In the 1700s, writers and philosophers in Europe championed a new movement called the Enlightenment, dedicated to religious tolerance, individual liberty, and human rights. But the 1700s ended with the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror, and wars of unprecedented destructiveness. How did that happen? Is there a connection between Enlightenment and violence, reason and terror? History 291 seeks an answer by reading major Enlightenment writers and French Revolution documents to search for connections between the Enlightenment and the Revolution.
HI 291: Reason and Terror: The Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Politics
Program
