With an Introduction by George Woodcock.

With the international celebrations of the French Revolution as background, the publication of Peter Kropotkin's classic with an introduction by George Woodcock represents the fulfilment of an important documentary need.

The turbulent upheaval that swept in the first mighty revolution in the West, and which had such far ranging consequences, has subsequently been described by a thousand differing pens. From the King's summoning of the Estates General in 1789 to the establishment of the Directory in 1793, the revolution has had many interpretations. But Kropotkin is among the very few who analyses this drama not only as a complex interplay of its leading personalities or a chain of political decisions made from above; rather, he penetrates this surface confusion to describe a great reordering of the economic bases of the ancien régime by the mass of urban workers and the peasantry. He saw the redistribution of land impeded at every step by an aggrandising middle class and by the forces of the counter-revolution inside and outside France.

Kropotkin, as a true historian, was not concerned with merely the period he discussed. He saw it as a climax in a long past and future development. The result is a very skillful and absorbing book, with great momentum, an active and readable style, and a capable use of a mass of details regarding the most obscure but no less important aspects of the French Revolution.

First published in 1909 and long out of print, The Great French Revolution is the finest historical writing from the fluent pen of Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921). The introduction by George Woodcock, the celebrated Canadian author, throws a modern light on the significance and scope of Kropotkin's contribution.

Table of Contents

An Introduction By George Woodcock

Preface

Chapter 1: The Two Great Currents of the Revolution

Chapter 2: The Idea

Chapter 3: Action

Chapter 4: The People before the Revolution

Chapter 5: The Spirit of Revolt: the Riots

Chapter 6: The Convocation of the States-General becomes Necessary

Chapter 7: The Rising of the Country Districts during the Opening Months of 1789

Chapter 8: Riots in Paris and its Environs

Chapter 9: The States-General

Chapter 10: Preparations for the Coup d'Etat

Chapter 11: Paris on the Eve of the Fourteenth

Chapter 12: The Taking of the Bastille

Chapter 13: The Consequences of July 14 at Versailles

Chapter 14: The Popular Uprisings

Chapter 15: The Towns

Chapter 16: The Peasant Uprising

Chapter 17: August 4 and its Consequences

Chapter 18: The Feudal Rights remain

Chapter 19: Deceleration of the Rights of Men

Chapter 20: The Fifth and Sixth of October 1789

Chapter 21: Fears of the Middle Classes – the New Municipal Organization

Chapter 22: Financial Difficulties – Sale of Church Property

Chapter 23: The Fete of the Federation

Chapter 24: The “Districts” and the “Sections” of Paris

Chapter 25: The Sections of Paris Under the New Municipal Law

Chapter 26: Delays in the Abolition of the Feudal Rights

Chapter 27: Feudal Legislation in 1790

Chapter 28: Arrest over the Revolution in 1790

Chapter 29: The Flight of the King – Reaction – End of the Constituent Assembly

Chapter 30: The Legislative Assembly – Reaction in 1791-1792

Chapter 31: The Counter-Revolution in the South of France

Chapter 32: The Twentieth of June 1792

Chapter 33: The Tenth of August: Its Immediate Consequences

Chapter 34: The Interregnum – The Betrayals

Chapter 35: The September Days

Chapter 36: The Convention – The Commune – The Jacobins

Chapter 37: The Government – Conflict with the Convention – The War

Chapter 38: The Trial of the King

Chapter 39: The “Mountain” and the “Gironde”

Chapter 40: Attempts of the Girondins to Stop the Revolution

Chapter 41: The “Anarchists”

Chapter 42: The Cause of the Rising on May 31

Chapter 43: Social Demands – State of Feeling in Paris – Lyons

Chapter 44: The War – The Rising in La Vendée – The Trecher