The political scene in France was dramatically changed in the late 1880s by a radical brand of nationalism which became a major influence on 20th-century fascist and conservative movements. In this volume scholars from various nations examine the impact of this movement.

This celebrated classic now includes a new introduction by Robert Tombs.

The history of nineteenth and early twentieth-century France has often seemed complex and confusing. France, 1814-1940 has a long-established reputation as a clear, accessible and authoritative account of this fascinating period.

It describes the characteristics of France's different regimes and their leading personalities and explains why during these years the people of France had to endure so many revolutions, wars and crises. The book introduces social and economic change as well as cultural...

The Paris Commune of 1871 is one of the great romantic failures in revolutionary history. Yet very little is known about its enemies, and especially the army, which first fraternized with the revolutionaries and then, two months later, crushed them with the utmost violence. This book, based on extensive archival research, is the first serious study of the role of the army in the civil war. It examines its composition and organization, its weaknesses and their effect on government policy, the steps taken to improve morale and discipline, the state of mind of officers and men and, finally, the...

Here is an incomparably rich portrait of France in the years when the disparate elements that made up the fragmented kingdom of the ancien regime were forged into the modern nation. The survey begins with an exploration of national obsessions and attitudes. It considers the tendency to revolution and war, the preoccupation with the idea of a New Order and the deep strain of national paranoia that was to be intensified by the dramatic debacle of the Franco-Prussian War. Robert Tombs then investigates the structures of power and in Part Three he turns his attention to social identities, from...

Named a Book of the Year by the Daily Telegraph, Times Literary Supplement, The Times, Spectator, and The Economist
The English first materialized as an idea, before they had a common ruler and before the country they lived in even had a name. From the armed Saxon bands that descended onto Roman-controlled Britain in the fifth century to the travails of the Eurozone plaguing the prime-ministership of today's multicultural England, acclaimed historian Robert Tombs presents a momentous and challenging history of a people who have a claim to be the oldest nation in existence....

This celebrated classic now includes a new introduction by Robert Tombs.

The history of nineteenth and early twentieth-century France has often seemed complex and confusing. France, 1814-1940 has a long-established reputation as a clear, accessible and authoritative account of this fascinating period.

It describes the characteristics of France's different regimes and their leading personalities and explains why during these years the people of France had to endure so many revolutions, wars and crises. The book introduces social and economic change as well as cultural...