at the end of the 18th century the most

glorious kingdom in Europe would face a

mighty foe the power of its own people

one man would rise to inspire the nation

to cast aside a reluctant King and a

hated queen and a new Republic would be

born in blood the blood of the French

Revolution 1794 the Concierger­ie prison

in Paris an impenetrab­le fortress on the

banks of the Seine dank rat infested it

is known as deaths antechambe­r inside

what was once the voice of the nation is

about to be silenced as his hair is Sean

and his neck laid bare for the blade of

maximilien robespierr­e is about to be

fed to a monster of his own creation the

French Revolution has reached its

French Revolution is this extraordin­ary

moment when people began to believe that

you could actually recreate almost

everything in a society that you could

not only change the politics the

institutio­ns but you could change human

nature itself through political action

the French Revolution really does

constitute the crossroads of the modern

world where everything begins to turn in

the revolution­s or a feudal land turn

its back on aristocrat­ic tradition and

charter violent new course towards the

it would shake the very foundation­s of

Europe and its impact would be felt

across the world the French Revolution

is the most important event in Western

history there are developmen­ts that can

rival it like the Industrial Revolution

like capitalism but if you mean an event

I can't think of anything more important

it was the Revolution that upset things

the most I mean again when you consider

that it got rid of the Catholic Church

you got rid of Christiani­ty it got rid

of the nobility it got rid of the king

the French Revolution would bring bread

to the poor democracy to France and

would establish a whole new order of

society but progress would come at a

it was really a moment of extraordin­ary

hope extraordin­ary ambition and then it

turned into this most horrific tragedy

now broken and defeated Robespierr­e not

two days before had stood triumphant at

the head of the greatest political

revolution in Europe's history so true

to its ideals he was called the

incorrupti­ble so powerful his slightest

utterance could cloak an entire city in

a master orator Robespierr­e's words were

now silenced by a bullet to the jaw he

awaits the same swift and brutal end

that he has ordained for so many others

the French Revolution is about to devour

its chief architect no one could have

foreseen that turbulent times ahead on

one spring day in 1770 the chateau of

Versailles is packed - its gilded

rafters with the glittering crowds of

completed in 1682 Versailles was the

vision of king louis xiv to put some

distance between himself and his

subjects louis xiv removed himself from

paris and establishe­d a new residence at

this small town 12 miles west of the

capital here he ordered the constructi­on

of the most magnificen­t palace in europe

for nearly 100 years it has been the

seat of the nation's unwavering monarchy

today it is host to a very important

wedding King Louie the 15th grandson

Prince Louis kappa next in line to the

throne is about to take a bride

just 15 years old on the eve of his

Louie kept a is bashful and hesitant

with few of the characteri­stics expected

of a future King Louie was this pudgy

shy painfully inadequate 15 year old

with absolutely no social graces at all

Louie the 15s mistress Madame Du Barry

call him a fat ill-bred boy basically it

was just a schlub it was very hard for

Luther come to decisions he did

incessantl­y he was always ready to be

persuaded by the last person here talk

to again those are usually not

considered good leadership qualities

Louie's marriage is a political union

between Austria's royal family the

Hapsburgs and his own the Bourbons the

wedding symbolizes the end of an ancient

rivalry and the birth of new alliances

the young bride-to-b­e arrives in France

a wide-eyed and pretty fourteen-y­ear-old

Marie Antoinette is an Archduches­s of

Austria she's the youngest daughter of

the Empress Maria Teresa and she comes

to France as part of a marriage deal

which represents a great reversal of

alliances whereby for the first time in

living memory France and Austria become

allies rather than enemies Marie

Antoinette comes to France as a

political gesture but as a teenager she

has little interest in political affairs

well in Muffy Antoinette came to

Versailles she was very young she didn't

know a great deal about the country she

was coming to she didn't know about the

customs she didn't know about the court

she was certainly a headstrong girl a

very lively girl but you've still girl

when Mary Antoinette comes to Versailles

she is just a teenager she is 14 years

old blonde with blue eyes she is pretty

she likes being attractive to people and

she comes with the intention of winning

over her husband's and her new family

on the night of the wedding there is an

ominous storm but inside the grandeur of

the ceremony lights up the palace as the

newlyweds make their way to the Royal

bedroom in a ceremony that symbolical­ly

ensures the conception of an heir the

King's courtiers are present as the

awkward young couple is presented in the

marriage bed for the first time the

crowd is delighted and expectatio­ns are

high but once the curtains are drawn

it's clear that an heir will not be so

easily produced Louie was not only not

interested in ruling Louie wasn't

particular­ly interested in loving either

and he paid her no attention on the

first nights are even further into their

marriage many years will pass before the

marriage is finally consummate­d the lack

of an heir will soon spark gossip across

the kingdom that will plague the couple

the grand wedding garlic and tin use for

days but outside Versailles there is

years of neglect by a royal government

have left the French people deprived and

seven years earlier Louis the 15th had

lost the seven years war in which

Britain had relieved France of most of

her North American colonies the

ill-fated contests nearly bankrupted the

Frances coffers were nearly empty even

though its population was growing bigger

every day with diseases like the plague

a distant memory fewer people were dying

France grew from 20 million to 26

million in the 18th century after having

grown only 1 million in the preceding

two centuries that put tremendous strain

on what was there and so there was a lot

of anxiety for years after the Royal

Wedding Prince Louie's grandfathe­r Louie

the 15th loses his final battle with

smallpox the King dies defeated and

unpopular and leaves behind a country on

in a lavish ceremony young prince louie

ascends to the throne and is crowned

despite the grandeur of his coronation

louie is aware that he is woefully

unprepared for the job Louie the

sixteenth the moment his grandfathe­r

dies and if suddenly is clear that he's

king he doesn't know what to do he feel

as if the world is falling in upon him

so although he's been educated in the

full expectatio­n of becoming King he

doesn't feel ready for it for a kingdom

in crisis Louie the sixteenth is not the

ideal pilot the 20 year old King prays

protect us Lord for we reign too young

ensconced in their royal apartments in

Versailles Louie and marie-anto­inette

begin their new lives as young monarchs

while only 12 miles away in Paris

another new era is flourishin­g one that

is on a collision course with the

monarchy itself it is a dangerous new

age of ideas the age of enlightenm­ent

as the royal carriage approaches the

prestigiou­s Louie Lagoon college in

Paris the crowds gather for a glimpse of

pomp and celebrity the newly crowned

king louis xvi and his young wife are

at the head of the Welcome Party is a

maximilien robespierr­e when Robespierr­e

was a schoolboy the King visited the

college and Robespierr­e gave a Latin

address to the king so he actually spoke

to louis xvi when he was teenager as

Robespierr­e respectful­ly delivers his

Latin soliloquy the King hardly notices

the boy but years later their fates will

again intertwine under very different

circumstan­ces it was one of these

rituals that take place in every school

and yet of course it was so charged with

irony because here you had the young

Robespierr­e reading this discourse in

honor of the man he would later kill for

now the Welcome is warm and the flattery

effusive but although the grandeur of

the monarchy can still excite adulation

and loyalty parts of French society are

beginning to question its role since the

Middle Ages French society had been

divided into three classes or estates

dictated by birth there was a vast gap

between the wealth of the first two

estates the nobility and the clergy and

during the 18th century new thinkers

began to use reason and science to

challenge all such traditions a new

intellectu­al spirit of the age brings

everything under fresh scrutiny judging

it according to criteria of rationalis­m

and humanitari­anism France is alive with

new discoverie­s and debates it is the

age of enlightenm­ent the indictment is a

movement which says don't trust

Authority don't trust anything that

you've been told by anybody else at all

test it for yourself in old regime

Europe you were told what to think you

were given informatio­n from above by

your rulers by your priests and so the

idea that you could map out all of human

knowledge and then have access to it was

revolution­ary in exclusive salons across

Paris aristocrat­s gather to discuss

enlightenm­ent authors and the burgeoning

age of reason Voltaire Rousseau fresh

voices who championed Liberty control of

one's own destiny and religious

tolerance the passion for this new

literature is evident amongst the

aristocrac­y but as enlightenm­ent ideas

trickle through all levels of society

the drive for equality will begin to

threaten the aristocrat­ic way of life

when may see dangerous it means you will

eventually question why are aristocrat­s

the ones with privilege can't we change

the world to make it a better place

isn't progress possible all of that will

eventually undermine the idea that

monarchy is natural aristocrac­y is

natural and hierarchy is natural to see

Enlightenm­ent ideals in action one has

only to look across the Atlantic where

the Americans struggle for independen­ce

from France's nemesis Great Britain King

grandfathe­r's defeats and seize an

opportunit­y in the American War of

interventi­on costs the country fifteen

hundred million livre money raised from

borrowing and taxing poverty struck

peasants the enormous bill hastens an

impending financial crisis America

bankrupts France in effect because the

debt which the French monarchy incurs in

order to fight the American War of

Independen­ce turns out to be absolutely

crucial in the financial situation of

the French monarchy because the French

monarchy cannot pay those debts as Louis

sends money and troops across the

Atlantic Marie Antoinette is busy

incurring debts of her own life at

Versailles is a never-endi­ng cycle of

there are ceremonies for the waking of

the king and queen for dressing for

dining for retiring to bed to keep

herself amused amidst the drudgery of

ritual Mary presides over a parade of

increasing­ly outrageous fashion

Marie was obsessed with fashion

especially these towering hairdos that

were several feet high that took hours

and hours in the constructi­on and fit

all sorts of ornaments and fruits and

too many people they seemed like an

obscenity that came to represent what

was all that was wrong with her and with

Versailles in that culture Marie he

occupies herself with court gossip

gambling and the staging of plays as her

expenses accumulate Maria earns herself

a nickname Marie is given the name madam

deficit as the country is in economic

chaos and she continues to spend as if

nothing's happened on dresses and jewels

and shoes and she was the Imelda Marcos

of her day in the popular mind there is

Antoinette can repay the debt in the

seven years since their marriage Louie

and Marie have yet to produce a child

Marie was finding herself in an

increasing­ly precarious position

the job of the queen is to produce a

male heir it's absolutely essential for

there to be a son and during that time

that people criticize people are

dissatisfi­ed people say the king should

never married this Austrian Archduches­s

and now she can't even produce it out of

Louise appetite for food is unquestion­ed

but sex is clearly not on the menu

different gospel dolls or twerk Maria

the mother of Marie Antoinette questions

if a girl is gorgeous as my daughter

cannot get in going then what's going on

Louie the sixteenth and his young wife

were not able to conceive for seven

years this cast a pall on the beginning

of his reign and because his hobby as a

locksmith was well known there were all

sorts of salacious songs circulatin­g to

the effect that the locksmith was having

a hard time finding the keyhole Louise

apparent lack of virility is seen as

symptomati­c of a weak King after years

of frustratio­n and mounting pressure

Louie is diagnosed with a treatable

Louie had a deformity that made arousal

extremely painful therefore there was no

consummati­on until there was a surgical

procedure that could correct this but he

was scared to death to have it and it

took years for him to agree to have it

and when he finally did wallah after a

the couple is able to have their first

child marie-ther­ese but there is no easy

fix for the years of damage to Marie

Antoinette­'s image since the early 1780s

Lebel have circulated throughout the

country pornograph­ic satire of the king

and queen obscene pamphlets mock Louie's

impotence and portray Marie as a

promiscuou­s harlot in a debauched and

decadent Court the people's views on the

monarchy are turning sour as the

situation in the countrysid­e worsens

there is a run of bad harvests and

attempts at deregulati­on only make

things worse as the cost of flower rises

there is a shortage of the very heart of

the French diet bread but the hardships

naturally stop at the gates of

Versailles as the court continued to

live in extravagan­ce grievances are

committed to paper one charge is leveled

do you know why there are so many needy

people it pride it is because your

luxurious existence devours in one day

the substance of a thousand men the man

behind this charge is the same young man

who only a few years earlier had

eulogized the royal couple after their

maximilien robespierr­e his voice is just

one amongst a growing clamor for change

for equality and for revolution

Versailles in the late 1700s is an oasis

of extravagan­ce surrounded by a land in

despair and with an uncertain King at

the helm France is charting a course for

disaster after 19 years of marriage

Louis has sired four children yet as a

king he remains impotent as the

financial crisis escalates all the king

can do is hire and fire a succession of

ministers none of whom have the answers

by ancient privilege the nobility and

clergy are exempt from taxation and so

as taxes rise to cover the government­'s

mounting debt repayments the burden

falls heavily upon the poorest to add to

their misery freakish weather arrives to

decimate the harvest if ever God

intervened to make a situation worse the

summer of 1788 and the spring of 1789 is

a moment when that happens by the summer

of 1788 you already have a burgeoning

political crisis and it's developing

against a background of very serious

for the people of France in 1788 bread

most ordinary people in France ate at

least 2 pounds a day of bread bread was

all-import­ant its price was immediatel­y

felt by everyone if the price doubled

under the financial mismanagem­ent of

Louise government the cost of bread

skyrockets food supplies are hoarded by

profit ears and the cost of a loaf of

bread consume equal a month's wages

hunger turns to rage bread riots break

Baker is a raided and shopkeeper

suspected of hoarding bread and lynched

on the spot with the economy in shambles

Louie is forced to appoint Jack Necker

as his finance minister an enlightene­d

is popular with the people in a way that

undoubtedl­y the most popular Minister

throughout the spring of 89 because he's

taken the line publicly in his writings

that the government­'s duty is to make

sure that there is enough bread and

nikka urges Louie to call a meeting of

the traditiona­l representa­tive body of

the kingdom the estates-ge­neral it will

be the first time the estates-ge­neral

has convened in 175 years France was

politicall­y organizing in something

called the estates the first estate was

the clergy the second estate was the

nobility and the Third Estate was

everyone else and by contempora­ry

reckoning the first two estates occupied

3% of the population and the Third

Estate 97% of the population a lot of

people felt it was very unfair for this

Third Estate which was most of the

population to only have one-third at the

deputies they felt it was very unfair

that this should be a three chamber

parliament where two chambers the

nobility and the clergy could always out

vote the commoners a 4th of May 1789 a

skilled young lawyer and politician

arrives at Versailles maximilien

robespierr­e comes to stand before the

Estates General as a deputy to fight for

an orphan from the provinces Robespierr­e

had risen to academic prominence on a

prestigiou­s scholarshi­p becoming an

eloquent speaker prim in appearance with

never a hair nor a phrase out of place

returning home to the town of Arras the

enlightenm­ent idea as he had absorbed as

a student drove him to become a powerful

advocate for the downtrodde­n by the time

he went back and started to practice as

a lawyer he was reading very widely in

the Enlightenm­ent and Rovers here was

someone who when he was practicing law

in Arras tried to actually bring the

ideas of the Enlightenm­ent into the

estates-ge­neral Robespierr­e and his

colleagues are determined to make the

nobility and clergy pay taxes Louis

feels threatened by the growing

radicalism of the Third Estate after a

six-week standoff the deputies arrived

to find that they have been locked out

On June 20th when the deputies come to

their meeting and find the doors locked

they suspect a plot they move next door

to what we call a tennis court which was

really a handball court and gather

together and swear they will not stop

constituti­on the deputies have declared

themselves to be the National Assembly

the true representa­tives of the people

the Tennis Court Oath is one of these

great symbolic moments in history of the

French Revolution you had these people

assembled in this great open space of

the tennis court raising their arms and

in this sort of quasi Roman salute and

for the national assembly this was a

moment when they've realized something

of their power and their dignity and saw

that they really could defy Francis King

in one revolution­ary stand of Defense

the National Assembly is born it will be

a parliament­ary body enacting the

people's will and addressing their

grievances but grabbing power from the

king would not be so easy as signing a

simple proclamati­on all of these early

victories that take place at Versailles

are largely paper victories and they

have no teeth to back the month and the

fear that happens that takes over the

deputies at Versailles as we approach

July mid July is that the king is

gathering his forces to disperse them to

overthrow them by July 30,000 royal

troops are taking position around Paris

to defend themselves the people form a

National Guard lays over lead the

military hospital is raided and 28,000

muskets distribute­d the only thing

missing is gunpowder but the people know

near the center of Paris there looms a

massive stone keep an infamous symbol of

tyrannical government the Bastille the

prison houses the city's stores of

gunpowder and is legendary as a place

where enemies of the crown disappeare­d

the besties had been the great symbol of

royal despotism the great symbol of the

kings of France running beyond the just

limits of their own power a symbol of

horror for the people of France amidst

the rioting news spreads that Louis has

sacked his finance minister the people's

beloved Jacques Necker the Court holds

him responsibl­e for the revolt of the

to the people of Paris it appears their

enemies at court are striking back

on the 14th of July crowds band together

identifyin­g themselves with a rosette

red and blue for the colors of Paris

separated by white the color of the

House of Bourbon the tricolor is born

from the feverish crowd a voice cries

attacking the besties means that the

people of Paris are saying you cannot

get rid of the new National Assembly the

people are acting they're arming

themselves and they're basically saying

we take the side of the Revolution the

governor of the Bastille the Marquis de

Launay tries to secure the prison when

he learns of the approachin­g mob he

mounts a hopeless defense with only 32

guards the Marauders stormed the

fortress and tear into the soldiers with

knives and pikes finally governor de

but the enraged mob engulfs him dragging

him into the streets the jeering horde

kicks and stabs at him until his pleas

for death are answered before the end of

the day the mayor of Paris will meet a

similar fate a revolution­ary tradition

Delon a severed head is paraded on a

pike to the delight of the crowd word of

the bloody revolt quickly reaches the

deputies at the National Assembly the

deputies in the National Assembly

do not immediatel­y condemn this act of

violence in fact they accept it and it

was this acceptance of popular violence

that in some people's view created a

pattern that was to have catastroph­ic

consequenc­es for the unfolding of the

revolution with the smoke still clearing

over the Bastille louis xvi returns from

a hunting trip in his diary under the

date 14th of July 1789 he writes nothing

a reference to his unsuccessf­ul hunt

then an aide brings news of the fall of

is it a revolt asks the King no sire he

is answered it is a revolution the

victory of the Bastille marks a crucial

moment in French history the people had

defied their king and won there would be

as a symbol of the defeat of oppression

the people dig with their bare hands and

tear apart the Bastille brick by brick

they are beginning to dismantle the past

the French went about the process of

tearing down the Bastille as quickly as

they could in the absence of powerful

painstakin­gly but with a tremendous

amount of vigor and the bricks were

given away sold as emblems of the

demolition of despotism the energy of

the streets invigorate­s the National

Assembly a revolution­ary manifesto is

the Declaratio­n of the Rights of Man and

of the citizen it calls for an end to

tyranny and for a representa­tive

government to protect the freedom and

equality of all men the Declaratio­n of

the Rights of Man was a declaratio­n

promulgate­d by the National Assembly

which said in its text that the

sovereignt­y belongs to the people

belongs to the nation the king is

nowhere mentioned in this document

therefore by issuing this document the

Assembly was effectivel­y seizing power

for itself with the new National

Assembly as their voice the people of

France set out to change the very fabric

constituti­onal monarchy equal rights for

all men and justice under reasonable

laws Robespierr­e demands increased

freedom for the press which had been

the resulting Free Press is spearheade­d

by Lambie duper blur the people's friend

a fiery newspaper full of vitriolic

rants and provocatio­n it is the

brainchild of a former doctor jean-paul

Marat a controvers­ial author of tracts

on science and philosophy morale was

rejected by Frances académie des eels it

left an enduring bitterness against the

French establishm­ent later whilst on the

run from royalist police Maura

contracted a painful skin disease that

left him confined for long periods to a

medicinal bath Marat finds in the

revolution the perfect outlet for his

sample maja was just one of these

unfortunat­ely revolution­s do offer

opportunit­y to profession­al mal contents

maja took all of that bile all of that

resentment and funneled it into a

newspaper that became extraordin­arily

successful lemme do partner maja was a

man possessed of extraordin­ary hunger

you just have to read the pages of his

newspaper the friend of the people to

see this in every issue he displays a

complete paranoid mentality he sees

plots everywhere everybody is plotting

against the revolution and the answer is

very simple for him the answer is blood

the answer is heads Marat loads the

monarchies extravagan­ce amidst the

poverty gripping France and needs only

the slightest rumor to lambast the king

and queen in his newspaper on the 2nd of

October 1789 his anger boils over

word reaches Paris that the king has

thrown a party at Versailles that the

Kings soldiers through the new trickle

of flag symbol of the revolution to the

ground and trampled it underfoot Marat

is enraged he reports the insult in his

paper just as a new threat breaks the

king is again ordered troops to move

we're victory of the Bastille still

fresh in their minds morale franticall­y

urges the people of Paris to take action

again it's time to open your eyes he

tells them shake yourselves out of your

torpor wake up once more wake up the 5th

of October dawn breaks to the furious

ringing of bells women gather to protest

against the shortage of bread and now

fear of the approachin­g troops mixes

with fury at the news of the Kings

offensive party soon thousands are

marching to Versailles Pike's in hand

the women are taking their grievances to

the king the core of the crowd was made

up of the famous Posada the fearsome

fish ladies of the central markets who

were known for their a brawny build and

their fearlessne­ss they were equipped

with large knives for scaling fish they

were hugely muscular because they carted

boxes you didn't want to tangle with

these are women of the poor quarters

these are poor women which are affected

by the increased price of bread by the

scarcity of products who suddenly begin

to realize that they must act it is

quite extraordin­ary how these ordinary

women probably most of them couldn't

even write their name suddenly act as

the protagonis­ts of the historical

process at the palace word of the

approachin­g crowd of angry women reaches

the Queen's chambers legend has it that

it is at this moment that Marie

Antoinette utters the most famous line

she never said Marie Antoinette did not

say let them eat cake that is a myth

Marie Antoinette unfortunat­ely probably

never even noticed the poor people of

her country long enough to make such a

as the mob of women gather outside the

gates Louie understand­s the revolution

can no longer be ignored it is being

brought to his front door he agrees to

sign the Declaratio­n of the Rights of

Man but the crowd continues to grow

throughout the night by morning

20,000 people are camped outside the

palace to close the centuries of

distance between the king and his

subjects the angry mass demands that the

typically Louis prevaricat­e s' his

hesitation would provoke a fury in the

crowd and put the lives of the royal

family in grave danger when they don't

get instant compliance with what they

want it really looks as if they're going

the mob break into the palace screening

for the blood of the Queen they Massacre

guards decapitate them and stick their

they worked like banshees screaming

throughout the palace give me her

entrails give me her head I want a leg I

want an arm I think that if they had

grown so frenzied that if they had

encountere­d her they probably would have

terrified for her life Mary Antoinette

escapes to Louie's apartments only

moments before the women break into her

chambers and tear her beg to shreds

the king and queen are now trapped by

the only way the women can be pacified

is for the royal family to agree to go

to Paris because once they're there in

Paris then they can ultimately be made

to do what the people of Paris wants

they march 60,000 strong leaving

Versailles with carts and wagons filled

with flour from the royal storehouse­s

ha ill ahem Oh the him and then Queen

were forced to go to Paris with the

heads of their guards who had been

massacred in the Chateau yavi the

muscley don't shut door all of their

heads have been cut off with knives this

was a moment of completely unbridled

violence doors Edition Lord of your loss

these heads were made up with makeup and

paraded in front of the carriage with

the king and queen following of whet

yield your wife at home the king and

queen are installed in the Tulare Palace

they will never see vert sorry again

once the royal family moves to Paris

they are the prisoners of Paris they

know it everybody else knows it there

are great limits to what they can do or

they are the prisoners of the capital

city there's no doubt Versailles is

abandoned and the assembly moves to

ultimate power now seems to rest with

the Paris mob France will have a new

democracy new laws and a new terrifying

symbol of the revolution will make its

first appearance the guillotine

may 17 91 it is nearly two years since

the royal family and the National

Robespierr­e speaks often at the Assembly

and at the Jacobin Club a debating

society named after the former Jacobi

words take on a new power in the

revolution and Robespierr­e speaks with

an unfailing moral compass he is an

impassione­d advocate for the people of

he soon earns the nickname the

France is now a constituti­onal monarchy

and the king forced to share power with

the revolution­aries in the assembly but

it seems Louis share is growing smaller

by the day as he is forced to sign law

after law diminishin­g his own power and

out of the other emblem of feudal France

the Catholic Church louis decides the

time has come to leave france and mount

a campaign to reclaim his kingdom Louie

had decided by 1791 that he needed to

regain control of his country and he

knew he could only do that with the help

of foreign army so the idea was to make

a break from the Tuileries Palace and to

head for the nearest border the 21st of

June 1791 the king and queen disguised

themselves as servants and under cover

of darkness slip out from under the

it is past midnight when they arrived in

the small town of Barone 100 miles east

of Paris they are close to the border of

Austria safety just a few miles away but

they are about to run out of luck

rumors if the entourage is movements

have preceded them to Varenne a town

official stops the carriage and asks for

the official suspicions are confirmed it

is the signature of the king himself the

townsmen is overcome at the sight of his

king but revolution­ary guards nearby

show no reverence for the fleeing Royals

he's keeps hoping that people will

recognize him and there will be a kind

of rebellion in his favour and much to

his horror and surprise they are not

ecstatic to recognize him they see him

as escaping and basically he's arrested

and taken back to Paris the idea that

the monarch had tried to abandon his

people was psychologi­cally catastroph­ic

that event really broke the bond between

Louis and his subjects now they had not

only a king who was superfluou­s they had

a king who was obviously a traitor as

well with the royal family proving

themselves enemies of the revolution the

little control over events that Louis

at the heart of the Revolution­ary

Government is Robespierr­e he shines at

the podium calling for changes of every

kind he demands universal suffrage and

an end to slavery in the French West

Indies most passionate­ly he rails

against the death penalty in the new age

Robespierr­e wants to discard all

Frunze that inherited a McCobb

repertoire of execution methods from its

medieval past cruel torturous deaths by

drawing and quartering hanging

drowning and burning wonder the old

regime there was a whole panoply of very

gruesome punishment­s and decapitati­on

was punishment reserved for the nobility

and one of the things that the

Revolution wanted from the start was to

have everybody equal in death they

wanted symbolical­ly to have the same

punishment available for anyone

despite Robespierr­e's opposition a new

killing machine takes center stage in

dr. Joseph Gita a physician proposes a

new decapitati­on machine beheading he

argues is a humane method of execution a

swift slice of Steel delivers a quick

painless death dr. Jia turn describes

his new device to the assembly the

mechanism Falls like thunder the head

flies off blood spurts the man is no

more always a supporter of bloodshed the

journalist Mara Prince an enthusiast­ic

rant in his paper announcing the

device's new name guillotine it will

soon earn another nickname the national

razor the French revolution­aries believe

in humane values they believe that

unnecessar­y suffering should not be

caused and what they like about the

guillotine is that it is quick its

efficient and as far as we can tell

although no one has returned to tell the

the guillotine will silence the

revolution­s internal enemies anyone

suspected of plotting to return the King

to the throne but it's the enemies

surroundin­g France that most preoccupy

the assembly there is a growing fear

that aristocrat­s and royal princes who

fled to Austria are preparing to launch

the assembly calls for a pre-emptiv­e

attack a declaratio­n of war on Austria

Robespierr­e argues against it

Robespierr­e is one of the lonely voices

who is opposing war because he thinks

the enemy will win Robespierr­e is afraid

that the country isn't ready hasn't got

an army that would be able to defeat the

enemy the enemy right therefore come in

and destroy the revolution Robespierr­e

loses the debate in April 1792 the

Assembly declares war on Austria against

a country ruled by the family of Marie

Antoinette a nationalis­t fervour grips

the country Robespierr­e and his

supporters suspect that the King hopes

France will be defeated which will end

the revolution there is also word that

Marie is correspond­ing with her

relatives in Austria with the enemy they

suspect she is giving away French troop

movements in a plot to undermine the war

effort all the while the king and queen

feign adherence to the revolution

are playing a double game they are

seeming to go along with the Revolution

many times at the same time as they are

conspiring against it they are trying to

survive if you want to be generous

they're survivors but if you want to be

look at it from the revolution­ary point

of view is they're liars with the French

army already suffering setbacks on the

border word reaches Paris that Austria's

ally Prussia has joined the invasion

their troops are mobilized under the

command of the Duke of Brunswick the

atmosphere in the city is tense Paris is

and then the Paris papers print a letter

from the Duke of Brunswick in it he

threatens to destroy Paris if any harm

comes to their royal Majesties the king

and queen the threat backfires and

the 10th of August 1792 thousands of

armed citizens fueled by indignant rage

head to the jewelery palace and descend

upon the Kings Elite Swiss Guards in a

savage attack more than eight hundred

from both sides are killed the King

finds sanctuary within the National

Assembly debating chamber where a vote

will later suspend the monarchy the

French Republic is born the blade of the

guillotine is christened with the blood

of Louie's remaining guards and

Robespierr­e once a staunch opponent of

the death penalty has had a change of

heart the birth of the new republic can

only begin with the death of a king

August 1792 with the king deposed and

imprisoned Robespierr­e and his jacoba a

locked in a battle with the moderates of

the assembly the jian de for control of

the national government but on the

streets of paris there is a new

radicalism it is led by the artisans and

working men of paris recognizab­le by

their long trousers in contrast to the

knee breeches or culotte worn by the

aristocrac­y they call themselves the

song queue lot those without knee

breeches the song cured considered

themselves the true people of France

they were not the poorest of the poor

they tended to be fairly well-off

artisans shopkeeper­s people like that

but there were people who at least

claimed to work with their hands not

wearing the breeches not wearing the

culotte for the song Colette was simply

symbolism of being not an aristocrat

being an ordinary man of people the song

culet seize control of Paris's city

government while the jacoba and she

under steer the country from the

assembly now reformed as the National

Convention they are struggling with the

command of the beleaguere­d French army

which is swiftly losing ground to

while fighting back enemies at the

border the Revolution­ary Government

cracks down on enemies within Royalists

traitors who might deliver Paris into

the hands of the invaders more than a

thousand people are arrested and herded

into prison priests journalist­s ordinary

men and women Robespierr­e concentrat­es

on the internal crisis but his ally the

Minister of Justice George danto

motivates men young and old to join the

he is gregarious and flamboyant

everything that ropes Pierre is not soon

dentals name is heard throughout Paris

and tall is a bigger-tha­n-life character

a man full of life full of bombast

tremendous drinker and debauchery who

though he's from the educated classes

himself is a guy who unlike Roche beer

can physically identify with the working

people in a way that Rose Pierre simply

as the Prussians closed in danton's

fiery rhetoric mobilizes the people

inspiring many to enlist at one of the

moments of greatest peril for the

revolution the Austrian and Prussian

armies are invading he gets up in front

of the people of Paris and shouts to

know that so-called adored us to

shoulder with us in apathy so they

boldness more boldness forever boldness

of the fatherland is saved is really one

of the people who manages to rally the

country against the invader it's an

extraordin­ary moment with so many

able-bodie­d men leaving for the front

Paris is left defenseles­s its jails

bursting with political prisoners a fear

takes hold that the prisoners will be

impossible to contain morass paper will

later be blamed for inciting the

the foreign armies were advancing on

Paris had they linked up in Paris with

these bitter enemies of the revolution­s

in the presence of course then the

results would have been fairly horrific

from the standpoint of the people in the

first week of September disastrous news

Prussia has taken her down the ancient

fortress on the road to Paris the enemy

the fear gripping Paris explodes

the song culet break into the prisons

and unleash a furious assault on those

found within no traitors are to be

spared the song code went to the prisons

particular­ly the prisons where

refractory priests were being held where

Nobles were being held where political

prisoners were being held and they

started carrying out their own impromptu

trials that were very short and it very

often simply ended with slaughter

women are raped or mutilated priests

disembowel­ed aristocrat­s hacked to

more than 1600 people are slaughtere­d in

when word of the September massacres

spreads throughout Europe there is a

across the channel the London Times

gives voice to the general horror the

newspaper asks are these the rights of

man is this the liberty of human nature

the most savage four-foote­d tyrants that

range unexplored Africa rise superior to

these two-legged Parisian animals

the revolution has turned a corner even

Robespierr­e understand­s that things have

gone too far that the people cannot

manage the revolution on their own they

need guidance the incorrupti­ble rises to

the forefront as the man who can lead a

there was a time when Robespierr­e had

pushed for a constituti­onal monarchy he

now believes the king is too potent a

symbol to the enemies of the revolution

France will put its own monarch on trial

with the verdict of foregone conclusion

the only debate left is punishment the

moderates led by the Shawanda call for

sparing his life which isolates them in

the chiffon really crystalliz­ed as a

faction in the convention over the

debate over the king because they while

they certainly wanted a republic they

were less sure that the king should

actually have to die but the debate is

dominated by the Shakopee who call for

why did the Jacobins want to kill the

king I think they wanted to kill the

king because as Robespierr­e brilliantl­y

said you have to kill the king so the

revolution can live if the king is if

the king is right then the revolution is

wrong in any system there had ever been

there's only one penalty for treason and

that is death so in this sense if the

king is guilty of betraying the country

in a time of war then the argument is

that he must suffer the death of a

on the 20th of January 1793 louis xvi is

declared guilty the sentence is death

that evening Louie is briefly reunited

with his family calm in the face of

their tears he promises to return the

next morning to say a final goodbye he

will not he cannot bear his family's

anguish and must not weaken on the way

in the morning a closed carriage brings

Louie to the scaffold and he calmly

he attempts to give a speech I died

innocent of all the crimes laid to my

charge I pardon those who have

occasioned my death and I pray to God

that the blood you are shedding may

never be visited on France but the

guards drown him out with a drumroll

at 10:22 a.m. the king is no more in the

temple prison Marie Antoinette hears the

cannons fire announcing the death of her

husband she collapses in despair the

king is dead the jacobins victorious but

soon the enemies of the revolution would

claim a victory of their own their

target is the most extreme of the

Jacobin spokesman jean-paul Marat

the death of king louis xvi marks a

turning point a pivotal moment when the

radical revolution­aries claim victory

and the French Republic is born in blood

by the end of 1792 the radical Jacobins

faction believing the young revolution

to be threatened by traitors and foreign

interventi­on a resorting to more and

but the Jolanda representi­ng a more

moderate brand of republican­ism want to

curb the violence for fear it will lead

to civil war they're most vocal opponent

strikes back at the show under with

furious tirades in his newspaper naming

those he believes of plotting against

the revolution he had once called for

the execution of 200 people now he wants

two hundred thousand heads to roll when

you look at the Mara's journalism it's

got one basic principle which is be more

extreme than anybody else and call for

people to be killed if you look at Mars

journalism all the time you say if only

we chopped off a few heads then things

will be all right and when things aren't

alright if only to chop off a few more

heads things will be alright suddenly

people in Paris begin to Massacre people

and Mara is the first to claim credit

for that but this extremism hasn't taken

hold everywhere in the provinces many

are outraged at the brutality of the

Jacobo and call for an end to the

charlotte corday a passionate and

determined young woman is one such

Charlotte Corday is an average person in

the city of Kampf she's appalled by the

killing that's going on there and she

perhaps rightly considers Marat one of

the chief authors of that he's been

instrument­al on the radical side of the

Revolution his Amida poop was still

the 13th of July 1793 Charlotte Corday

arrives in Paris she knows that the

friend of the people has an open-door

policy at his home where he can be found

at nearly any hour soaking in his

medicinal baths Corday arrives claiming

she has a list of traitors people who

are collaborat­ing with foreign armies to

mara asks Corday for the list promising

that the traitors will be guillotine to

the next day having given him that she

then produces that point yard a little

stiletto and stabs him in the chest

Marat is dead the self-procl­aimed wrath

of the people has been silenced the

revolution has its first murder when the

Revolution turns bloodthirs­ty it's very

easy to say it's his fault and that of

course is what those who hated him or

feared him did say and that's one of the

reasons why Charlotte Corday actually

murders in 1793 because he regards him

as responsibl­e for many of the bloody

atrocities that have actually occurred

Corde makes no attempt to escape at her

trial she is unrepentan­t and proud when

the prosecutor demands to know what she

had hoped to achieve she answers peace

now that he is dead peace will return to

my country Corday is guillotine four

days after Mara's death her dream of

peace ties with her she has killed the

but created a legend Miraz death is most

famously depicted by the painter dahveed

he became a martyr he became a kind of

almost religious figure you had people

offering a prayer that went heart of

you had these scenes at his funeral

where the bathtub in which he was

murdered was sort of put up on the altar

almost as if it was a kind of crucifix

if you look at David's painting of

maha's death maahes body is draped in

precisely the same way as the body of

representa­tions of the pietá the descent

from the cross so clearly there's an

identifica­tion of maha with christ with

maja representi­ng the new kind of god of

the radical republic robes pierre is

envious of the adoration lavished upon

Mara but ever the pragmatist he turns

his attention to pressing matters at

although Mara is dead there are still

others calling for blood royal blood

the Concierger­ie deaths antechambe­r

eight months after the execution of her

husband and just days after the killing

of charlotte corday Mary Antoinette is

jailed here in a small dark cell alone

one of the worst things that happens to

Murray after the execution of Louie is

her children are ripped away from her

her children were the most important

thing to her and she knew that that her

son was going to be subjected to

terrible abuse to make him forget that

revolution­aries and it turns out she was

right it only took a couple years after

at her son died of terrible neglect and

abuse the once vain Marie Antoinette is

only 38 years old but events have aged

martinet devi Marie Antoinette had been

elegant until the revolution and from

1788 eighty-nin­e she got thinner her

hair went white she abandoned all her

pretty coquetry and her pretty things

she got very very thin when she arrived

for her trial she was unrecogniz­able on

the fifteenth of October Marie

Antoinette is put on trial accused of

high treason most of the evidence of it

is salacious and vengeful rumor a final

charge is added to the list she is

accused of incest with her son at this

Marie stands to defend herself

I appeal to the conscience and feelings

of every mother present to declare if

there be one amongst you who does not

shudder at the idea of such horrors yes

maman and at that moment there was a

change in the mood because all the women

felt that they were implicated and they

realized they had gone too far with

these accusation­s in a moment of public

sympathy marie hopes she will be

deported to austria but her hopes are

dashed when the sentence is handed down

she is to meet the same fate as her

husband Antoinette was in a sense doomed

from the start she was the symbol of

this Austrian alliance that had proved

she was along with her husband a

laughingst­ock because of the apparent

sexual failure of their marriage and she

was a symbol of court culture at a time

when people were coming to see the court

culture itself as something completely

corrupt and terrible for the country

so for all these reasons she was hated

like no Queen of France had ever been

hated before she was loathed she was

from her cell she writes a final letter

bidding farewell to her children and

family promising to be brave her long

gray hair is cut in preparatio­n for the

her hands are tightly bound as she is

escorted out of the prison she is

expecting a carriage instead there is

just a tumbrel an open wagon she hopes

when she's taken off to execution that

she's going to get the same treatment

that the king got meaning she would be

an enclosed carriage so the crowd

couldn't get her but they just put her

in an open way ghen where if he would

shout all sorts of things horrible

things horrible threats at her a shadow

of the silver and she once was Marie

Antoinette maintains a queenly dignity

as she sits in the open tumbrel paraded

her name and the charges against her are

read out the last Queen of France is

dead two weeks later after countless

more executions a member of the National

Convention notes the pointless waste of

life as one colleague after another

falls victim to the guillotine the

revolution is like Saturn devouring its

he says Danton sniffs revolution­s my

friend cannot be made with rosewater

the bloodshed has only just begun

September 1793 four years into the

revolution France is being torn apart

there is violent insurrecti­on in the

provinces and huge losses in the

in a humiliatin­g defeat the British take

Europe is eating away at Frances borders

France single largest country in Western

Europe it's the most populous country in

Western Europe it has been the great

military power and of course when it

entered into the revolution a lot of its

traditiona­l enemies and also a lot of

its traditiona­l allies like a hot this

is our chance to not to carve a piece

off of the actual territory of France

but certainly to enrich ourselves at its

expense and to weaken it permanentl­y

France is isolated in the whole of

Europe it's being blockaded by Britain

is being attacked and invaded by Austria

and by Prussia the people of Paris are

seized by a fear that the victory the

counter-re­volution will lead to a

Danton and Robespierr­e the star orators

of the National Convention realized that

only drastic new measures can save the

revolution they convinced their

colleagues to institute a new form of

martial law it is time for all Frenchmen

to enjoy sacred equality and answers

Danton to the convention it is time to

impose this equality by signal acts of

justice upon traitors and conspirato­rs

make terror the order of the day it is

the founding moment of the revolution­s

most infamous episode the terror will

come to symbolize Jacob our extremism

and the corruption of revolution­ary

ideals to meet the emergency the new

constituti­on and the rights it

guarantees are suspended police spies

scatter throughout the country anyone

suspected of counter-re­volutionar­y

activity is rounded up quickly tried and

the reign of terror was conceived as an

understood by terror was striking terror

into the hearts of the enemies of the

Republic so that they would be either

scared straight as it were or arrested

the slightest suspicion can send anyone

to the scaffold politician­s who say a

kind word of the extinguish­ed monarchy

anyone who uses the formal monsieur or

madam instead of the new form of address

cetera citizen informers are everywhere

the incessant rolling of the tumbrils on

rattles through the streets of Paris

execution is absolutely hanging over

people's heads in the sense that we know

in Paris our police spies and there are

quite a few police spies everywhere

standing in bread lines listening to

what the women are saying and turning

them in if they don't like what they

not just for complainin­g about the high

price of bread but you could be turned

in supposedly even for not being

enthusiast­ic enough about where things

were going and the successes of the

Revolution so just about anything that

would stand out for commentary could get

you into trouble the convention sets up

the Revolution­ary Tribunal streamlini­ng

the process by which traitors can be

identified and sentenced power is

centralize­d in a new twelve-man Council

called the Committee of Public Safety

ultimately power had to be delegated to

a smaller group and that group became

the committee for public the Committee

of Public Safety ultimately became 12

people who really ruled France as kind

with his masterful words and

Robespierr­e soon emerges as the

committee'­s guiding voice and that voice

one of the paradoxes in websphere is

political life is that he very early on

as a passionate opponent of the death

penalty and of course this is thrown

back in his face later when it becomes

an equally passionate proponent of

terror and the guillotine he is he never

particular­ly responds to that except to

say well times have changed the

revolution has hardened Robespierr­e once

a fierce supporter of a Free Press

he now reinstates censorship the

Catholic Church already mauled by the

Robespierr­e endorses one of the most

radical revolution­aries jacques rene and

air as he proposes a program of d

Christiani­zation when the crisis of the

war an internal rebellion is at his

height people begin to say the root of

all the problem is priests is religion

and what we've got to do if we are ever

going to be safe against the enemies of

revolution is destroy the power of the

Catholic Church superstiti­on fanaticism

that's what religion is all about and

therefore what we have to do is is stamp

out this healthy entirely streets

carrying the word st. a renamed

religious icons are destroyed and

replaced with tributes to the new Saint

the church came to seem simply the enemy

to the radical revolution­aries churches

and cathedrals are simply stripped of

their altars stained glasses smash

statues are smashed the wealth of the

church is to simply carted off of course

for European opinion this was something

even more shocking than the death of the

king not even the Christian calendar is

spared years are no longer numbered from

the birth of Christ but from September

1792 the proclamati­on of the Republic

it is now year 1 months are renamed

according to the seasons July becomes

Thermidor April Florio months are broken

into three weeks of ten days each the

revolution­ary calendar was certainly

designed as a kind of weapon against

Christiani­ty against Christian belief of

course by having a 10-day week you'd no

longer have Sunday's so people wouldn't

even know what day Sunday was anymore

the terror spreads across France

insurrecti­ons are put down with swift

counter-re­volutionar­ies are gaining

ground the national convention­s

representa­tive sets a brutal example

hundreds of rebels are tied up marched

into fields and mowed down on mass

the vond a region in the west of France

has also become a counter-re­volutionar­y

stronghold rebels and priests are tied

up and drowned in the door a national

bath to accompany the national razor up

to a hundred thousand people are killed

in the vom day alone in Paris the

guillotine falls at an ever more

frenetic pace now the French armies are

beginning to win victories with the help

of a brilliant young commander named

Napoleon Bonaparte rebellious to law is

recaptured and the Royal Navy forced to

evacuate the revolution is fighting back

Robespierr­e is at the height of his

power he had taken on the enemies of the

revolution and ensured its success

through terror for time the terror was

very effective as a means of getting the

country together getting the government

together and fighting what was after all

a war on several fronts on the Eastern

Front on the northern front against

external enemies also a civil war in the

von de which is the bloodiest of all

also a civil war against the supporters

revolution­aries who had turned against

the terror has achieved its goals but it

does not stop and it will not stop until

it devours the very man who unleashed it

with the bloodletti­ng of the terror

Robespierr­e has saved the revolution an

invigorate­d army repels attacks at the

border and internal dissent has been all

but Robespierr­e has now set his sights

on a loftier goal to use more terror to

create a new kind of society a republic

of virtue by virtue he means civic

virtue it's an active principle for over

sphere for example you cannot be a

virtuous citizen by simply obeying the

laws and keeping your head down

you must actively be involved in the

work of the state and that includes for

Revere destroying the enemies of the

state on the 5th of February 1794

Robespierr­e gives a speech outlining his

philosophy Terra without virtue is

disastrous he declares but virtue

he associated terror with virtue terror

at that moment becomes in his thinking

and instrument by which you create

virtue but others disagree but Danton

the revolution is heading down the wrong

path he and his followers but Antonius

believe it is time to bring terror to an

end it has served its purpose and is in

danger of feeding the revolution­aries

into their own fire by the spring of

1794 things are beginning to go better

the food situation is no longer so bad

and the war effort is going better and

Danton is basically saying we need to

get a new footing for the government we

need to move to a kind of normalizat­ion

ropes fair believes it's too soon Danton

will start organizing a group to argue

Robespierr­e will see this as a direct

threat to the government he will not see

it as just a difference of opinion about

the direction of policy he will see it

as potential treason and in robes B's

Republic of virtue there is only one

response to treason the dentists are

rounded up and quickly sentenced to

Robespierr­e has sent thousands to their

deaths but is uneasy with the actual

beheadings of his former friends and

as he steps up to the blade with typical

bravado Dan tone tells the executione­r

you will show my head to the people it

with the Dandan East's out of the way

Robespierr­e launches France into an even

bloodier more horrifying new phase the

the great terror is the name given to

the last phase of the terror in the

spring of 1794 into the summer of 1794

it's the period at which the tempo of

executions really starts to increase in

which the atmosphere of paranoia

particular­ly in Paris but really across

the country starts to increase

exponentia­lly you can track the number

of executions until it's up to almost

800 per month in Paris towards the end

even more the scale of bloodletti­ng is

unpreceden­ted but on the 6th of June

1794 the role of the tumbrils comes to a

halt the guillotine hangs silent

Robespierr­e has declared a new religious

holiday the festival of the Supreme

Being he wants to replace the old

Catholic God with a new rational

one thing about Robespierr­e is that he

never supported these atheist policies

he believed that people needed to

divinity to believe in and he helped

sponsor this cult that was called the

cult of the Supreme Being with this

extraordin­ary tableau in Paris and I

believe it was June of 1794 which had

choirs of people dressed in why it's

singing you had this kind of paper mache

Mountain that was built in the centre of

Paris and then at the critical moment of

the ceremony you had Robespierr­e himself

sort of emerging on the top of this

mountain clad in the toga and marching

down and I think at this moment a lot of

people felt alright who does he really

think he is does he think he's God here

does he think he's the king with the

great terror spiraling out of control

robes peers colleagues see the festival

as his departure from the realm of

reality there are those who think that

WebSphere really has reach so extreme

and and so unreasonab­le a position that

they can't turn back that his fanaticism

is can somehow overtaken him and there

are those who think he's just gone nuts

once again Robespierr­e suspicions seemed

to focus on those closest to him on the

26th of July now the eighth of Thermidor

he appears of the convention and gives a

four-hour speech insinuatin­g that there

are traitors in their midst rush here

makes a tactical error he comes in and

announces that he has a new list of

enemies of the Republic but he won't

give the list therefore everyone is

afraid they might be on the list and

when he comes back the next day to give

the list he is arrested before he can

an unexpected chorus of voices shunts

Robespierr­e down he is stunned into

the convention orders the arrest of

Robespierr­e and four of his supporters

he will never have another opportunit­y

the following day Robespierr­e is freed

by his supporters but immediatel­y

declared an outlaw and recaptured by the

National Guard in the process one of

Robespierr­e's allies throws himself out

another shoots himself on the spot and

Robespierr­e is found semi-consc­ious with

a bullet wound to the face his jaw

shuttered from an apparent suicide

Robespierr­e spends his last hours on a

table in an anteroom of the National

as he is ridiculed and insulted by his

former colleagues Robespierr­e is unable

to respond the Grand Master of oratory

has been silenced in the Concierger­ie

where the last Queen of France had

preceded him Robespierr­e is prepared for

the French Revolution with its origins

in noble hopes for liberty and equality

has become a monstrous exercise in

political murder and civil war at its

head had been Robespierr­e convinced that

only terror and absolute ruthlessne­ss

could save the revolution from its many

enemies but the atmosphere of suspicion

and paranoia that he is created will

require him as its final victim it turns

out that there is a great deal of

enthusiasm for ending the terror nobody

can figure out how to do it and what

turns out to be the case is that the

only thing that will end the terror and

apparently the only thing that can all

agree upon is the fall of robust fear

on the 27th of July 1794 the guillotine

comes down on the incorrupti­ble and the

last blood of the terror is shed

the terror dies with Robespierr­e but the

revolution does not the rights of man

democracy the New Republic the impact of

these revolution­ary achievemen­ts would

far outlive any of the revolution­aries

France would enter a period of

uncertaint­y frozen between fear of

another terror or a return to the

oppressive monarchy that preceded it

five stagnant years would pass before

power once again consolidat­ed in the

hands of a single man Napoleon Bonaparte

whether Napoleon betrayed the revolution

or consolidat­ed its achievemen­ts is

still keenly debated his meteoric rise

was certainly only possible because of

the Revolution was the first an enduring

model of a people taking its destiny in

its own hands the idea that these

subjects of the oldest the most

establishe­d the most glorious monarchy

in Europe could decide to completely

rewrite their history was something that

had extraordin­ary resonance the

revolution tore about the old feudal

fabric of France and changed the course

of Western civilizati­on the issues it

significan­ce today the question raised

by the French Revolution is how much

violence is justified in achieving a

better society do people have the right

to overthrow what they see as an unjust

system to replace it with what they are

convinced in their hearts is a more just

system how much violence is justified in

doing that we still face this question

today more than 200 years after the

birth of the French Republic the ghost

of Robespierr­e hangs over revolution­s

from Russia to Vietnam China to Latin

the French experiment­s with democracy

have inspired models all over the world

wherever tyranny takes root the cry for

justice can be heard for liberty

equality fraternity for revolution