Dr Michael Rapport
- Reader in Modern European History (History)
telephone:
0141 330 6462
email:
Michael.Rapport@glasgow.ac.uk
School of Humanities
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0541-4475Research interests
My primary areas of research interest include, firstly, the French Revolution (both within France and in pursuit of its wider geographical impact), secondly, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and, thirdly, the ‘domino’ revolutions, meaning such revolutionary waves as those of 1848 in Europe.
I am currently involved in three research projects:
- The first is on Paris during the Revolution, drawing comparisons with New York and London in the same period. The book (for Little, Brown) will seek to evoke a sense of place, but its scholarly purpose is to explore the relationship between urban space and revolutionary and popular politics, and to investigate the many ways in which the built environment was part of the wider evolution in democratic political culture in the late eighteenth-century Atlantic world. This work has been supported by two grants from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities in Scotland, in 2011 and 2012, for archival research in Paris and New York.
- The second project is an exploration of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars as a global conflict. This book (for Atlantic, London) traces the worldwide resonances of the conflict, engaging with such issues as imperialism, maritime and continental power, slavery and emancipation, trans-national cultural relations and ideas of human rights, conquest and ‘race’. This research has supported by a grant from the Carnegie Trust, in 2009, for research in the Archives Nationales d’Outre-Mer in Aix-en-Provence.
- The third project, on the ‘domino revolutions’, investigates and compares revolutionary waves, and involves collaboration with a number of colleagues (including my friend Dr. Kevin Adamson at the University of Stirling). We are investigating the ‘domino effect’ in modern revolutions, drawing comparisons between the phenomena as they arose, in particular, in Europe in 1848, Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 and the Middle East in 2011, but we are also taking other such movements into account, such as the revolutions in the late eighteenth-century Atlantic world, those of 1830 in Europe and the impact of the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. This work analyses the causes, course and effects of the rapid spread of revolution across time, space and cultures.
I am also completing a book on Europe from the fall of Napoleon in 1815 to the Revolutions of 1848 (for Palgrave). I am currently editing the Oxford Handbook to Europe in the Long Nineteenth Century.
I was born in New York, but I studied History at the University of Edinburgh, undertook my PhD thesis on the French Revolution at the University of Bristol (under the supervision of Professor William Doyle) and, after a short spell at the University of Sunderland, taught at the University of Stirling for seventeen years before joining the School of Humanities at Glasgow in February 2013. When not teaching, writing and researching, I enjoy hillwalking (although I am not a Munro bagger), visiting museums and historical sites, sampling real ale and spending time with my wife (who teaches Scottish history) and my daughter. We are currently training a guide dog puppy and are long-suffering followers of Scotland’s national rugby team.
Research groups
Publications
2019
Rapport, M. (2019) The 1848 Revolutions: the 'recasting' of 'Restoration Europe'? In: Broers, M. and Caiani, A. A. (eds.) A History of the European Restorations: Culture, Society and Religion. Bloomsbury Academic: London ; New York, pp. 267-276. ISBN 9781788318051
2018
Rapport, M. (2018) Les pubs, la politique démocratique et la metropole: la lutte pour le contrôle de l’espace à Londres au début des années 1790. In: Dunyach, J.-F. and Gautier, A. (eds.) Les Mondes Britanniques: Une Communauté de Destins? Presses Universitaires de Rennes, pp. 97-112. ISBN 9782753574854
Rapport, M. (2018) Political trials, terror, and civil society: the case of the revolutionary tribunal in Paris, 1793-94. In: Davis, M. T., Macleod, E. and Pentland, G. (eds.) Political Trials in an Age of Revolution: Britain and the North Atlantic, 1793-1848. Series: Palgrave histories of policing and punishment. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 267-295. ISBN 9783319989587 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-98959-4_11)
Rapport, M. (2018) Liberty of Death: The French Revolution, by Peter McPhee. English Historical Review, 133(564), pp. 1328-1330. (doi: 10.1093/ehr/cey240)[Book Review]
Rapport, M. (2018) 1848: Europe's Year of Revolution. Modern History Review, 20(3),
2017
Marsh, B. and Rapport, M. (Eds.) (2017) Understanding and Teaching the Age of Revolutions. Series: Harvey Goldberg series for understanding and teaching history. The University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, Wisconsin. ISBN 9780299311902
Rapport, M. (2017) Two visions of patriotism yet to be reconciled in Macron's France. Herald, 10 May.
Rapport, M. (2017) Rebel Cities: Paris, London and New York in the Age of Revolution. Little, Brown: London. ISBN 9781408705230
Rapport, M. (2017) Revisiting Prussia’s Wars against Napoleon: history, culture and memory. Social History, 42(2), pp. 284-285. (doi: 10.1080/03071022.2017.1290354)[Book Review]
2016
Rapport, M. (2016) A new history looks at when Europe came together: review of R. J. Evans, 'The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914' (New York: Viking, 2016). New York Times Book Review, [Book Review]
Rapport, M. (2016) Alliances and treaties: co-operation in war and peace. EGO: European History Online,
2015
Rapport, M. (2015) Short List: review of four books on the Battle of Waterloo for the New York Times. New York Times Book Review, [Book Review]
Rapport, M. (2015) The French Revolution and early European revolutionary terrorism. In: Law, R. D. (ed.) The Routledge History of Terrorism. Series: Routledge histories. Routledge: Abingdon and New York, pp. 63-76. ISBN 9780415535779
Rapport, M. (2015) Jacobinism from outside. In: Andress, D. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution. Series: Oxford handbooks. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 503-520. ISBN 9780199639748
2014
Rapport, M. (2014) Revolution. In: Frie, E. and Meier, M. (eds.) Aufruhr – Katastrophe – Konkurrenz – Zerfall: Bedrohte Ordnungen als Thema der Kulturwissenschaften. Series: Bedrohte Ordnungen (1). Mohr Siebeck: Tubingen, pp. 279-301. ISBN 9783161527579
2013
Rapport, M. (2013) La Révolution batave: Entre la France et l’Amérique (1795–1806). By Annie Jourdan. French History, 27(2), pp. 312-313. (doi: 10.1093/fh/crt043)[Book Review]
Rapport, M. (2013) Marc H. Lerner. A Laboratory of Liberty: The Transformation of Political Culture in Republican Switzerland, 1750–1848. American Historical Review, 118(3), pp. 947-948. (doi: 10.1093/ahr/118.3.947)[Book Review]
Rapport, M. (2013) 'Complaints lost in the wind'-French India and the crisis of the absolute monarchy: a global dimension? In: Swann, J. and Felix, J. (eds.) The Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy: From Old Regime to the French Revolution. Series: Proceedings of the British Academy. Oxford University Press: Corby, UK, pp. 223-243. ISBN 9780197265383
Rapport, M. (2013) The international repercussions of the French revolution. In: McPhee, P. (ed.) A Companion to the French Revolution. John Wiley & Sons: Chichester, UK, pp. 381-396. ISBN 9781444335644
Rapport, M. (2013) The Napoleonic Wars: A Very Short Introduction. Series: Very short introductions (344). Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199590964
2012
Rapport, M. (2012) 1848: European revolutions. In: Isakhan, B. and Stockwell, S. (eds.) The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, UK, pp. 282-292. ISBN 9780748640751
2009
Rapport, M. (2009) 1848: Year of Revolution. Abacus: London. ISBN 9780349118642
Rapport, M. (2009) The Germans are hydrophobes: Germany and the Germans in the Shaping of French identity. In: Forrest, A.I. and Wilson, P.H. (eds.) The Bee and the Eagle: Napoleonic France and the End of the Holy Roman Empire, 1806. Series: War, culture and society, 1750-1850. Palgrave MacMillan: Basingstoke, UK, pp. 234-255. ISBN 9780230008939
2008
Rapport, M. (2008) France. In: Wilson, P.H. (ed.) A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Europe. Series: Blackwell companions to European history. Blackwell: Malden, MA, USA, pp. 338-353. ISBN 9781405139472
Rapport, M. (2008) Loyal catholics and revolutionary patriots: national identity and the Scots in revolutionary Paris. Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies, 2(1), pp. 51-71.
2005
Rapport, M. (2005) Nineteenth Century Europe. Series: Palgrave history of Europe. Palgrave. ISBN 9780333652459
2000
Rapport, M. (2000) Nationality and Citizenship in Revolutionary France: The Treatment of Foreigners 1789-1799. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198208457
Articles
Rapport, M. (2024) The Black Cockade and the Tricolor: Space and place in New York City's responses to the French Revolution. Age of Revolutions, March 4.
Rapport, M. (2022) Les visiteurs étrangers et l’espace urbain : un premier pas vers « Une histoire européenne du Paris révolutionnaire » ? La Révolution Francaise, 22, pp. 1-28. (doi: 10.4000/lrf.6277)
Rapport, M. (2018) 1848: Europe's Year of Revolution. Modern History Review, 20(3),
Rapport, M. (2017) Two visions of patriotism yet to be reconciled in Macron's France. Herald, 10 May.
Rapport, M. (2016) Alliances and treaties: co-operation in war and peace. EGO: European History Online,
Rapport, M. (2008) Loyal catholics and revolutionary patriots: national identity and the Scots in revolutionary Paris. Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies, 2(1), pp. 51-71.
Books
Rapport, M. (2017) Rebel Cities: Paris, London and New York in the Age of Revolution. Little, Brown: London. ISBN 9781408705230
Rapport, M. (2013) The Napoleonic Wars: A Very Short Introduction. Series: Very short introductions (344). Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199590964
Rapport, M. (2009) 1848: Year of Revolution. Abacus: London. ISBN 9780349118642
Rapport, M. (2005) Nineteenth Century Europe. Series: Palgrave history of Europe. Palgrave. ISBN 9780333652459
Rapport, M. (2000) Nationality and Citizenship in Revolutionary France: The Treatment of Foreigners 1789-1799. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198208457
Book Sections
Rapport, M. (2019) The 1848 Revolutions: the 'recasting' of 'Restoration Europe'? In: Broers, M. and Caiani, A. A. (eds.) A History of the European Restorations: Culture, Society and Religion. Bloomsbury Academic: London ; New York, pp. 267-276. ISBN 9781788318051
Rapport, M. (2018) Les pubs, la politique démocratique et la metropole: la lutte pour le contrôle de l’espace à Londres au début des années 1790. In: Dunyach, J.-F. and Gautier, A. (eds.) Les Mondes Britanniques: Une Communauté de Destins? Presses Universitaires de Rennes, pp. 97-112. ISBN 9782753574854
Rapport, M. (2018) Political trials, terror, and civil society: the case of the revolutionary tribunal in Paris, 1793-94. In: Davis, M. T., Macleod, E. and Pentland, G. (eds.) Political Trials in an Age of Revolution: Britain and the North Atlantic, 1793-1848. Series: Palgrave histories of policing and punishment. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 267-295. ISBN 9783319989587 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-98959-4_11)
Rapport, M. (2015) The French Revolution and early European revolutionary terrorism. In: Law, R. D. (ed.) The Routledge History of Terrorism. Series: Routledge histories. Routledge: Abingdon and New York, pp. 63-76. ISBN 9780415535779
Rapport, M. (2015) Jacobinism from outside. In: Andress, D. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution. Series: Oxford handbooks. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 503-520. ISBN 9780199639748
Rapport, M. (2014) Revolution. In: Frie, E. and Meier, M. (eds.) Aufruhr – Katastrophe – Konkurrenz – Zerfall: Bedrohte Ordnungen als Thema der Kulturwissenschaften. Series: Bedrohte Ordnungen (1). Mohr Siebeck: Tubingen, pp. 279-301. ISBN 9783161527579
Rapport, M. (2013) 'Complaints lost in the wind'-French India and the crisis of the absolute monarchy: a global dimension? In: Swann, J. and Felix, J. (eds.) The Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy: From Old Regime to the French Revolution. Series: Proceedings of the British Academy. Oxford University Press: Corby, UK, pp. 223-243. ISBN 9780197265383
Rapport, M. (2013) The international repercussions of the French revolution. In: McPhee, P. (ed.) A Companion to the French Revolution. John Wiley & Sons: Chichester, UK, pp. 381-396. ISBN 9781444335644
Rapport, M. (2012) 1848: European revolutions. In: Isakhan, B. and Stockwell, S. (eds.) The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, UK, pp. 282-292. ISBN 9780748640751
Rapport, M. (2009) The Germans are hydrophobes: Germany and the Germans in the Shaping of French identity. In: Forrest, A.I. and Wilson, P.H. (eds.) The Bee and the Eagle: Napoleonic France and the End of the Holy Roman Empire, 1806. Series: War, culture and society, 1750-1850. Palgrave MacMillan: Basingstoke, UK, pp. 234-255. ISBN 9780230008939
Rapport, M. (2008) France. In: Wilson, P.H. (ed.) A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Europe. Series: Blackwell companions to European history. Blackwell: Malden, MA, USA, pp. 338-353. ISBN 9781405139472
Book Reviews
Rapport, M. (2018) Liberty of Death: The French Revolution, by Peter McPhee. English Historical Review, 133(564), pp. 1328-1330. (doi: 10.1093/ehr/cey240)[Book Review]
Rapport, M. (2017) Revisiting Prussia’s Wars against Napoleon: history, culture and memory. Social History, 42(2), pp. 284-285. (doi: 10.1080/03071022.2017.1290354)[Book Review]
Rapport, M. (2016) A new history looks at when Europe came together: review of R. J. Evans, 'The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914' (New York: Viking, 2016). New York Times Book Review, [Book Review]
Rapport, M. (2015) Short List: review of four books on the Battle of Waterloo for the New York Times. New York Times Book Review, [Book Review]
Rapport, M. (2013) La Révolution batave: Entre la France et l’Amérique (1795–1806). By Annie Jourdan. French History, 27(2), pp. 312-313. (doi: 10.1093/fh/crt043)[Book Review]
Rapport, M. (2013) Marc H. Lerner. A Laboratory of Liberty: The Transformation of Political Culture in Republican Switzerland, 1750–1848. American Historical Review, 118(3), pp. 947-948. (doi: 10.1093/ahr/118.3.947)[Book Review]
Edited Books
Marsh, B. and Rapport, M. (Eds.) (2017) Understanding and Teaching the Age of Revolutions. Series: Harvey Goldberg series for understanding and teaching history. The University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, Wisconsin. ISBN 9780299311902
Grants
- 2012:
- Carnegie Trust (£1400): ‘The Black Cockade and the Tricolore: New York City and the French Revolution, 1789-1804’ (for research in the New York City Records, the New York Public Library and the New York Historical Society).
- 2011:
- Carnegie Trust (c. £1400): ‘Revolutionary Paris’ (for research in the Archives Nationales, Paris).
- 2009:
- Carnegie Trust (c. £1500): ‘Imperial Armageddon: the French Wars as a Global Struggle’ (for research in the Archives Nationales d’Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence).
- 2004:
- British Academy (£1140 in 2004): ‘Propaganda, Public Opinion and the Napoleonic State: the French Response to Trafalgar and Austerlitz, 1805-6’.
- 2000:
- British Academy (Overseas Conference Grant, £230): ‘A Community Apart? The Scots College in Paris during the French Revolution’, to the European Social Sciences History Conference, at the International Institute of Social History, the Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, April 2000.
- 1999:
- British Academy (£1000 in 1999), for research into the French occupation and annexation of Belgium.
Supervision
I can supervise doctoral students on subjects such as:
• The French Revolution (in France and its external resonances);
• The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (including its global impact);
• The 1848 Revolutions.
…but I am open to suggestions related to the any aspects of eighteenth- or nineteenth-century Europe. I have supervised, or I am currently supervising, PhD students working on the following topics:
• Bourgeois Women, Taste and Décor during the early Third French Republic, 1871-1914.
• Emperor Maximilian of Mexico
• French travel writers in Scotland, 1780s-1820s.
• The impact of the Haitian Revolution on France.
• Kurdish nationalism and the treaty of Sèvres.
• Women and poverty during the French Revolution.
I am able to supervise masters students on subjects such as:
• The French Revolution (in France and its external resonances);
• The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (including its global impact);
• The 1848 Revolutions.
• European history between 1815 and 1848.
• Revolutions in comparative perspective.
…but I am, again, open to suggestions. I have supervised, or I am currently supervising, Masters students working on such topics as:
• The British Army in the Napoleonic Wars
• Counter-Revolution in France during the 1790s.
• Marie-Antoinette during the French Revolution.
• Gender, Masculinity and Neo-classicism during the French revolutionary Terror.
• Abolitionism and the popular movement during the French Revolution.
• Prize-fighting in late eighteenth-century Britain.
• British perspectives on the French invasion of Egypt, 1798-1802.
• Dissidence in the German Democratic Republic.
• The Arab Spring: passive resistance on Tahrir Square.
• Women, SOE and the Resistance in Occupied France.
• Women and literature in nineteenth-century France.
Teaching
I currently teach on History 2B: ‘The Making of Modern Societies, 1500-2000’ and am developing Honours-level courses on Nineteenth-Century France, on the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and on the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe. I will also be assuming responsibility for a final-year special subject on the French Revolution in the future.
Research datasets
2024
Peacock, T. , Cooper, J., Blyth, C., Watson, P. and Rapport, M. (2024) Revolution 1848: A research-informed educational card game around the 1848 French Revolution – Part of Project AWARE (Access to Wargaming in Education). [Data Collection]
Additional information
I have been a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society since 2000, was reviews Editor for the journal, French History (Oxford University Press) between 2001 and 2007 and Secretary of the Society for the Study of French History, in 2000-2006.
I have been involved in different forms of public engagement, including talks to cultural organisations, newspaper interviews, presentations at book festivals and some radio appearances, most recently on the 1848 Revolutions and the Arab Awakening. See:
- ‘The 1848 Revolutions’, In Our Time, BBC Radio 4, with Melvyn Bragg, Tim Blanning and Lucy Riall, 19 January 2012.
- ‘Will the Year 2011 Stand out in History?’ Have Your Say, No. 60, BBC World Service, 16 November 2011 (on 1848, 1968, 1989 and 2011).
- ‘Arab Revolutions’, The Sunday Edition, with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 7 March, 2011 (a programme on 1848 and the Arab Spring).
- ‘Europe’s 1848 Upheaval’, The World, BBC World Service, Public Radio International and WGBH in Boston, 9 February, 2011.
