Overview

Guizot (1787-1874) was a French historian, orator and statesman who was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848. A conservative liberal who opposed the attempt by Charles X to usurp legislative power, he worked to sustain a constitutional monarchy following the July Revolution of 1830. He then served the 'citizen king' Louis Philippe as Minister of Education from 1832-37, ambassador to London, Foreign Minister from 1840-47, and finally Prime Minister between 1847-48. Committed to supporting the policies of Louis Philippe and to limiting the expansion of the political franchise, he became unpopular with more left-leaning liberals and it was his ban on political meetings by moderate liberals who wanted to extend the franchise that was the catalyst to the revolution that toppled Louis Philippe in February 1848, leading to the establishment of the Second Empire. He was a prolific writer on various subjects, and this General History of Civilisation in Europe, From the Fall of the Roman Empire Till the French Revolution was first published in the original French in 1828. The book embraces a history of the general course of modern civilisation, from the overthrow of the Roman Empire in the west, to the mental convulsion which heralded the French Revolution. The elements of that civilisation Guizot has reduced to four-namely, the church, the feudal system, the boroughs, and the royal power-and each of them in succession to its origin, and followed in all its subsequent changes. The influence of the great events that have occurred in modern Europe, on the different orders of society, is exhibited with great force and originality, particularly the effect of the crusades, the Reformation, and the English revolution, and he shows society to have been ultimately divided between two powers only, nations and governments. Reprinted from an English translation published by William and Robert Chambers in 1848.

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