ABSTRACT
The French Revolution can best be understood as a huge release ofcivic energy. The flow began in 1787, reached a peak between 1789and 1795, and then ebbed slowly. Only in a very superficial sense is it accurate to describe this phenomenon as a series of events. In reality, the revolution was a process which had at its core the realisation by ordinary men and women that the human condition was not fixed until the end of time but could be changed, provided that sufficient amounts of effort, ingenuity and – yes – suffering were brought to bear. The shock of this realisation gripped the whole of French society; at intervals, it gripped large parts of continental Europe too; even in 1814-15, when throne and altar partnerships were restored in many states, it was not entirely eradicated. Once the French Revolution had happened, no government could find safe refuge in ‘the length of its continuance’ alone (Burke, 1790/1973: 149). The people were now poised to become the prime actors in their own historical drama. In this sense, the French Revolution marks the dividing line between the medieval and the modern eras in the western world.
