I'm reading Jeremy Popkin's history of the French Revolution. Being a medievalist, I knew the period only tangentially, but enough so that the torrent of names and terms that appear here did not overwhelm the narrative. But what an extraordinary time! There are movie-worthy events every chapter or two. More than that, the range of influences, of precedents, and of accomplishment has really struck me. These people were inventing an entirely new concept of nation even as they were busy tearing each other apart and even as they were taking on Europe's greatest powers, all at the same time. It's astonishing they made it past the first year.
I'm going to have to revisit Hobsbawm's Age of Revolution now. I read it a long time ago (at my age, pretty much everything happened a long time ago) and was deeply impressed by the work. Then add another re-read: Eugen Weber's Peasants into Frenchmen, another brilliant work. That should keep me busy for a while.
Anyway, does anyone have a recommendation for the French revolutionary wars? I keep reading about unexpected victories by the armies of the revolution, but I don't get the military history account of them. Here again, the new Republic was madly building the airplane as they flew, this time inventing an entire army system. Just astonishing.
I'm going to have to revisit Hobsbawm's Age of Revolution now. I read it a long time ago (at my age, pretty much everything happened a long time ago) and was deeply impressed by the work. Then add another re-read: Eugen Weber's Peasants into Frenchmen, another brilliant work. That should keep me busy for a while.
Anyway, does anyone have a recommendation for the French revolutionary wars? I keep reading about unexpected victories by the armies of the revolution, but I don't get the military history account of them. Here again, the new Republic was madly building the airplane as they flew, this time inventing an entire army system. Just astonishing.
