Title: The French Revolution
Genre: History
Year: 2009
Pages: 170
Origin: bought in a second-hand bookshop
Nod Rating: 2 nods out of 5
In terms of famous (or is that, rather, infamous) revolutions, the French Revolution has a strong claim to be top of the list. Yes, you may point to the Russian Revolution and the rise of the Communists as one with lasting ramifications for the global picture in the twentieth century, or even dust off England’s very own “Glorious Revolution” of 1688; but in terms of power and romance, the French Revolution comes out on tops. Plus, it has one lasting, blood-curdling symbol: that of the guillotine.
Despite this awareness of the revolution’s importance, the Worm was none the wiser over its actual course and main players. Therefore, he was thankful in picking up Peter Davies’ ‘Beginner Guide’ on the revolution (with the intention of moving upwards to meatier works, including that of Simon Schama’s Citizens). In under two-hundred pages Davies – using his expertise within this period of history – recounts the problems with the Old Regime, the origin and causation of the revolution in 1789, as well as the successive waves of revolution throughout the 1790s. These include the liberal revolution (1790-92), the growth of war and terror (92-94), the counter revolution, the Thermidorian Reaction (94-95), the resulting Directory (95-99), all before the usurpation and elevation of Napoleon Bonaparte.
It is no overestimation to state that this decade is one of frantic change and upheaval, the likes of which would cause lesser historians to recoil in terror. Davies, however, manages to sum up the main events in an easy and affable manner. Of course, substance of an enjoyable and engaging narrative was beyond the remit of such a book, but the author does pull a few tricks out of the historical hat in the form of pithy quotes and the analysis of key turning points.
Debate has raged for more than two hundred years regarding the revolution. In the 1790s it took form between two heavyweights in Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke, whilst during the nineteenth century it was contested between conservatives and liberals, leading us into the twentieth century with the rise of Marxist perspectives. Our vantage point in 2013 provides no shade from such deliberations, and thankfully in this so-called “post-ideological” age the French Revolution continues to rattle the cages; such a question is given space in this book in Davies’ final chapter, ‘The French Revolution today’. Davies turns to the words of Jean Baudrillard in his analysis of France’s relationship with its past: ‘This is a country that lives too much from commemorations and from a patrimony of symbolic inheritances. Now it is in the process of congratulating itself about the Revolution. .The French live in cultural incest.’ And in keeping its tag as the world’s “number one” revolution, thankfully it will not die a death anytime soon.
Buy it here
