The French Revolution

This book provides an interpretation of the French Revolution that is both thematic and accessible to the general reader. The discussion includes an analysis of the historiography of the subject, and reviews the range of literature produced around the recent Bicentenary. Insisting that the French Revolution had an important social dimension, Alan Forrest demonstrates that the revolutionaries, even the most extreme of them, were committed to an ordered society. He argues that in destroying the political institutions and the corporate structures of the Ancien Regime, they were conscious of the need to invent a new order of their own, one that would be consistent with their ideology.
Chapters focus on the initial crisis of 1789, on the political and social experiments of the revolutionary years, and on the impact of war and counter-revolution. The study covers the period up to 1799, looking forward where appropriate to the Napoleonic Empire. The author's succinct and penetrating overview of events ensures that The French Revolution will be welcomed by all students of this fascinating and turbulent period in European history. List of Figures.

Select Chronology, 1787-1799.

The Revoluntionary Calendar.

1. Introduction.

2. 1789.

3. Politics.

4. Society.

5. War.

6. Oppositions.

Guide to Further Reading.

Bibliography and References.

Index.

Alan Forrest is Professor of Modern History at the University of York. He has written widely on the social and military aspects of the French Revolution, and on the Revolution in provincial France. This book is structured around a number of important themes which run across the revolutionary decade, most notably the themes of political and social change.

Alan Forrest’s book oers an interpretation of the historiography of the subject and reviews the copious literature resulting from the recent Bicentenary. Unlike some recent histories, it insists that the Revolution had a significant social dimension.

Divided into five main sections, the book examines the ideals which informed the work of the revolutionaries and the process by which they sought to dismantle the ancient regime and build a new order in France. It assesses the impact of war and counter-revolution, which in their different ways distorted the revolutionary agenda and contributed to the mood of nationalism, intolerance and terror that characterized the months of the Jacobin Republic.