In 1848 revolutions broke out all over Europe - in France, the Habsburg and German lands and the Italian peninsular. This Seminar Study considers why the revolutions occurred and why they were so widespread. The book offers a broad ranging investigation of the social, economic and political circumstances which led to the revolutions of 1848 as well as an account of the revolutions themselves. First published in 1981, and fully revised in 1991, the study has long established itself as one of the most accessible and valuable introductions to this complex subject.
Alexis de Tocqueville’s Souvenirs was his extraordinarily lucid and trenchant analysis of the 1848 revolution in France. Despite its bravura passages and stylistic flourishes, however, it was not intended for publication. Written just before Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte’s 1851 coup prompted the great theorist of democracy to retire from political life, it was initially conceived simply as an exercise in candid personal reflection. In Recollections: The French Revolution of 1848 and Its Aftermath, renowned historian Olivier Zunz and award-winning translator Arthur Goldhammer offer an entirely new translation of Tocqueville’s compelling book. The book has an interesting publishing history. Yielding to pressure from friends, Tocqueville finally approved its publication, although only after those portrayed in the work—most, unflatteringly—had died. After Tocqueville’s death, his grandnephew published a redacted version, but it was not until 1942 that French editors restored the potentially offensive passages. Goldhammer’s is the first English translation to do justice to Tocqueville’s original uncensored masterpiece of analytical description, stylistic subtlety, vivid social panorama, and incisive critique of political blundering and cowardice. Zunz’s introduction—and his addition of several of Tocqueville’s ancillary speeches, occasional texts, and letters—round out a unique volume that significantly enhances our understanding of the revolutionary period and Tocqueville’s role in it. In this new edition, Zunz highlights the persistent influence of the United States on the life and work of a man who tirelessly, albeit futilely, promoted the American model of government for the New French Republic.
Focusing on the efforts of nine European intellectuals, including Tocqueville, Flaubert and Marx, to make sense of 1848, Jonathan Beecher casts a fresh and engaging perspective on the experience and impact of the Revolution, and on why, within two generations, a democratic revolution had twice culminated in the dictatorship of a Napoleon.
A "lively, panoramic" history of a revolutionary year (New York Times) In 1848, a violent storm of revolutions ripped through Europe. The torrent all but swept away the conservative order that had kept peace on the continent since Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815 -- but which in many countries had also suppressed dreams of national freedom. Political events so dramatic had not been seen in Europe since the French Revolution, and they would not be witnessed again until 1989, with the revolutions in Eastern and Central Europe. In 1848, historian Mike Rapport examines the roots of the ferment and then, with breathtaking pace, chronicles the explosive spread of violence across Europe. A vivid narrative of a complex chain of interconnected revolutions, 1848 tells the exhilarating story of Europe's violent "Spring of Nations" and traces its reverberations to the present day.
An extensive and authoritative study that examines the economic, social and political crises of France during the revolution of 1848. Using analysis of original sources and recent research, Fortescue here offers new interpretations of events leading up to and after the second republic was declared. Looking at Louis Philippe's overthrow, the proclamation of manhood suffrage and the unexpected success of the right-wing in the subsequent elections, this book evaluates the political history of France in 1848 and the French political culture of the time. This should be read by all students of nineteenth century history, political scientists and all those with an interest in the historical development of French political culture.
"In the 20th and 21st century revolutions have become more urban, often less violent, but also more frequent and more transformative of the international order. Whether it is the revolutions against Communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR; the "color revolutions" across Asia, Europe and North Africa; or the religious revolutions in Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria; today's revolutions are quite different from those of the past. Modern theories of revolution have therefore replaced the older class-based theories with more varied, dynamic, and contingent models of social and political change. This new edition updates the history of revolutions, from Classical Greece and Rome to the Revolution of Dignity in the Ukraine, with attention to the changing types and outcomes of revolutionary struggles. It also presents the latest advances in the theory of revolutions, including the issues of revolutionary waves, revolutionary leadership, international influences, and the likelihood of revolutions to come. This volume provides a brief but comprehensive introduction to the nature of revolutions and their role in global history"--
This book follows the story of the Second French Republic from its idealistic beginnings in February 1848 to its formal replacement in December 1852 by the Second Empire. Based on original archival research, The Second French Republic gives a detailed account of the internal tensions that irrevocably weakened France’s shortest republic. During this short period French political life was buffeted by strong and often contrary forces: universal manhood suffrage, fear of socialism, the President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, and the political ambitions of the military high command for the restoration of the monarchy.
This eleventh edition was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time and it is considered to be a landmark encyclopaedia for scholarship and literary style.
A bold new history of the French Revolution from the standpoint of the peasants, workers, women and sans culottes The assault on the Bastille, the Reign of Terror, Danton mocking his executioner, Robespierre dispensing a fearful justice, and the archetypal gadfly Marat—the events and figures of the French Revolution have exercised a hold on the historical imagination for more than 200 years. It has been a template for heroic insurrection and, to more conservative minds, a cautionary tale. In the hands of Eric Hazan, author of The Invention of Paris, the revolution becomes a rational and pure struggle for emancipation. In this new history, the first significant account of the French Revolution in over twenty years, Hazan maintains that it fundamentally changed the Western world—for the better. Looking at history from the bottom up, providing an account of working people and peasants, Hazan asks, how did they see their opportunities? What were they fighting for? What was the Terror and could it be justified? And how was the revolution stopped in its tracks? The People’s History of the French Revolution is a vivid retelling of events, bringing them to life with a multitude of voices. Only in this way, by understanding the desires and demands of the lower classes, can the revolutionary bloodshed and the implacable will of a man such as Robespierre be truly understood.
