Interpreting the French Revolution 052123574X, 0521280494

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This book is published as part of the joint publishing agreement established in 1977 between the Fondation de la Maison des Sciences de Homme and the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. Titles published under this arrangement may appear in any European language or, in the case of volumes of collected essays, in several languages. New books will appear either as individual titles or in one of the series which the Maison des Sciences de 1Homme and the Cambridge University Press have jointly agreed to publish. All books published jointly by the Maison des Sciences de Homme and the Cambridge University Press will be distributed by the Press throughout the world.

Cet ouvrage est publié dans le cadre de l’accord de co-édition passé en 1977 entre la Fondation de la Maison des Sciences de Homme et le Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. Toutes les langues européennes sont admises pour les titres couverts par cet accord, et les ouvrages collectifs peuvent paraitre en plusieurs langues. Les ouvrages paraissent soit isolément, soit dans l’une des séries que la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme et Cambridge University Press ont convenu de publier ensemble. La distribution dans le monde entier des titres ainsi publiés conjointement par les deux établissements est assurée par Cambridge University Press.

Interpreting the French Revolution FRANCOIS

FURET

TRANSLATED

CAMBRIDGE

BY

ELBORG

FORSTER

UNIVERSITY

PRESS

Cambridge London

New York

New Rochelle

EDITIONS DE LA MAISON DES Paris

Melbourne

Sydney

SCIENCES

DE

L’HOMME

Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP 32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022, USA 296 Beaconsfield Parade, Middle Park, Melbourne 3206, Australia and

Editions de la Maison des Sciences de Homme 54 Boulevard Raspail, 75270 Paris Cedex 06 Originally published in French as Penser la Révolution Frangaise by Editions Gallimard Paris, 1978, and © Editions Gallimard 1978.

First published in English by the Maison des Sciences de Homme and the Cambridge University Press, 1981 as Interpreting the French Revolution

English translation © Maison des Sciences de ’Homme and Cambridge University Press 1981 Printed in Malta by Interprint Limited British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Furet, Francois Interpreting the French Revolution. 1. France — History — Revolution, 1789-1799 — Historiography I. Title II. Penser la Révolution frangaise, English

944.04

DC155

80-42290

ISBN 0 521 23574 X hard covers

ISBN 0 521 28049 4 paperback

Let us set our souls free to revolutionise the Revolution and, above all, let us resolve never to accuse an impartial mind of

insulting the Revolution. For the term ‘insult to Religion’ has been so abused that we shall strike it from our language, since nothing is to be more avoided than the style and cast of mind of a public prosecutor when they are brought into historical and philosophical criticism. Edgar Quinet, Critique de la Révolution (Paris, 1867)

Contents

page 1x

Preface Part I:

The French

Revolution is over

Part II: Three approaches to the history of the French Revolution 1 The Revolutionary catechism 2 De Tocqueville and the problem of the French Revolution 3 Augustin Cochin: the theory of Jacobinism

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