Origins of the French Revolution

by William Doyle

This new edition of the acclaimed 1981 study of the origins of the French Revolution remains a provocative and up-to-date synthesis of the important work on this complex topic. Incorporating the wealth of research that has appeared over the last eight years, Doyle presents a detailed analysis
of the ancien régime and the struggle for power that followed its disappearance.

Genres: History, French Revolution, Nonfiction, France, European History, 18th Century, Politics

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

William Doyle is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Bristol.

Reviews

[Rindis · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the quotes from the back of my second edition copy is "...if you believe in drowning freshmen in significant works, then by all means drown them in this one." Which is pretty much how I got it, as it was one of three things assigned in a course on the French Revolution. I don't remember the other two, but held onto this as it was easily the best book of the lot.

This relatively small book is broken into three pieces of unequal size. The first is more of a (very) lengthy essay, that talks about the historiography of the origins of the French Revolution, starting with Georges Lefebvre's work in 1939 which solidified opinion on the subject for about two decades. There's a good run down of how the extremely classist/Marxist view got chipped away, and then finally overturned... with a lot of 'it's far more complicated than that' analysis. In all, it's interesting, and one of the reasons I've kept the book. (This introduction is also apparently updated in the third edition.)

Then the main part of the book breaks down into two parts, with the first covering the attempts of the French monarchy to deal with a financial crisis caused by massive debts and a period of unstable harvests, through the collapse of its credit during 1788. Jacques Necker is called back in as finance minister, but he acts as more of a caretaker, deciding that only the Estates General can have the authority to solve the crisis.

This causes a power vacuum that various factions try to fill, and the book ends with looks at the Estates General, Paris, and the peasantry. It finishes with a look at the work of the National Assembly and the principles it promoted, showing that they are not the aspirations of any one group, and addressed issues far from the complaints that had been registered during the election of the Estates General. It doesn't offer any central thesis beyond that no one had planned for this situation, and had little in the way of coherent ideas of how to proceed in the face of a collapse in positive central power. Which was largely the point of the introductory essay as well. Trying to treat the 'estates' as coherent wholes ignores the internal divisions where large chunks of the nobles or bourgeoisie had more in common with each other than with the rest of their supposed class.

It's a short, coherent book that makes a great guide to about a three year period, and the various pressures France was facing, and an excellent introduction to the subject.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Always hard to put a star rating on a book like this, which is very dense and quite dry but also extremely thoroughly researched and convincingly argued. In the end, I just gave it four stars as a baseline and subtracted half a star for every time Doyle uses the word 'vicissitudes.'

[Talmadge East · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although not one of my favorites, I did like this book. My main criticism is in the beginning (the first chapter in particular). Doyle wastes too much space talking about previous historians thoughts on the basis for the revolution, but not thoroughly explaining their positions or shifts in position. Once you get past that, which is more of an introduction anyway, the book is quite good.

[Kevin Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consisting of two distinct portions, a historical review of attitudes towards the Revolution and the history of the origin of the aforesaid revolution, William Doyle's "Origins of the French Revolution" is a fine general overview of the main trends and events that led to that cataclysmic of all political revolutions, the French Revolution. Indeed, this book nicely sums up both the academic views of the revolution and the actual historical events. Defined by its easy avoidance of cliches and cant, this history delineates how the revolution was 'stumbled' upon by its actors, as diverse as they were, from recalcitrant nobles to aspiring bourgeois, and how it was the peasantry that pushed France irretrievably into a future which few of the actors imagined going towards when France initially edged towards chaos in the early years of the 18th century. All the actors are here: Necker, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Franklin, and Calonne. Any and all interested in the history of Europe in this time period will enjoy this wonderfully small yet essential tome.

[Xanth.Kath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and clearly organized- has a great few chapters on historiography at the beginning. I wouldn't recommend it as a for-fun read though, as it's quite dry.

[Hank Martinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seriously could have benefited from a glossary.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, as a history book it was very good. His writing however was not overly gripping and could definitely have been improved on. He was very knowledgeable, though. Great observations.

[Jack Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what else I would expect but very dry - although level of detail and analysis is generally good. Seems to have a gripe against the Marxist viewpoint which he views as outdated

[haryii · Rating 5 out of 5]

definitely gonna re-read

[Joe Hooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough analysis. The first half was somewhat disorderly.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very helpful survey. Doyle begins with an overview of the historiography (classic/revisionist/postrevisionist takes on the French Revolution). Then he synthesizes available information on various aspects of French politics and society in the years leading up to the Revolution. In the end, Doyle's account emphasizes contingency and coincidence. The Revolution appears as a sort of accident that surprised the revolutionaries as much as anyone else. The only problem in this book is that it ends at 1789 -- after the Revolution was in full motion, but before anyone was quite sure what it was about.

[Harpal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, for the novice and the well versed. Doyle begins with a review of 20th century historiography of the French Revolution, summarized in about 50 pages. Frankly, I think this is the most useful part of the book and certainly the most bang for your buck. He then goes on to give a narrative account of the revolution, with some chapters decidedly less analytic than others, but I suppose that's standard. Not a quick read, but not a long one either. I don't recommend it as a survey for someone interested in the broad implications or consequences of the revolution, since it doesn't deal with that at all. But I suppose that ought to be clear from the title.

[Elsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this with (in retrospect) too little knowledge of the French Revolution, and so I found his style threateningly dense. I think if I had skipped this historiography first chapter, I might have been better off. On the whole it was incredibly insightful and well argued- I kept coming back to it, and making far too many notes! Used this a lot for my EPQ.

[Pterodactyl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doyle gives a good summary of the causes of the French Revolution. Excellent book if you're looking for a survey of the events of 1986-89, or if you're interested in some of the debates that have come up on the history of the Revolution from the 1940's to the 1980's.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Succint and badass. A brief three-chapter introduction looks over the wackiness of historiographical traditions on the Rev', as I like to call it. The rest of this tight, savvy work lays out the different social components of the shifizzle and concurrent happenins. Good shit...good shit...

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent summation of events and trends that caused the old order to breakdown.

[Windsor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh

[Anthony Zupancic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doyle finally put together a revisionist explanation of the origins of the French rev.

[WaldenOgre · Rating 4 out of 5]

关于大革命的起源，解释得比较清晰而全面。“法国大革命并不是由革命者创造的。大革命创造了革命者，这样说可能更合理。”