The legacy of the French Revolution critiqued by the most important thinkers of the era. "Gateway to the French Revolution" focuses on voices that critique the French Revolution and its consequences. Edmund Burke's critique is widely known and shaped the development of political Conservatism. Friedrich Gentz, a lesser-known Austrian diplomat who would become an architect of European peace after Napoleon's failed ambitions, counters the excesses of the Terror, as does Joseph de Maistre, a Savoyard nobleman whose own thoughts would shape a wave of counter-revolutionary reaction that continues to impact the modern world.