The Real Story of the French Revolution

The French Revolution was a period of radical political and societal change in the eighteenth century. Everyone knows about the guillotine and the grisly processions of tumbrils, but less is generally appreciated about the much greater violence in provincial France. This book examines the beliefs and assumptions about the French Revolution which have become popularised in films and novels but also accepted in standard accounts to see if they stand up to scrutiny. There is no attempt to deny the intense drama of the whole revolutionary period but rather to separate myth and reality. There are chapters on the development of the constitutional monarchy and its failure and also on the tragic period of the Terror which for many is the most characteristic period. The role of women in this period is one of huge turmoil as well as the impact of the Revolution on the French colonies and in particular Saint-Domingue in the West Indies. This book looks at the leading figure in the Haitian Revolut