In the last generation the classic Marxist interpretation of the French Revolution has been challenged by the so-called revisionist school. The Marxist view that the Revolution was a bourgeois and capitalist revolution has been questioned by Anglo-Saxon revisionists like Alfred Cobban and William Doyle as well as a French school of criticism headed by François Furet. Today revisionism is the dominant interpretation of the Revolution both in the academic world and among the educated public. Against this conception, this book reasserts the view that the Revolution - the capital event of the modern age - was indeed a capitalist and bourgeois revolution. Based on an analysis of the latest historical scholarship as well as on knowledge of Marxist theories of the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the work confutes the main arguments and contentions of the revisionist school while laying out a narrative of the causes and unfolding of the Revolution from the eighteenth century to the Napoleonic Age.
The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, two New York Times bestsellers, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. Now, in the newest volume in the series, one of America's most esteemed historians, Gordon S. Wood, offers a brilliant account of the early American Republic, ranging from 1789 and the beginning of the national government to the end of the War of 1812. As Wood reveals, the period was marked by tumultuous change in all aspects of American life--in politics, society, economy, and culture. The men who founded the new government had high hopes for the future, but few of their hopes and dreams worked out quite as they expected. They hated political parties but parties nonetheless emerged. Some wanted the United States to become a great fiscal-military state like those of Britain and France; others wanted the country to remain a rural agricultural state very different from the European states. Instead, by 1815 the United States became something neither group anticipated. Many leaders expected American culture to flourish and surpass that of Europe; instead it became popularized and vulgarized. The leaders also hope to see the end of slavery; instead, despite the release of many slaves and the end of slavery in the North, slavery was stronger in 1815 than it had been in 1789. Many wanted to avoid entanglements with Europe, but instead the country became involved in Europe's wars and ended up waging another war with the former mother country. Still, with a new generation emerging by 1815, most Americans were confident and optimistic about the future of their country. Named a New York Times Notable Book, Empire of Liberty offers a marvelous account of this pivotal era when America took its first unsteady steps as a new and rapidly expanding nation.
In mid-July 1789, after the storming of the Bastille, the municipality of Paris organized a Garde Nationale, heir to the militias of the Ancien Régime. Something of a myth, the story of its origins is closely linked to the emblematic figure of the Marquis de La Fayette, its commanding general. Provinces quickly formed identical militias, which intervened in the troubles of the municipal revolution. Bringing citizens together, the Garde Nationale became one of the most important players of the French Revolution. Organized on a military model, it nevertheless remained a civilian force whose members, who elected their officers, were often armed and equipped with odds and ends by the municipalities. Responsible for ensuring order, they performed their service despite their professional activity and family life. However, the threat of war changed the mission of the guard: after the King's failed flight in June 1791, nearly 100,000 Gardes joined battalions of volunteers destined for the armed forces and ultimately integrated regular troops. Confined to subaltern tasks after the fall of Robespierre, under the Directory, the Garde Nationale was nevertheless retained by the Consulate. It quickly proved to be very useful, responding to the needs of the Napoleonic government by transforming itself into a territorial reserve army placed under the authority of the prefects. The Garde distinguished itself in particular during the harsh campaigns at the twilight of the First Empire.The Garde Nationale remains one of the most misunderstood institutions of the French Revolution and the First Empire. It does not lend itself well to synthesis, and occupies a minor place in the work of historians. Based on contemporary documents - in particular on previously little-used archives - this book analyses the successive organizations of the Garde Nationale in Paris and in the provinces, the evolution of its strength, but also its place in relation to the army, not to mention the recurrent hesitations between the two conceptions of the institution: a national force with a broad recruitment or a local and bourgeois militia. Lavishly illustrated with largely unpublished iconography and original artwork, the book also looks at the uniforms and equipment of the Garde Nationale and offers a synthesis - the first in English - devoted to this central actor of the century of revolutions.
Challenging classical histories of the French Revolution, this revisionist work emphasizes the importance of the conflict between revolutionary and counterrevolutionary movements. Synthesizing an abundance of information in a controversial new light, Sutherland sets familiar events within a broader context of political, social, and economic crisis.
In this engaging, succinct study of the accomplishments and difficulties of the young American republic, key historical questions are discussed with references to important scholarship. Among the topics covered are the development of political parties, the animosity between the Republicans and Federalists and the eventual disintegration of the latter group, the leadership abilities of the first presidents, and the foreign relations problems that led to the War of 1812.
“A most readable and interesting work . . . deserves a place on the shelves of anyone interested in war at sea during the Great French Wars.” —Nautical Research Journal On the four sides of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, serried tablets display the names of 660 honored commanders of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Most are those of generals and marshals of the French Army—but 26 of them are those of admirals, commanders of the fleets of Republican and Napoleonic France. In Napoleon’s Admirals, Richard Humble presents not only their individual stories, but an entirely new appraisal of the Anglo-French naval war of 1793-1814: the longest sea war in modern history. Many myths are exploded in this book—from the long-held idea that aristocratic officers of the French Navy emigrated en masse when the Revolution came, leaving the Navy leaderless and doomed to repeated defeats at sea, to the popular British belief that the naval war ended with Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar. Of the 26 “Admirals of the Arc,” 23 had learned their trade in the French royal and merchant navies of the ancien régime. Republican France could call on a wide range of seasoned combat veterans from the American Revolutionary War (1778-83), whose stories are a revelation in themselves. In his account of the men who imposed such a strain in on the world’s greatest Navy for 21 years, Richard Humble has provided a remarkable addition to the well-worn pages of conventional naval history. “Not only authoritative; it makes a very enjoyable and instructive read.” —The Napoleon Series “Fills a major gap in this largely neglected period in French naval history.” —International Journal of Maritime History
The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. In this Pulitzer prize-winning, critically acclaimed addition to the series, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent. A panoramic narrative, What Hath God Wrought portrays revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dramatically lowered travel times and spurred the spread of information. These innovations prompted the emergence of mass political parties and stimulated America's economic development from an overwhelmingly rural country to a diversified economy in which commerce and industry took their place alongside agriculture. In his story, the author weaves together political and military events with social, economic, and cultural history. Howe examines the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but contends that John Quincy Adams and other Whigs--advocates of public education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indians, women, and African-Americans--were the true prophets of America's future. In addition, Howe reveals the power of religion to shape many aspects of American life during this period, including slavery and antislavery, women's rights and other reform movements, politics, education, and literature. Howe's story of American expansion culminates in the bitterly controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico to gain California and Texas for the United States. Winner of the New-York Historical Society American History Book Prize Finalist, 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction The Oxford History of the United States The Oxford History of the United States is the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, a New York Times bestseller, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. The Atlantic Monthly has praised it as "the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship," a series that "synthesizes a generation's worth of historical inquiry and knowledge into one literally state-of-the-art book." Conceived under the general editorship of C. Vann Woodward and Richard Hofstadter, and now under the editorship of David M. Kennedy, this renowned series blends social, political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, and military history into coherent and vividly written narrative.
