DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/6GXE-DJ73
Defense Date
2013
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
History
First Advisor
George Munro
Abstract
Despite the attention historians have given to the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras in Central Europe, few works have sought to understand these events' reverberations throughout the nineteenth century in a local or regional context. Taking the northern German city of Hamburg as its focal point, this study investigates the change in the urban political culture affected by eight years of Napoleonic occupation. In the process of replacing Hamburg's sprawling and archaic government with one characterized by Gallic centralization and rigor, the French introduced a new style of politics that relied on consistent, public, and martial presentations of its authority. This public presence was heightened not only by the implementation of modern policing techniques, but also by a series of choreographed, ideologically-charged public spectacles whose effectiveness relied on a clever manipulation and politicization of urban space.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
May 2013