THE late eighteenth century used to be
called the "Age of the French Revo-
lution." Many historians continue to be-
lieve that the great dramatic events in
France of the 1790's dominate the history
of this period. During the last twenty
years, however, a broader interpretation
of the late eighteenth century has gained
ground among certain American and
French historians, of whom R. R. Palmer
is the most articulate. Drawing on the
insights gained from the twentieth-century
world, in which international revolutions
and supra-national blocs have become a
commonplace, they have sought to reap-
praise the currents of the eighteenth cen-
tury from the point of view a common
Western or Atlantic civilization. They are
testing a working hypothesis drawn from
contemporary experience by applying it to
the revolutionary experience of two hun-
dred years ago. Their reassessment of the
eighteenth century in terms of a "Demo-
cratic Revolution of the West--the thesis
which this volume explores--was evidently
suggested by the turmoil of yet another
revolutionary age, our own.

This shift in emphasis from an "Age of
the French Revolution" to an "Age of the
Democratic Revolution of the West" raises
at least three major problems of historical
interpretation. First, was there indeed a
truly supra-national revolutionary move-
ment best studied from a Western rather
than a national vantage point? Secondly,
international or not, are these revolutions
best described as "democratic"? Thirdly,
even admitting the significance of several
revolutions, is revolution the dominant and
most meaningful feature of the late eight-
eenth century?

The factual evidence cited in support of
the thesis of an international eighteenth-
century revolution is not in dispute. It is
undeniable that from the 1760's to the
turn of the century, Europe and its trans-
atlantic annex witnessed an astonishing
number of political conflicts which may
be called revolutionary. The tiny city-state
of Geneva was in intermittent turmoil in
the 1760's, the 1780's, and again after
1792. The Revolutionary War of the Thir-
teen Colonies which broke out in the mid-
seventies hardly needs a commentary. In
1780, Ireland, and even England, appeared
on the verge of major disturbances, if not
of revolution. A few years later the Nether-
lands underwent revolutionary conflict
which was ultimately crushed by Prussian
intervention. The aristocratic phase of the
French Revolution began, according to
most historians, in 1787. Two years later,
not only did the French Revolution
broaden into a mass movement, but there
were revolutionary outbreaks at the two
extremities of the Hapsburg Monarchy:
Hungary and the Austrian Netherlands.
From the time of the First Partition in
1772, Poland experienced intermittent re-
form movements of revolutionary propor-
tions that reached their tragic climax be-
tween 1791 and 1794. Holland entered
yet another revolutionary phase in 1795.
From 1797 on, Italy, Switzerland, and
parts of western Germany all had revolu-
tions, supported, but not necessarily insti-
gated, by the victorious armies of the
French Republic.

-vii-