ABSTRACT
Historians sometimes set themselves the task of providing a comprehensive, systematic description of some historical subject. Richard Pipes begins his monumental history The Russian Revolution 1899-1919 (1990) thus: ‘This book is the first attempt in any language to present a comprehensive view of the Russian Revolution, arguably the most important event of the century’ (p. 1). Historians have described all manner of revolutions, not only political and social, but scientific, industrial and cultural as well. Other popular events for descriptive analysis are wars, both international and civil.
