Escaping the Revolution: Interpreting French Migration after 1789

Abstract

French Revolution of 1789 is regarded to be an epoch making event – a watershed in history with ample justification. However, the incident triggered a massive wave of political migration. Émigré (French for emigrant) from all levels of French society dispersed throughout Europe in the 1790s. Politically speaking, these ‘enemies’ of the Revolution belonging overwhelmingly to the Aristocracy and Clergy, attempted to mobilize their host societies against the Revolution, which grew increasingly radical as it spilled across French boundaries. The response of the Revolutionary France was swift and brutal, as the emigres were stripped of their titles, property, rights and promised an immediate visit to guillotine should they dared to return. At the same time they became agents in a multifaceted process of cultural transfer, as part of their attempt to earn their livelihood in exile. They had demonstrated that there were alternatives to the revolutionary process outside of France, before most of them returned to their motherland under Napoleon Bonaparte.