The Oxford History of the French Revolution

by William Doyle

Book Overview

This second edition of the most authoritative and comprehensive history of the French Revolution draws on a wealth of new research in order to reassess the greatest of all revolutions. It includes a generous chronology of events and an extended bibliographical essay providing an examination of the historiography of the Revolution. Beginning with the accession of Louis XVI in 1774, leading historian William Doyle traces the history of France through...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 019925298X
• ISBN13: 9780199252985
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 481 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 7.6" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Classic History at its Best

Doyle is the foremost authority on this subject writing in English. The English part gave me pause in buying the book, because after all, the English were the chief and unrelenting antagonists of the revolution. But this is a balanced account of the events that befell France and Europe in the eighteenth century, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants in-depth knowledge of the times. It is neither superficial, nor fictionalized, so don't expect a cute story like Antonia Fraser's biography of Marie Antoinette. But it is very well written. My only issue, as a 21st-century reader, is with my own sense that history has been driven as much by personality as ideas. I can no more comprehend the revolution without background on Louis XVI, Danton, and Robespierre as human beings, than I can understand WW II without knowing the specifics of Adolf Hitler's life. But these and most of the other actors in this book come across as minutely described ciphers. This is not Doyle's fault - the serious biographical literature on the chief actors of this period is in dismally short supply. But without more work in this area, readers will continue to be left with the patently fake imaginings of writers like Fraser. If you want to truly understand modern France - from the viciousness of the Commune, to the triumph of WW I and the catastrophe of WW II - this is definitely the place to start.

comprehensive

Lucidly detailed and comprehensive from Louis XVI's reign through Napoleon's Consulship, this is the best introductory survey of the Revolution written in English. In a spare 425 pages Doyle manages to encompass formidable amounts of material into tightly constructed paragraphs each worth a whole chapter unto themselves. The effect of this dense presentation might have resulted in a dry read. Instead the book is plotted like a narrative history in its academic presentation making for a rare wedding of entertainment and erudition. Doyle includes a useful historiagraphy chapter to help the reader with the notorious minefield of Revolution scholarship. The only caveat, one must read the book carefully as information is presented succintly and quickly and if skimmed will make related info seem obscure. Especially the narrative of the always confusing Directory era.

Comprehensive and Insightful

"The Oxford History of the French Revolution", by William Doyle is among the best books that I have read on the French Revolution. It is comprehensive (some would say it is dense) and covers in about 420 pages all the most important events of the Revolution. The author tells the chilling story of the French Revolution, stressing the roles of the leading characters that shaped events during this period. Among these people were Robespierre, Murat, Danton, King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte and others as well as the external and internal forces that were attempting to crash the Revolution. The book gives a grim account of the complete and utter chaos of the time, including the dreadful description of how things went out of hand, the reign of terror, senseless executions including the beheading of the King and Queen of France. The shocking mistakes, for example with respect to the Catholic Church, and the attempt to establish a State sponsored church are highlighted. One gets the feel of the impact of mob rule and what happens in the absence of the rule of law. William Doyle meticulously researched the book resulting in a minefield of information that students of the French Revolution will find useful and important. The book is full of non-stop action. This is a well written book that is interesting to read. Those who wish to get a comprehensive study of the French Revolution should enjoy reading this book. However, the book is too long for someone without previous knowledge of the French Revolution.

Excellent Introduction

The French Revolution is one of the most important events in modern history, went on for the better part of a decade, involved a large number of significant personages, has complex political, social, economic, and ideological dimensions, has generated a huge literature, and interpretation has been controversial often. This list gives an idea of the challenges involved in producing a good one volume overview. Despite these obstacles, William Doyle succeeds with a lucid and enjoyable book that seems not to neglect any important areas and is generally evenhanded in dealing with controversial issues. Doyle presents the Revolution as a highly contingent event precipitated by the fiscal collapse of the French Monarchy, exacerbated by recent history of economic difficulties due to irregular and often poor harvests in France in the decade prior to the Revolution. Doyle is very good also on the long term trends - the increasing size of the bourgeosie, the rising literacy and importance of public opinion, the Enlightenment influenced disillusion with the sometimes arbitrary nature of traditional government - that set the stage for the Revolution and had a large effect on its outcomes. Still, Doyle's emphasis is on the basis narrative and he does very well in telling the story of the Revolution without either getting too bogged down in details or sliding over important issues. I recommend, however, that the first half of this book be read in conjunction with Doyle's concise (about 200 pages in a paperback edition) book on the Origins of the French Revolution. There is some redundancy in the narrative when reading both books but the Origins book stresses the underlying structural features in a complementary manner. Doyle goes on with a sustained narrative to Napoleon's seizure of power. Doyle covers very well the achievements and common disastrous mistakes of the Revolutionary period. Some of these mistakes, like the disastrously mistaken policies towards the Catholic Church, were responsible for generating implacable hostility, both within and outside France, to the Revolution. A consistent theme is that war against internal and external enemies was a powerful radicalizing force, often responsible for many of the serious errors and crimes of the Revolution. Many sections are excellent; his discussion of revolutionary imperialism, for example, nicely explores the apparent paradox of a liberation movement becoming a ruthless exploiter. Doyle's description of the oscillations of the Revolution and the corrupt behavior of the last Revolutionary government, the Directory, give a very good sense of why so many people must have welcomed the dictatorship of Napoleon. Doyle concludes with an interpretative chapter on the Revolution. In common with many recent historians, he sees the Revolution as a social disaster precipitated by good intentions. Among other causes, he cites the overconfidence of the original revolutionaries that they could remake

Outstanding narrative history of the French Revolution

The Oxford History of the French Revolution, written by William Doyle, is easily the best narrative survey of the French Revolution out there today. Its a long and dense work to be sure, but given the length and complexity of the French Revolution (as well as the events that preceded it and immediately followed it) and Doyle's book is remarkably concise, while still covering all of the important events, personages, developments and issues in ample detail. In truth, it's really quite stunning that a history of just a few hundred pages is able to address not just internal politics, but matters of religion, diplomacy, ideology, economics, society, and war-- and to do so in a manner that flows smoothly and clearly. Some folks, of course, may whine about the book still being very dense or complex... but that's the way the French Revolution is-- and there's just no getting around that if you actually want to tell the whole story. The fact is that the Revolution isa remarkably tangled series of events and can't simply be reduced to a simple easy-to-follow story. That's that's why it actually forms its own subfield within the field of modern European history-- it's that big and and that complex. In sum, Doyle's book is an outstanding work of narrative history that covers its subject thoroughly-- although those looking for more detail on particulars will of course want to consult other works. Very highly recommended as an insightful to those interested in a good solid account of the French Revolution and a reference book even for scholars.