Charles Dickens famously called the era of the French Revolution the best and worst of times. For 10 years, from 1789 to 1799, France struggled to inaugurate a new European order based on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. In the process, men wrote constitutions, women marched for bread, politicians condemned innocent people to death, and a little Corsican general named Napoleon Bonaparte came to dominate the continent. Read about this remarkable period of European history in The French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon.

Previously published as v. 1 of The rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Two political and military giants compared

This eleventh edition was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time and it is considered to be a landmark encyclopaedia for scholarship and literary style.

Traces the history of the French Revolution from the storming of the Bastille through the rise of Napoleon, highlighting the influence of revolutionary leader, Maximilien Robespierre, from his early life through his involvement in the Reign of Terror.

This panoramic volume tells the story of French art, culture and life from the 1770s to the 1820s: the first French voyages of discovery to Australia, the stormy period of social change with the outbreak of the French Revolution, and the rise to power of the young Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine.