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The Myths of the French Revolution
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16016 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1989 |
6,192 Words |
| Author
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Nicholas Capaldi
Nicholas Capaldi is editor of Public Affairs Quarterly and is
McFarlin Endowed Professor of Philosophy at the University of
Tulsa in Oklahoma. |
For the past two centuries the so-called French Revolution has been the focus of an enormous amount of attention both inside and outside France. The importance of the Revolution can hardly be overestimated, not just for the French, who must somehow make sense of it as part of their history, but for anyone who takes the political consequences of ideas seriously. The interpretation one holds of the French Revolution has come to reflect one's political philosophy as a whole. How did one historical event, or more properly, series of events, come to dominate political thought and reflect such deep divisions?
Any serious answer to these questions must begin with the elimination of several long-standing myths. The first myth is that there was a single identifiable event that can be labeled the French Revolution. The apparent plausibility of the claim that there was a French Revolution derives from the dire warnings, utopian hopes, and prophetic statements made about the impending doom of the Bourbon dynasty for almost a century in advance of the events in question. Nevertheless, there is nothing in French history corresponding to the American Declaration of Independence of July fourth. A look at the chronology will reveal just how checkered were the political events in France between 1787 and 1799.
One of the more serious attempts to impose some sort of unity on these events was Georges Lefebvre's Marxist-inspired claim that there were in effect three separate revolutions--namely, the revolt of the nobility against the king, marked by the convening of the Estates-General; the revolt of the bourgeoisie against the nobility, marked by the transformation of the Estates-General into the National Assembly; and, finally, the radical revolt against the bourgeoisie, marked by the attack on the Tuileries. If, however, we employ seriously the notion that revolution is a major change in governmental political power, then any number of revolutions or subrevolutions could be identified during this period and subsequently:
1. The convening of the Estates-General on May 5, 1789
2. The National Assembly of June 17, 1789
3. The National Constituent Assembly of July 9, 1789
4. The Legislative Assembly of October 1, 1789
5. The National Convention of
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