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This is a new release of the original 1930 edition.
The object of this book is similar to that with which, a few years
ago, I wrote a short biography of Napoleon. The main outlines of
the Revolution, the proportion and relation of things, tend to
become obscured under the accumulation of historical detail that is
now proceeding. This is an attempt, therefore, to disentangle from
the mass of details the shape, the movement, the significance of
this great historical cataclysm. To keep the outline clear I have
deliberately avoided mentioning the names of many subordinate
actors; thinking that if nothing essential was connected with them
the mention of their names would only tend to confuse matters.
Similarly with incidents, I have omitted a few, such as the
troubles at Avignon, and changed the emphasis on others, judging
freely their importance and not following the footsteps of my
predecessors, as in the case of the capture of the Bastille, the
importance of which was vastly exaggerated by early writers on the
subject.
1930. The book, with the exception of the few bracketed passages,
is derived entirely from Napoleon's own words, written and spoken
and in journal form. What truth this book conveys is not to be
sought according to those rules for the treatment of historical
documents which it avowedly contravenes, but in such psychological
illumination of a great career and character as the method employed
has rendered possible. For objectively Napoleon rarely, if ever,
speaks the truth; yet subjectively how can he speak otherwise?
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