Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre

883 Pages·2014·17.18 MB·English

by  Jonathan Israel

Revolutionary Ideas


Revolutionary Ideas

An Intellectual History
of the French Revolution
from The Rights of Man
to Robespierre
Jonathan Israel
Princeton University Press
Oxford & Princeton
Copyright © 2014 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton,
New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
press.princeton.edu
Frontispiece: The unity and indivisibility of the Republic, 1793. Image
courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Jacket illustration: Allegorical emblem of Republic Fasces topped by Cap of
Liberty and ribbands with legend, “Liberty, Fraternity, Egality, or Death.”
French Revolution 1789, contemporary popular colored print. Courtesy
Image Asset Management Ltd. / Superstock.
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Israel, Jonathan.
Revolutionary ideas : an intellectual history of the French Revolution from
the Rights of Man to Robespierre / Jonathan Israel.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 691- 15172- 4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. France— History—
Revolution, 1789- 1799— Causes. 2. France— History— Revolution,
1789- 1799— Historiography. 3. France— Intellectual life— 18th century. 4.
Revolutionaries— France— History— 18th century. I. Title.
DC147.8.I87 2014
944.04— dc23
2013018208
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Garamond Pro and Pastonchi
Printed on acid- free paper ∞
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents

List of Figures vii
Acknowledgments ix
Prologue 1
Chapter 1 Introduction 6
Chapter 2 Revolution of the Press (1788– 90) 30
Chapter 3 From Estates- General to National Assembly
(April– June 1789) 53
Chapter 4 The Rights of Man: Summer and Autumn 1789 72
Chapter 5 Democratizing the Revolution 103
Chapter 6 Deadlock (November 1790– July 1791) 141
Chapter 7 War with the Church (1788– 92) 180
Chapter 8 The Feuillant Revolution
(July 1791– April 1792) 204
Chapter 9 The “General Revolution” Begins (1791– 92) 231
Chapter 10 The Revolutionary Summer of 1792 246
Chapter 11 Republicans Divided
(September 1792– March 1793) 278
Chapter 12 The “General Revolution” from Valmy to
the Fall of Mainz (1792– 93) 316
Chapter 13 The World’s First Democratic Constitution
(1793) 345
Chapter 14 Education: Securing the Revolution 374
Chapter 15 Black Emancipation 396
vi | Contents
Chapter 16 Robespierre’s Putsch (June 1793) 420
Chapter 17 The Summer of 1793: Overturning
the Revolution’s Core Values 450
Chapter 18 De- Christianization (1793– 94) 479
Chapter 19 “The Terror” (September 1793– March 1794) 503
Chapter 20 The Terror’s Last Months (March– July 1794) 545
Chapter 21 Thermidor 574
Chapter 22  Post- Thermidor (1795– 97) 593
Chapter 23 The “General Revolution” (1795– 1800):
Holland, Italy, and the Levant 635
Chapter 24 The Failed Revolution (1797– 99) 670
Chapter 25 Conclusion: The Revolution as the Outcome
of the Radical Enlightenment 695
Cast of Main Participants 709
Notes 733
Bibliography 803
Index 833
Figures

Frontispiece The unity and indivisibility of the Republic,
1793 ii
Figure 1 The Tennis Court Oath, Versailles, 20th June 1789 56
Figure 2 The Storming of the Bastille, Paris, 14 July 1789 64
Figure 3 (a) Bust of Mirabeau, (b) Sieyès, (c) Brissot,
(d) Condorcet 80
Figure 4 The transfer of Voltaire’s remains to the Panthéon 172
Figure 5 (a) Robespierre, (b) Pétion, (c) Danton,
(d) Marat 218
Figure 6 Attack on the Tuileries, 10th August 1792 259
Figure 7 Journées de Septembre, massacre des prisonniers
de l’Abbaye, nuit du 2 au 3 Septembre 1792 271
Figure 8 Execution of Louis XVI 311
Figure 9 The “Exposition” in the Place des Piques of the
corpse of Michel Lepeletier 390
Figure 10 Jean- Baptiste Belley 412
Figure 11 The Triumph of Marat, 24 April 1793 433
Figure 12 The Arrest of Charlotte Corday, Paris, 14 July 1793 474
Figure 13 The Contrast, 1793; Which is Best? 476
Figure 14 (a) Gouges, (b) Roland, (c) Williams, (d) Corday 516
Figure 15 The siege and bombardment of Lyon 526
Figure 16 Camille Desmoulins 542
Figure 17 “The Triumph of the Montagne” 560
viii | Figures
Figure 18 (a) Volney, (b) Daunou 619
Figure 19 Champions of the “General Revolution”: (a) Forster,
(b) Paine 639
Figure 20 The unity and indivisibility of the Republic 693
Figure 21 Allegory of the Revolution 700
Acknowledgments

In writing any work of scholarship, one incurs a large number of debts.
For vigorously debating the themes of this book with me, I would like
especially to thank Peter Campbell, Aurelian Craiutu, David Bell, Jer-
emy Popkin, Ouzi Elyada, Harvey Chisick, Steven Lukes, Nadia Urbi-
nati, David Bates, Pasquale Pasquino, Bill Doyle, Helena Rosenblatt,
Bill Sewell, and Keith Michael Baker. For unflagging and invaluable
help with the bibliography, finding eighteenth- century texts, obtaining
the illustrations, and checking details, my thanks are due especially to
Maria Tuya, Terrie Bramley, and Sarah Rich. I was hugely helped at the
last stage also by my copy editor at Princeton University Press, Cathy
Slovensky. In addition, a special debt of gratitude is owed by me to the
library staff at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and to the
Institute itself for being supportive in every respect and in every way an
optimal place to reflect on historical research and debate, and to think
and write to the best of one’s ability.
Finally, for immense and unstinting assistance throughout with ed-
iting, checking, and helping to finalize the text (as well as putting up
uncomplainingly with my endless talk about the Revolution and its per-
sonalities in recent years), it is a particular pleasure to add that I owe a
very great deal, more than I can possibly say, to my wife, Annette Munt.