ABSTRACT
In the context of the current shift in international historiography from methodological nationalism to global perspectives, the French Revolution has an interesting quality and position. On the one hand, it is undeniably interwoven with the history of a particular nation and its mission to universalize values and ideas experienced and expressed by the French. On the other hand, however, authors around the world, instead of limiting its importance to the framework of national history, have given the revolution of 1789 a privileged place in narratives of world history. These efforts have been different in motivation and format, but we look back at a long list of publications aiming at internationalizing or transnationalizing the history of the French Revolution or at attributing to it an importance far beyond France’s national destiny. French president François Mitterrand was neither the first nor the last, in his opening remarks at the international congress on the occasion of the bicentenary of 1789 at the Sorbonne, to underline that
it is a long time since one could imagine that it was enough for the French alone to think about this complex event, foundational for a large part of our history but also linking it to many aspects of the history of the world.1
He identified the roots of revolutionary concepts in the history of the Enlightenment – at the same time universal and particularly French – while drawing a connection with international reactions to the revolutionary events from the Americas to large parts of Europe. France appears as the origin of an ever-increasing movement against tyranny and restrictions on freedom. Mitterrand – in line with his concept of fighting social exclusion on all fronts (including hunger, poverty, racism, torture and exploitation of children) – did not hesitate to work in an element of self-criticism: ‘The French Revolution served for many as a reference in their fight against certain forms of behaviour in France itself, and this contradiction has not to be seen as a condemnation but, on the contrary, as a justification.’2 In this perspective, France was not only the point from which the universal values of freedom and human rights emanated but also a 24society that became at the same time a target for social and political protest owing to its partial neglect of exactly those values and ideas. Mitterrand’s talk at the beginning of the academic congress demonstrates the many linkages between the French Revolution and world history – ranging from its historical relationship with many places and events around the globe to its many uses as building blocks in collective memories throughout the world. Speaking of the place and impact of the revolution in and on world history refers to the work of historians as well as to the usage in political discourses, which often interrelate; nevertheless, academic research and political discourse also develop independently. The relationship between the accumulation of more and more detailed knowledge by scholarly research3 and the necessary simplification in public discourse echoed in overviews written both by specialists of the period and by public figures makes it difficult to analyse the place that should be given to the revolution in the shaping of world history.