The Oxford History of the French Revolution

by William Doyle

Overview

Since its first publication to mark the bicentenary of the French Revolution in 1989, this Oxford History has established itself as the Revolution's most authoritative and comprehensive one-volume history in English, and has recently been translated into Chinese. Running from the accession of Louis XVI in 1774, it traces the history of France through revolution, terror, and counter-revolution to the final triumph of Napoleon in 1802. It also analyses the impact of events in France upon the rest of Europe and the world beyond. The study shows how a movement which began with optimism and general enthusiasm soon became a tragedy, not only for the ruling orders, but also for the millions of ordinary people whose lives were disrupted by religious upheaval, economic chaos, and civil and international war.

Now in its third edition, this volume has been fully updated in the light of current research, and includes an appendix surveying the past and present historiography of the revolutionary period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198804932
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/05/2018
Edition description:	New
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Emeritus Professor of History and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, William Doyle was educated at Bridlington School and Oriel College Oxford. His postgraduate work culminated in a doctorate on Bordeaux in the Eighteenth Century, and he has since taught successively at the universities of York, Nottingham, and Bristol, with further visiting appointments in France and the USA. The author of sixteen books and co-editor of a further four, which include translations into eight foreign languages, Doyle is also the Co-founder of the Society for the Study of French History.

Table of Contents

1. France under Louis XVI2. Enlightened Opinion3. Crisis and Collapse, 1776-17884. The Estates-General, September 1788-July 17895. The Principles of 1789 and the Reform of France6. The Breakdown of the Revolutionary Consensus, 1790-17917. Europe and the Revolution, 1788-17918. The Republican Revolution, October 1791-January 17939. War against Europe, 1792-179710. The Revolt of the Provinces11. Government by Terror, 1793-179412. Thermidor, 1794-179513. Counter-Revolution, 1789-179514. The Directory, 1795-179915. Occupied Europe, 1794-179916. An End to Revolution, 1799-180217. The Revolution in PerspectiveNotesAppendicesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Traditional, scholarly, narrative history...a clear and balanced picture of the origins of the Revolution."—The New York Times Book Review

"A fair, and remarkably complete, account of both the Revolution itself and the years that preceded it...a book that sets itself to cover an immense amount of ground and ends with a clear and well-balanced final chapter in which he outlines the many gains, and the often heavy cost, of the revolutionary years ...thorough and scholarly appraisal of French cultural values."—New York Newsday

Review from previous edition... "An outstanding model of clarity and informed scholarship."—Simon Schama, New Republic

"Doyle's book, in its readability, its clarity and its balance, is certainly the best of the general studies of the Revolution that have recently appeared; it will appeal both to the general reader and to the historian. And it deals with the subject, rather than with those who have already written about it."—Richard Griffiths, Times Higher Educational Supplement (UK)

"A work of breath-taking range which deserves to reach a wide popular market. It is the fullest history to appear of the Revolutionary era, of the events preceding it and of its impact on a wider world. Masterfully written."—The Observer (UK)

From the Publisher