The Road Not Taken: How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution, 1381 - 1926

Britain has not been successfully invaded since 1066; nor, in nearly 1,000 years has it known a true revolution – one that brings radical, systemic and enduring change. The contrast with Britain's European neighbours, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Russia, is dramatic – all have been convulsed by external warfare, revolution and civil war and experienced fundamental change to their ruling elites or social and economic structures. Frank McLynn takes seven occasions when Britain came closest to revolution: the Peasants' Revolt of 1381; the Jack Cade rebellion of 1450; the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536; the English Civil Wars of the 1640s; the Jacobite Rising of 1745-6; the Chartist Movement of 1838-48; and the General Strike of 1926. Why, at these dramatic turning points, did history finally fail to turn? McLynn examines Britain's history and themes of social, religious and political change to explain why social turbulence stopped short of revolution on so many occasions. * Britain has not been successfully invaded since 1066; nor, in nearly 1,000 years, has it known a true revolution - one that brings radical, systemic and enduring change. The contrast with her European neighbours - with France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece and Russia - is dramatic. All have been convulsed by external warfare, revolution and civil war - all have experienced fundamental change to their ruling elites or their social and economic structures.

* In The Road Not Taken Frank McLynn investigates the seven occasions when England came closest to revolution: the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, the Jack Cade rising of 1450, the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, the English Civil War of the 1640s, the Jacobite Rising of 1745-6, the Chartist Movement of 1838-48 and the General Strike of 1926.

* Mixes narrative and analysis, vividly recreating each episode and providing compelling explanations of why social turbulence stopped short of revolution.

* McLynn's powerful narrative explores massive themes of social, religious and political change over seven centuries of British history, and shows them at certain moments bursting forth to threaten the existing order.

* Why, at these dramatic turning-points, did history finally fail to turn? The actions of individuals at key moments had a huge influence, as he shows, but were there underlying currents in our history which have allowed Britain to evade the revolutions which engulfed its neighbours? This is the deeper question which Frank McLynn explores in this fascinating book. Britain has not been successfully invaded since 1066; nor, in nearly 1,000 years, has it known a true revolution -- one that brings radical, systemic and enduring change. The contrast with her European neighbours -- with France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece and Russia -- is dramatic. All have been convulsed by external warfare, revolution and civil war - all have experienced fundamental change to their ruling elites or their social and economic structures. In The Road Not Taken, Frank McLynn investigates the seven occasions when England came closest to revolution: the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, the Jack Cade rising of 1450, the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, the English Civil War of the 1640s, the Jacobite Rising of 1745-6, the Chartist Movement of 1838-50 and the General Strike of 1926. Mixing narrative and analysis, he vividly recreates each episode and provides compelling explanations of why social turbulence stopped short of revolution. McLynn takes issue with those who argue that great events do not have great causes -- that they happen not because of some titanic clash of systems -- the bourgeoisie versus the landed aristocracy or the oligarchy versus the gentry -- but because of accident -- the blunders and miscalculations of individual human beings. As well as suggesting causes for these seismic events and reasons for their ultimate collapse, he examines the underlying currents which have allowed England (and, since 1707, Scotland) to enjoy a continuity and stability unknown in almost every other country. - Publisher. Britain has not been successfully invaded since 1066; nor, in nearly 1,000 years, has it known a true revolution - one that brings radical, systemic and enduring change. The contrast with her European neighbours - with France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece and Russia - is dramatic. All have been convulsed by external warfare, revolution and civil war, all have experienced fundamental change to their ruling elites or their social and economic structures. In The Road Not Taken, Frank McLynn investigates the seven occasions when England came closest to revolution: the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, the Jack Cade rebellion of 1450, the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, the English Civil War of the 1640s, the Jacobite Rising of 1745-6, the Chartist Movement of 1838-48 and the General Strike of 1926. Mising narrative and analysis, he vividly recreates each episode and provides compelling explanations of why social turbulence stopped short of revolution The origins of the revolt of 1381 Failure and consequences of the Peasants' Revolt Jack Cade The Pilgrimage of Grace Treachery and debacle Cromwell and the Levellers England's revolution manqué? The Jacobite Rising of 1745 Evolutionary Jacobitism The advent of the Chartists Chartism's decline and fall The General Strike : prelude The General Strike and its enemies Towards the abyss Revolution's last chance