bb11History of Modern Europe-I: Internal Assessment Assignments 2023

By the end of this fifth semester, each student will be assessed on the basis of the following three
assignments/exercises:

1. A READING COMPREHENSION EXERCISE IN CLASS: 04 marks

- One in-class exercise to this effect has already been conducted on 05.10.2023
- The next reading comprehension exercise will be conducted in an extra class at 2:00 pm on
02.11.2023 (Thursday).
- Those who missed the earlier exercise and those who wish to repeat should not miss the
02.11.2023.

2. A REFERENCED ESSAY OF 3000 WORDS (including bibliography): 10 marks

- The due date is 08.11.2023 (Wednesday)
- Attempt anyone of the following essay questions:

a) The process of transformations and revolutionary possibilism, as well as the countervailing

tendency of reaction, which together unfolded in late eighteenth century France, are best
comprehended in terms of distinct phases. Would you agree?

b) Explain the historiographical paradigms / frameworks that have emerged to explain the
trajectory/course of the French revolution, its distinctiveness from the ancien régime, the
emergence of a new political culture, and changing social relations in late eighteenth century
France.

c) The Napoleonic regime paved the way for an authoritarian order as well as novel reforms.
Discuss the contradictions of Napoleonic measures EITHER with reference to France OR with
reference to the imperial system outside France.

d) Delineate the distinct, competing claims as well as the changing contexts of the two waves of
revolutions in Europe from 1830 to 1848.

e) “The customary depiction of an ‘industrial revolution’ in Great Britain and its repetition in
continental Europe and elsewhere distorts the historical record” (Rondo Cameron). Discuss the
statement by outlining any TWO distinct industrialization processes from the following: France,
Germany and Russia.

3. A VIDEO ESSAY: 06 marks

- The due date is 22.11.2023 (Wednesday)
- A few key rules for the video essay:

a) The video should be of 10 to 11 minutes, equivalent to an essay of 1500 – 1800 words.

b) This is a group project and no group should have more than three students in it.
c) The expectation is that this assessment should require no more than one week’s work. So, this
assignment is not meant to require the longitudinal preparation of a written essay.
d) The mark you get will be given to all members of the group. It is a collective mark. The division
of labour within the group can be varied. Some might not appear on screen. Some may help with
the editing, but not necessarily the “script,” and so on.
e) The mark is not given based on aesthetic or technical skill in film-making. Some groups may
have more complex mis-en-scène, others might simply prepare a script that is read by a single
person to the camera.
f) Alongside the actual video, students could also submit evidence of their work. This might include
the storyboard, script and bibliography to demonstrate the research undertaken with the work

- The video essay should be based on anyone of the following topics:

a) The Republic of Virtue

b) Restoration Europe
c) The Romantic Revolution (choose either art / architecture / literature)
d) Russian industrialization in the 19th century
e) Women’s labour in industrializing Europe
f) The city in the industrial landscape (a case study: London/Paris/Manchester/Berlin/Vienna)
g) Early socialism in Europe
h) Karl Marx and the shift away from utopian socialism
i) The Great Exhibition, 1851
j) The suffragettes