The French Revolution
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THE FRENCH REVOLUTION “A lucid and lively introduction . Students wishing to explore the frontiers of research in the subject can be reliably advised to start here.” William Doyle, University of Bristol The French Revolution is a collection of key texts at the forefront of current research and interpretation, challenging orthodox assumptions concerning the origins, development, and long-term historical consequences of the Revolution. The volume includes a clear and thorough introduction by the editor which contextualises the historiographical controversies, especially those dating from 1989. The articles are woven into a sophisticated narrative, which covers areas including the inevitability of the Terror, subsequent issues for nineteenth-century French history, the intellectual connection, the later role of Napoleon, and the feminist dimension. Gary Kates is Chair of the History Department at Trinity University, Texas. He is author of Monsieur d’Eon is a Woman (1995), The Cercle Social, the Girondins and the French Revolution (1985) and is an advisory editor for Eighteen-century Studies. Rewriting Histories focuses on historical themes where standard conclusions are facing a major challenge. Each book presents 8 to 10 papers (edited and annotated where necessary) at the forefront of current research and interpretation, offering students an accessible way to engage with contemporary debates. Series editor Jack R. Censer is Professor of History at George Mason University. REWRITING HISTORIES Series editor: Jack R. Censer Already published THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WORK IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE Edited by Lenard R. Berlanstein SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN THE SLAVE SOUTH Edited by J. William Harris ATLANTIC AMERICAN SOCIETIES From Columbus through Abolition Edited by J.R. McNeill and Alan Karras GENDER AND AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1890 Edited by Barbara Melosh DIVERSITY AND UNITY IN EARLY NORTH AMERICA Edited by Philip D. Morgan NAZISM AND GERMAN SOCIETY 1933–1945 Edited by David Crew Forthcoming HOLOCAUST: ORIGINS, IMPLEMENTATION AND AFTERMATH Edited by Omer Bartov STALINISM Edited by Sheila Fitzpatrick ISRAEL/PALESTINE QUESTION Edited by Ilan Pappe REVOLUTIONS OF 1989 Edited by Vladimir Tismaneanu THE FRENCH REVOLUTION Recent debates and new controversies Edited by Gary Kates London and New York First published 1998 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. Selection and editorial matter © 1998 Gary Kates; individual contributions © 1998 the individual contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data The French Revolution: recent debates and new controversies/edited by Gary Kates. p. cm. — (Rewriting histories) Includes bibliographical reference and index. 1. France—History—Revolution, 1789–1799—Influence. 2. France— History—Revolution, 1789–1799—Historiography. 3. Historians— Political and social views. 4. Civilization, Modern—French influences. I. Kates, Gary, 1952– . II. Series. DC148.F727 1997 97–12355 944.04—dc21 ISBN 0-415-14489-2 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-14490-6 (pbk) ISBN 0-203-00403-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-21996-1 (Glassbook Format) CONTENTS Series editor’s preface vii Acknowledgements ix List of illustrations xi INTRODUCTION 1 Part I The overthrow of the Marxist paradigm 1 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION IN THE HISTORY OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD 23 Albert Soboul 2 NOBLES, BOURGEOIS, AND THE ORIGINS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 44 Colin Lucas Part II The revisionist orthodoxy 3 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION REVISITED 71 François Furet 4 THE IDEA OF A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS 91 Keith Michael Baker Part III Neo-Liberal responses to Revisionism 5 A RHETORIC OF BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION 143 William H. Sewell, Jr 6 BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION REVIVIFIED: 1789 and social change 157 Colin Jones v CONTENTS 7 NOBLES AND THIRD ESTATE IN THE REVOLUTIONARY DYNAMIC OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, 1789–90 192 Timothy Tackett 8 VIOLENCE, EMANCIPATION, AND DEMOCRACY: The countryside and the French Revolution 236 John Markoff Part IV Gender studies 9 THE MANY BODIES OF MARIE ANTOINETTE: Political pornography and the problem of the feminine in the French Revolution 279 Lynn Hunt 10 IN SEARCH OF COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN 302 Olwen Hufton Part V Napoleon and the French Revolution 11 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 337 François Furet Index 356 vi SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE Rewriting history, or revisionism, has always followed closely in the wake of history writing. In their efforts to re-evaluate the past, professional as well as amateur scholars have followed many approaches, most commonly as empiricists, uncovering new information to challenge earlier accounts. Historians have also revised previous versions by adopting new perspectives, usually fortified by new research, which overturn received views. Even though rewriting is constantly taking place, historians’ attitudes towards using new interpretations have been anything but settled. For most, the validity of revisionism lies in providing a stronger, more convincing account that better captures the objective truth of the matter. Although such historians might agree that we never finally arrive at the ‘truth’, they believe it exists and over time may be better approximated. At the other extreme stand scholars who believe that each generation or even each cultural group or subgroup necessarily regards the past differently, each creating for itself a more usable history. Although these latter scholars do not reject the possibility of demonstrating empirically that some contentions are better than others, they focus upon generating new views based upon different life experiences. Different truths exist for different groups. Surely such an understanding, by emphasizing subjectivity, further encourages rewriting history. Between these two groups are those historians who wish to borrow from both sides. This third group, while accepting that every congeries of individuals sees matters differently, still wishes somewhat contradictorily to fashion a broader history that incorporates both of these particular visions. Revisionists who stress empiricism fall into the first of the three camps, while others spread out across the board. vii SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE Today the rewriting of history seems to have accelerated to a blinding speed as a consequence of the evolution of revisionism. A variety of approaches has emerged. A major factor in this process has been the enormous increase in the number of researchers. This explosion has reinforced and enabled the retesting of many assertions. Significant ideological shifts have also played a major part in the growth of revisionism. First, the crisis of Marxism, culminating in the events in Eastern Europe in 1989, has given rise to doubts about explicitly Marxist accounts. Such doubts have spilled over into the entire field of social history which has been a dominant subfield of the discipline for several decades. Focusing on society and its class divisions implied that these are the most important elements in historical analysis. Because Marxism was built on the same claim, the whole basis of social history has been questioned, despite the very many studies that directly had little to do with Marxism. Disillusionment with social history simultaneously opened the door to cultural and linguistic approaches largely developed in anthropology and literature. Multi-culturalism and feminism further generated revisionism. By claiming that scholars had, wittingly or not, operated from a white European/American male point of view, newer researchers argued that other approaches had been neglected or misunderstood. Not surprisingly, these last historians are the most likely to envision each subgroup rewriting its own usable history, while other scholars incline towards revisionism as part of the search for some stable truth. Rewriting Histories will make these new approaches available to the student population. Often new scholarly debates take place in the scattered issues of journals which are sometimes difficult to find. Furthermore, in these first interactions, historians tend to address one another, leaving out the evidence that would make their arguments more accessible to the uninitiated. This series of books will collect in one place a strong group of the major articles in selected fields, adding notes and introductions conducive to improved understanding. Editors will select articles containing substantial historical data, so that students – at least those who approach the subject as an objective phenomenon – can advance not only their comprehension of debated points but also their grasp of substantive aspects of the subject. Few historical topics have been subjected to more reconsideration than the French Revolution. Not so long ago a viii SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE Marxist interpretation prevailed that employed an emphasis on class struggle to explain both the causes and consequences of the Revolution. Although one or another version of