History of Europe during the French Revolution

This bestselling history, published between 1833 and 1842, interpreted the French Revolution as a warning about the dangers of democracy.

Archibald Alison (Author)

9781108025393, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 January 2011

700 pages
21.6 x 14 x 4 cm, 0.88 kg

Archibald Alison (1792–1867) was a Scottish historian with a particular interest in the French Revolution. He wrote from a deeply conservative standpoint and was a fierce opponent of the 1832 Reform Act. Although mocked by Disraeli in Coningsby as 'Mr Wordy', he wrote works which became bestsellers in the nineteenth century. This ten-volume History of Europe during the French Revolution, published between 1833 and 1842, regarded the French Revolution as the origin of all that was wrong with modern Europe. Alison feared that while Britain had escaped revolution in 1789, democratic reform could still lead to anarchy, as in the French July Revolution of 1830. Although criticised by Acton and J. S. Mill for his methodology, Alison has more recently been studied by scholars for insights into nineteenth-century historiography. Volume 3 covers the campaigns of 1796–1799 in Italy, Germany and Egypt, and Napoleon's coup d'etat.

20. Campaign of 1796 in Italy
21. Campaign of 1796 in Germany
22. Campaign of 1797. Fall of Venice
23. Internal government of France from the establishment of the Directory to the revolution of the 18th Fructidor
24. Expedition to Egypt
25. From the peace of Campo Formio to the renewal of the war
26. Civil history of France from the revolution of 18th Fructidor to the seizure of supreme power by Napoleon.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]