Re-thinking the Glorious Revolution

Readings: 1688 and the English State
On: STEVEN PINCUS, 1688. The First Modern Revolution, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2009, 647 p., ISBN 978-0-300-11547-5
By Karim Ghorbal
English

1688. The First Modern Revolution, published in 2009 by Steven Pincus, reinterprets in a new and ambitious way the events that constituted the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689. Commented on by Anglo-Saxon historians, it went unnoticed within the French historical community, even though its thesis brings England’s revolutionary history closer to that of France. According to Pincus, far from being peaceful, reasonable or conservative, the Glorious Revolution was violent, popular and radical, and the conflict between James II and William of Orange did not oppose reactionary groups to progressive ones, or Catholics to Protestants, but rather two antagonistic modernizing projects. James II’s was a Tory one, and wanted to create a modern absolutist Catholic state based on an extensive land empire, a strong army, an efficient administration and a developed agriculture. On the contrary, the project developped by William of Orange and his Whigs supporters advocated the creation of a commercial and maritime empire based on manufacturing production. S. Pincus therefore broke with the exceptionalist vision of the Glorious Revolution that had long prevailed in England and the United States. For him, this revolution must be understood as the first modern revolution, comparable in many respects to the French, Russian, Chinese or Iranian revolutions.

Keywords

  • England
  • 17th century
  • 1688
  • revolution
  • historiography
Go to the article on Cairn-int.info