Introduction
The book “The French and their Revolution by Richard Cobb” describes the French Revolution that took place in the last decade of the 18th century, between 1789 and 1799. This period was marred with political and social turmoil in European history. The revolt resulted in the crumple of the ‘absolute’ kingdom that had governed France for several decades. This book gives a brief summary of the revolution and how the government reacted towards the same. The author states that monarchy had ruled France for years which resulted into different social classes emerging. There was a very big gap between the poor and the rich. The poor felt that they were being harassed by the aristocrats and in 1789, a new wave began and people needed change, equality and a new way of life. The main idea here was to change the government systems in order to realize equality. This later resulted into the bloodiest revolution of the 18th century. This revolution led to bankruptcy in the country and lack of resources to meet the people’s needs. The citizens became very angry as a result of the occurrence. The author admired records of daily life in Revolutionary France. He gathers the accounts into one volume with an enlightening introduction by his past pupil David Gilmour. In the book, the reader is able to not only meet history makers like Danton and Robespierre but is able to understand the occurrence of several events during the time of the revolutions. In the introduction part, Gilmour describes history as an event that involves a lot of actions and not only spending time in the archives retrieving information.
This book provides substantial evidence of the circumstances that led to the French revolution. I chose it as it gives a chronological flow of events from a renowned historian who has a lot of experience and knowledge about the French Revolution. The author amalgamated the events into short essays and presented the occurrences. Though is from Britain, he worked in France and got recognized by the award of the membership of the Legion h’Honneur. This book is as a result of his combined works on the past chronological accounts of the French revolution. Being a professor of modern history, he had a lot of experience on modern history. The period he worked in France also enabled him gather a wide variety of resources that enabled him give an elaborate and comprehensive account of the occurrences during the French revolution. The wealth of knowledge possessed by this scholar were the main factors that inspired my choice as I was able to get a professional overview of the events that occurred during the French Revolution. I chose this book because it was written by a trusted historian who had a wealth of knowledge relating to French Revolution. He is actually the best historian to ever cover the issues surrounding the French Revolution in the late 18th century. The book is also arranged in a systematic manner thus making it easy for the reader to understand. The organization of the book and clarity of the mode of information presentation also triggered me into choosing the book.
The book gives an insight overview of the factors that led to the French revolution. King Louis XVI was set to inherit power at a very tender age after the death of his father. He found a very poor nation with a bitter and anxious population. The young King was met with several challenges and was unable to restore things. The people of France felt that they had been oppressed for a very long period of time and therefore started becoming enlightened. A dangerous new age therefore emerged aimed at bringing to an end the social order. They worked out ways of weakening the monarchy so as to have a new wave of power. The young King also wanted to engage the American in a war to avenge the defeat of his father. The resources spent on the war resulted into economic collapse of the country and people started to view the monarchy negatively. All the measures taken by the young King in order to curb the situation did not bear any fruit but instead worsened the situation.
This book is as a result of collected chronological account of events that took place during the French Revolution. Each of the events are sequentially arranged to reflect all the activities that took place and the factors that propagated the eruption of French Revolution. The author gives a detailed account of events in their order which is very interesting and easy to understand.
The author states that in order to have reforms, there was need of having a new constitution and a National Assembly to represent the people. Popular violence was the talk of the day among many citizens who later declared that all men are equal implying that the sovereignty belonged to the people. During this time the revolutionaries forced the King to drop some powers and now they shared some powers and continued signing some laws that weakened the monarchy even further. The King tried to escape to Austria but was arrested and brought back to Paris. Power then shifted from him to the people and was later killed.
The works which are collected in this book are generally a representation of Richard Cobb’s works and include: “his interest in counterrevolution, the individual and authority, popular protest, government repression, human motivation and social class.” The book also has some two appendices one identifying the figures used during the revolution and the historians involved while other appendix shows the association between the Gregorian calendars and the republican calendars. This book is very valuable as a tool for graduate studies.
This work is as a result a broad representation of Richard Cobb’s work that focuses on les petites gens, the influence it had on revolution and the influence of revolution to them. In the final accounts of his work, the author recounts the sad testimony of the unwed mothers making a declaration to identify their seducers and request for a place in the fondling hospital for their unborn children. The mothers state that the revolution is not important to them as their unwanted pregnancies.
The narratives cover different aspects of the French Revolution which can be summarized as follows:
i. The Revolutionary Mentality in France
ii. Revolutionary Situations in France 1789-1968
iii. The Officers and Men of the Parisian Armee
iv. Paris and the Seine 1792-1802
v. Popular Movements', Popular Protest, and Repression in France 1793-1818
vi. The Pattern of Popular Protest 1795-1815.
vii. The Popular Movement in Decline (1795-1818) and the Nature of Sans-Culotte Militancy
viii. The Popular Movement in its Prime
ix. the sources of counter-Revolutionary
x. counter revolution and the environment
xi. the biographical approach and the personal case history
xii. living on the finge of revolution
xiii. a view of the street (seduction and Pregnancy)
In the appendix section, the following issues are covered
i. revolutionary figures (Fractions and historians)
ii. the revolutionary calendar (Introduction by David Gilmour)
About the author
Cob was the chair of the modern history at Oxford. He became well known in 1970s for his works on the social history of the French revolution.
The author Richard Cobb is a great historian who likes the past and has a very personal relationship with history and therefore qualified to present such a weighty story. He feels at home with history and has a wealth of information about the French revolution. He also worked in French as a professor in history and therefore got a chance to interact with the people of France at that time and also discover the effects of the revolution. As he writes his book, he has first hand information based on personal experience with the subject. The author also had a gift of understanding some great historic events in terms of average human relations.
The author starts by giving a fascinating and illuminating introduction by his former student and historian, David Glamour. This makes the work very attractive and draws the attention of the reader into discovering the events that transpired as brought to us by the author. The author also arranges the events in a sequential manner which makes his work very interesting and easy to follow thus making it possible for the readers to get the urge of reading even more.
The author’s approach is very convincing as it not only makes the work attractive and interesting to read but also makes it easy to understand and follow. Since the author writes the work from a historian point of view an as a person who worked in France in the post-revolution era, he could be able to collect information about the effects of the French revolution. The experience that he has makes his work more authentic and convincing thus easy to be adopted by people studying history due to its legitimacy.
Richard Cobb argues that in 1972, a new convention was formed and the new idea was to crush all enemies of the revolution, and the Republic of France was born. Free press was advocated and the Catholic Church was attacked because it favored the rich members of the society. A new agenda was then proposed known as de-Christianization. As a result, all streets and buildings with ‘Saint’ were renamed. The Church was no longer powerful. The same kind of terror grew strong and spread all around France such as Lyon and Nantre. Rebels and priests were tied together and thrown into the ocean. By the time the revolution was coming to an end, over 40,000 had been killed but a new idea had been established. The biggest problem was that there was no better decision or approach to bring the revolution to an end. Those leaders advocating for its end were also executed using the guillotine. Until later in 1799 power was given to one man by the name Napoleon. This was the end of the revolution according to majority of historians. However, it should be observed that historians have always disagreed when the Revolution came to an end.
This book can be said to be a secondary source since it is more of a second hand account of the events that occurred during the time of the French Revolution. It is simply a collection of several past works of the author and does not contain any original information. The author used some reference materials that have helped him to carry out the analysis and the write the comprehensive essays. The author gives a clear depiction of how events took place during the time of the French revolution. He gives a clear account of how some women were subjected to harsh conditions and some became pregnant in the process. He also gives an account of some of the mothers who never saw any significance on the French revolution but were extremely worried about their unwanted pregnancies. He also gives the reader a chronological account of the events that occurred during the time of the French Revolution. In order to support his work, most of the discussions have been supported with logical explanations and evidences. From theoretical analysis, it is notable that most of the presentations appear to have been based on generalizations, single-sided argumentation, and avoidance of some facts. Although this might be seen as weaknesses by the reader, I believe it helps shade some light regarding the revolution. This kind of argument can also be seen to strengthen the book’s purpose of explaining to the reader issues to do with the French revolution and its effects in our present world.
There are very many things that are desirable and worth mentioning from the book. For instance, the theme of equality and freedom must have been a major factor leading to the revolution. People advocated for freedom and equality as they no longer needed the oppression by the absolute monarchy. People came together to address the mismanagement by the King and also make all people equal. This revolution can thus be remarked as the new beginning and marked the birth of the modern era. The Catholic Church was also opposed as it supported the social class. The power of the aristocrats was drained and the church weakened. Women and men were now free to participate in policy issues and political developments in the country. This was a new beginning for France and the entire world as well.
The set of narratives represented in Richard Cobb’s work makes it easy for anyone studying the history of the French Revolution to clearly understand the events that took place that led to the French Revolution and the reactions that were experienced during that time. The author was one of the greatest historians of the French Revolution. His unique contribution was to create the experiences of the common men and women of provincial France who took part in the turmoil of the late 18th century. The spontaneous imagination which was some of Richard Cobb’s haul marks are epitomized in the selections of the extracts which were taken from his three major books in English. These narratives make up a logical whole which gives a revelation on the human face of the revolutionary army and the impacts they had. After reading this book, I have learnt personally that the French Revolution was a major historical event which brought an end to an established social order. Personally I have been surprised to learn that the Monarchy was brought to an end in a very brutal way because the people were bitter. As well, I had never thought that very many people were killed using the guillotine for treason or having opposed ideas to the revolutionary ideology. Also, from what I have understood from the book, it cannot be ascertained for sure when the Revolution ended because it led to a one-man leadership which was similar to that of the monarchy government. Very little did I know that this revolution marked a new era not only in the country but also to other countries across the world.
The author’s views the whole situation from a non-biased point of view. He attributed the revolution to the ill treatment that the French citizens were going through. He is however, not quick to support or oppose the revolution but from the writings he states categorically that the revolution was inevitable as the ruling class had tested the patience of the citizens for quite some time and now it was the chance of the citizens to react. He states that the nature of the internal affairs in France contributed towards the eruption of the French Revolution since it provided for a very conducive environment for the same. Some of the factors that contributed towards the revolution included the deteriorating economy and oppression that kept on testing the patience of the citizens. There are some civil disobediences that started emerging after the Tennis Court Oath. This paved way for the revolution.
The author uses quite a number of evidence to drive the point home. Based on the fact that he had worked in France and had several works written about the revolution, he is able to show the readers the factors that propagated the revolution. Some of them included the oppression and the economic stress that the citizens were going through that propagated their revolt. The author also states that the peasants revolted against the feudal lords thereby gaining freedom from the unfair contracts that were initially subjected to. After the national assembly had framed a constitution which could restore the social unrest there were a series of events that later took place. However, after a military coup had overthrown the existing government, Napoleon Bonaparte put to end the revolution when he declared himself the First consul’ of France.
Some of the evidences provided by the author includes the ironed state of France whereby the government involves the mass in most of its decision making initiatives. There is a lot of democracy in France since the ruling class takes all the necessary precautionary measures to ensure that such an incidence does not occur in France. The high number of blacks in France is also used as evidence as they formed the largest percentage of protestors who felt that they were being oppressed.
This book has helped me gain more understanding about the French revolution and the occurrence of some events that I was not aware of. The author has arranged his narrations in a systematic manner that can help the readers follow step by step the occurrence of events and the events that led to the occurrence of the French Revolution. The book has also helped me understand the causes of the revolution and how the revolution started and the factors that were addressed. It has also helped me know how the revolution was brought to a halt and the effects it had to date to the population of France.
Most of the materials that we have encountered both in class and outside classroom are written by historians who only have the theoretical knowledge of the French revolution but lack in adequate knowledge relating to the real occurrence. The author of this book is an experienced historian who has worked in France and produced several narratives that contribute towards the topic. The book is from a professional point of view as opposed to other narrations which are from unreliable sources with unconfirmed reports and information. From the book, we can agree that we are all children of the French Revolution. By the time the revolution was coming to an end, many societies were influenced positively and staged revolutions of their own in order to end all forms of oppressive regimes. After this was achieved, the modern era was born and formal governments were established across the western nations and in Asia. Later the same ideology was transferred to different nations in Africa and Latin America. The same ideology was also used by most of the colonized countries to gain independence. Russia and China were also transformed through similar struggles. This brought an end to social deference and instead giving birth to equality. Basically, the Revolution played a huge role in capturing the entire imagination of the world. The ideology used in the French Revolution was used all over the world to get rid of the corrupt and oppressive regimes.
Bibliography
Richard, Cobb. The French and their Revolution. Paris. Sage.1999.
