Revolution: The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy, 1685-1720 (Allen Lane History S.) [Hardcover]

Tim Harris (Author)

Book Description

Series: Allen Lane History S. | Publication Date: January 26, 2006

To an extraordinary extent everyone in Britain still lives under the shadow of the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688. It was a massive, brutal and terrifying event, which completely changed the governments of England, Scotland and Ireland and which was only achieved through overwhelming violence. Initiated by a large Dutch army marching through southern England and climaxing in a series of the most terrible battles ever fought on Irish soil, the revolution by which William III seized James II' kingdoms could only for a very narrow and exclusively English viewpoint be called 'glorious'. Many thousands died during the Revolution, an event that marked a new and final orientation for Britain that, except for a large part of Ireland, has endured to the present day. "Revolution" brilliantly captures the sense that this was a great turning point in Britain's history, but also shows how severe a price was paid to achieve this.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Gripping ... a much-needed reinterrogation Daily Telegraph A magisterial work...confident prose, trenchant insight and vivid illustration Independent --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

About the Author

Tim Harris is Professor of History at Brown University, Rhode Island. He previously taught for some years at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. His last book was the widely praised Restoration: Charles II and His Kingdoms, 1660-1685 (published simultaneously with Revolution in paperback) which is a prelude to the current book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Allen Lane (January 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0713997591
• ISBN-13: 978-0713997590
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,261,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the revolution that changed everything, August 28, 2011

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David H. Maccallum - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Revolution: The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy, 1685-1720 (Mass Market Paperback)

Tim Harris' Revolution is yet another take on the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89 in Britain. Interest in this subject seems to have widened over the past five years. Edward Vallance, one of Britain's most important young historians, took a shot at the Revolution in his short, very readable account of three years ago, The Glorious Revolution. Steve Pincus' 1688, published two years ago, is a far broader version of events but is flawed by constant claims of its unique view of the Revolution. Harris's work, now five years old, is the most complete and nuanced version of the events in the late seventeenth century that changed British society and its government.

This was an important revolution but one that could have been delayed or possibly even averted had the Stuart dynastic line, one that started with the death of Elizabeth I in 1603 and the ascension of James I to the throne, not wound up late in the seventeenth century with the tragic four-year reign of the last of the Stuarts, James II. This James was a deeply flawed regent: he was inept in military matters; he attempted to supplant the ruling Protestant class with Catholics, even though Catholics represented only 1% of the population; he seemed in the pocket of Louis XIV of France, a monarch thoroughly despised by the vast majority of Englishmen; he produced no heirs other than a contested child late in his regency by his Catholic wife; he had only the faintest grasp of European power politics, then in a death struggle between the Protestant lands of northern Europe and the Catholic southern countries; he disbanded Parliament, which only met once early in his reign. Ultimately, his fate was sealed when William III of Holland landed in the West Country with a large, well-equipped army and marched, virtually unopposed, into London to displace James from the throne. James fled his country and, with the exception of a brutal military defeat in Ireland a year later, never again returned to the British Isles.

Professor Harris, now at Brown University, tells far more than the story of James' doomed monarchy. There is far more to tell and this is where his account of the Revolution reaches a higher level of understanding than either of these later books. He tells the story of the changes in the structure of British government, swinging from royal absolutism to a far more consensual government. Never again could a British monarch rule without the consent and constant presence of Parliament. The Revolution was the source of political parties in Britain, the reorganization of the economy with the establishment of the Bank of England, the formation of a cabinet of ministers who exercised increasing power, and the emergence of a prime minister, who gradually became the preeminent representative of the people's Parliament.

Britain, after the Revolution, was a different place than Britain before James. The changes in the structure of government were only part of the story. Scotland became joined to England through an Act of Union in 1709, utterly unthinkable if James had not been deposed. Ireland was subdued and ruled by British landowners for more than 200 more years. Britain was drawn into European affairs and played a crucial role in neutralizing France's hegemony over the continent. The first shoots of what became the British empire were immeasurably strengthened after James left the throne.

Harris' book is tough going in some respects. it is not only long but deals with both Scotland and Ireland, each a tough story to tell, in very complex terms. But Revolution does the job of telling what was different and important about the events that enabled Britain to pivot from an insular island regency to begin its long journey into a representative democracy, a journey that was eventually the model for the American colonial revolution a hundred years later.

This is the book to read to grasp the significance and importance of the Revolution.