The French Revolution (By Eric Hobsbawn)

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION – Eric Hobsbawn (Chapter 3)
If the economy of the 19C world was formed mainly under the influence of the British Industrial Revolution, its politics and ideology were formed mainly by the French. Britain provided the models for its railways and factories, but France made its revolutions and gave them their ideas, and the emblem for almost every emerging nation. It providedthe vocabulary and the issues of liberal and radical-democratic politics for most of the world. It provided the concept of nationalism, the codes of law, and the model of scientific and technical organization, the metric system of measurement for most countries (However, the two revolutions were complementary, rather than competitive).
The later 18C was an age of crisis for the old régimes ofEurope and their economic systems, and its last decades were filled with political agitations sometimes reaching the point of revolt, of colonial movements for autonomy sometimes succeeding in winning their independence: in the U.S.A (1776-83), Ireland (1782-4), Belgium and Liege (1787-90), Holland (1783-7), Geneva and even in England (1779).
The French revolution may not have been an isolatedphenomenon, but it was far more fundamental than any of the other contemporary ones and its consequences were therefore far more profound. According to the author, this is because:
* It occurred in the most powerful and populous state of Europe.
* It was a mass social revolution, and immeasurably more radical than any comparable upheaval.
* It was the only ecumenical revolution (involvedmembers of diff branches of the Christian Church). Its armies set out to revolutionize the world; its ideas actually did so.
Although the American Revolution has remained a crucial event in American history, it has left just a few major traces elsewhere (except for the countries directly involved in and by it). The French Revolution, however, is a landmark in ALL countries. As an example, itsrepercussions caused the risings which led to the liberation of Latin America after 1808 and its direct influence radiated as far as Bengal. Its indirect influence is universal too, because it provided the pattern for all subsequent revolutionary movements, its lessons were incorporated into modern socialism and communism (this is not to underestimate the influence of the American revolution, thathelped to stimulate the French, and in a narrower sense provided constitutional models for various Latin American states, and inspiration for democratic-radical movements from time to time).
The origins of the French Revolution must be sought not only in the general conditions of Europe, but in the specific situation of France. Its peculiarity can be best illustrated in international terms.Throughout the 18C France was the major international economic rival of Britain. Although its foreign trade had multiplied fourfold between 1720 and 1780 and its colonial system was in certain areas (such as the West Indies) more dynamic than the British, France was not a power like British, whose foreign policy was already determined by the interest of capitalist expansion. Moreover, France was the mostpowerful and typical aristocratic absolute monarchies of Europe: the conflict btw the official framework and the vested interest of the old régime and the rising of the new social forces was more acute in France than elsewhere.
The new forces knew fairly what they wanted: an efficient exploitation of the land, free enterprise and trade (private businesses without much government control), astandardized, efficient administration of a single homogeneous national territory, and the abolition of all restrictions and social inequalities, equitable administration and taxation. But in most countries of “enlightened despotism” such reforms were inapplicable or unlikely to change the general character of their political and social structure; or else they failed in the face of the resistance of...