Concise History of the French Revolution

Sylvia Neely is associate professor of history at Pennsylvania State University.

• Part 1 IntroductionChapter 2 The Ancien Regime, its Critics and SupportersChapter 3 The Financial CrisisChapter 4 The Estates General and the General AssemblyChapter 5 Creating the New RegimeChapter 6 Polarization and the Flight to VarennesChapter 7 The Failure of Constitutional GovernmentChapter 8 The ConventionChapter 9 Terror and WarChapter 10 Thermidor and the Directory

Neely provides an excellent introduction to the French Revolution, showing how particular political choices led to reform, revolution, terror, and dictatorship. Political issues are placed in their social context, but politicians emerge as individuals forced to make difficult decisions, which led to unintended consequences that, taken together, defined the trajectory of the Revolution.