A key work in French on the Revoultionary and Napoleonic periods, L'Europe et la Révolution française attempts to show the deep-running continuity of French foreign policy from the Ancien Régime to the following periods. It was not so much Revolutionary ideology, Sorel argues, which inspired the wars of 1792-1815, but rather it was France's traditional foreign policy of defence and conquest of France 'natural borders'.
Not only a career diplomat, Albert Sorel (1842-1906) was also a high-profile professor of diplomatic history to the great and good, notably Charles de Gaulle. Using the material with which he prepared for his courses and his own in depth knowledge of Archives des Affaires étrangères, he produced a masterpiece of diplomatic history which led to his election to the Académie française in 1895.
Sorel's eight volumes were published by Plon, in the period 1885 to 1904. His son, Albert-Emile Sorel, completed the series with a very useful (but unfortunately rather rare) table of proper names cited in the book.
The books were reprinted as facsimiles three times: 1948 by Plon, in 1974 by a German publishers and in 2003 by Tchou.
The work has appeared several times (abridged) in English, notably:
– Napoleon and the French Revolution, 1799-1814. Extracts from … “L'Europe et la Revolution française.” Selected and edited by H. L. Hutton, etc. London, 1928, pp. 178;
and
– Europe and the French Revolution: the political traditions of the Old Regime, trans. ed. Alfred Cobban & J. W. Hunt, Collins 1969, 606 pages.
Author: Albert Sorel
Title: L'Europe et la Révolution française
publisher and date: Paris : Plon, 1885-1904
Physical description: 8 volumes