The French Revolution

The complete title of this historiographic work was La Rivoluzione Francese del 1789 e la Rivoluzione Italiana del 1859. Osservazioni comparative. Written between 1863 and 1867, it remained unfinished and the only part published (posthumously) was that concerning the early phases of the French revolution. Manzoni’s historical reconstruction shows his (moderately) conservative ideology. He considered the initial act of the French revolution, namely, the third estate’s assuming the title of National Assembly, to be a political and moral error, a reckless act that deprived France of its legitimate government, thus paving the way for degeneration into tyranny by the people: a “people” that was in fact a small group of tribunes and demagogues acting as self-proclaimed representatives. This view set Manzoni apart from the equally conservative and liberal M.me de Staël, who distinguished between a first, positive phase of the revolution in 1789, and a second, extreme phase in 1793. Manzoni’s work on the French revolution was coolly received, also by liberal historiographers, and then forgotten. In his text, he shows an attitude towards the revolutionary masses that was not unlike the one emerging in his description of the crowds rioting against the increase in bread prices in Chapters XI-XIII of the Promessi Sposi: in his essay on the French revolution he also depicts the rioting crowds as animal-like in their irrational and damaging behaviour. He also displays a writer’s – rather than historian’s – leaning towards depicting the “perverse passions” that drive individuals. Although Manzoni did not develop the second part of this historiographic work, he did return to the Italian question in another text, written between 1872 and 1873 and entitled Dell’Indipendenza dell’Italia, which had been requested by the municipality of Turin as Manzoni’s contribution to a collection of writings by famous men who had in some way promoted the cause of national independence.