DAYS FR REVOLUTION

I recently read Christopher Hibbert's The Days of the French Revolution for a PhD program that I'm in. I was in an undergraduate course on the French Revolution that I was taking for graduate credit, and this book was one of a few assigned to the undergraduates to read. Years ago I had read Hibbert's biography of the Duke of Wellington, and enjoyed it very much. Hibbert has a very easy-to-read style that is both informative and entertaining, (unlike so many dry academic works). With The Days of the French Revolution, Hibbert traces the beginnings of the revolution under Louis XVI's absolutist state, and its increasingly untenable economic position after France's involvement in the American Revolution, and because of France's own internal social and economic reordering (the rise of the bourgeois). Hibbert hits all of the definitive moments of the revolution, and organizes them by "days": the day of the Tennis Court Oath, the day of the fall of the bastille, the day(s) of the women's march on Versailles, The day(s) of the flight to Varennes, etc... Each "day" is placed within the larger context of the revolution, and Hibbert fills in the gaps nicely.There is an emphasis in this work on the revolution's violence, and the reader is absolutely chilled by Hibbert's descriptions. The role of the Paris mob in hacking the Bastilles' commander de Launay to death, then parading his head around on a pike is as disturbing as anything you're likely to read in George R. R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones" books. This theme is carried through the era of the Terror, and Robespierre's insatiable desire for more victims for Madame de Guillotine. The book is not all about the revolution's violence, however, and Hibbert offers wonderful presentations of Louis' life and family during the period, as well as the political conflict over the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Hibbert's description of the royal family's return to Paris after the failed flight to Varennes is positively comic: Louis had to hold his young son up to pee in a silver cup because no one wanted to stop the carriage in the summer heat, and the soon-to-be mayor of Paris, Jérôme Pétion flattered himself that the king's sister was flirting with him the whole trip.The book does a wonderful job of presenting all of the major figures of the period in their proper context: Marat, Danton, Desmoulins, Necker, St. Just, Mirabeau, Sieyès, Bailly, Barras, and more. He also manages to untangle the political movements of the day: the Girondins, the Cordeliers, the Jacobins, the Mountain, the Plain, etc... The books' final chapters and epilogue do a wonderful job of explaining how the revolution did indeed devour its own children, and how the political turmoil of the directory, which returned the revolution to its bourgeois roots, was ultimately usurped by Napoleon.The Days of the French Revolution is a fantastic voyage through the best and worst of the human condition, and confirms Hibbert's place as a historian with the rare gift of presenting history in a highly readable and engaging manner. Indeed, the work reads like a great novel. Only one imagines fiction would be a lot less bloody.

There are plenty of general histories of the French Revolution for the general reader to choose from. If I had just one to recommend it would be either Simon Schama’s magisterial “Citizens” or William Doyle’s classic “Oxford History of the French Revolution.” If asked what book would make a good companion to one of these standard texts, I’d suggest “The Days of the French Revolution” by Christopher Hibbert.This book is exactly what the title suggests: a chronological narrative of the dozen or so most eventful and important days in the French Revolution from 1789 to 1795. As a stand alone history Hibbert’s work leaves much to be desired, but as a supplement to more thorough and often academic treatments of the revolution it is fantastic.The most dramatic events of the revolution, such as the storming of the Bastille (14 July 1789), King Louis XVI’s flight to Varennes (21 June 1791), the storming of the Tuileries Palace (10 August 1792), the execution of the King (21 January 1793), and the fall of Robespierre (27 July 1794) are all told in arresting detail, often using contemporary descriptions drawn from diaries and personal letters that delivers a narrative of unrivaled immediacy and color. Important events that sometimes feel cold and sterile while reading Doyle’s Oxford History come to life in the pages of “The Days of the French Revolution.” While other pieces may do an admirable job of putting the execution of King Louis XVI, for instance, into historical perspective and explaining the continent-wide political reverberations of the regicide, Hibbert recreates in stunning clarity the final hours of the ill-fated monarch’s life, from his last encounter with his family and receiving the Last Rites of the Catholic Church to his humiliating journey to the scaffold in a tumbril and his preternatural aplomb in facing the blade of the guillotine.In closing, if you already have a firm historical grasp of the French Revolution or are planning to read a more substantive general history, “The Days of the French Revolution” is an excellent resource that will add immensely to your understanding and appreciation of the period.

The French Revolution was a time of great upheaval for France and its colonies. It started with the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 and ended in the late 1790s with the ascension of Napoleon Bonaparte.The Days of the French Revolution starts with a brief overview of the reign of Louis XVI and ends with the rise of Bonaparte. Pulling from many sources, Hibbert brings this tumultuous period alive. There is a lot of good information here, but the arrogance of the author was a bit off putting.This book is a little dry and assumes you know French terms and the French government during this period. There is a glossary in the back that defines some of the terms but flipping back to the glossary made for a choppy read. If the French Revolution is something you know little about, which was the case for me, I would not recommend starting with this book.

Very good book for a very cheap price and coming a long way in the post.