The Global Ramifications of the French Revolution (Woodrow Wilson Center Press)

This collection of essays is the first to examine the impact of the French Revolution. The legacy of the French Revolution extends far beyond the borders of France or even Europe-the ramifications of the Revolution of 1789 are truly global and continue to have an impact today. Although the French Revolution was a response to purely domestic concerns, it was immediately noted at the time by observers and many participants that its ideals were universal in scope and that its message traveled well. As a model for both discourse and action, it helped usher in a new age, one we still live in today, of nationalism, constitutional government, mass politics, citizen armies, and popular sovereignty. Twelve authorities analyze the historical and ongoing impact of the French Revolution on American political culture, nationalism and freedom in Eastern Europe, Russian intellectual life, colonial bondage, Middle East politics, the Mexican Revolution, and Chinese socialism. The central organizing concept of this volume is that the legacy of the French Revolution extends far beyond the borders of France or even Europe. Indeed, the ramifications of the Revolution of 1789 are truly global and continue to have an impact today. Although the French Revolution was a response to purely domestic concerns, it was immediately noted at the time by observers and many participants that its ideals were universal in scope and that its message traveled well. As a model both for discourse and for action, the Revolution helped usher in a new age - one we still live in today - of nationalism, constitutional government, mass politics, citizen armies, and popular sovereignty. This collection is the first to examine the impact of the French Revolution on a global scale. While many books have described the continuing effects of the Revolution on France in modern times or its impact on nearby European countries, until now there have been surprisingly few examinations of the Revolution's role as model and as metaphor in areas outside Western Europe. The essays in this book fill that gap by considering the French Revolution's immediate and long-term effects in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North and sub-Saharan Africa, and East Asia. With contributions by leading scholars in their fields, this collection adds a new dimension to our consciousness of the ongoing effects of events in France two hundred years ago Examines the influence of the French Revolution on the global scale, identifies the ideals of that incident as universal, and proposes that the influences of that event can still be witnessed in today's world Lively debates about the French Revolution and its impact filled scholarly journals and book reviews during the bicentennial period.