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The French Revolution




By

R. M. Johnston

M.A., CANTAB.

Assistant Professor of History in Harvard University





Are you looking for information about the French Revolution? This section provides a concise history of the French Revolutionas well as a discussions of the causes and effects of the Revolution.



PREFACE


The object of this book is similar to that with which, a few years ago, I wrote a short biography of Napoleon. The main outlines of the Revolution, the proportion and relation of things, tend to become obscured under the accumulation of historical detail that is now proceeding. This is an attempt, therefore, to disentangle from the mass of details the shape, the movement, the significance of this great historical cataclysm. To keep the outline clear I have deliberately avoided mentioning the names of many subordinate actors; thinking that if nothing essential was connected with them the mention of their names would only tend to confuse matters. Similarly with incidents, I have omitted a few, such as the troubles at Avignon, and changed the emphasis on others, judging freely their importance and not following the footsteps of my predecessors, as in the case of the capture of the Bastille, the importance of which was vastly exaggerated by early writers on the subject.

The end of the RevolutionI place at Brumaire,--as good a date as any, though like all others, open to criticism. The present narrative, however, will be found to merge into that of my Napoleon, which forms its natural continuation after that date.

CAMBRIDGE, MASS., Feb., 1909.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER PAGE


  1. THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION . . . . 1
  2. VERSAILLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
  3. ECONOMIC CRISIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
  4. CONVOCATION OF THE STATES GENERAL . . . . . . . 35
  5. FRANCE COMES TO VERSAILLES . . . . . . . . . . . 52
  6. FROM VERSAILLES TO PARIS . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
  7. THE ASSEMBLY DEMOLISHES PRIVILEGE . . . . . . . 89
  1. THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
    1. WAR BREAKS OUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
    2. THE MASSACRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
    3. ENDING THE MONARCHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
    4. THE FALL OF THE GIRONDE . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
  2. THE REIGN OF TERROR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
    1. THERMIDOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
    2. THE LAST DAYS OF THE CONVENTION . . . . . . . . 222
    3. THE DIRECTOIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
  3. ART AND LITERATURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279




THE FRENCH REVOLUTION


Table of Contents

The French Revolution
   CHAPTER I
   CHAPTER II
   CHAPTER III
   [1] The franc comes into use at the period of the Revolution. It will be employed throughout instead of livres as the standard denomination.
   CHAPTER IV
   CHAPTER V
   CHAPTER VI
   CHAPTER VII
   CHAPTER VIII
   CHAPTER IX
   [1] There is no opportunity here for discussing adequately the clause in the declaration to the effect that every citizen is entitled to concur in making laws. That clause apparently conflicts with what I have said above. My explanation of the discrepancy is based on this: that the declaration is a much tinkered, composite document, made up over a period of many months, and not logical at every point. The clause here mentioned I explain as a direct echo of the elections to the States-General; it was one of the first drafted; its precise significance was soon lost sight of and its inconsistency remained unnoticed.
   CHAPTER X
   CHAPTER XI
   CHAPTER XII
   CHAPTER XIII
   [1] See Chap. XVII.
   CHAPTER XIV
   CHAPTER XV
   CHAPTER XVI
   CHAPTER XVII
   [1] TO THE NUMBER OF THE DAY IN

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