The Coming of the French Revolution, Bicentennial Edition [Paperback]

Georges Lefebvre (Author), R. R. Palmer (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0691007519 | ISBN-13: 978-0691007519 | Publication Date: 1989

An in-depth portrait of France during the year 1789, which analyzes the causes, forces and nature of the Revolution.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Much more than a history of 1789. . . . A synthesis, conveying a philosophy of the Revolution as a whole, such as could be written only by a seasoned scholar. . . . The smooth, careful translation preserves the literary merit of the French prose. -- Review

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691007519
• ISBN-13: 978-0691007519
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #477,358 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most accesible account of the French Revolution, January 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Coming of the French Revolution, Bicentennial Edition (Paperback)

Published in 1939 on the eve of WWII and the Vichy Regime (which burned 8,000 copies), Lefebvre's account of the event which initiated the modern era in the West remains the most accesible and readable of any work on the subject before or since. Lefebvre's Marxist analysis of the event (the dominant interpretation until recently) may appear archaic to contemporary readers. Nevertheless the work is a highly enjoyable analysis of the various sectors of French society and how they contributed to the Revolution. The flowery or arcane scholarly knowledge of later accounts pales before Lefebvre's engaging prose. All in all, a highly recommended work.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lefebvre is the doyen of French Revolution historians, December 5, 2008

By 

Michael A Neulander "Political Philosophy" (VA) - See all my reviews
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This was required reading for a graduate course in the history of the French Revolution. Georges Lefebvre's life was spent studying peasant life before and during the French Revolution and writing about "history from below." In his seminal book The Coming of the French Revolution, he essentially divided the Revolution into "four acts" which were played out by the revolts of the aristocracy, bourgeoisie, the urban masses, and finally the peasants; ultimately culminating in the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Lefebvre's analysis of the composition and concerns of France's social classes, nobility, bourgeoisie, and peasants, and their role in the prelude to the Revolution was most illuminating. He masterfully used his extensive years of research to lucidly explain how the Revolution essentially occurred in four phases. Although other countries in Europe had a similar social strata, Lefebvre agreed with Alexis De Tocqueville that reform came more peaceably to those countries than it did in France. Both Lefebvre and Tocqueville noted that one of the leading factors that led to the French Revolution was its oppressive tax burden on the peasants and the unfair socio-economic structure wherein the Church and nobility were exempt from taxation. Since the French monarchs desired to rule "absolutely," they successfully kept the aristocracy and Church members from utilizing their traditional desires to exercise any political control that would rightfully be theirs, as in other European countries, by making them tax exempt. This focused all political power in the hands of the monarch, which he controlled through his royal counsel. "The result was that most direct taxes were paid by persons lacking the status or influence to bargain with the king's officials, and that the king's government could never raise by direct taxes a revenue at all proportionate to the real wealth of the country, or to its legitimate needs" (10 note1). Recognizing this tax imbalance during France's financial crisis because of its vast expenditures in support of the American Revolution as well as the usual tremendous fiscal waste at court exploded the national debt, Louis XVI's finance minister, Calonne, in August 1786, recommended a drastic action that became a major factor in bringing about the Revolution. Calonne's plan was to lessen the tax burden on the peasants, raise taxes on the aristocracy, and retire the nation's debt, by selling off manorial properties possessed by the Church. When presented with this plan, the Aristocracy made demands of their own which precipitated what Lefebvre described as the "Aristocratic Revolution." "The aristocracy was willing to promise a subvention in return for political concessions, namely, the examination of accounts, i.e., a right to control the central power, and the transfer of local administration to provincial assemblies in which the aristocracy would master" (27). Not willing to acquiesce to the aristocrats' demands, Louis XVI fired Calonne and ordered his new minister, Brienne, to broach the tax subject with the Parlement of Paris. The Parelement was willing to relax taxes on the peasants but argued that only a convocation of the Estates-General had the power to introduce new taxes on France's First and Second Estates. After much rancor between the aristocratic members of Parlement and Brienne, he submitted to convening the Estates-General on May 1, 1789. This act put the second phase of what Lefebvre recognized as the Bourgeoisie Revolution into motion--not since 1614 was their voice heard by the king.

Lefebvre astutely noted the class stratification within the Third Estate, where at its top resided the bourgeoisie; the best of whom were bankers, merchants and especially jurists who "...furnished a great majority of the revolutionary personnel" (43). Lefebvre never used the term Enlightenment in his book. However, he did recognize, "The works of these writers strengthened oral propaganda in the salons and cafés which multiplied in the eighteenth century, and in the societies of all kinds which were founded in great numbers" (47). Lefebvre's research led him not to overstate the case, but to place emphasis on "By such different avenues the thought of eighteenth-century writers penetrated the bourgeoisie, giving it a full consciousness of historic mission" (Lefebvre, 47). The bourgeoisie leaders of the Third Estate proved their political acumen when they demanded that its ranks be doubled so that they would be on equal footing numerically with the first two Estates. This created a firestorm among the aristocracy. However, the Third Estate members were disciplined enough to stand their ground, which eventually caused Louis XVI to personally promise to rule as a constitutional monarch, as long as the Estates-General passed his tax reforms or else suffer being disbanded. The leaders of the Third Estate had no intention of losing political or social prestige to the aristocracy so they voted to form "...the `National Constituent Assembly'. On July 11 La Fayette submitted his proposal for a `Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen" (86). France's "revolutionary genie" was now out of the bottle.

Lefebvre's book has convinced this reader that he had an excellent grasp of how the drama of the 1789 Revolution's four acts played out by the revolts of the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, the urban masses, and finally the peasants; ultimately culminating in the "Declaration of the Rights of Man." Later, Lefebvre's research is emphasized by Roger Chartier as to how the work of the National Assembly became communicated to the urban masses around Paris and through the rest of France. During the first half of 1789, Paris newspapers wrote little about the proceedings of the National Assembly. Lefebvre's research showed that witnesses to the National Assembly's proceedings brought news each day to the cafés for discussion. In addition, many delegates of the Third Estate wrote letters back to friends in their provinces to disseminate news of the National Assembly's proceedings. These news outlets were the vital "public spheres" that Chartier highlighted. Lefebvre's research led him to believe that it was the shopkeepers and supervisors who comprised the ranks of the urban masses that communicated the news in the "public spheres" and gave strength to the Revolution. "They were the permanent personnel around which insurrections formed" (96). At first, these petty bourgeoisie of the urban masses became enamored with the idea that the National Assembly would eradicate the indirect taxes that burdened them. However, as Alexis de Tocqueville also observed, the Revolution took on the trappings of a religious movement. Lefebvre understood that the passions of the urban masses became inflamed and that they saw in the Revolution an almost "messianic" promise. "It is in this aspect that the Revolution, at its beginnings, can be compared to many religious movements in their early stages, in which poor men joyously see a return to earthly paradise" (98).

Lefebvre noticed two events in history that precipitated the peasant revolt as well as the fourth and perhaps most important act of the Revolution. These events were a belief by the whole of the Third Estate in an "aristocratic conspiracy" and the economic crisis that gripped France at the time. First, a feeling of extreme distrust of the First Estate started to take hold in the minds of the urban masses and later spread to the peasants as well. The First Estate's opposition of the Third Estate's demand to have its ranks doubled in the National Assembly and then to be allowed to vote individually instead of as a block, struck fear in the minds of the Third Estate of an "aristocratic conspiracy" which they thought would do anything to grab power, including inviting a foreign military invasion. Second, Lefebvre's research caused him to write, "It is therefore beyond dispute that the economic distress should be included among immediate causes of the Revolution" (100). Bad weather conditions throughout Europe caused a grain shortage that the French physiocrats at Court could not alleviate. An economic downturn in industrial production, higher unemployment, and inflation ensued, which all culminated in a nation wide bread shortage and a mass migration of poor dissatisfied citizens to the cities and towns of France. Thus Lefebvre asserted, "How can one fail to suspect a connection between this ordeal and the fever of insurrection that gripped the population at the time" ? (103). Lefebvre astutely recognized that these events created a Revolutionary mentality to grip the Third Estate. In addition, Louis XVI's action to surround Paris with troops and the fear of foreign invasion caused a "National Guard" of citizens to be created, which stormed the Bastille in search of weaponry and in turn, gave new resolve to the Third Estate's delegates to the National Assembly. Thus, Lefebvre found, "The peasant rising would be inconceivable without the excitement produced by the calling of the Estates-General. But it is undeniable also that the economic crisis contributed powerfully to it, and reinforced also the idea of an aristocratic plot" (144).

In October 1789, Paris agitations culminated in the triumph of the National Assembly over the king and the adoption of the Declaration occurred. Lefebvre found that the Declaration had significant omissions; such as, no rights of assembly or petition, no guarantee of economic freedom or education, no universal suffrage in equality of rights and its vagueness had led to multiple interpretations by historians as to its importance. In addition, he saw the Declaration of the Rights of Man emerging from the writings of Enlightenment philosophers of the eighteenth century. "The whole philosophic movement in France in the eighteenth century pointed to such an act; Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau had collaborated in its making" (Lefebvre, 212).

Recommended reading for anyone interested in political philosophy, enlightenment history, and the French Revolution.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lefebvre is the doyen of French Revolution historians, December 5, 2008

By 

Michael A Neulander "Political Philosophy" (VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Coming of the French Revolution (Princeton Classic Editions) (Paperback)

This was required reading for a graduate course in the history of the French Revolution. Georges Lefebvre's life was spent studying peasant life before and during the French Revolution and writing about "history from below." In his seminal book The Coming of the French Revolution, he essentially divided the Revolution into "four acts" which were played out by the revolts of the aristocracy, bourgeoisie, the urban masses, and finally the peasants; ultimately culminating in the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Lefebvre's analysis of the composition and concerns of France's social classes, nobility, bourgeoisie, and peasants, and their role in the prelude to the Revolution was most illuminating. He masterfully used his extensive years of research to lucidly explain how the Revolution essentially occurred in four phases. Although other countries in Europe had a similar social strata, Lefebvre agreed with Alexis De Tocqueville that reform came more peaceably to those countries than it did in France. Both Lefebvre and Tocqueville noted that one of the leading factors that led to the French Revolution was its oppressive tax burden on the peasants and the unfair socio-economic structure wherein the Church and nobility were exempt from taxation. Since the French monarchs desired to rule "absolutely," they successfully kept the aristocracy and Church members from utilizing their traditional desires to exercise any political control that would rightfully be theirs, as in other European countries, by making them tax exempt. This focused all political power in the hands of the monarch, which he controlled through his royal counsel. "The result was that most direct taxes were paid by persons lacking the status or influence to bargain with the king's officials, and that the king's government could never raise by direct taxes a revenue at all proportionate to the real wealth of the country, or to its legitimate needs" (10 note1). Recognizing this tax imbalance during France's financial crisis because of its vast expenditures in support of the American Revolution as well as the usual tremendous fiscal waste at court exploded the national debt, Louis XVI's finance minister, Calonne, in August 1786, recommended a drastic action that became a major factor in bringing about the Revolution. Calonne's plan was to lessen the tax burden on the peasants, raise taxes on the aristocracy, and retire the nation's debt, by selling off manorial properties possessed by the Church. When presented with this plan, the Aristocracy made demands of their own which precipitated what Lefebvre described as the "Aristocratic Revolution." "The aristocracy was willing to promise a subvention in return for political concessions, namely, the examination of accounts, i.e., a right to control the central power, and the transfer of local administration to provincial assemblies in which the aristocracy would master" (27). Not willing to acquiesce to the aristocrats' demands, Louis XVI fired Calonne and ordered his new minister, Brienne, to broach the tax subject with the Parlement of Paris. The Parelement was willing to relax taxes on the peasants but argued that only a convocation of the Estates-General had the power to introduce new taxes on France's First and Second Estates. After much rancor between the aristocratic members of Parlement and Brienne, he submitted to convening the Estates-General on May 1, 1789. This act put the second phase of what Lefebvre recognized as the Bourgeoisie Revolution into motion--not since 1614 was their voice heard by the king.

Lefebvre astutely noted the class stratification within the Third Estate, where at its top resided the bourgeoisie; the best of whom were bankers, merchants and especially jurists who "...furnished a great majority of the revolutionary personnel" (43). Lefebvre never used the term Enlightenment in his book. However, he did recognize, "The works of these writers strengthened oral propaganda in the salons and cafés which multiplied in the eighteenth century, and in the societies of all kinds which were founded in great numbers" (47). Lefebvre's research led him not to overstate the case, but to place emphasis on "By such different avenues the thought of eighteenth-century writers penetrated the bourgeoisie, giving it a full consciousness of historic mission" (Lefebvre, 47). The bourgeoisie leaders of the Third Estate proved their political acumen when they demanded that its ranks be doubled so that they would be on equal footing numerically with the first two Estates. This created a firestorm among the aristocracy. However, the Third Estate members were disciplined enough to stand their ground, which eventually caused Louis XVI to personally promise to rule as a constitutional monarch, as long as the Estates-General passed his tax reforms or else suffer being disbanded. The leaders of the Third Estate had no intention of losing political or social prestige to the aristocracy so they voted to form "...the `National Constituent Assembly'. On July 11 La Fayette submitted his proposal for a `Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen" (86). France's "revolutionary genie" was now out of the bottle.

Lefebvre's book has convinced this reader that he had an excellent grasp of how the drama of the 1789 Revolution's four acts played out by the revolts of the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, the urban masses, and finally the peasants; ultimately culminating in the "Declaration of the Rights of Man." Later, Lefebvre's research is emphasized by Roger Chartier as to how the work of the National Assembly became communicated to the urban masses around Paris and through the rest of France. During the first half of 1789, Paris newspapers wrote little about the proceedings of the National Assembly. Lefebvre's research showed that witnesses to the National Assembly's proceedings brought news each day to the cafés for discussion. In addition, many delegates of the Third Estate wrote letters back to friends in their provinces to disseminate news of the National Assembly's proceedings. These news outlets were the vital "public spheres" that Chartier highlighted. Lefebvre's research led him to believe that it was the shopkeepers and supervisors who comprised the ranks of the urban masses that communicated the news in the "public spheres" and gave strength to the Revolution. "They were the permanent personnel around which insurrections formed" (96). At first, these petty bourgeoisie of the urban masses became enamored with the idea that the National Assembly would eradicate the indirect taxes that burdened them. However, as Alexis de Tocqueville also observed, the Revolution took on the trappings of a religious movement. Lefebvre understood that the passions of the urban masses became inflamed and that they saw in the Revolution an almost "messianic" promise. "It is in this aspect that the Revolution, at its beginnings, can be compared to many religious movements in their early stages, in which poor men joyously see a return to earthly paradise" (98).

Lefebvre noticed two events in history that precipitated the peasant revolt as well as the fourth and perhaps most important act of the Revolution. These events were a belief by the whole of the Third Estate in an "aristocratic conspiracy" and the economic crisis that gripped France at the time. First, a feeling of extreme distrust of the First Estate started to take hold in the minds of the urban masses and later spread to the peasants as well. The First Estate's opposition of the Third Estate's demand to have its ranks doubled in the National Assembly and then to be allowed to vote individually instead of as a block, struck fear in the minds of the Third Estate of an "aristocratic conspiracy" which they thought would do anything to grab power, including inviting a foreign military invasion. Second, Lefebvre's research caused him to write, "It is therefore beyond dispute that the economic distress should be included among immediate causes of the Revolution" (100). Bad weather conditions throughout Europe caused a grain shortage that the French physiocrats at Court could not alleviate. An economic downturn in industrial production, higher unemployment, and inflation ensued, which all culminated in a nation wide bread shortage and a mass migration of poor dissatisfied citizens to the cities and towns of France. Thus Lefebvre asserted, "How can one fail to suspect a connection between this ordeal and the fever of insurrection that gripped the population at the time" ? (103). Lefebvre astutely recognized that these events created a Revolutionary mentality to grip the Third Estate. In addition, Louis XVI's action to surround Paris with troops and the fear of foreign invasion caused a "National Guard" of citizens to be created, which stormed the Bastille in search of weaponry and in turn, gave new resolve to the Third Estate's delegates to the National Assembly. Thus, Lefebvre found, "The peasant rising would be inconceivable without the excitement produced by the calling of the Estates-General. But it is undeniable also that the economic crisis contributed powerfully to it, and reinforced also the idea of an aristocratic plot" (144).

In October 1789, Paris agitations culminated in the triumph of the National Assembly over the king and the adoption of the Declaration occurred. Lefebvre found that the Declaration had significant omissions; such as, no rights of assembly or petition, no guarantee of economic freedom or education, no universal suffrage in equality of rights and its vagueness had led to multiple interpretations by historians as to its importance. In addition, he saw the Declaration of the Rights of Man emerging from the writings of Enlightenment philosophers of the eighteenth century. "The whole philosophic movement in France in the eighteenth century pointed to such an act; Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau had collaborated in its making" (Lefebvre, 212).

Recommended reading for anyone interested in political philosophy, enlightenment history, and the French Revolution.