Revolutions and the Collapse of the Monarchy: Human Agency and the Making of Revolution in France, Russia and Iran (International Library of Historical Studies)

What caused revolution among the last major monarchies of the modern period? Why were Louis XVI, Nicholas II and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi all overthrown and was this the result of their historical background or individual action? This powerful and original book is the first comparative study of the implosion of the monarchical regimes in Bourbon France, Romanov Russia and Pahlavi Iran. Seeking to understand fully the causes and timing of the French, Russian and Iranian revolutions, Shakibi examines the complex interaction between the personality and behavior of the monarchs and the different problems faced by their regimes which turned a potentially revolutionary situation into the revolutions which engulfed France in the eighteenth century, Russia in 1917 and Iran in 1978-8. Drawing on a huge amount of primary and archival research throughout the world, Revolutions and the Collapse of the Monarchy argues that it is human agency which often provides the vital spark which produces revolution. An ambitious and important counter-blast to traditional theories of revolution. "What causes revolution? What brought about the end of the last major monarchies of the modern period? Were Louis XVI, Nicholas II, and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi the unwitting victims of historical circumstance, or did their own actions help to bring about the revolutions that overthrew them? This powerful and original book is the first comparative study of the revolutions in Bourbon France, Romanov Russia and Pahlavi Iran. Zhand Shakibi analyses fully the timing and causes of these three revolutions and reveals the important similarities between them. He identifies key elements in the personality of each monarch, some developed as early as childhood, that influenced the course of later events, and examines the complex interaction between the personality and behaviour of each and the different problems faced by their respective regimes. While these rulers and their regimes differed in many ways, Shakibi demonstrates how there are also many important underlying similarities and explains what these similarities mean for revolution theory. Revolutions and the Collapse of the Monarchy argues provocatively that it is often the monarch's own personality that provides the vital spark which produces revolution. This ambitious and important book challenges the Marxist interpretation of history and adds a compelling new perspective to theories of revolution."--Bloomsbury Publishing A study of the revolutions in Bourbon France, Romanov Russia and Pahlavi Iran. This book argues that it is often the monarch's own personality that provides the vital spark which produces revolution. It challenges the Marxist interpretation of history and adds another perspective to theories of revolution. Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre, Nicholas II, Tsar and Autocrat of all the Russias, and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shahanshah of Iran and Light of the Aryans, have gone down in history as ill-fated men destined to watch helplessly as a revolutionary wav