The French Revolution: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guides) [Paperback]

The impact of the French Revolution on modern society cannot be over-estimated. The Bolsheviks in 1917 believed they were part of the continual unfolding of history and looked to "The Great French Revolution" for inspiration. The political and social change ushered in by the events of l789 mapped out a landscape for conflict which has continued ever since. While it was neither the end of aristocracy nor the democratic change its prosecutors believed it to be, it did represent a watershed. The Ancien Regime based on medieval principles of order, rank and practice, was replaced by the Republic fired by ideas of liberty, fraternity and equality, even if theory was contradicted by practice on many occasions.

The monarch was at the apex of power and position in the Ancien Regime. Then came the three Estates (in order) the Roman Catholic Church, the aristocracy and the Third Estate. Bishoprics tended to be filled by members of the aristocracy, the Church owned ten percent of all land, provided employment and was able to dispense a vast amount of patronage. By 1789 it had been weakened as a result of theological conflicts between the Jesuits and the Jansenists. It was attacked and lampooned by social criticism from Enlightenment figures expressing philosophical scepticism. The Second Estate consisted of the largely provincial feudal nobles who became aware of localised social and political uprest but were progressively excluded from the decision-making process under Louise XV1. The Third Estates consisted of everyone else with some members of the middle class or bourgeoise discontented with the social order which they regarded as parasitic.

In addition, there were thirteen regional parlements. They were independently minded, strong defenders of feudal rights but opposed to absolute monarchy. In the years immediately prior to 1789 they began to call for the Estates General to meet (it had not done so since 1614). One of the strengths of Davies's book is that he examines interpretations of the Revolution while the narrative explains the sequence of events. Hence is not just about what happened but why it happened. Much of what happened, such as the storming of the Bastille, was symbolic representing cultural perceptions rather than social reality. Other interpretations include town versus country, region versus region, aristocrats versus peasants, feudalism versus bourgeoisie and even class versus class. What is clear is that the removal of the bulwarks of the existing social order quickly spawned the growth of radical ideas.

Louis XV1 was indecisive. He did not want foreign powers to invade France, accepted political change (even if he was cynical of its value) but made the fundamental error of attempting to flee the country which gave rise to rumours of aristocratic counter-revolution. While the declaration of the Republic was perhaps inevitable, the subsequent blood letting was avoidable. Having arrogated to themselves the political power previously exercised by the monarch, the leading revolutionaries manipulated power for their own ends. Revolutionary justice was dispensed to get rid of anyone perceived as a threat. The September Massacres and the dechristianisation of France were supported by the atheist Jacques René Hébert for whom dissent was treason. Saint-Just would accept nothing but total commitment claiming, "You have to punish not only the traitors, but even those who are indifferent; you have to punish whoever is passive in the republic, and who does nothing for it." In the Vendee, Catholic opposition to anti-clericalism resulted in the death of up to fifty percent of the 800,000 inhabitants of the area. It remains a sensitive subject in modern day France. Ultimately the excesses of the Revolution represented a psychotic episode, built on rumour, fueled by politics, applied without established legal sanction and implemented by fanatics.

The Thermidorian Reaction led to the fall of Robespierre and the White Terror against the Jacobins. The Revolutionary Tribunal which had become a court of condemnation without the need for witnesses was abolished, a new constitution was adopted. Davies cleverly explains interpretations of events as an exercise in survival and its successor the Directory "an antidote to terror". Babeuf considered the revolution incomplete (much as Trotsky did in the 1920's) and did not understand that moderate Republican values held sway. That they were firmly established was proved by Napolean's coup d'etat which, whatever the personalised nature of the Consulate, consolidated the gains made by the Republicans since 1789.

Davies also provides a historiography of the Revolution starting with Edmund Burke and the less well known Germaine de Stael. Liberal and Marxist historians provided their own take on events, the latter as the Annales school. The weakness of this school was that many contributors were political activists writing to justify the Marxist view of history. Cobban and more recently Furet provided revisionist approaches reflecting changes in the intellectual and political framework which occurred during the twentieth century. Davies also provides bibliographies for each chapter as well as for the Revolution as a whole. Times have changed but the issues raised by the Revolution still provide ideological motivation for some. Anyone begining the study of the French Revolution can confidently use this book as a starting point. Five stars.