Dandyism in the Age of Revolution

Dandyism in the Age of Revolution
Author: Elizabeth Amann
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2015-01-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 022618739X

From the color of a politician’s tie, to exorbitantly costly haircuts, to the size of an American flag pin adorning a lapel, it’s no secret that style has political meaning. And there was no time in history when the politics of fashion was more fraught than during the French Revolution. In the 1790s almost any article of clothing could be scrutinized for evidence of one’s political affiliation. A waistcoat with seventeen buttons, for example, could be a sign of counterrevolution—a reference to Louis XVII—and earn its wearer a trip to the guillotine. In Dandyism in the Age of Revolution, Elizabeth Amann shows that in France, England, and Spain, daring dress became a way of taking a stance toward the social and political upheaval of the period. France is the centerpiece of the story, not just because of the significance of the Revolution but also because of the speed with which its politics and fashions shifted. Dandyism in France represented an attempt to recover a political center after the extremism of the Terror, while in England and Spain it offered a way to reflect upon the turmoil across the Channel and Pyrenees. From the Hair Powder Act, which required users of the product to purchase a permit, to the political implications of the feather in Yankee Doodle’s hat, Amann aims to revise our understanding of the origins of modern dandyism and to recover the political context from which it emerged.

The A to Z of the Wars of the French Revolution

The A to Z of the Wars of the French Revolution
Author: Steven T. Ross
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2010-06-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1461672384

The French Revolution rocketed from Paris and made its influence felt throughout the world. Vast changes occurred in the way people related to their governing bodies. Instead of acting as passive onlookers, the people of France directly involved themselves in the affairs of state. The monumental changes brought about by the French Revolution also changed the nature of warfare. A period of nearly uninterrupted conflict existed both within and outside of France from 1792 to 1802. To rise to this daunting challenge, the armies of the French Republic developed a new approach to waging war. Under assault by Europe's great powers and faced with internal struggles, the French Republic mobilized the full range of its natural and human resources. The call for volunteers produced a mass citizen army, and the government moved to provide new officers, new organizations, and new tactics. The French Republic nationalized the economy to equip its patriotic army for a decade-long struggle to preserve the ideals of the revolution. The A to Z of the Wars of the French Revolution describes significant persons, places, events, encounters, and battles that substantially changed the nature of warfare at the end of the 18th century in Europe. Additionally, it gives a sense of the impact of these changes on the general course of human history, drawing connections between events to map out an entire time period of eventful change. The dictionary contains a detailed chronology from the declaration of the French Republic in 1792 to the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. Numerous maps help to orient the reader. The entries are efficient and generously referenced, giving the reader detailed knowledge while simultaneously allowing a broad picture of this crucial time period. An introduction provides a useful overview for the general reader.

Author:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 274
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 0198890060

The Episteme of the Gallic Past

The Episteme of the Gallic Past
Author: Lisa Regazzoni
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 439
Release: 2024-12-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1040267793

This book aims to reconceive the field of knowledge of the “Gallic past” in French discourse of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by focusing on the monument as an object capable of underpinning insights into that past, the evolution of the concept, and the epistemic practices used to produce it. Through monuments, the book redirects our gaze toward the French provinces, where material and immaterial evidence of the Gallic past was “discovered” and transformed into epistemic objects. This perspective results in a “provincialization” of Paris as a site of knowledge production and sheds light on the crucial role of provincial scholarship, not only in the “invention” of the Gallic past but also in methodological and epistemological renewal. The result is a revision of recent historiography, which interpreted the narrative of an “autochthonous” pre-Roman, Gallic past as nation-building. This volume offers a pioneering contribution toward new directions in historical epistemology focused on the historicity of the “species” of evidence of each epoch.

The Fall of Robespierre

The Fall of Robespierre
Author: Colin Jones
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2021-08-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191025046

The day of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) is universally acknowledged as a major turning-point in the history of the French Revolution. At 12.00 midnight, Maximilien Robespierre, the most prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety which had for more than a year directed the Reign of Terror, was planning to destroy one of the most dangerous plots that the Revolution had faced. By 12.00 midnight at the close of the day, following a day of uncertainty, surprises, upsets and reverses, his world had been turned upside down. He was an outlaw, on the run, and himself wanted for conspiracy against the Republic. He felt that his whole life and his Revolutionary career were drawing to an end. As indeed they were. He shot himself shortly afterwards. Half-dead, the guillotine finished him off in grisly fashion the next day. The Fall of Robespierre provides an hour-by-hour analysis of these 24 hours.

Seeing Justice Done

Seeing Justice Done
Author: Paul Friedland
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2012-06-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199592691

A history of public executions in France from the medieval spectacle of suffering to the invention of the Revolutionary guillotine, up to the last public execution in 1939. Paul Friedland explores why spectacles of public execution were staged, as well as why thousands of spectators came to watch them.

Living the French Revolution, 1789-1799

Living the French Revolution, 1789-1799
Author: P. McPhee
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2006-10-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 023022881X

What did it mean to live through the French Revolution? This volume provides a coherent and expansive portrait of revolutionary life by exploring the lived experience of the people of France's villages and country towns, revealing how The Revolution had a dramatic impact on daily life from family relations to religious practices.