) Jackson, Bailea; Summers, KellyBased on the Independent Study I am completing, my presentation will explore how interpretations of the French Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre have varied across time and place. I attempt to tease out some of the connections between scholarly and popular interpretations and their respective historical and historiographical contexts.Item A myth greater than Zeus: popular perceptions and scholarly realities about the French Revolutionary levée en masse(2024) Wild, Samuel; Summers, KellyIn recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the Levée en Masse, or more accurately, its depiction in history. For years, the Levee has been used as a tool of propaganda and a supporting part of Marxist history on the French Revolution, creating a myth or legend of the Levée en Masse as a spontaneous and patriotic event where the men of France rushed to the republic's defence. However, this has changed as historians both inside and outside France have challenged the myth of the Levée, and by the late 1980s, this myth was only perpetuated by a dwindling number of Marxists. The issue is that this perception of the Levée en Masse has been defeated in academia; the myths of the Levée remain in the popular perception of history thanks to two hundred years of Marxist literature and French Propaganda. This presentation aims to identify and debunk the nationalist legend of the Levée en Masse that has distorted the Popular perception of this pivotal and complex historical event.Item A myth greater than Zeus: popular perceptions and scholarly realities about the French Revolutionary levée en masse(2024) Wild, Samuel; Summers, KellyIn recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the Levée en Masse, or more accurately, its depiction in history. For years, the Levee has been used as a tool of propaganda and a supporting part of Marxist history on the French Revolution, creating a myth or legend of the Levée en Masse as a spontaneous and patriotic event where the men of France rushed to the republic's defence. However, this has changed as historians both inside and outside France have challenged the myth of the Levée, and by the late 1980s, this myth was only perpetuated by a dwindling number of Marxists. The issue is that this perception of the Levée en Masse has been defeated in academia; the myths of the Levée remain in the popular perception of history thanks to two hundred years of Marxist literature and French Propaganda. This presentation aims to identify and debunk the nationalist legend of the Levée en Masse that has distorted the Popular perception of this pivotal and complex historical event.Item Terror without virtue is powerless: decoding Robespierre’s Festival of the Supreme Being (June 1794)(2020) La Vergne, MichelleThis paper will decode Maximilien Robespierre’s deistic cult, the Festival of the Supreme Being, a seemingly bizarre public ritual that was held at the height of the Great Terror on 20 Prairial Year II (June 1794). The Festival of the Supreme Being was staged by the Jacobin leader Robespierre, aided by the artist Jacques-Louis David, in an attempt to unify the French Republic’s citizenry during a particularly unstable time in the Revolution. Inspired by David's neo-classical masterpieces, such as The Oath of the Horatii, the festival used imagery from ancient Rome to emphasize the importance of civic virtue among a patriotic citizenry. A necessary counterpart to the Jacobins' campaign of terror against the Republic's myriad enemies, Robespierre's attempts to develop Parisians' civic virtue was designed to save the Republic by transforming passive subjects into active citizens. I will interpret this carefully orchestrated event as a parable of republican virtue by examining its use of classical symbols and the distinctive roles assigned to men, women and children in the festival.