The Crowd in the French Revolution

by George Rudé

What kinds of people were in the crowds that stormed the Bastille, marched to Versailles to bring the king and queen back to Paris, overthrew the monarchy in August 1792, or impassively witnessed the downfall of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor? Who led these crowds or mobilized them to action? What did they hope to achieve, and how far were their aims realized? Earlier historians have tended to view the revolutionary crowd as an abstraction--"people" or "mob" according to the writer's prejudice--often even as the personification of good or evil. Professor Rudé's book, published originally in 1959, makes a first attempt to bring objectively to life each of the important Parisian crowds between 1787 and 1795. Using police records and other contemporary research materials, the author identifies the social groups represented in them, contrasts the crowds with their political leaders, relates their activities to underlying economic and psychological tensions, and compares the Parisian
crowd "patterns" to those of other popular movements in France and Britain during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Genres: History, French Revolution, France, Nonfiction, Sociology, 18th Century, European History

269 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

George Rudé was a British Marxist historian, specializing in the French Revolution and "history from below," especially the importance of crowds in history.

Reviews

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when I studied the French Revolution as part of my history degree at thenUniversity of Adelaide, where George Rude was a professor at the time. What a brilliant lecturer he was. I'm sure if I re-read it now I'd be mildly irritated by the Marxist analysis, but this work and others like it transformed the then dominant schools of thought about revolutionary processes.

[Jeremy Gong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great. Skip Part 2 if you don’t want to get bogged down in data and details.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rudé focuses on the people rather than the "great men" of the French Revolutionary period. A very informative book.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most historians reduce the Crowd of every popular uprising as pawns of their idological leaders. Rude does a great job of pulling back the layers and looking at the complex economic and societal influances that motivated thier actions.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

... I read it for a Research Paper. I can't believe I read the whole thing....

[Kevin Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is without a doubt the most important piece of scholarship concerning the French revolution(published in English) that I am familiar with. Finally an author who clearly sides with labor over capital, digging out the statements of the wage workers, fishmongers, and other "followers"(who often exerted strong leadership influences).

This book also has great explanatory capacity when it comes to understanding thermidor.