Reinterpreting the French Revolution
A Global-Historical Perspective

Stone attributes the outbreak of the French Revolution to international/domestic pressures on national leaders.

Bailey Stone (Author)

9780521811477, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 November 2002

302 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.61 kg

'Superb and innovative empirical research of this sort is a welcome counterpoint to the grander narratives which the French Revolution so understandably evokes.' The Times Literary Supplement

This book provides a synthesis of the most recent scholarly literature on the diplomatic, political, social, economic, and cultural history of eighteenth-century and revolutionary France. On the basis of that synthesis, and current theoretical writing on major modern revolutions, the book argues that the outbreak of the French Revolution, and the dramatic developments of the subsequent ten years, were attributable to the interacting pressures of international and domestic politics on those national leaders attempting to govern France and to modernize its institutions. The book furthermore contends that the Revolution of 1789–1799, reconceptualized in this fashion, needs to be placed in the larger contexts of 'early modern' and 'modern' French history and modern 'progressive' sociopolitical revolutions. In staking out these positions, the book offers a unique interpretation of the French Revolution, one that dissents from both the Marxian socioeconomic orthodoxy of earlier times and more recent 'political-cultural' analyses.

Introduction
1. The Ancien Regime: Challenges Not Met, A Dilemma Not Overcome
2. The descent into revolution: from August 1788 to October 1789
3. The first attempt to stabilize the revolution: from 1789–1791
4. The 'revolutionizing' of the revolution: from 1791–1794
5. The second attempt to stabilize the revolution: from 1794–1799
Conclusion: the revolution in the French and global context
Suggestions for further reading.

Subject Areas: Revolutionary groups & movements [JPWQ], Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions [HBTV], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD], Historiography [HBAH]