The French Revolution Conflicting Interpretations

CONTENTS

CHRONOLOGY ix

1 THE OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION (1787-1789) 1
A Series of Class Revolts Georges Lefebvre 3
Was the "Aristocratic Revolt" Aristocratic? Jean
Égret 34
Was the "Bourgeois Revolt" Bourgeois? Elizabeth L.
Eisenstein 46
The Uprising of July 14: Who Participated? Jacques
Godechot 66
2 THE PEASANTS: MENTALITY AND BEHAVIOR IN
1789 81
An Attack on Feudalism Albert Soboul 82
Misdirected Rage Francois Furet 94
2 THE CHARACTER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (1789-
1791) 105
I. THE DEPUTIES 108
Impractical Zealots Edmund Burke 108
Liberal and Humane Reformers Jam,es M.
Thompson 116
II. THE CIVIL CONSTITUTION OF THE CLERGY 120
Tragic Errors André Latreille 120
Necessary and Admirable Decisions Jean Jaurés 130
Revolutionary Ideology William H. Sewell, Jr. 137
4 WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WAR OF 1792? 141
The Outbreak: Revolutionaries and Counterrevolutionaries
Both Responsible Albert Goodwin 142
The Outbreak: The French Deputies Primarily Responsible
Hippolyte Taine 149
5 THE CAUSES OF THE VENDÉE REVOLT OF 1793 157
A Republican Interpretation Jacques Godechot 159
A Religious Explanation Émile Gabory 171
A Synthesis John McManners 180


viii CONTENTS

6 WHY TERROR IN 1793-1794? 185
A Realistic Necessity Albert Mathiez 187
A Kind of Religious Faith Crane Brinton 193
A Mentality Shaped by Circumstance Richard Cobb 205
A Synthesis Georges Lefebvre 220
7 THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMON PEOPLE OF
PARIS 229
The Rioters George Rudé 230
The Sans-Culottes Albert Soboul 242
A Critique Richard Cobb 259
8 Propaganda and Revolutionary Political Culture 271
Art Lynn Hunt 272
Festivals Michel Vovelle 289
Language Richard Cobb 303
9 THE DIRECTORY (1795-1799) 309
A Shameless Regime Albert Vandal 310
The Legend Combated Albert Goodwin 321
A Regime of Contradictions Denis Woronoff 339
10 WHO BENEFITED FROM THE REVOLUTION? 345
A Potential Tyrant Alexis de Tocqueville 346
All Republicans Albert Mathiez 350
The Triumph of a New Bourgeoisie Albert Soboul 356
Conservative Landowners Alfred Cobban 361
Parisian Women: Gains and Losses Darline Gay Levy and
Harriet Branson Applewhite 373
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 393

MAPS

France showing the Provinces in 1789 xvi
The New Departments in 1790 xvii
Paris at the time of the Revolution xviii
The Vendée 1791-1793 158