Customer Reviews

THE TERROR IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (STUDIES IN EUROPEAN HISTORY)

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This book deals with academic views of the Terror and also gives a chronological account of events, from 1789 to the fall of Robespierre in 1794. The author himself leans towards the more modern revisionist argument, that the Terror was the result of both circumstance and problems within the French political system. Hugh Gough balances the academic arguments and the account of historical events far more successfully than T.C.W. Blanning's "The French Revolution" from the same series, which becomes confused by presentation of conflicting arguments alongside the historical narrative, leaving me unsure which parts are reliable as evidence. That pitfall is avoided in this book.

Overall, the book gives a good, concise picture of events and facilitates further reading on the subject, containing an excellent bibliography, each entry evaluated by a short sentence. As a student I found the book most useful, making much additional reading unnecessary, and it was also quite inexpensive.

I should probably declare that I was lectured on this course by Prof. Hugh Gough in University College Dublin. Even so, for any students studying the French Revolutionary era this book would prove invaluable.

This book is very interesting in detailing what went wrong with the revolution and how it turned against itself. The book deals in depth with the origin of the terror and its consequences. It would not be advised as a book for somebody looking for a general history of the revolution due to its narrow scope.