In The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World, 1788-1800, Winik's main goal is to describe how interconnected the world was in the 1790's, before the railroad or the telegraph. Even though Winik divides his chapters by country – America, France, and Russia- each nation, to some degree, invades the chapters of the other nations.
French Revolution
One way Winik shows this interconnection is through personalities. He treats the American Revolution as the spark of liberty and republican government. Individuals involved in America's quest for independence would go on to influence Europe. Men such as Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Paine, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, and Benjamin Franklin would pass on that spark.
A powder keg exploded from that spark in France. The people revolted against an extravagant and indifferent King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. However, this revolution had several violent convulsions. Winik plods through the mayhem- body parts, executions, and all. Even the friends of liberty, Lafayette and Paine, became prisoners to French radicals.
The revolutionary fire spread to Poland. Winik does a great service by including Poland's effort at independence, a little known event to the general reader. American Revolutionary soldier Kosciuszko ignited his fellow Polish against the ruling Russians. Winik describes the incredible fight Kosciuszko put up, briefly getting the upper hand. In the end, the Russians doused the fire, captured Kosciuszko, and partitioned Poland.
Catherine the Great and George Washington
Leading the Russians against Polish freedom was Empress Catherine the Great. The author portrays her as a prime force against the ideals of the American and French Revolutions, trying to stamp out the flames of a wildfire. Catherine even had to crush resistance in her own backyard- the Pugachev Rebellion. As she tightened her grip on the Russian people, she sowed the seeds of the Russian Revolution in the twentieth century, according to Winik.
Conversely, Winik labels George Washington the person of the age. His prudent and centrist leadership- not too regal, not too radical- was a factor in saving America from France's fate. Despite the country being torn in two politically- Alexander Hamilton's strong government, pro-British policy vs. Thomas Jefferson's limited government, pro-French stance- Washington and the equally revered Constitution kept America's revolutionary blaze to a controlled burn.
Thus the modern world as we know it today was born out of the ashes from the 1790's. Winik not only establishes that the smoke of democracy wafted into the world, but also nationalism, born from the French Revolution and Napoleon. The two ideas would dominate the twentieth century and beyond.
What Jay Winik presents is a comprehensive study of world history and geopolitics at the end of the eighteenth century. He also stresses the significance of the 1790's, just like in his previous book, April 1865, where the future of America hangs in the balance.
Published by HarperCollins, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-06-008313-7, ISBN-10: 0-06-008313-1
 |
