The French Revolution: A Short History

by R. M. Johnston

TO
Rayner Neate
IN MEMORY OF OLD PEMBROKE DAYS

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PREFACE

The object of this book is similar to that with which, a few years ago, I wrote a short biography of Napoleon. The main outlines of the Revolution, the proportion and relation of things, tend to become obscured under the accumulation of historical detail that is now proceeding. This is an attempt, therefore, to disentangle from the mass of details the shape, the movement, the significance of this great historical cataclysm. To keep the outline clear I have deliberately avoided mentioning the names of many subordinate actors; thinking that if nothing essential was connected with them the mention of their names would only tend to confuse matters. Similarly with incidents, I have omitted a few, such as the troubles at Avignon, and changed the emphasis on others, judging freely their importance and not following the footsteps of my predecessors, as in the case of the capture of the Bastille, the importance of which was vastly exaggerated by early writers on the subject.

The end of the Revolution I place at Brumaire,—as good a date as any, though like all others, open to criticism. The present narrative, however, will be found to merge into that of my Napoleon, which forms its natural continuation after that date.

CAMBRIDGE, MASS., Feb., 1909.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER		PAGE
I.	[THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ]	1
II.	[VERSAILLES ]	11
III.	[ECONOMIC CRISIS ]	25
IV.	[CONVOCATION OF THE STATES GENERAL ]	35
V.	[FRANCE COMES TO VERSAILLES ]	52
VI.	[FROM VERSAILLES TO PARIS ]	70
VII.	[THE ASSEMBLY DEMOLISHES PRIVILEGE ]	89
VIII.	[THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES ]	105
IX.	[WAR BREAKS OUT ]	123
X.	[THE MASSACRE ]	139
XI.	[ENDING THE MONARCHY ]	157
XII.	[THE FALL OF THE GIRONDE ]	170
XIII.	[THE REIGN OF TERROR ]	185
XIV.	[THERMIDOR ]	202
XV.	[THE LAST DAYS OF THE CONVENTION ]	222
XVI.	[THE DIRECTOIRE ]	239
XVII.	[ART AND LITERATURE ]	262
	[INDEX]	279

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