This book investigates the impact of revolution on the French from the Revolution of 1789 to its centenary in 1889. It explores specific and linking factors in the main revolts and how historians have differed in their explanations. Revolution has been explained in a multitude of ways from economic, social, philosophic, a range of identities including religion, race and gender, contingency, emotions, and most recently global factors. The nineteenth-century French state was threatened by an unprecedented number of revolts. What impact did the 1789 Revolution have on nineteenth-century events? Why were there so many revolutions at the time? Were there common factors? Were non-revolutionary issues as significant or more significant in provoking change? Why was it that insurrection was rarer in the second half of the century when revolutionary rhetoric was more prolific? The book weighs political and philosophical differences, lack of trust and willingness to compromise, economic, social, cultural issues, urban geography, archaeology and contingency. The final section presents some contemporary explanations, written and visual. This book will be essential reading for A-level and undergraduate historians of France and Europe and will be of interest to general readers keen to understand the impact of revolutions in the modern world.

This book investigates the impact of revolution on the French from the Revolution of 1789 to its centenary in 1889. It explores specific and linking factors in the main revolts and how historians have differed in their explanations. Revolution has been explained in a multitude of ways from economic, social, philosophic, a range of identities including religion, race and gender, contingency, emotions, and most recently global factors. The nineteenth-century French state was threatened by an unprecedented number of revolts. What impact did the 1789 Revolution have on nineteenth-century events? Why were there so many revolutions at the time? Were there common factors? Were non-revolutionary issues as significant or more significant in provoking change? Why was it that insurrection was rarer in the second half of the century when revolutionary rhetoric was more prolific? The book weighs political and philosophical differences, lack of trust and willingness to compromise, economic, social, cultural issues, urban geography, archaeology and contingency. The final section presents some contemporary explanations, written and visual. This book will be essential reading for A-level and undergraduate historians of France and Europe and will be of interest to general readers keen to understand the impact of revolutions in the modern world.

Themes in Modern European History 1780-1830 is an authoritative and lively exploration of a period dominated by events which have shaped modern Europe. In a series of articles, six leading academics present some controversial conclusions:
* the east/west contrast in Europe today has more to do with responses to the French Revolution of 1789 than the Russian Revolution of 1917
* the conservative Europe of 1814 was the product of the Romantic imagnation, not a `Restoration' of the old regime

Spanning political, social, economic and demographic facets of revolutions, this is an indispensable textbook for all students of the nineteenth century, and for all those interested in understanding the nature of Europe today.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203185145

The success of Madame Tussaud's, from its beginnings in Paris before the French Revolution to its prolonged fame as a popular tourist attraction in London, bears out the fascination of waxworks. Yet Madame Tussaud was by no means the inventor of wax figures or their only exhibitor. Wax heads and models had been used since Roman times and were used for saints' statues by the Catholic Church and for anatomical teaching. There were also many rival shows, often travelling from town to town, as Tussaud's did for its first thirty years in England. Pamela Pilbeam sees Madame Tussaud herself and her exhibition as part of the wider history of wax modelling and of popular entertainment. Tussaud's catered for the public's fascination with monarchy, whether Henry VIII and his wives or Queen Victoria, as well as for their love of history, acting as an accessible and enjoyable museum (but also providing the perennial fascination of the Chamber of Horrors.)