Revolutionary ideas
Subtitle: an intellectual history of the French Revolution from the Rights of Man to Robespierre
By: Jonathan Israel
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 870
ISBN-13: 9780691151724
Subjects: Historiography; Französische Revolution; Intellectual life; Revolutionaries; Politisches Denken; Revolution (France : 1789-1799) fast (OCoLC)fst01354514; War; Causes; History
Description: "Historians of the French Revolution used to take for granted what was also obvious to its contemporary observers--that the Revolution was caused by the radical ideas of the Enlightenment. Yet in recent decades scholars have argued that the Revolution was brought about by social forces, politics, economics, or culture--almost anything but abstract notions like liberty or equality. In Revolutionary Ideas, one of the world's leading historians of the Enlightenment restores the Revolution's intellectual history to its rightful central role. Drawing widely on primary sources, Jonathan Israel shows how the Revolution was set in motion by radical eighteenth-century doctrines, how these ideas divided revolutionary leaders into vehemently opposed ideological blocs, and how these clashes drove the turning points of the Revolution. Revolutionary Ideas demonstrates that the Revolution was really three different revolutions vying for supremacy--a conflict between constitutional monarchists such as Lafayette who advocated moderate Enlightenment ideas; democratic republicans allied to Tom Paine who fought for Radical Enlightenment ideas; and authoritarian populists, such as Robespierre, who violently rejected key Enlightenment ideas and should ultimately be seen as Counter-Enlightenment figures. The book tells how the fierce rivalry between these groups shaped the course of the Revolution, from the Declaration of Rights, through liberal monarchism and democratic republicanism, to the Terror and the Post-Thermidor reaction. In this compelling account, the French Revolution stands once again as a culmination of the emancipatory and democratic ideals of the Enlightenment. That it ended in the Terror represented a betrayal of those ideas--not their fulfillment."--book jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 803-831) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Revolution of the press (1788-90); title: From estates-general to national assembly (April-June 1789); title: The rights of man : summer and autumn 1789; title: Democratizing the revolution; title: Deadlock (November 1790-July 1791); title: War with the church (1788-92); title: The Feuillant revolution (July 1791-April 1792); title: The "general revolution" begins (1791-92); title: The revolutionary summer of 1792; title: Republicans divided (September 1792-March 1793); title: The "general revolution" from Valmy to the fall of Mainz (1792-93); title: The world's first democratic constitution (1793); title: Education : securing the revolution; title: Black emancipation; title: Robespierre's putsch (June 1793); title: The summer of 1793 : overturning the revolution's core values; title: De-Christianization (1793-94); title: "The Terror" (September 1793-March 1794); title: The Terror's last months (March-July 1794); title: Thermidor; title: Post-Thermidor (1795-97); title: The "general revolution" (1795-1800) : Holland, Italy, and the Levant; title: The failed revolution (1797-99); title: Conclusion : the revolution as the outcome of the radical enlightenment.