Confrontation between revolutionary France and Great Britain in the Western Mediterranean (about the book by J. Meeks)
Verchenkova Victoria
The author of the essay analyzes the book by the American historian Joshua Meeks "France, Britain, and the Struggle for the Revolutionary Western Mediterranean (War, Culture and Society, 1750 –1850)". This researcher focuses on the transition period between the balance of powers system of the Ancient Regime and the Napoleonic Empire. In his study, J. Meeks focuses not so much on the fighting that took place in the region, but on the diplomatic confrontation between the two great powers. In addition, the author demonstrates how the states of the Mediterranean region tried to achieve their own goals in the conditions of destabilization caused by the French Revolution. Since local forces supported the revolution or counter-revolution in accordance with their goals, whether it was neutrality, autonomy or commercial gain, both France and Great Britain had to take these interests into account. Thus, this study is not so much about the struggle between the revolution and the counter-revolution, as about the rivalry within the revolutionary and counter-revolutionary camps – about how this internal struggle influenced the outcome of the confrontation between the two great powers in the 1790s.
The study is sponsored by the Russian Science Foundation, grant 21-78-00078.
References:
Frey L., Frey M. The Reign of the Charlatans Is Over: The French Revolutionary Attack on Diplomatic Practice // The Journal of Modern History. 1993. Vol. 65. № 4. P. 706–744.
Meeks J. Between Revolution and Counter-Revolution: Corsica and Toulon in 1793. Oxford, 2014. P. 75-93.
Meeks J. France, Britain, and the Struggle for the Revolutionary Western Mediterranean (War, Culture and Society, 1750 –1850). Cham, 2017.
Mori C.J. The British Government and the Bourbon Restoration: The Occupation of Toulon, 1793 // The Historical Journal. 1997. Vol. 40. Issue 3. P. 699-719.