The furies : violence and terror in the French and Russian Revolutions
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Bibliographic Information
The furies : violence and terror in the French and Russian Revolutions
Princeton University Press, c2000
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Includes biblographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The great romance and fear of bloody revolution - a strange blend of idealism and terror - have been superseded by blind faith in the bloodless expansion of human rights and global capitalism. Flying in the face of history, violence is dismissed as rare, immoral and counterproductive. Arguing against this pervasive wishful thinking, Arno J. Mayer revisits the two most tumultuous and influential revolutions of modern times: the French Revolution of 1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1917. Although these two upheavals arose in different environments, they followed similar courses. The thought and language of Enlightenment France were the glories of western civilization; those of tsarist Russia's intelligentsia were on its margins. Both revolutions began as revolts vowed to fight unreason, injustice and inequality; both swept away old regimes and defied established religions in societies that were 85 per cent peasant and illiterate; both entailed the terrifying return of repressed vengeance. Contrary to prevalent belief, Mayer argues, ideologies and personalities did not control events.
Rather, the tide of violence overwhelmed the political actors who assumed power and were rudderless
Table of Contents
Preface xiii Introduction 3 PART ONE CONCEPTUAL SIGNPOSTS 1. Revolution 23 2. Counterrevolution 45 3. Violence 71 4. Terror 93 5. Vengeance 126 6. Religion 141 PART TWO CRESCENDO OF VIOLENCE 7. The Return of Vengeance: Terror in France, 1789-95 171 8. In the Eye of a "Time of Troubles": Terror in Russia, 1917-21 227 PART THREE METROPOLITAN CONDESCENSION AND RURAL DISTRUST 9. Peasant War in France: The Vendee 323 10. Peasant War in Russia: Ukraine and Tambov 371 PART FOUR THE SACRED CONTESTED 11. Engaging the Gallican Church and the Vatican 413 12. Engaging the Russian Orthodox Church 449 13. Perils of Emancipation: Protestants and Jews in the Revolutionary Whirlwind 483 PART FIVE A WORLD UNHINGED 14. Externalization of the French Revolution: The Napoleonic Wars 533 15. Internalization of the Russian Revolution: Terror in One Country 607 Index 703
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