Nineteenth-century Europe, with its liberalism and nationalism, its revolutions and wars, was born out of the violence of the French Revolution, but the events of the years following 1789 are exciting simply as a dramatic story. Here the story is told as vividly and clearly as possible. Remarkable men like Mirabeau, Lafayette, Danton, Robespierre play their parts. Events such as the fall of the Bastille, the King's flight to Varennes, the Jacobin/Girondin quarrel are highlighted, but interwoven with the narrative is an analysis of why these events happened and their significance for modern Europe.
Extracts from contemporary writings—diaries, letters, proceedings of political assemblies have been freely used to make the events live. Reference is made to the theories and conclusions of great historians, French and English, so that the young historian may gain some insight into historical interpretation. The book is built around the theme of the revolution as the violent cause of the change from the world of the ancien régime with its aristocratic privilege and royal despotism to the world of the nineteenth century where men struggled for liberty, equality and fraternity and devoted themselves to la patrie.
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