Product Description

This important new study offers an in-depth analysis of the military and political progress of the Revolutionary armies, paying special attention to the legacy of the old regime, the remarkable resilience displayed by the old regime powers, the reasons for the revolutionaries' success on land--and the reasons for their failure at sea.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #798141 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03-29
• Released on: 1996-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review

"...a superb work of historiography. Far more ambitious than its modest title suggests, it is a history of the French Revolution as well as a military and diplomatic history of Europe from 1787 to 1802....this book is more than a tour de force of erudition. It is a richly textured, engaging narrative punctuated by cogent, often brilliant analysis."--France Review of Books

About the Author
T. C. W. Blanning, Professor of Modern European History, Cambridge University.

Customer Reviews

good account of sometimes overlooked wars
The wars between Revolutionary France and the other European states before the Peace of Amiens are sometimes neglected compared to the succeeding Napoleonic Wars. This book provides a good account of these wars and explains lucidly the connection between events in western and eastern Europe. The author also shows how the book both arose from domestic French politics and helped shape them. What I found particularly interesting was the sagacity of Robespierre - his comments about "No-one loves armed missionaries" and "You cannot export liberty at bayonet point" take on extra significance when one considers recent events in Iraq. The way in which wartime necessities were used to justify suppression of political and personal liberties also has an awful contemporary resonance. For anyone wanting a brief and readable account of these wars this is as far as I know the only one available. One complaint I would have is that the author could have used better maps, but this does not detract from what is an excellent account which all students of the period could benefit from reading.

Excellent book
This is an excellent book on the French revolution. I find myself using it often as a reference book. The chapter on the causes of the revolution, is very illuminating. I found the discussion of the Austrian and Prussian response to the revolution, and the reasons thereof, very well presented. Overall, a very good book.