"For two generations following the overthrow of the absolutist monarchy in France in 1789, European history was punctuated by political upheavals until in 1848 the continent was swept by revolutionary fervour. Britain alone of the major western powers seemed exempt. Why was this? The governing class at the time attributed it to divine providence and the soundness of a constitution already perfected by revolution in 1688. For a century, historians echoed this Victorian complacency about the superiority of the British and dismissed revolutionary outbursts as mere economic protest or the work of trouble-makers. Extensive evidence for revolutionary plotting was dismissed as the product of the fevered imaginations of government spies. This book builds on scholarship, which has challenged this view, and asks the reader to suspend hindsight and take seriously the threat of revolution, from the English Jacobins of the 1790s and the Luddites of 1812 to the Chartists of 1839-48. If the threat was real, the assertion that ""Britain was different"" ceases to be adequate, so the final section probes more deeply, drawing on recent research to show how the revolutionaries were defeated by the government's propaganda against revolutionary sentiments and the strength of popular conservatism."
By:
Edward Royle
Other:
Rebecca Mortimer
Imprint: Manchester Univ. Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
Spine: 13mm
Weight: 295g
ISBN: 9780719048036
ISBN 10: 0719048036
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 28 December 2000
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
,
A / AS level
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Part 1. Sedition and Treason, 1792-1820 The impact of the revolution in France Plots, real or imagined, 1793-1795 United Irish, English and Scotsmen, 1795-1803 The seriousness of the threat Luddism The post-war crisis, 1817 From Peterloo to Cato Street and Bonnymuir Conclusion Part 2. Revolution or reform, 1830-1832 The Reform Bill crisis Political unions and urban riots The Welsh rising, 1831 Rural unrest Conclusion Part 3, 1837-1848 The first Chartist crisis, 1839-1840 The Monmouthshire and Yorkshire risings The second Chartist crisis, 1842 The third Chartist crisis, 1848 Conclusion Part 4, Why was there no revolution The nature of the popular movement Geography and the problem of London Loyalism and the silent majority The cohesion of social welfare Religion The strength of the state The authority of the law The forces of order Conclusion Appendix: Wheat and bread prices, 1790-1850 Select bibliography Index -- .
Edward Royle is Professor of History at the University of York -- .
