The French Revolution, Volume 1 is part of Hippolyte Taine’s monumental study The Origins of Contemporary France. In this volume Taine examines the outbreak of the Revolution and the collapse of the old monarchy, analysing the forces that overthrew the Bourbon throne and the spontaneous anarchy that followed.
Taine writes with a sociologist’s eye and a moralist’s intensity, tracing how the old regime gave way to revolution and violence. The work remains a powerful and controversial interpretation of the fall of the French monarchy. This free EPUB download presents the complete first volume of the study.