The French Revolutinary Wars

THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS: 1787-1802 The French Revolutionary Wars: 1787-1802, by T. C. W. Blanning, is a super Work of historiography. Far more ambitious than its modest title suggests, it is the history of the French Revolution as well as a military and diplomatic history of Europe from 1787 to 1802. Blanning enriches our understanding of the Revolution by placing it in its European context, by showing how it affected and was affected by France's neighbors. He …

…course, this is not Blanning's problem alone. Historians primarily concerned with causation are inevitably forced to steer between the Scylla of reductionism and the Charybdis of overdetermination. In The French Revolutionary Wars Blanning steers skillfully. More important, this book reminds historians that the French Revolution was not merely about France, but about Europe, and offers the type of pan-European treatment of the Revolution that academic specialization along national lines have made into a scarce commodity.