The great French revolution, 1789-1793 Index THE GREAT FRENCH REVOLUTION, 1789-1793 PREFACE 1. THE TWO GREAT CURRENTS OF THE REVOLUTION 2. THE IDEA 3. ACTION 4. THE PEOPLE BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 5. THE SPIRIT OF REVOLT: THE RIOTS 6. THE CONVOCATION OF THE STATES GENERAL BECOMES NECESSARY 7. THE RISING OF THE COUNTRY DISTRICTS DURING THE OPENING MONTHS OF 1789 8. RIOTS IN PARIS AND ITS ENVIRONS 9. THE STATES-GENERAL 10. PREPARATIONS FOR THE COUP D'ÉTAT 11. PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE FOURTEENTH 12. THE TAKING OF THE BASTILLE 13. THE CONSEQUENCES OF JULY 14 AT VERSAILLES 14. THE POPULAR RISINGS 15. THE TOWNS 16. THE PEASANT RISING 17. AUGUST 4 AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 18. THE FEUDAL RIGHTS REMAIN 19. DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN 20. THE FIFTH AND SIXTH OF OCTOBER 1789 21. FEARS OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES — THE NEW MUNICIPAL ORGANISATION 22. FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES — SALE OF CHURCH PROPERTY 23. THE FêTE OF THE FEDERATION 24. THE “DISTRICTS” AND THE “SECTIONS” OF PARIS 25. THE SECTIONS OF PARIS UNDER THE NEW MUNICIPAL LAW 26. DELAYS IN THE ABOLITION OF THE FEUDAL RIGHTS 27. FEUDAL LEGISLATION IN 1790 28. ARREST OF THE REVOLUTION IN 1790 29. THE FLIGHT OF THE KING — REACTION — END OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY 30. THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY — REACTION IN 1791-1792 31. THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE 32. THE TWENTIETH OF JUNE 1792 33. THE TENTH OF AUGUST: ITS IMMEDIATE CONSEQUENCES 34. THE INTERREGNUM — THE BETRAYALS 35. THE SEPTEMBER DAYS 36. THE CONVENTION — THE COMMUNE — THE JACOBINS 37. THE GOVERNMENT — CONFLICTS WITH THE CONVENTION — THE WAR 38. THE TRIAL OF THE KING 39. THE “MOUNTAIN” AND THE GIRONDE 40. ATTEMPTS OF THE GIRONDINS TO STOP THE REVOLUTION 41. THE “ANARCHISTS” 42. CAUSES OF THE RISING ON MAY 31 43. SOCIAL DEMANDS — STATE OF FEELING IN PARIS — LYONS 44. THE WAR — THE RISING IN LA VENDEE — TREACHERY OF DUMOURIEZ 45. A NEW RISING RENDERED INEVITABLE 46. THE INSURRECTION OF MAY 31 AND JUNE 2 47. THE POPULAR REVOLUTION — ARBITRARY TAXATION 48. THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY AND THE COMMUNAL LANDS 49. THE LANDS RESTORED TO THE COMMUNES 50. FINAL ABOLITION OF THE FEUDAL RIGHTS 51. THE NATIONAL ESTATES 52. THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FAMINE — THE MAXIMUM — PAPER-MONEY 53. COUNTER-REVOLUTION IN BRITTANY — ASSASSINATION OF MARAT 54. THE VENDEE — LYONS — THE RISINGS IN SOUTHERN FRANCE 55. THE WAR — THE INVASION BEATEN BACK 56. THE CONSTITUTION — THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT 57. THE EXHAUSTION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT 58. THE COMMUNIST MOVEMENT 59. SCHEMES FOR THE SOCIALISATION OF LAND, INDUSTRIES, MEANS OF SUBSISTENCE AND EXCHANGE 60. THE END OF THE COMMUNIST MOVEMENT 61. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT — REPRISALS 62. EDUCATION — THE METRIC SYSTEM — THE NEW CALENDAR — ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT 63. THE SUPPRESSION OF THE SECTIONS 64. STRUGGLE AGAINST THE HEBERTISTS 65. FALL OF THE HEBERTISTS — DANTON EXECUTED 66. ROBESPIERRE AND HIS GROUP 67. THE TERROR 68. THE 9TH THERMIDOR — TRIUMPH OF REACTION 69. CONCLUSION ALL PAGES Share TweetPage 2 of 71PrefaceThe more one studies the French Revolution the clearer it is how incomplete is the history of that great epoch, how many gaps in it remain to be filled, how many points demand elucidation. How could it be otherwise? The Great Revolution, that set all Europe astir, that overthrew everything, and began the task of universal reconstruction in the course of a few years, was the working of cosmic forces dissolving and re-creating a world. And if in the writings of the historians who deal with that period and especially of Michelet, we admire the immense work they have accomplished in disentangling and co-ordinating the innumerable facts of the various parallel movements that made up the Revolution, we realise at the same time the vastness of the work which still remains to be done.The investigations made during the past thirty years by the school of historical research represented by M. Aulard and the Société de la Revolution française, have certainly furnished most valuable material. They have shed a flood of light upon the acts of the Revolution, on its political aspects, and on the struggles for supremacy that took place between the various parties. But the study of the economic side of the Revolution is still before us, and this study, as M. Aulard rightly says, demands an entire lifetime. Yet without this study the history of the period remains incomplete and in many points wholly incomprehensible. In fact, a long series of totally new problems presents itself to the historian as soon as he turns his attention to the economic side of the revolutionary upheaval.It was with the intention of throwing some light upon these economic problems that I began in 1886 to make separate studies of the earliest revolutionary stirrings among the peasants; the peasant risings in 1789; the struggles for and against the feudal laws; the real causes of the movement of May 31, and so on. Unfortunately I was not able to make any researches in the National Archives of France, and my studies have, therefore, been confined to the collections of printed matter in the British Museum, which are, however, in themselves exceedingly rich.Believing that it would not be easy for the reader to appreciate the bearing of separate studied of this kind without a general view of the whole development of the Revolution understood in the light of these studies, I soon found it necessary to write a more or less consecutive account of the chief events of the Revolution. In this account I have not dwelt upon the dramatic side of the episodes of these disturbed years, which have been so often described, but I have made it my chief object to utilise modern research so as to reveal the intimate connection and interdependence of the various events which combined to produce the climax of the eighteenth century's epic.This method of studying separately the various parts of the work accomplished by the Revolution has necessarily its own drawbacks: it sometimes entails repetition. I have preferred, however, to take the risk or reproach for this fault in the hope of impressing more clearly upon the reader's mind the mighty currents of thought and action that came into conflict during the French Revolution — currents so intimately blended with the very essence of human nature that they must inevitably reappear in the historic events of the future.All who know the history of the Revolution will understand how difficult it is to avoid errors in facts when one tries to trace the development of its impassioned struggles. I shall, therefore, be extremely grateful to those who will be good enough to point out any mistakes I may have made. And I wish to express here my sincerest gratitude to my friends, James Guillaume and Ernest Nys, who have had the kindness to read my manuscript and help me in this work with their knowledge and their criticisms.Peter Kropotkin Prev Next