The French Revolution

work by Carlyle

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Article History

The French Revolution, three-volume narrative history by Scottish essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle, first published in 1837.

The French Revolution established Carlyle’s reputation. Its creation was beset with difficulty; after spending months on the manuscript in 1834, Carlyle lent his only draft to philosopher John Stuart Mill, who accidentally burned it. After Mill confessed what had happened, Carlyle responded in a generous and uncharacteristically lighthearted manner. He immediately began to reconstruct the work.

The three volumes are individually titled “The Bastille,” “The Constitution,” and “The Guillotine,” covering the events from 1774 to 1795. Carlyle believed that the excesses of the French Revolution were a divine judgment upon a selfish monarchy and nobility. His work contains many outstanding set pieces and character studies, including those of General Lafayette and Robespierre. Carlyle’s history was admired by Charles Dickens and helped inspire the novelist’s A Tale of Two Cities.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.