Everybody knows that France and Russia had revolutions. But what about Britain? This module will challenge the popular view that Britain is a land of stability and continuity, focusing instead on the dramatic series of changes from 1500 to 1800.
Historians argue that Britain saw many revolutions in the early modern period. There was the revolution that saw Catholicism largely replaced by Protestantism and the political revolution that swept away the absolute monarchy of Charles I. There were also revolutions in thought and culture, from the scientific revolution that gave us the theory of gravity, to the consumer revolution that gave us shopping. And just as important were the agricultural, industrial and printing revolutions that quite literally made the modern world a possibility, along with the extraordinary developments that made Britain into an empire of commerce, conquest, and enslavement.
As well as introducing these crucial themes, this module will give you the skills to understand how and why historians like to talk about these revolutions - and to figure out the limitations of their arguments. Did the emergence of parliamentary rule during the 17th century make much of a difference to the lives of women? Or were their lives marked by continuity? Did the average person witness meaningful changes when a handful of elite scientists started thinking differently about the workings of the universe? And does our picture of these transformations change if we focus on voices that - until recently - historians neglected?