A succinct, clever, and contentious new view of what is possibly history's most significant revolution?the one that placed human rights and the desire for liberty, equality, and fraternity at the centre of modern politics. In this astonishingly condensed, sharp book, David Andress makes the case that the French peasantry was responsible for both starting and supporting the Revolution of 1789. that the peasant revolution, as opposed to the revolution of urban radicals and lawyerly elites that has dominated our understanding of the revolutionary period, benefited many more people and in more profound ways. Robespierre, Danton, and Bonaparte have received more attention from history than the millions of French peasants who were the first to rise up in 1789 and the most zealous in protecting their country.