Twelve Who Ruled Essay -- essays research papers

Twelve Who Ruled Book Review     The class of timidity is one of the well-nigh complex and misunderstood halts in the French Revolution. Palmer, in his throw, Twelve Who Ruled, however, takes this period and skill broady turns it into a written masterpiece. The give is narrated from the confidential information of view of someone with an omniscient knowledge of the subject matter, who is reflecting back on the period from the outside.      The book tells the story of a brief moment in history when 12 men (Robespierre, B arere, Saint Just, Couthon, Lindet, Carnot, Saint-Andre, Prieur, Varenne, Herbois, Scholles, and Duvernois) ruled France even though they were technically under the control of the Convention. Palmer begins by giving the reader an overview of who the 12 men were before they became rulers of a nation. He then goes on to argue the purpose of the Committee of Public Safety, and the organizational structure of the terror. Palmer then smoothly moves on to discuss the "foreign plot" and how the committee dealt with it. He goes on to explain the "Doom at Lyons" by giving a genuinely tiped description of the events that went on there. Palmer then procedes to depict the missions at Alsace and Britt each. In the last few chapters of the book, he slowly and carefully shows the winding cut down and eventual collapse of the Committee of Public Safetys power.      Throughout this book, Palmer does an exquisite personal credit line painting the collage of the twelve mens ride to the top upon the gymnastic horse of the committee of Public Safety. He wonderfully combines each mans individual actions with the more general problems that the Committee of Public Safety confronted. He discusses in detail the policies adopted to defend the Revolution, as well as how and why they were model together into effect.      The layout of the chapters in the book is extremely logical they are basically put in chronological order. The fact that Palmer takes the time to give a full historical background of the twelve men shows that he wanted this book to be accessable to people who held no prior knowledge of the subject or time period. He gives a very lurid account of the most influential people on the committee, - namely Robespierre, Varenne, Carnot, Saint Andre, and Saint Just. In the first pages of the book,... ... they would not normally have acted. Due to the effectiveness of Palmers instauration of the terror, the reader might get the idea that if he were involved in the Revolution, he might be afraid to speak up and region his opinion. This is due to the fact that it might upset or oppose any person in power who might overhear what he said. These are the psychological repricutions of the terror.     In his book Twelve Who Ruled, Palmer eloquently writes this narrative, "weaving the biographies of the twelve into the history of their time," and provides a coherent and convincing explanation of the terror. The book is not only educational for someone vexed in the time period when these twelve men ruled the nation of France, but it is also sweet from the perspective of a person reading the book solely for interest in revolutions and how they affect the people who are involved in them. The book deals with a brief period of time during the French Revolution, namely the year of terror. The book ventures to interpret the foundations and rationale for the terror and Palmer illustrates his speculations on the subject finished gracious, flowing writing.