The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

The History of an Interpretation 31
Political and social upheaval fuels prophetic
speculations
The French Revolution of 1789–1799 had extraordinary impact
extending far beyond French borders. Following the violent
removal of the French monarchy and the proclamation of the
Republic in 1792, new extremist leaders not only brought about a
period of terror and chaos in France itself, but they inaugurated an
almost unbroken period of wars of conquest, which lasted until
1815, when Emperor Napoleon I was defeated at Waterloo. The
Revolution’s chaotic aftermath in Europe and other parts of the
world excited intensified interest in prophetic study, especially as
some of these upheavals had been partially predicted by expositors
of the prophecies.
Historians recognize the French Revolution as marking a major
turning-point in world history. It brought to an end a long era of
relative stability in Europe, uprooting the established order and
deeply changing political and religious thought.
Comparing the wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon
Bonaparte with the earlier Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) and the
later World War I (1914–1918), historian Robert Gilpin says of
these three wars that “each was a world war involving almost all the
states in the [international] system and, at least in retrospect, can be
considered as having constituted a major turning point in human
history .” 18
Another well-known historian, R. R. Palmer, in discussing the
momentous role of the French Revolution in modern history, says:
Even today in the middle of the twentieth century, despite all
that has happened in the lifetime of men not yet old, and even . . .
in America or in any other part of a world in which the countries
of Europe no longer enjoy their former commanding position, it is
still possible to say that the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth
century was the turning point of modern civilization. 19
The resultant uprooting of long-standing European political and
social institutions caused many to believe that they were indeed
living in the last days. Men of many backgrounds—ministers,
politicians, lawyers, and laymen—became involved in prophetic
18 Professor Robert Gilpin, “The Theory of Hegemonic War,” The Journal of
Interdisciplinary History, (published in Cambridge, MA, and London, England), Vol.
18:4, Spring 1988, p. 606. (Emphasis added.)
19 R. R. Palmer in his foreword to Georges Lefebvre’s The Coming of the , French
Revolution (New York: Vintage, 1947), p. v.
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