The Terror The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France

For two hundred years, the Terror has haunted the imagination of the West. The descent of the French Revolution from rapturous liberation into an orgy of apparently pointless bloodletting has been the focus of countless reflections on the often malignant nature of humanity and the folly of revolution. David Andress, a leading historian of the French Revolution, presents a radically different account of the Terror. In a remarkably vivid and page-turning work of history, he transports the reader from the pitched battles on the streets of Paris to the royal family's escape through secret passageways in the Tuileries palace, and across the landscape of the tragic last years of the Revolution. The violence, he shows, was a result of dogmatic and fundamentalist thinking: dreadful decisions were made by groups of people who believed they were still fighting for freedom but whose survival was threatened by famine, external war, and counter-revolutionaries within the fledging new state. Urgent questions emerge from Andress's trenchant reassessment: When is it right to arbitrarily detain those suspected of subversion? When does an earnest patriotism become the rationale for slaughter? Combining startling narrative power and bold insight,The Terroris written with verve and exceptional pace-it is a superb popular debut from an enormously talented historian. David Andress, a leading historian of the French Revolution, is Reader in Modern European History at the University of Portsmouth and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. For two hundred years, the Terror has haunted the imagination of the West. The descent of the French Revolution from rapturous liberation into an orgy of apparently pointless bloodletting has been the focus of countless reflections on the often malignant nature of humanity and the folly of revolution. David Andress presents a different account of the Terror, transporting the reader from the pitched battles on the streets of Paris to the royal family's escape through secret passageways in the Tuileries palace, and across the landscape of the tragic last years of the Revolution. The violence, he shows, was a result of dogmatic and fundamentalist thinking: dreadful decisions were made by groups of people who believe they were still fighting for freedom but whose survival was threatened by famine, external war, and counter-revolutionaries within the fledgling new state. Urgent questions emerge from Andress's trenchant reassessment: When is it right to arbitrarily detain those suspected of subversion? When does an earnest patriotism become the rationale for slaughter? "Andress writes as crisp and up-to-date an account of the Revolution's origins as I have read."Adams Gopnik,The New Yorker "Andress writes as crisp and up-to-date an account of the Revolution's origins as I have read."Adam Gopnik,The New Yorker "A vivid and powerful narrative of the years 1789-95 . . . The narrative is . . . fast-moving, from the storming of the Bastille to the execution of King Louis XVI to the paranoid politics of the National Convention."David Gilmour,The New York Times Book Review "If you want to learn where the paranoid element in French politics comes from, read David Andress'sThe Terror. Its cascade of intrigues and counterintrigues, purges, plots and counterplotsplus notable imaginary plotsprovides the answer . . . He has written a readable, informative, depressing bookthe former characteristics making the latter more palatable. He has turned a grim and intricate narrative of crime and foul play into a cautionary tale and an exciting adventure story that bears out the most famous line of Sa

David Andress, a leading historian of the French Revolution, is Principal Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Portsmouth, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. The Terror is his first book for a general readership.