Book Review on "French Revolution: Taking a Macro"

Book Review 4 pages (1255 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

French Revolution:

Taking a macro vs. A micro view of the conflicts

Generally speaking, there are two approaches to analyzing historical narratives. One approach is to take a broad, far-reaching view of historical events with a generalist's perspective. Another is to take a micro-view of events and to focus in on a specific aspect of history in great detail, only to later show how it is emblematic of a larger event. In Origins of the French Revolution, historian William Doyle takes the former approach while in Religion and Revolution in France: 1780-1804, Nigel Aston takes the latter.

According to Doyle, previous histories of the French Revolution have tended to fall into three categories: the first, earliest interpretation, heavily influenced by Marxism, proclaimed that there was indeed a class-based revolution of seismic proportions, completely overturning the relationship of the proletariat to the bourgeois in a positive fashion. The second, a kind of counter to this original view, suggests that fundamentally no revolution took place that had permanent and lasting effects on French society, that the French Revolution was bloody and disturbed the natural order of society, and that the overturning of the dictatorship of the revolutionaries was necessary and wholesome. And the third perspective offers a kind of revisionist history, once again suggesting that indeed there was a potentially beneficial revolution, even though its long-terms effects were not necessarily as lasting and positive as the original designers intended.

In his history, Doyle attempts to provide an in-depth, yet brief account of the three 'Estates' of the Ancient Regime of France during the monarchy to suggest a more balanced view of what transpired during the Revolution. Doyle's view is that "it would be truer to say that the revolutionaries [were] created by the Revolution" rather than the revolutionaries created the Revolution. [footnoteRef:1] in other words, the radical ideas that begin to ferment were not started by intellectuals. They were generated by the social and economic crises that highlighted the bankrupt nature of the Ancient Regime and its inability to heal the growing divides within society or to deal with the real problems faced by the French populace. Although not an explicit ideologue, Doyle clearly does not see class warfare as inevitable (he is not a Marxist) and believes the Revolution has roots in specific political failures of individuals and arbitrary historical circumstances. The leadership failed to address these problems, the problems were not necessarily due to an inevitable systemic collapse. [1: William Doyle, Origins of the French Revolution., (New York: Oxford University Press: 1999), 213]

Doyle's book discusses the financial difficulties of the French monarchy and Bourbon government and how a series of bad harvests led to the collapse of the dominant social order through a series of preventable events. "The principles of 1789 cannot be identified with the aspirations of any one of the pre-revolutionary social groups.[footnoteRef:2]" in fact, the bourgeois was rather prosperous, not angry and agitating its oppressed status. Only later, were there specific attempts to whip up the ire of the bourgeois, when there was a "marked change in the political atmosphere" and until that time it had given "little thought" to the questions of political enfranchisement.[footnoteRef:3] There was no inevitability about the pre-revolutionary class warfare although Doyle does believe that there are reasons that the social unrest of 1789 was fundamentally different than previous stirrings of malcontent with the crown, in contrast to revisionist historians. Unlike Marxists, he does not believe that such differences were necessarily insurmountable, had there been different leadership. [2: Doyle, 210] [3: Doyle 135]

In direct contrast to Doyle's general approach, Neil Aston in Religion and Revolution in France: 1780-1804, turns a laser-like focus upon a specific aspect of the Revolution, namely the role religion played in fostering… READ MORE

How to Reference "French Revolution: Taking a Macro" Book Review in a Bibliography

Related Book Reviews:

National Debt Jefferson vs. Hamilton Term Paper

Macro Vision of Jefferson vs. Hamilton

The debate and sparring that took place in the 1790s between the Federalists and the anti-Federalists had a huge impact on the progression of… read more

Term Paper 9 pages (2374 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Economics / Finance / Banking

---

Secular Humanism Research Proposal

Secular Humanism

The rise and influence of Secular Humanism in the 20th century

Index

Brief Overview of the Antecedents of Secular Humanism

The Enlightenment and Renaissance

Political and Economic Factors… read more

Research Proposal 75 pages (20795 words) Sources: 25 Topic: Philosophy / Logic / Reason

---

Soviet Union and the New Russia Research Paper

Soviet Union and the New Russia as a U.S. Security Threat

At the end of World War II, roughly Summer 1945, Europe was in shambles. Millions had been killed, many… read more

Research Paper 15 pages (6363 words) Sources: 11 Style: APA Topic: World History

---

What Is the Place of the Market in Marxist Political Economy? Essay

Market in Marxist Political Economy

Today's individual has an unlimited access to information, which is generally due to the burst of the dot-com era, but also due to several process… read more

Essay 13 pages (3905 words) Sources: 12 Style: Harvard Topic: Economics / Finance / Banking

---

Law and Business When Glenn Assessment

Law and Business

When Glenn says that a legal tradition is information, he is referring to the way that the legal process helps form the basis of historical tradition, of… read more

Assessment 20 pages (5286 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Law / Legal / Jurisprudence

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>