The French Revolution in Europe

Albert Sorel (1842-1906) published L'Europe et la Révolution française (Paris), as a series of nine volumes, a monumental history of state relations as they were stimulated by the Revolution of 1789 and its effects in Europe. What took place in France could not be contained in that nation state, as new ideas gained a foothold, and as the status quo powers dealt with radical change to the ancien régime.

From Sorel's preface: "The war between Europe and the French Revolution lasted almost a quarter of a century. It began at Valmy, and did not end until Waterloo. United Europe ended up triumphing over the French armies; however, we cannot say that France emerged from the struggle defeated. It had undertaken to defend its national independence, the integrity of its territory, the reforms which it had accomplished in its laws and in its political constitution. Peace cost it only the restitution of the territories it had conquered; it returned to its old limits: the body of the nation was not damaged. The essential results of the French Revolution remained: France retained the Civil Code and representative government....The French and the other peoples of Europe thus interpreted the principles of the Revolution, and adapted them to the traditions of their past...this revolution had no consequences, even the most singular, which did not follow from this history and could not be explained by the precedents of the ancien régime."

This is the first and only complete translation of Sorel into English. F.H. Wallis translations continues to seek out and publish older works of the highest scholarship on the history of France.

Previous Frank H. Wallis translations include: Blanche of Castile, Queen and Regent of France, 1188-1252 (2015). From Élie Berger, Histoire de Blanche de Castille, Reine de France (Paris, 1895); Charles VII. 6 vols. (2020-21). From Gaston Du Fresne de Beaucourt (Paris, 1881-1891); Queen Margot and the end of the Valois, 1553-1615 (2021). From Charles Merki, La Reine Margot et la fin des Valois (1553-1615) (Paris, 1905).