The Republican Experiment 18481852 (The Cambridge History of Modern France Series Number 2)

About this book

Before 1848 France had been ruled by the July Monarchy a liberal regime without democratic participation. After 1852 France was to be ruled by the Second Empire an anti-liberal regime with some democratic participation. In the intervening period the Second Republic boldly attempted to combine liberty with democracy for the first time in French history. Despite the Republics failure of 18512 its aims were of great significance and marked the beginning of the modern era of republican France: the starting-point of what we nowadays consider the normal standard of politics in civilised countries. The reasons for the Republics temporary failure are no less instructive and in explaining them Professor Agulhon considers the problems of social conditions and the psychological apprenticeship of the masses of new citizens. Thus his book has a special purpose beyond the narrative treatment of events: to emphasise the relationship between the political history of France 184852 and the history of popular culture and thought.