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The Psychology of Revolution

  
[title page]
  
CONTENTS
 1. 
PART I THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS OF REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS BOOK I GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF REVOLUTIONS
 2. 
BOOK II THE FORMS OF MENTALITY PREVALENT DURING REVOLUTION
 2. 
PART II BOOK I THE ORIGINS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
 2. 
BOOK II THE RATIONAL, AFFECTIVE, MYSTIC, AND COLLECTIVE INFLUENCES ACTIVE DURING THE REVOLUTION
 3. 
BOOK III THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ANCESTRAL INFLUENCES AND REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES
 3. 
PART III THE RECENT EVOLUTION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES

  
The Psychology of Revolution INTRODUCTION THE REVISION OF HISTORY
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PART I THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS OF REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS
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BOOK I
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GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF REVOLUTIONS CHAPTER I SCIENTIFIC AND POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS
 1. 
1. Classification of Revolutions.
 2. 
2. Scientific Revolutions.
 3. 
3. Political Revolutions.
 4. 
4. The Results of Political Revolutions.
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CHAPTER II RELIGIOUS REVOLUTIONS
 1. 
1. The importance of the study of Religious Revolutions in respect of the comprehension of the great Political Revolutions.
 2. 
2. The beginnings of the Reformation and its first disciples.
 3. 
3. Rational value of the doctrines of the Reformation.
 4. 
4. Propagation of the Reformation.
 5. 
5. Conflict between different religious beliefs— Impossibility of Tolerance.
 6. 
6. The results of Religious Revolutions.
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CHAPTER III THE ACTION OF GOVERNMENTS IN REVOLUTIONS
 1. 
1. The feeble resistance of Governments in time of Revolution.
 2. 
2. How the resistance of Governments may overcome Revolution.
 3. 
3. Revolutions effected by Governments.—Examples: China, Turkey, &c.
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CHAPTER IV THE PART PLAYED BY THE PEOPLE IN REVOLUTIONS
 1. 
1. The stability and malleability of the national mind.
 1. 
2. How the people regards Revolution.
 3. 
The supposed Part of the People during Revolution.
 4. 
4. The Popular Entity and its Constituent Elements.
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BOOK II THE FORMS OF MENTALITY PREVALENT DURING REVOLUTION
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CHAPTER I INDIVIDUAL VARIATIONS OF CHARACTER IN TIME OF REVOLUTION
 1. 
1. Transformations of Personality.
 2. 
2. Elements of Character Predominant in Time of Revolution.
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CHAPTER II THE MYSTIC MENTALITY AND THE JACOBIN MENTALITY
 1. 
1. Classification of Mentalities predominant in Time of Revolution.
 2. 
2. The Mystic Mentality.
 3. 
3. The Jacobin Mentality.
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CHAPTER III THE REVOLUTIONARY AND CRIMINAL MENTALITIES
 1. 
1. The Revolutionary Mentality.
 2. 
2. The Criminal Mentality.
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CHAPTER IV THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REVOLUTIONARY CROWDS
 1. 
1. General Characteristics of the Crowd.
 1. 
2. How the Stability of the Racial Mind limits the Oscillations of the Mind of the Crowd.
 4. 
4. The Rôle of the Leader in Revolutionary Movements.
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CHAPTER V THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ASSEMBLIES
 1. 
1. Psychological Characteristics of the great Revolutionary Assemblies.
 3. 
3. A Suggested Explanation of the Progressive Exaggeration of Sentiments in Assemblies.
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PART II THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
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BOOK I THE ORIGINS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
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CHAPTER I THE OPINIONS OF HISTORIANS CONCERNING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
 1. 
1. The Historians of the Revolution.
 2. 
2. The Theory of Fatalism in respect of the Revolution.
 3. 
3. The Hesitations of recent Historians of the Revolution.
 4. 
4. Impartiality in History.
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CHAPTER II THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE ANCIEN RÉGIME
 1. 
1. The Absolute Monarchy and the Bases of the Ancien Régime.
 2. 
2. The Inconveniences of the Ancien Régime
 3. 
3. Life under the Ancien Régime.
 4. 
4. Evolution of Monarchical Feeling during the Revolution.
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CHAPTER III MENTAL ANARCHY AT THE TIME OF THE REVOLUTION AND THE INFLUENCE ATTRIBUTED TO THE PHILOSOPHERS
 1. 
1. Origin and Propagation of Revolutionary Ideas.
 2. 
2. The supposed Influence of the Philosophers of the Eighteenth Century upon the Genesis of the Revolution—Their dislike of Democracy.
 3. 
3. The Philosophical Ideas of the Bourgeoisie at the Time of the Revolution.
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CHAPTER IV PSYCHOLOGICAL ILLUSIONS RESPECTING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
 1. 
1. Illusions respecting Primitive Man, the Return to a State of Nature, and the Psychology of the People.
 1. 
2. Illusions respecting the Possibility of separating Man from his Past and the Power of Transformation attributed to the Law.
 2. 
3. Illusions respecting the Theoretical Value of the great Revolutionary Principles.
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BOOK II THE RATIONAL, AFFECTIVE, MYSTIC, AND COLLECTIVE INFLUENCES ACTIVE DURING THE REVOLUTION
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CHAPTER I THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
 1. 
1. Psychological Influences active during the French Revolution.
 2. 
2. Dissolution of the Ancien Régime. The assembling of the States General.
 3. 
3. The Constituent Assembly.
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CHAPTER II THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
 1. 
1. Political Events during the Life of the Legislative Assembly.
 2. 
2. Mental Characteristics of the Legislative Assembly.
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CHAPTER III THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CONVENTION
 1. 
1. The Legend of the Convention.
 2. 
2. Results of the Triumph of the Jacobin Religion
 3. 
3. Mental Characteristics of the Convention.
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CHAPTER IV THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CONVENTION
 1. 
1. The activity of the Clubs and the Commune during the Convention.
 2. 
2. The Government of France during the Convention—The Terror.
 3. 
3. The End of the Convention. The Beginnings of the Directory.
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CHAPTER V INSTANCES OF REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE
 1. 
1. Psychological Causes of Revolutionary Violence.
 2. 
2. The Revolutionary Tribunals.
 3. 
3. The Terror in the Provinces.
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CHAPTER VI THE ARMIES OF THE REVOLUTION
 1. 
1. The Revolutionary Assemblies and the Armies.
 2. 
2. The Struggle of Europe against the Revolution.
 3. 
3. Psychological and Military Factors which determined the Success of the Revolutionary Armies.
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CHAPTER VII PSYCHOLOGY OF THE LEADERS OF THE REVOLUTION
 1. 
1. Mentality of the Men of the Revolution. The respective Influence of Violent and Feeble Characters.
 2. 
2. Psychology of the Commissaries or Representatives “on Mission.”
 3. 
3. Danton and Robespierre.
 4. 
4. Fouquier-Tinville, Marat, Billaud-Varenne, &c.
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BOOK III THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ANCESTRAL INFLUENCES AND REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES
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CHAPTER I THE LAST CONVULSIONS OF ANARCHY—THE DIRECTORY
 1. 
1. The Psychology of the Directory.
 2. 
2. Despotic Government of the Directory. Recrudescence of the Terror.
 3. 
3. The Advent of Bonaparte.
 4. 
4. Causes of the Duration of the Revolution.
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CHAPTER II THE RESTORATION OF ORDER. THE CONSULAR REPUBLIC
 1. 
1. How the Work of the Revolution was Confirmed by the Consulate.
 2. 
2. The Reorganisation of France by the Consulate.
 3. 
3. Psychological Elements which determined the Success of the Work of the Consulate
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CHAPTER III POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN TRADITIONS AND REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES DURING THE LAST CENTURY
 1. 
1. The Psychological Causes of the continued Revolutionary Movements to which France has been subject.
 2. 
2. Summary of a Century's Revolutionary Movement in France.
 3. 
PART III THE RECENT EVOLUTION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES

  
[note]
  
INDEX (Names of Historians, etc., cited in italics.)
  
“The Most Brilliant Historical Work of Years” By Guglielmo Ferrero The Greatness and Decline of Rome
  
Characters and Events of Roman History From Cæsar to Nero (60 B.C.-70 A.D.) Authorized Translation by Frances Lance Ferreo 8vo. With Portrait. $2.50 net
  
THE DEVELOPMENT of THE EUROPEAN NATIONS 1870-1900 By JOHN HOLLAND ROSE, Litt.D. Reader in Modern History to the University of Cambridge, Author of “The Personality of Napoleon” 8vo. 2 vols., with maps. Net, $5.00 Carriage 50 cents
  
THE EVOLUTION OF STATES AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH POLITICS By J. M. ROBERTSON Author of “Patriotism and Empire,” “Trade and Tariffs,” etc. 80. $2.50 net. By mail, $2.75
  
Symbol and Satire in the French Revolution By Ernest F. Henderson Ph.D. (Berlin), L.H.D. (Trinity) 80. With 171 Illustrations Reproduced from Contemporary Prints. $4.00 net. By mail, $4.25 Contents: Introductory—Liberty—Equality —Fraternity—Flight—Probation—Downfall— Massacre—War—Proscription— Terror—Idolatry—Reaction—Index.
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previous sectionCHAPTER II THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE ANCIEN RÉGIME The Psychology of Revolution
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1. The Absolute Monarchy and the Bases of the Ancien Régime.

MANY historians assure us that the Revolution was directed against the autocracy of the monarchy. In reality the kings of France had ceased to be absolute monarchs long before its outbreak.

Only very late in history—not until the reign of Louis XIV.—did they finally obtain incontestable power. All the preceding sovereigns, even the most powerful, such as Francis I., for example, had to sustain a constant struggle either against the seigneurs, or the clergy, or the parliaments, and they did not always win. Francis himself had not sufficient power to protect his most intimate friends against the Sorbonne and the Parliament. His friend and councillor Berquin, having offended the Sorbonne, was arrested upon the order of the latter body. The king ordered his release, which was refused. He was obliged to send archers to remove him from the Conciergerie, and could find no other means of protecting him than that of keeping him beside him in the Louvre. The Sorbonne by no means considered itself beaten. Profiting by the king's absence, it arrested

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Berquin again and had him tried by Parliament. Condemned at ten in the morning, he was burned alive at noon.

Built up very gradually, the power of the kings of France was not absolute until the time of Louis XIV. It then rapidly declined, and it would be truly difficult to speak of the absolutism of Louis XVI.

This pretended master was the slave of his court, his ministers, the clergy, and the nobles. He did what they forced him to do and rarely what he wished. Perhaps no Frenchman was so little free as the king.

The great power of the monarchy resided originally in the Divine origin which was attributed to it, and in the traditions which had accumulated during the ages. These formed the real social framework of the country.

The true cause of the disappearance of the ancien régime was simply the weakening of the traditions which served as its foundations. When after repeated criticism it could find no more defenders, the ancien régime crumbled like a building whose foundations have been destroyed.

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