The French Revolution and the Middle East

Abstract

The question of the impact of the French Revolution on the Middle East will here be considered under three separate headings, namely: the political-military impact of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic period; the intellectual-political impact of the ideas of the Enlightenment and of liberal French ideas from the revolutionary period and after; and the development of revolutionary and rebellious movements in the Middle East and their relation, if any, to the French Revolution. Before launching on these topics it is important to note that, from at least the eighteenth century until after World War II, French was the language of culture and foreign education throughout the Middle East, as in much of the rest of the world. This meant that persons with foreign language knowledge got most of their European-based ideas from French thinkers, whether or not the recipient had any special “natural” affinity for French above other ideas. Hence, even someone who, left to an open choice, might have tended, say, to adopt English rather than French liberal notions was in fact more likely to read and cite French thinkers. The origins of this pattern antedate the French Revolution and had little to do with that revolution, but it may lead some to overstate the influence of the French Revolution on Middle Eastern ideas.