Foreword v Introduction ix 1. The Old Regime To 1789 1 The Great Surprise 1 The Origins of French Absolutism 2 Eighteenth-Century France 4 The Financial Crisis 21 The Revolt of the Nobles 24 Preparations for the Estates-Genera 25 2. 1789 28 The Estates-General 28 Paris Erupts 33 Municipal Revolutions and the Great Fear 39 The Declaration of the Rights of Man 43 The Legislature and the Veto 44 3. Government by the National Assembly 46 The October Days 46 The Political Clubs 49 Nationalization of Church Property 50 Civil Constitution of the Clergy 53 Administrative and Judicial Reform 56 The Flight to Varennes 57 Massacre of the Champ de Mars 61 The Constitution of 1791 63 The Radicalization of the Revolution 65 4. The Fall of the Monarchy 67 The Legislative Assembly 67 War 68 The Tuileries 71 The September Massacres 74 The Battle of Valmy 77 The Convention 78 The Trail and Execution of Louis XVI 81 The Fall of the Girondins 84 5. The Reign of Terror 86 The Terror 86 The Republican Calendar 88 The Organs of the Terror 89 The Vendée 97 The Federalist Revolts 99 The Nation at War 101 Other Accomplishments 103 De-Christianization 105 Hébertists and Dantonists 109 Cult of the Supreme Being 111 Thermidor 113 6. The Directory and the Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte 116 The Thermidorian Reaction 116 Military Victory in the Vendée 118 Paris, the Convention, and the Constitution of the Year III 120 Thermidorian Last Acts: The Cultural Legislation 125 The Directory (1795-1799) 125 Napoleon Bonaparte 127 Brumaire 136 Conclusion 139 Bibliographical Essay 143 Index 157.