The Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy: From the Old Regime to the French Revolution
For generations of historians, 1789 was a defining moment in world history and it has been said to mark, amongst other things, the triumph of the bourgeoisie, the birth of modernity, the rise of nationalism or even the invention of ideology. To explain an event of such magnitude it was understandable that historians should seek no less portentous explanations of its origins and that factors such as the rise of capitalism, class struggle or the impact of the Enlightenment were cited as the long-term causes of Revolution.
In recent years, however, there has been a preoccupation with the actual course of the Revolution. The prevailing concern with political culture and gender as analytical tools has illuminated developments in Paris and in the French provinces, and has brought to prominence many themes inadequately explored during earlier scholarly generations. Rather less attention is given currently to how France was plunged into revolutionary turmoil, which is now taken largely as a 'given'. The present collection, by contrast, focuses once again upon the origins of the dramatic events within and beyond France which transformed later eighteenth-century Europe so comprehensively and established the terms of political and social struggle for the next two centuries. It presents a series of up-to-date essays which, collectively, provide a new interpretation of the origins of the Revolution. Uniquely among recent contributions to the field, this volume transcends national historiographical traditions and includes contributions by leading experts from France, Britain and the United States, giving it a breadth of approach which previous scholarship has lacked.
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The Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy: From the Old Regime to the French Revolution
For generations of historians, 1789 was a defining moment in world history and it has been said to mark, amongst other things, the triumph of the bourgeoisie, the birth of modernity, the rise of nationalism or even the invention of ideology. To explain an event of such magnitude it was understandable that historians should seek no less portentous explanations of its origins and that factors such as the rise of capitalism, class struggle or the impact of the Enlightenment were cited as the long-term causes of Revolution.
In recent years, however, there has been a preoccupation with the actual course of the Revolution. The prevailing concern with political culture and gender as analytical tools has illuminated developments in Paris and in the French provinces, and has brought to prominence many themes inadequately explored during earlier scholarly generations. Rather less attention is given currently to how France was plunged into revolutionary turmoil, which is now taken largely as a 'given'. The present collection, by contrast, focuses once again upon the origins of the dramatic events within and beyond France which transformed later eighteenth-century Europe so comprehensively and established the terms of political and social struggle for the next two centuries. It presents a series of up-to-date essays which, collectively, provide a new interpretation of the origins of the Revolution. Uniquely among recent contributions to the field, this volume transcends national historiographical traditions and includes contributions by leading experts from France, Britain and the United States, giving it a breadth of approach which previous scholarship has lacked.
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The Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy: From the Old Regime to the French Revolution

The Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy: From the Old Regime to the French Revolution

The Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy: From the Old Regime to the French Revolution

The Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy: From the Old Regime to the French Revolution

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Overview

For generations of historians, 1789 was a defining moment in world history and it has been said to mark, amongst other things, the triumph of the bourgeoisie, the birth of modernity, the rise of nationalism or even the invention of ideology. To explain an event of such magnitude it was understandable that historians should seek no less portentous explanations of its origins and that factors such as the rise of capitalism, class struggle or the impact of the Enlightenment were cited as the long-term causes of Revolution.
In recent years, however, there has been a preoccupation with the actual course of the Revolution. The prevailing concern with political culture and gender as analytical tools has illuminated developments in Paris and in the French provinces, and has brought to prominence many themes inadequately explored during earlier scholarly generations. Rather less attention is given currently to how France was plunged into revolutionary turmoil, which is now taken largely as a 'given'. The present collection, by contrast, focuses once again upon the origins of the dramatic events within and beyond France which transformed later eighteenth-century Europe so comprehensively and established the terms of political and social struggle for the next two centuries. It presents a series of up-to-date essays which, collectively, provide a new interpretation of the origins of the Revolution. Uniquely among recent contributions to the field, this volume transcends national historiographical traditions and includes contributions by leading experts from France, Britain and the United States, giving it a breadth of approach which previous scholarship has lacked.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780197265383
Publisher: British Academy
Publication date: 05/19/2013
Series: Proceedings of the British Academy , #184
Pages: 350
Product dimensions: 6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Julian Swann is a professor at Birkbeck College.

Joël Félix is a professor at the University of Redding.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: The Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy, Julian Swann2. How, and how not, to use the concept of crisis in the reign of Louis XVI, Jean-Philippe Poussou3. The End of a Golden Age or the Implosion of a False Absolutism? The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia from Absolutism to Revolution, 1685-1814, Michael Broers4. From servant of the king to "idol of the nation": The breakdown of personal monarchy in Louis XVI's France, Julian Swann5. The marechal de Castries and the pre-revolution, Munro Price6. The problem with Necker's Compte Rendu au Roi (1781), Joel Felix7. Necker and aristocratic constitutionalism: the British connection, Nigel Aston8. The Culture of War in Europe, 1750-1815, David A. Bell9. The Austrian Alliance, the Seven Years' War, and the Emergence of a French 'National' Foreign Policy, 1756-1790, Thomas E. Kaiser10. A Model of Conduct from the Age of Chivalry?: Honour, International Decline and the End of the Bourbon Monarchy, Hamish Scott11. Franco-British naval rivalry and the crisis of the monarchy (1759-1789), Olivier Chaline12. 'Complaints Lost in the Wind'. French India and the Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy: a Global Dimension?, Mike Rapport13. The Maison militaire du Roi and the disintegration of the Old Regime, Guy Rowlands14. The crisis of the nobility at the twilight of the monarchy, Michel Figeac15. The making of a bourgeois identity? Urban histories and their historians in eighteenth-century France, Clarisse Coulomb16. William 'Bill' Doyle and the Origins of the French Revolution, T.C.W. Blanning
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