Outline the main interpretations of the French Revolution
Uploaded by Kerrytom on Aug 10, 2013
The French Revolution was the fundamental event of European history in the eighteenth century. There are two main interpretations of its causes and consequences. These are firstly, the Classic or Marxist interpretation and secondly, the Revisionist interpretation. These two interpretations differ substantially to each other in explaining the origins of the Revolution.
The Classic interpretation of the Revolution is a view that was held by many historians for much of the twentieth century. These notably included French historians Georges Lefebvre and Albert Soboul. They viewed the Revolution in socioeconomic terms. This concept asserts that the Revolution was a bourgeois revolution, driven by class conflict, which swept away the political structures of feudalism and cleared the way for the development of capitalism. This viewpoint maintains that “The Revolution is the culmination of a long social evolution, itself economically driven. It marks a turning point in economic history, too: the transition from feudalism to capitalism.”
There is a clear distension between classes in this interpretation and in particular the bourgeois and the nobility are in definite conflict. This is an essential element to this opinion because they see the Revolution as a conflict between capitalism and feudalism, which are represented by the bourgeoisie and nobility classes. The cause of the social revolution was that the bourgeoisie classes were becoming increasingly wealthy because of the growth of industry, commerce and capitalism, yet were unable to match this economic dominance with social and political power. “Marx himself had written little directly on the Revolution, but it was easy enough to fit a movement which had begun with an attack on nobles and feudalism into a theory of history that emphasized class struggle and the conflict between capitalism and feudalism. The French revolution from this viewpoint was the key moment in modern history, when the capitalist bourgeoisie overthrew the old feudal nobility. The fundamental questions about it were therefore economic and social.” Historians like Lefebvre and Soboul viewed the revolutionaries as the people who freed France from the economic shackles of the past and made France a safe place for capitalism.
The Revisionist interpretation on the Revolution began in the nineteen fifties, with its first advocator being English historian, Alfred Cobban. This point of view sought to challenge the long held views of the Revolution held in Marxist circles. It questioned the Classic interpretation and aimed to destroy many of the opinions held....