George Rudé

The Gordon Riots

George Rudé analyses the events of what started as an anti-Catholic protest, but ended with violence and looting.

Wilkes and Liberty

By challenging and destroying the system of General Warrants, John Wilkes struck an important blow for civil liberty in England, writes George Rudé.

John Wilkes and the Middlesex Election

The battle over the Middlesex Election of 1769, writes George Rude, raised the constitutional question of the voters’ right to return a member of their own choice to Parliament.

Robespierre

No other leader of the French Revolution held the centre of the revolutionary stage so long as Robespierre. George Rudé portrays him as its personification and guiding spirit — a man of lofty aspirations, though according to the popular legend a fanatical man of blood.