The French Revolution Revisited

I SHOULD LIKE TO START WITH AN EXTREMELY SIMPLE STATEment about the French Revolution. This is that there are many historical arguments among historians on many subjects, but that none of these arguments is so intense and so heated as the one which takes place in every generation about the French Re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Government and opposition (London) 1989-07, Vol.24 (3), p.264-282
Main Author: Furet, François
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bourgeois
Fear
France
FRENCH REVOLUTION
HISTORIOGRAPHY
History
Kings
Monarchy
Nobility
Political history
Political ideologies
Political revolutions
Revolution
Socialism
WAR
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Summary:I SHOULD LIKE TO START WITH AN EXTREMELY SIMPLE STATEment about the French Revolution. This is that there are many historical arguments among historians on many subjects, but that none of these arguments is so intense and so heated as the one which takes place in every generation about the French Revolution. It is as though the historical interpretation of this particular subject and the arguments of specialists directly reflect the political struggles and the gamble for power. It is true that we are all aware today that there are no unbiased historical interpretations: the selection of facts which provide the raw material for the historian's work is already the result of a choice, even although that choice is not an explicit one. To some extent, history is always the result of a relationship between the present and the past and more specifically between the characteristics of an individual and the vast realm of his possible roots in the past. But, nevertheless, even within this relative framework, not all the themes of history are equally relevant to the present interests of the historian and to the passions of his public.
ISSN:0017-257X
1477-7053
DOI:10.1111/j.1477-7053.1989.tb00721.x