Old narratives adapted: Post-Napoleonic history education and its relation to the present in the Soutern Netherlands (1815-1830)

This article investigates the role of the recent revolutionary past in post-Napoleonic history education in the Southern Netherlands. From 1794 until 1815 the Southern Netherlands had been incorporated into the French revolutionary state and the Napoleonic Empire, respectively. Often, the experience of the revolution is associated with the birth of a new historical consciousness. I examine the impact that the revolution as a shocking event had on the teaching of history. Did the experience of this shock involve new historical interpretations? To answer this question, I specifically study how the narratives in use after the downfall of the Napoleonic regime related to previous prerevolutionary narratives. I argue that post-Napoleonic textbook authors took their narratives from former historians, but particularly adapted the endings of these older histories. This was done differently. On the one hand, the adaptation of former narratives stimulated the spread of new, counter-revolutionary histories. And on the other, new national histories came on the market, in which the addition of the recent revolutionary history played a less crucial role. However, generally, the experience of the revolution as a shocking event did not evoke the feeling of an ever-widening gap between past, present and future in history education. © 2012 Stichting Paedagogica Historica.

Jaar van publicatie:2012

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BOF-publication weight:1

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Authors from:Higher Education