The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny

Davidson (Voltaire: A Life), a former correspondent and columnist for the Financial Times, aims to correct modern misperceptions of the French Revolution that toppled the ancien régime in 1789 and ushered in the First Republic. The French Revolution was actually a series of revolutions that began peacefully, Davidson argues, after a group of educated young men set out to build a new state based on the rule of law rather than royal privilege. Within a few years, however, due to both social and economic factors, “the Revolution... entered a period of frenzy and fear, of public and private accusations, of secret denunciations and betrayals.” Though France’s new constitution contained lofty democratic ideals, the bourgeoisie and sansculottes turned on one another as a result of recurrent food shortages, ongoing wars and counterrevolutionary uprisings, and especially the rampant inflation caused when the fledgling government issued paper promissory notes called assignats. At the height of the Terror that gripped the country in 1793–1794, especially in Paris, 35,000–40,000 people died as a direct result of the revolution, most of them executed for intangible offenses. Maximilien Robespierre’s downfall ended the Terror and restored order, but Davidson persuasively argues that the aftershocks of this most turbulent era continue to reverberate into the 21st century. Maps & illus. (Dec.)