History
The French Revolution
The French Revolution was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France from 1789 to 1799. It marked the end of the monarchy and the rise of the Republic, and it had a profound impact on the course of modern history. The revolution was characterized by significant social and economic changes, as well as the rise of new political ideologies.
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10 Key excerpts on "The French Revolution"
eBook - PDFRevolution, Rebellion, Resistance
The Power of Story
- Professor Eric Selbin(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Zed Books(Publisher)
The foundational moment: 1789 France and the new meaning of revolution The 1789 French Revolution is widely represented as the ur or echt revolution, 5 the epitome of social revolution (but see Higonnet, 1990: 69). More than a legend or a myth, its status is that of a ‘world his-torical event’ whose repercussions are still being experienced today. Notwithstanding cautionary statements about the ‘chimera of origins’ (Chartier, 1991: 4; he invokes Foucault, 1977a) The French Revolution clearly stands as an epochal moment, whose momentous character formed the focus of the next two-hundred-plus years of revolution-ary thinking, critical socio-political concepts, and conceptions of the modern world. In contrast to the Civilizing and Democratizing Story of Revolution, here the details, the ‘facts,’ matter little, though some are touched on below. Rather, the real import is the emergence of ‘the cult of revolution as the way history works’ (Malia, 2006: 6), a perspective in which The French Revolution is the model of progress. The veneration in this story and the general high esteem in which The French Revolution is now almost universally held (signified, bizarrely, 119 The story of social revolution in part by its Disneyfied bicentennial, which skirted dangerously close to being an embarrassing caricature) do not mean that the legacy is either uncontested or unambiguous. There are less sanguine versions, albeit still shrouded in a quasi-mythical aura, where the process is credited with unleashing terror into a largely unsuspecting world (see, e.g., Chaliand and Blin, 2007: 92, 95–112). This representation of the Revolution has also latterly been buffeted about by a growing array of politicians and taken a battering at the hands of prominent contem-porary scholars François Furet and his galaxy, who have sought to reconceptualize the event as more or less another day at the office in the unfolding drama that is France (Kaplan, 1995: 54–60).
eBook - PDFOfficers, Nobles and Revolutionaries
Essays on Eighteenth-Century France
- William Doyle(Author)
- 1995(Publication Date)
- Hambledon Continuum(Publisher)
11 Revolution and Counter-Revolution in France It has long been a commonplace to say that The French Revolution changed the meaning of the word 'revolution' itself. Recent scholarly writing on this question has confirmed the commonplace in convincing new detail. 1 Before the 1790s, revolution meant political upheaval, public vicissitudes, change in the state. It could, of course, be applied to some fairly momentous developments, such as what happened in Great Britain between 1688 and 1690, or in America in the 1770s. It was also, however, applied to many events that we should call mere coups d'etat, or even to simply dramatic and spectacular transfers of political power with no implication of undue violence or a break in the chain of the law. Thus, to stay in the 1770s, the term was readily applied to the reassertion of royal power in Sweden in 1772 by Gustavus III, or to the overthrow of Struensee the same year in neighbouring Denmark, while France was in the midst of what everybody down to 1789 called the 'Maupeou Revolution', the remodelling of the judiciary by a determined and ambitious chancellor. When Maupeou was dismissed in 1774, soon after the accession of Louis XVI, this was hailed as another revolution. The events of the late 1780s seemed at first like yet another: but by the middle of 1789 men were becoming aware that something quite unprecedented was happening. This was a revolution quite unlike any other in scope, range and ambition. By the end of the century it would seem unprecedented in achievement, too. The result was, that for the two centuries since it happened, The French Revolution has been the 1 K.M. Baker, 'Revolution', in Colin Lucas (ed.), The French Revolution and the Creation of Modern Political Culture, vol. ii of The Political Culture of The French Revolution, 3 vols (Oxford, 1988), pp. 41-62.
eBook - PDFWestern Civilization
Beyond Boundaries
- Thomas F. X. Noble, Barry Strauss, Duane Osheim, Kristen Neuschel(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
Europe was transformed both by the shifting balance of power and by the spread of revolutionary ideas. Understanding The French Revolution means understanding not only its origins but also its complicated course of events and their significance. Challenging the king’s power was not new, but overthrowing the king was revolutionary. A new understanding of the people became irresistible; they were the nation and, as citizens, had the right to representation in government. Louis XVI was transformed from the divinely appointed father of his people to an enemy of the people, worthy only of execution. Central to the Revolution was the complex process by which public opinion was shaped and, in turn, shaped events. Change was driven in part by the power of symbols—flags, rallying cries, inspiring art—to challenge an old political order and legitimize a new one. An Age of Revolution, 1789–1815 The Origins of Revolution, 1775–1789 ◆ ◆ What factors led to revolution in France in 1789? The Phases of the Revolution, 1789–1799 ◆ ◆ Why did several phases of revolutionary change occur after 1789 and what were the characteristics of each phase? The Napoleonic Era and the Legacy of Revolution, 1799–1815 ◆ ◆ What impact did the Revolution and Napoleonic rule have on France, the rest of Europe, and the wider world? Chapter Overview 19 Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
eBook - PDF- S. Newman(Author)
- 2006(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
What follows is of necessity a very personal view of this major subject in French life. As the founding event of modern France, The French Revolution has triggered a large number of monumental histories, often written by key figures in French politics. This was the case mainly in the nineteenth- century with François Guizot, a major minister in the 1830s and 1840s, who wrote a vast history of France and the Revolution; Jean Jaurès, the father of French modern socialism, also wrote a ‘socialist’ history of The French Revolution in the early years of the twentieth-century. 41 During the nineteenth-century, the left-wing historian Michelet had written about The French Revolution with reverence, as he saw it as the found- ing moment of a popular and republican regime still under threat in his own time. 42 Writing about The French Revolution was a way of com- memorating the event, of communing with it, and of insisting on its continued relevance to contemporary debates: the enterprise involved patriotic commitment together with the writing of history. 43 As is obvi- ous with Jaurès, it was also a way of combining one’s political convic- tions with one’s interest in what was perceived as the dominant event in modern French history. 60 Marie-Jeanne Rossignol With the rise of socialism at the end of the nineteenth century, then the Russian Revolution and the ensuing polarization of French political life, writing about The French Revolution became a conduit for capturing its patriotic and radical aura for the benefit of Marxist activism in France, most particularly the Communist party, which enjoyed a broad popular base in France from the 1920s to the early 1980s, with particu- lar support from a large spectrum of influential intellectuals.
eBook - PDFThe Rise of Organised Brutality
A Historical Sociology of Violence
- Siniša Malešević(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
This chapter aims to shed some light on the complex social dynamics of revolutions. In the first section, I critically engage with the leading sociological accounts of the revolutionary experience, while in the second section I offer an alternative interpretation that analyses revolutions as the distinctive forms of organised violence. As in the previous chapters, my argument centres on the role organisational cap- acity, ideological penetration and microsolidarity play in the rise and expansion of revolutions. 174 Defining Revolutions The common sense understanding of revolution is inevitably tied with the image of France 1789–1799. In this vision, a revolution is perceived as a popular violent overthrow of an oppressive ancient regime, a pro- foundly changed and more inclusive structure of governance and deep social transformations bringing about a fairer and rational organisation of social order. Moreover, the outcome of such a revolutionary experience is often associated with the irreversible progress, greater enlightenment, social equality and individual autonomy. This model of revolutionary events has influenced generations of scholars and has been often used as an analytical yardstick to assess whether a particular rebellion, revolt or uprising constitutes a genuine revolution. From the classical analyses of Marx (1968 [1871]) and Trotsky (1931) to the later works of Brinton (1965) Gurr (1970) or Moore (1966) revolution was envisaged not only as a powerful vehicle of social change but also implicitly or explicitly as a stepping stone towards a better world. Karl Marx is generally identified with a proscriptive view of revolutionary change that foresaw the proletar- ian revolution repossessing and dismantling the capitalist state, as formu- lated in the Communist Manifesto (Marx and Engels 1998 [1848]). However, he also provided more analytical accounts of revolutionary situations as in 1848 European revolutions or 1871 Paris Commune (Marx 1968[1871]).
- Lynn Hunt(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- University of California Press(Publisher)
Leading political figures never called themselves politicians; they served the public good (Ia chose pub-lique), not a narrow partisan spirit (esprit de parti). Politics and poli-ticking were consistently identified with narrowness, meanness, divisiveness, factionalism, opportunism, egotism, and selfishness. While denouncing all these perversions of the ancient ideal of homo politicus, the revolutionaries crossed into the modern age: they opened up a new, internal political frontier and reaped the unfore-seen fruits of democracy and authoritarianism, socialism and ter-ror, revolutionary dictatorship and the guillotine. The unexpected invention of revolutionary politics is the subject of this book. We have little sense now of how surprising revolutionary poli-tics were in the 1790s. Almost every history textbook cites 1789 as the watershed of the modern era, and The French Revolution is one of the most written about events in Western history. Yet, as it has become commonplace, it has lost its freshness and novelty. In ret-rospect the turning point seems so obvious; what would our world be like without parties, ideologies, dictators, mass movements, and even antipolitical, political rhetoric? Recent scholarly debates about the Revolution also seem to take the event for granted. At issue in the controversies is not the character of the experience itself, but rather its long-term origins and outcomes. The Revolution merely serves as the vehicle of transportation between long-term causes and effects; as a result, the emergence of a revolutionary politics has become a foregone conclusion. The three major interpretive positions all share this preoccupation with origins and outcomes. The Marxist interpretation of the Revolution has come under heavy fire in recent years, in part because it is the most theoreti-cally developed account.
eBook - PDFFriends of Freedom
The Rise of Social Movements in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- Micah Alpaugh(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
Revolutionary influence altered British politics in unprecedented ways. French victories in fall 1792 elicited rapturous responses. The French press noted “festivals and illuminations” in “the principal cities,” including carica- tures of the defeated monarchs. 82 Workingmen’s support spread: a hostile December report from Norwich noted the “discontented are a very numerous body, and chiefly manufacturing men.” 83 Demonstrations in Perth, Dundee, and Aberdeen, Scotland, burnt Dundas effigies again, some chanting “liberty, equality and no king!” 84 Many Britons took revolutionary France’s side, supporting even its most radical acts. Mobilizing Loyalism and Repressing Radicalism Despite 1792’s radical upsurge, the British state and conservatives proved stronger still, mobilizing vast numbers of Britons to drown the revolutionary wave. Many considered The French Revolution an attack on hierarchy threat- ening all of virtually any standing. 85 Conservatives wound up adapting the revolutionary corresponding society to their own purposes, mobilizing new 78 A Collection of Addresses, 3; Reading, Turner 263 194. 79 Patriote français, November 16, 1792; Public Advertiser, November 26, 1792. 80 Couthon, Correspondance, 208. 81 BM Poitiers S 26 146/1 32. 82 Journal des débats de la société des amis de la constitution, November 27, 1792. 83 BL Crown & Anchor Association Papers, ADD MS 16920 2. 84 Meikle, Scotland, 96; Emma Vincent, “The Responses of Scottish Churchmen to The French Revolution, 1789–1802,” Scottish Historical Review 73, no. 2 (1994), 191. 85 Robin, Reactionary, 13. radicalizing club life in 1790s britain 325 loyalist organizations to repress radical challengers, accepting mass politics on a scale no European Old Regime would countenance. Reacting against growing discontent, authorities targeted radical publishing rings.
eBook - PDFWestern Civilization
A Brief History, Volume II since 1500
- Jackson Spielvogel(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
The entire nation was to be involved in the war. But when dynastic wars became people’s wars, warfare increased in ferocity and lack of restraint. Although innocent civilians had suffered in the earlier struggles, now the carnage became appalling at times. The wars of The French Revolutionary era opened the door to the total war of the modern world. The Committee of Public Safety and the Reign of Terror To meet the domestic crisis, the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety established the “Reign of Terror.” Revolutionary courts were organized to pro- tect the republic from its internal enemies (see “Justice squares of the cities where they will kindle the courage of young warriors and preach the doctrines of hate for kings and the unity of the Republic. 2 In less than a year, The French Revolutionary govern- ment had raised an army of 650,000; by September 1794, it numbered 1,169,000. The republic’s army—a nation in arms—was the largest ever seen in European history. It pushed the allies back across the Rhine and even conquered the Austrian Netherlands to the north (see Map 19.2). Historians have focused on the importance of The French Revolutionary army as an important step in the creation of modern nationalism. Previously, wars had been fought between governments or ruling dynas- ties by relatively small armies of professional soldiers.
eBook - PDFThe Causes of War
Volume IV: 1650 - 1800
- Alexander Gillespie(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Hart Publishing(Publisher)
(Greenhill, London). 31, 54; Brinton, C (1934). A Decade of Revolution, 1789–1799 . (Harper, NYC). 164. 121 Andress, D (2005). The Terror: Civil War in The French Revolution . (Brown, London). 116. rights of man must be proceeded against by all, not as ordinary citizens, but as assassins and rebellious brigands. 117 The opposing forces came to face each other in what is today south-west Belgium. The clash occurred on 6 November 1792, when 43,000 French soldiers drove about 14,000 Austrians from the heights of Jemappes, with over 1,000 dead, wounded or captured; as opposed to about 1,800 French losses. With their own momentum, supported by an upswell of local support, the French forces entered Brussels on 13 November, Ostend on the 16th, Antwerp on the 29th, and Namur on the 2nd of December. 118 As French politicians shouted that that this, ‘will be the last war’ 119 they proclaimed that wherever France’s armies marched, the existing form of government would be replaced by the rule of the people. All feudal titles would be abolished and traditional governance structures would be replaced by democratic elections. Liberty, equality and fraternity between peoples who were to be equal, was the objective for all occupied lands. To help facilitate this transition, many pro-French revolutionary groups that were local within the now-occupied territories, welcomed the French forces as they advanced. These groups, which were quickly placed in charge, were supported by Commissioners from Paris, to help win the hearts and minds of the occupied populations by facilitat-ing a policy of peaceful, beneficial and desired occupation. The responses were often better than expected, as local authorities in some areas, often beneath the shadow of French bayonets, requested that their lands be annexed to France (as occurred in Belgium, Mainz, Savoy and Nice).
eBook - PDFThe Anatomy of Revolution Revisited
A Comparative Analysis of England, France, and Russia
- Bailey Stone(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
63–67. 109 Norman Hampson, A Social History of The French Revolution (Toronto: University Of Toronto Press, 1963), p. 149. 110 P. M. Jones, The Peasantry in The French Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), p. 155. 111 McManners, The French Revolution and the Church, pp. 63–67. 302 The Anatomy of Revolution Revisited deportations of non-jurors followed immediately on their identification; and after November 22, the injunction to split up noble emigrants’ estates was extended wherever possible “to the remaining ecclesiastical property coming up for sale.” 112 Certainly, there were limits to the deepening revolution’s campaign against onetime members of the first two Estates: the French nobility (unlike the Rus- sian gentry in 1917–18) was not swallowed up in toto in the deluge, and the Gallican Church survived, state-supported, throughout this period. On the other hand, when we turn to The French Revolution’s outreach to middle-class and working-class individuals, we find a display of social inclusiveness hardly to be encountered in the England of the 1640s. For one thing, the war crisis over the summer of 1792 began unprecedentedly to democratize French politics by abolishing the old distinction, set in place by the Constituent Assembly, between “active” and “passive” citizens. This led, among others things, to the election of members of a new Convention, and of other public officials in Paris and the provinces, on a male franchise far in advance (it would seem) of anything advocated by Levellers or Agitators at Putney Church in October 1647. 113 Most (if not all) male domicili´ es over twenty-five could now participate, if they wished to, in the local and national politics of the besieged Republic-at-war.
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