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British Radicalism and the French Revolution, 1789-1815
Book by Dickinson, H. T.
- GenresHistory
96 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1985
8 people want to read
About the author
Harry T. Dickinson
36 books6 followersHarry Thomas Dickinson FRSE is an English historian specialising in British eighteenth century politics. He obtained his BA and MA from the University of Durham and his PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 5, 2018
I've just reread this short work on the influence of the Jacobins on the British Isles. In a full, fair and frank manner, Dickinson dissects the various groups and disturbances of this age to give measured judgements on what exactly their natures were. Much more interesting, educational and believable than the polemics which would have you believe a second revolution nearly happened here, or those that ignore, or downplay, any dissent.
December 30, 2018
Review to follow...
February 15, 2014
This deceptively slender book (it has the format of a French Que-sais-je ?) is densely packed with useful information on the British radicals and their impact (or lack thereof) on the British political system during the French Revolution.
After presenting the parliamentary reform movements before the 1790s, H. T. Dickinson explains how the French Revolution was a major catalyst of change in the sense that reformers in England, Scotland and Ireland now crouched their demands for reform not in terms of restoring political rights and liberties from a golden age but in new and revolutionary terms of natural rights and equality of all men, Paine being the most important author in this regard. H. T. Dickinson then presents the different radical associations, their modus operandi (newspapers, tracts, pamphlets, correspondence with other societies), their membership (a leadership from the upper classes, a membership from the middle classes of shopkeepers and artisans and very few workers, contrary to what has been sometimes claimed) and their achievements, which were very thin.
Indeed, and this is probably the greatest interest of this book, Dickinson then takes great care in explaining why the radicalism of the 1790s was, on the whole, a failure: its lack of connexion with the nascent working classes, its refusal (except for the Irish) to commit itself to a revolution (whether armed or not) and, especially, the strength of the counter-attack from the political elite in the form of legal repression, governmental persecution and the immensely popular conservative ideology (with Burke in the forefront) that sprung in defence of the King, Lords and Commons political system and in favour of the British aristocratic society. Conservatism won over radicalism because it highlighted very successfully the contrast between the prosperity of Britain against the supposed anarchy and misery of revolutionary France and because it took great pain to depict all French leaders and their British radicals admirers, as politically inept, driven by ambition and corruption, since the collapse of the old order was synonymous with the removal of all previous social barriers that kept in check such unworthy men. By 1797-8, radicalism was all but defeated, reduced to a crippled and almost ridiculous number.
Finally, Dickinson finishes with a chapter on the later radical "revivals" of the early 1800 (1800-03) most notably through the Despard Conspiracy and Emmet Rising and of 1809-1812, though he ends abruptly without concluding in any way his presentation of British radicalism. Neither the ongoing campaign of the late 1810s and 1820s are mentioned nor the Great Reform Act of 1832 or the Chartist movement. Admittedly, it fell out of the subject of this boo (since the French Revolution had ended) but I would have liked then that Dickison better defined his chronological scope and, in so doing, took greater care to explain what was radicalism and what was his legacy in the long term in the British political system and in British society.
Also, while Dickinson, because of the constraints of the book format, must be very general in his presentation, I nonetheless regret the absence of a more detailed explanation of the link between religion and discontent and radicalism (English, Scottish and Irish Dissenters, Irish Catholics) and, to the contrary, between religion and loyalism (Anglicanism).
Yet, despite its failings, this book is a very useful one for anyone interested in the British radicalism in the sense that it gives a good synthesis of the research on the subject (though it is now a little bit old already) and offers clues to further readings.
After presenting the parliamentary reform movements before the 1790s, H. T. Dickinson explains how the French Revolution was a major catalyst of change in the sense that reformers in England, Scotland and Ireland now crouched their demands for reform not in terms of restoring political rights and liberties from a golden age but in new and revolutionary terms of natural rights and equality of all men, Paine being the most important author in this regard. H. T. Dickinson then presents the different radical associations, their modus operandi (newspapers, tracts, pamphlets, correspondence with other societies), their membership (a leadership from the upper classes, a membership from the middle classes of shopkeepers and artisans and very few workers, contrary to what has been sometimes claimed) and their achievements, which were very thin.
Indeed, and this is probably the greatest interest of this book, Dickinson then takes great care in explaining why the radicalism of the 1790s was, on the whole, a failure: its lack of connexion with the nascent working classes, its refusal (except for the Irish) to commit itself to a revolution (whether armed or not) and, especially, the strength of the counter-attack from the political elite in the form of legal repression, governmental persecution and the immensely popular conservative ideology (with Burke in the forefront) that sprung in defence of the King, Lords and Commons political system and in favour of the British aristocratic society. Conservatism won over radicalism because it highlighted very successfully the contrast between the prosperity of Britain against the supposed anarchy and misery of revolutionary France and because it took great pain to depict all French leaders and their British radicals admirers, as politically inept, driven by ambition and corruption, since the collapse of the old order was synonymous with the removal of all previous social barriers that kept in check such unworthy men. By 1797-8, radicalism was all but defeated, reduced to a crippled and almost ridiculous number.
Finally, Dickinson finishes with a chapter on the later radical "revivals" of the early 1800 (1800-03) most notably through the Despard Conspiracy and Emmet Rising and of 1809-1812, though he ends abruptly without concluding in any way his presentation of British radicalism. Neither the ongoing campaign of the late 1810s and 1820s are mentioned nor the Great Reform Act of 1832 or the Chartist movement. Admittedly, it fell out of the subject of this boo (since the French Revolution had ended) but I would have liked then that Dickison better defined his chronological scope and, in so doing, took greater care to explain what was radicalism and what was his legacy in the long term in the British political system and in British society.
Also, while Dickinson, because of the constraints of the book format, must be very general in his presentation, I nonetheless regret the absence of a more detailed explanation of the link between religion and discontent and radicalism (English, Scottish and Irish Dissenters, Irish Catholics) and, to the contrary, between religion and loyalism (Anglicanism).
Yet, despite its failings, this book is a very useful one for anyone interested in the British radicalism in the sense that it gives a good synthesis of the research on the subject (though it is now a little bit old already) and offers clues to further readings.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews