Unruly Memory and Historical Order

Abstract

This paper explores the complex history of “undisciplined histories” by looking at the tension between political engagement and scientific detachment in revolutionary scholarship, a field perpetually torn between historicist methods and presentist purposes. From the controversies surrounding the 1889 Jubilee to the patriotic uses of history during the Great War, the historiography of the French Revolution continuously challenged the principles and methods of history as an academic discipline. This period’s omnipresence in nineteenth-century “memory wars” delayed its academization, which became effective only in the aftermath of the Centenary when newly implemented university chairs, scholarly journals, and historical societies established the history of the French Revolution as a central research topic. However, the advent of the First World War challenged the historians’ impartiality and detachment as they committed to defend their homeland in their historical writings while striving to preserve their intellectual autonomy.