The political uses of history: nineteenth-century monarchist and republican historians in France interpret the revolution

Abstract

Throughout the nineteenth century France struggled to find a suitable political identity¿one that would unite the divisions left by the French Revolution. Historians played a significant role in this search as they sought to gain a better understanding of the French past in general and the Revolution in particular. For monarchist historians, the history of the French Revolution served primarily a defensive weapon. Relying upon the principles of 1789, monarchist historians sought to buttress constitutional monarchy, and citing the excesses of 1793, they sought to warn against the dangers of democracy. For republican historians, the history of the French Revolution served primarily as an offensive weapon. Recalling the principles of 1793¿libert¿, ¿galit¿, and fraternit¿republican historians hoped to reawaken the masses and restore French glory. In their interpretations, however, monarchist and republican historians reveal just as much, if not more, about the political struggles of the nineteenth century than they do about the Revolution itself.