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La Rivoluzione Francese — Transcript

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0:09At the end of the 18th century, the
0:11French crown finds itself facing the
0:14most ferocious enemies it has ever had:
0:16its own subjects. Instigated by an
0:22exceptional man, the people will manage
0:25to get rid of a negligent king and a
0:27hateful queen to finally transform
0:29France into a democratic republic. 1794
0:41, Conciergerie prison, an impenetrable
0:45fortress located on the banks of the
0:48Seine in Paris. Damp and infested with
0:51rats, it is known as the antechamber of
0:53death. Soon, the voice of the people
0:57will be silenced forever. Maximilien
1:02Robespierre prepares to climb the
1:04scaffold to be guillotined. He will be
1:07forced to pay with his life for the
1:08massacres he himself ordered during the
1:12years when the French Revolution
1:14experienced its darkest days. With the
1:19French Revolution, people began to
1:21believe in the possibility of
1:23transforming society and its
1:24institutions. The time had finally come
1:28to free man from the injustices of the
1:30past. The French Revolution was the
1:33stormy beginning of an evolutionary
1:36process that would change the world
1:38forever. The peasants no longer accept
1:43a power structure that sees the landed
1:45nobility pulling the levers of command,
1:47and they rise up against their
1:48oppressors. It is the spark of an
1:55explosion whose effects will spread
1:57across the Atlantic. Throughout history
2:03, many events have occurred that had
2:05profound social repercussions, but
2:06nothing has shaken the world more than
2:08the French Revolution. To understand
2:13the gravity of the phenomenon, one need
2:15only consider its consequences: the
2:17stripping of power from the clergy, the
2:18nobility, and the monarchy itself. The
2:24French Revolution would inaugurate a
2:27new course of events, giving bread to
2:29the poor and a democratic regime to
2:31France, but the conquests of progress
2:34always demand a price. The initial
2:40enthusiasm and hope soon turned into a
2:43bloodlust. Due to his dark and brooding
2:48character, his uncompromising moralism,
2:51his absolute dedication to the
2:53revolutionary cause, and his austere
2:55life, Robespierre earned the nickname "
2:57the Incorruptible." His influence over
3:01the masses was so strong that a short
3:03speech was enough for him to mobilize
3:04an entire city. A brilliant orator. His
3:13passionate eloquence is silenced
3:14forever by a bullet that shatters his
3:16jaw. After having had all the opponents
3:21of the revolutionary government
3:23beheaded, now it is Robespierre who
3:25must climb the scaffold. May 16, 1770.
3:39It is a quiet spring day, and at
3:41Versailles, no one can foresee the
3:43storm about to break over France. The
3:51palace has opened its doors to all the
3:53members of the gilded nobility that
3:54gravitates around the royal court. The
3:59palace, the most sumptuous in all of
4:01Europe, had been completed in 1682,
4:04according to the dictates imposed by
4:06Louis XIV, who wanted it built 20 km
4:08from Paris to keep a proper distance
4:10from his subjects. A stronghold for
4:16nearly a century of the unshakable
4:18French monarchy, today Versailles
4:20celebrates a very important wedding.
4:27Prince Louis Capet, grandson of Louis
4:29XV and direct heir to the throne, is
4:31about to be wed. But the future groom,
4:40who is barely 15, is shy, awkward, and
4:43likely lacks the qualities one would
4:45expect in a sovereign and a husband.
4:51Besides being stout and overweight,
4:52Louis was entirely devoid of the
4:54composure befitting a monarch. Louis
4:57XV's mistress, Madame du Barry,
4:59described him as an ill-mannered boy.
5:04Louis XV was unable to make decisions
5:06with any firmness. And he was always
5:10ready to be influenced by the last
5:11person he had spoken to. The marriage
5:17was arranged to consolidate the
5:19international prestige of Austria and
5:21France and to end the long-standing
5:23rivalries between the Austrian imperial
5:25house, the Habsburgs, and the royal
5:27dynasty to which Louis belongs, the
5:28Bourbons. The bride-to-be is a naive
5:35and attractive fourteen-year-old named
5:37Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette was
5:43the youngest daughter of Empress Maria
5:45Theresa of Austria. The very young
5:49Austrian archduchess was chosen as the
5:52"bond of union" that would allow the
5:55two houses to forget old grudges and
5:58forge an alliance deemed necessary by
6:00both France and Austria. But Marie
6:06Antoinette is only a teenager and her
6:08interest in politics is very slight.
6:13When Marie Antoinette arrived at
6:15Versailles, she knew almost nothing
6:16about the country she would one day
6:18have to govern. She had a lively
6:21intelligence and a cheerful character,
6:23but she was still just a girl. When
6:27Marie Antoinette arrived at Versailles,
6:29she was a charming fourteen-year-old
6:31with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was
6:36aware of her own beauty and did
6:38everything to win over her future
6:40husband and be well-liked by her new
6:42family. Despite the threatening storm
6:49that broke out on the evening of the
6:50wedding, the wedding festivities
6:52continue in the palace halls with
6:54unbridled splendor. According to a
6:59propitiatory ritual intended to favor
7:01the conception of an heir, the young
7:03couple must agree to be seen by the
7:04court nobility in their marriage bed.
7:16The courtiers watch the spectacle
7:18delighted, unaware that the
7:20long-awaited heir will be a long time
7:22coming. Louis was not interested in the
7:29throne nor in his wife, whom he did not
7:31deign to pay the slightest attention to
7:33, not even on their wedding night. It
7:38would take years before the marriage
7:40was finally consummated. But the lack
7:44of offspring gives rise to gossip that
7:46will continue for years to damage the
7:48image of the royal couple. The wedding
7:54festivities drag on for days and days,
7:56while in the countryside, the multitude
7:59of peasants is pushed to the brink due
8:01to the tax burden and feudal rights
8:03exercised by the aristocracy. In 1763,
8:10Louis XV had lost the Seven Years 'War,
8:13fought against England for the conquest
8:15of North America. The enormous expenses
8:20required by the conflict and the
8:22intervention against Great Britain in
8:23the American Revolutionary War ended up
8:25emptying the state coffers. Added to
8:30this was a demographic increase that
8:32further aggravated the already
8:33precarious living conditions of the
8:35poorest. In the 18th century, the
8:42French population went from 20 to 26
8:44million inhabitants, whereas in the two
8:46previous centuries it had increased by
8:48only 1 million. This meant there were
8:52many more mouths to feed. In 1774,
8:57Louis XV was struck by smallpox. Having
9:02become unpopular with a policy aimed at
9:04protecting the parasitism of the landed
9:06nobility, he died leaving France in
9:08chaos. With a sumptuous coronation
9:15ceremony, Prince Louis was crowned King
9:17of France under the name Louis XVI. But
9:22the young monarch was perfectly aware
9:23that he was not prepared for the role
9:25he was called upon to perform. At the
9:30moment of ascending to the throne,
9:33Louis XVI felt completely bewildered
9:35and, despite having received an
9:37education suited to a future king, he
9:39did not consider himself capable of
9:41governing. Just twenty years old, Louis
9:50XVI was the least suitable man to lead
9:52a nation in complete disarray. In his
9:56prayers, he turned to God, saying: "
9:59Help me, Lord, I am too young." In the
10:06hushed atmosphere of the royal
10:08apartments, Louis and Marie Antoinette
10:10indulged in the luxuries of court life,
10:12while only 20 km away, a new order of
10:15ideas, aimed at demolishing monarchical
10:17absolutism, was taking increasingly
10:19defined shape. It was the beginning of
10:24a new era, the era of the Enlightenment
10:26. The royal carriage departed from
10:40Versailles, headed to the prestigious
10:42Parisian college Louis-le-Grand, where
10:44a multitude of subjects had gathered to
10:46welcome it, eager to pay homage to the
10:48new sovereign and his young consort who
10:50had arrived to visit Paris. At the head
11:00of the welcoming procession was one of
11:02the institute's most brilliant students
11:04, Maximilien Robespierre. In those
11:10years, Robespierre was just a high
11:12school student, and when the king
11:13visited the college, it was he who read
11:16the welcome speech that had been
11:17written in Latin. The bored sovereign
11:23paid little attention to the boy's
11:25words. However, in the years to come,
11:30their destinies would cross again under
11:33more dramatic circumstances. It was a
11:39ritual that took place at every school,
11:41but in this case, irony of fate would
11:43have it that Robespierre paid homage to
11:45the man he would later have executed.
11:51But for the moment, the sovereign was
11:53welcomed with benevolence. The royal
11:58visit won the hearts of the subjects,
12:00but in their minds, an ever-increasing
12:02social awareness was making its way.
12:06Since the Middle Ages, European society
12:08had been divided into three classes
12:09determined by birth. An abyss separated
12:14the wealth of the nobility and clergy
12:16from the poverty of the masses, who
12:18were entirely excluded from France's
12:20political life. Over the course of the
12:23century, science and reason launched a
12:25challenge against the traditional order
12:27. Paris became the driving force of a
12:30cultural movement that theorized direct
12:33power for the people, resulting in a
12:35caustic rationalism that was harshly
12:38critical of the past. The Enlightenment
12:41. The Enlightenment urged people to no
12:48longer passively obey established
12:49authority and to counter every
12:51assertion of power with the criterion
12:53of rational verification. While there
12:59was no freedom of thought in Ancien
13:01Régime Europe, the Enlightenment
13:03demanded the rejection of authority in
13:05culture, defining culture as all
13:06manifestations of the human spirit and
13:09reflection. Parisian salons teemed with
13:16intellectuals intent on discussing the
13:18new ideals championed by Voltaire,
13:20Rousseau, and all the enlightened minds
13:23who extolled liberty, reason, and
13:25equality. The passion for this new
13:30philosophical movement was initially
13:32widespread among high society, but when
13:34Enlightenment ideas reached all levels
13:37of society, the push for equality
13:39threatened the aristocratic social
13:41model itself. The nobility,
13:51economically inactive and devoted to
13:53the soft life of the court, had been
13:55reduced to a purely parasitic social
13:57presence, eventually alienating itself
14:00completely from the life of the nation.
14:04It was therefore inevitable that its
14:05privileges would be called into
14:07question.
14:11Enlightenment ideas spread as far as
14:13the English colonies in North America,
14:15where insurgents were fighting to win
14:17independence from Great Britain. To
14:21avenge the defeat suffered by his
14:23grandfather, Louis XVI took their side.
14:29For the military intervention, the king
14:32allocated a staggering 2 billion French
14:34livres, a sum sufficient to feed 7
14:36million starving people for a year and
14:38further aggravate the financial deficit
14:41. The debt incurred by the French crown
14:48to intervene alongside the American
14:50independence fighters ended up
14:52delivering the coup de grâce to a
14:54financial situation already made dire
14:56by expenses from previous wars and tax
14:59privileges granted to nobles. But it
15:04was not only the money invested in
15:06military campaigns that drained the
15:08treasury. At Versailles, court life was
15:11a succession of luxurious ceremonies
15:13that marked every moment of the day.
15:17The morning awakening, dressing, meals,
15:20and preparing for the night. To make
15:25the repetitive formalism of these
15:27rituals less tedious, Marie Antoinette
15:29invented increasingly extravagant
15:30fashions. Marie Antoinette was obsessed
15:37above all with hairstyles that reached
15:39exorbitant heights and into which all
15:41sorts of ornamental objects were
15:43inserted. In the eyes of many, these
15:46creations were absolutely ridiculous,
15:48but they testified to the culture of
15:50waste that had taken hold at court.
15:53Beyond launching eccentric fashions,
15:59Marie Antoinette indulged in gambling
16:01and staged theatrical performances,
16:03soon earning the nickname Madame
16:05Deficit. While France was in disastrous
16:12economic condition, Marie Antoinette
16:14continued to indulge in luxurious
16:16dresses and endless jewelry. She was a
16:20bit like the Imelda Marcos of her day,
16:26but among all the debts contracted by
16:28the queen, the most burdensome is the
16:30heir to the throne she must give to
16:31France. Married for 7 years now, Louis
16:36and Marie Antoinette still haven't had
16:38a child, and the sovereign's position
16:40is becoming increasingly embarrassing.
16:46The queen's duty was to secure an heir
16:49to the throne, and since he was slow to
16:51arrive, the people began to express
16:53their dissatisfaction, claiming the
16:55king shouldn't have married an Austrian
16:58archduchess who wasn't even capable of
17:00giving him children. Marie Antoinette
17:05finds herself in a desperate situation.
17:07Her husband possesses a formidable
17:09appetite, but only for food. In a
17:13letter between the Austrian ambassador
17:15and Maria Theresa, the empress, the
17:17latter asks: "But if even a beautiful
17:19girl like my daughter Marie Antoinette
17:22isn't enough to awaken that man's
17:23desire, then what is the problem?"
17:28Louis XVI and his young wife were
17:31unable to conceive children for seven
17:33long years, and since it was known that
17:36the king had a hobby of metalworking,
17:39ribald songs began to spread about
17:41Louis the locksmith who couldn't find
17:44the keyhole. This unfortunate situation
17:51prompted court circles to exert
17:53ever-greater pressure on the sovereign,
17:55whose frustration reached its peak when
17:57he was diagnosed with a condition
17:59called phimosis. Louis XVI had a
18:06congenital malformation that made an
18:08erection extremely painful. It was only
18:12when the sovereign overcame his fear
18:14and agreed to undergo surgery that the
18:17marriage could finally be consummated.
18:23Once the anatomical obstacles were
18:25overcome, the couple brought a little
18:26girl into the world, Marie Thérèse.
18:29But this was not enough to restore the
18:31queen's good name. Since 1780,
18:35defamatory pamphlets about the royal
18:37couple had been circulating, containing
18:40pornographic images in which the king
18:42was described as impotent and the queen
18:44as a prostitute at the center of a
18:46corrupt and depraved court. In 1788, a
18:54severe famine struck the countryside,
18:56causing a significant reduction in the
18:58harvest and a consequent rise in the
19:01price of flour. The peasant masses soon
19:05found themselves deprived of the only
19:07food they could afford: bread. But
19:13naturally, the shortages stopped at the
19:15gates of Versailles. The sovereigns
19:18continued to squander money, and the
19:21exasperated people decided to level
19:23accusations against the monarch himself
19:25. Do you know why there are so many
19:30people dying of hunger? Because the
19:32opulence of your lifestyle devours in a
19:34single day what would be enough to feed
19:36a thousand mouths. Making his voice
19:41heard is the same man who just a few
19:43years earlier had paid homage to the
19:45king and queen, Maximilien Robespierre.
19:51It will be this young lawyer who shouts
19:54for liberty, equality, and fraternity,
19:57triggering the revolt. At the end of
20:03the 1700s, Versailles is known as an
20:06oasis of dissipation, while an entire
20:08population around it is reduced to
20:10misery. But Louis XVI and Marie
20:14Antoinette do not even seem to notice.
20:20To overcome the severe financial crisis
20:22, the king decides to increase the tax
20:24burden, but the masses, especially in
20:27rural areas, can no longer support new
20:29taxes. The attempt to introduce reforms
20:34that impose taxes on all landowners
20:36clashes with opposition from the
20:38nobility, and the darkening economic
20:41climate is compounded by the coldest
20:43winter France has seen in 90 years. The
20:54famine that occurred between the summer
20:57of 1788 and the spring of 1789 made its
21:00effects felt in both the countryside
21:02and the cities. The harvest was
21:06terrible and the price of bread did not
21:08take long to rise, sparking riots
21:11everywhere. For the majority of the
21:17French population of the 18th century,
21:19bread was the only source of sustenance
21:21. At that time, French people belonging
21:27to the less affluent classes consumed
21:29almost 1 kg of bread per day, the only
21:31type of food they were able to buy.
21:37Soon, the famine and the foolish fiscal
21:39policy sought by Louis XVI sent the
21:41price of flour through the roof.
21:46Economic crisis and ideological
21:48mobilization unite in the popular
21:50spirit in an explosive mixture. Riots
21:57break out all over France, homes are
22:02looted, bakeries are stormed, and
22:09shopkeepers suspected of hoarding bread
22:11stocks are brutally lynched by a
22:13population blinded by anger and hunger.
22:18To avoid bankruptcy, Louis XVI is
22:19forced to enlist the collaboration of
22:21Jacques Necker, a man much more favored
22:24by the people than the king himself.
22:31Jacques Necker was undoubtedly the most
22:34popular finance minister of the time.
22:37He was, in fact, convinced that the tax
22:39burden should be distributed more
22:41equitably and that the government's
22:43duty was to ensure that the entire
22:45population had sufficient bread. But
22:50the notables called to ratify the tax
22:52reform project presented by Necker
22:55opposed it and demanded the convocation
22:57of the Estates-General, which had not
23:00been assembled for 175 years.
23:07Pre-revolutionary France was divided
23:09into three estates politically
23:11represented in Parliament. The First
23:15Estate was made up of the nobility, the
23:17Second of the clergy, and the Third of
23:19the bourgeoisie, but the first two
23:21orders represented only 3%of the
23:23population. At the Estates-General,
23:28voting took place by group: one vote
23:30for the nobility, one for the clergy,
23:32and one for the Third Estate. In this
23:35way, the aristocracy automatically
23:37obtained the majority. May 4, 1789
23:43Robespierre arrives at Versailles as a
23:45deputy to the Estates-General. It would
23:49be this young lawyer and brilliant
23:51politician who would rise as the
23:53champion of a population now
23:54exasperated by unsustainable living
23:56conditions. Left without parents since
24:02childhood, Robespierre still managed to
24:04attend the Oratorian colleges in Arras
24:07and Paris and graduate in law at the
24:09Sorbonne. Imbued with Enlightenment
24:14philosophy, he immediately
24:15distinguished himself for his
24:16oratorical qualities. And for the
24:18advanced nature of his proposals aimed
24:20at the defense of all freedoms and the
24:22affirmation of equality among men.
24:29Robespierre was a convinced
24:31Enlightenment thinker, so much so that
24:33the cases he pleaded as a lawyer
24:35clearly revealed the new doctrines
24:37learned in Parisian salons. In the
24:41aftermath of the opening of the
24:43Estates-General, the Third Estate
24:44demanded individual voting rather than
24:46by order, meeting the firm refusal of
24:48the clergy and nobility. Louis XVI
24:51attempted to tame the bourgeois revolt
24:53by having the assembly hall closed.
25:00When on June 20, 1789, the deputies of
25:03the Third Estate found the doors closed
25:06, they decided to gather in the tennis
25:08court, where they took an oath not to
25:11separate until a new Constitution had
25:14been proclaimed. Now convinced they
25:20expressed the interests of the nation,
25:22the representatives of the Third Estate
25:24proclaimed themselves the National
25:26Assembly. The Tennis Court Oath is one
25:30of the most significant moments in the
25:32entire history of the French Revolution
25:33. The Third Estate gathered in a kind
25:37of indoor tennis court, resisting the
25:40King's repeated invitations to rejoin
25:42the other two orders. In the end, it
25:46was the sovereign who had to yield. And
25:51so, Louis XVI was forced to approve the
25:53National Assembly. In the reform
25:57program he proposed, the King agreed to
25:59tax equality, but expressly maintained
26:01all the feudal and seigniorial rights
26:03that formed the social foundations of
26:05the Ancien Régime. The victories
26:11achieved by the Third Estate were only
26:13partial. Especially since the monarchy
26:17and aristocracy remained firmly opposed
26:20to any real concession, and Louis
26:22XVI’s recourse to the army
26:23demonstrated this in the most evident
26:26way. Preparing for a show of force, the
26:33King had Paris surrounded by 30,000
26:35soldiers. To defend themselves, the
26:39Parisians organized their own armed
26:41militia, the National Guard. The
26:44rioters stormed the armories and seized
26:47more than 28,000 rifles. Only gunpowder
26:52was missing, but the insurgents knew
26:54where to find it. In the center of
26:58Paris, there is a fortress 30 meters
27:00high, known as the symbol of feudal
27:02power, the Bastille. In its storehouses
27:09, the city's reserves of gunpowder were
27:11kept, and in its cells, state prisoners
27:13were locked up and horribly tortured.
27:17The Bastille had always been the emblem
27:19of French monarchical absolutism and
27:22was infamously known as a place of
27:24unspeakable torture. July 12, 1789.
27:32Louis XVI dismissed Jacques Necker, who
27:34with his fiscal reforms had earned the
27:36sympathy of the people, but not that of
27:38the aristocracy. The news hits like a
27:43bombshell, and just hours after the
27:45minister's dismissal, revolt explodes
27:47in Paris. On July 14th, the population
27:53rises up, flooding the streets with a
27:55three-colored flag: red and blue
27:57symbolizing Paris, and white for the
27:59Bourbon dynasty. The tricolor is born.
28:06From the enraged masses, a voice is
28:08heard shouting: "To the Bastille!" By
28:12storming the Bastille, the insurgents
28:14meant to show the King that he could
28:16not get rid of the National Assembly
28:18and that the entire population would
28:20support the bourgeois revolution with
28:23all their might.
28:27Upon learning of the uprising, the
28:29governor of the Bastille, Bernard-René
28:31de Launay, tries to barricade himself
28:33inside the fortress, but to no avail.
28:37The rioters manage to seize it in a
28:39furious assault. Even though the
28:43governor surrenders, the insurgents
28:45overwhelm him and drag him through the
28:47streets, where he is brutally lynched
28:49and repeatedly stabbed. Now dying, the
28:54man begs to be killed, and the crowd
28:56obliges by dealing him the final blow.
29:00They then cut off his head and mount it
29:02on a pike, inaugurating a macabre
29:04ritual destined to repeat itself far
29:06too many times. The deputies of the
29:14National Assembly did not condemn this
29:16explosion of violence; instead, they
29:18approved it, convinced they were acting
29:20in the nation's interest. But by
29:24endorsing that course of action, they
29:26ended up encouraging the revolt to
29:28spread to many other French cities and
29:30the countryside, where a wave of
29:32uncontrollable brutality broke out.
29:37While the Bastille is still smoldering,
29:39Louis XVI returns from a hunting trip,
29:42and on the page of his diary dated July
29:4514, 1789, he notes that he failed to
29:48catch anything. A servant interrupts
29:53him to communicate the news of the
29:55riots and the storming of the Bastille.
30:02The King asks him, "Is it a revolt?""No
30:06, Sire," the servant replies. "It is a
30:09revolution." After the fall of the
30:17Bastille, events accelerate rapidly.
30:21Determined to tear down the old regime
30:22forever and carve out a path to power,
30:24the people take to the fortress walls,
30:26demolishing them with their bare hands,
30:28brick by brick. By destroying that
30:33stronghold, they intended to erase the
30:35past. It is now the point of no return.
30:44The insurgent crowd wanted to dismantle
30:46the Bastille at any cost, but lacking
30:49enough explosives, they did it with
30:51their own hands. The bricks of the
30:55destroyed fortress were then sold as
30:57symbols of monarchical despotism, now
31:00definitively toppled. Bolstered by
31:05popular consensus, on August 26, 1789,
31:07the National Assembly voted for the
31:09Declaration of the Rights of Man and of
31:11the Citizen, which laid the foundations
31:14of the new society, enshrining the
31:15principle of equality for all citizens
31:17before the law. The document
31:24promulgated by the National Assembly
31:26affirmed that sovereignty belonged to
31:28the people. The figure of the king was
31:32not mentioned anywhere, so the
31:34intention to disempower the monarchy
31:36was entirely evident. The National
31:41Assembly is now the voice of the people
31:43, through which the French put forward
31:45reformist demands and call for a
31:46constitutional monarchy, equal rights,
31:48and security of person and property.
31:56Robespierre also demands greater
31:58freedom for the press, which had
32:00remained gagged by the censors of the
32:01Ancien Régime. Among the newspapers
32:14specializing in political satire is The
32:16Friend of the People, a daily with
32:18strongly critical and biting tones,
32:20founded and directed by a former doctor
32:22, Jean-Paul Marat. After an
32:26unsuccessful professional career, Marat
32:28found himself living in destitution and
32:30having to find shelter in the sewers of
32:32Paris, where he contracted a skin
32:33disease that forced him to isolate
32:35himself and undergo medicinal baths.
32:40Frustrated and embittered, Marat drew
32:42from the ongoing revolution the perfect
32:44opportunity to give free rein to his
32:46vitriolic satire. Jean-Paul Marat was a
32:54professionally dissatisfied person, and
32:56the situation of total upheaval created
32:59by the revolution offered him the
33:01opportunity to vent all his resentment
33:03in the pages of a newspaper that,
33:05moreover, achieved enormous success.
33:08The Friend of the People.
33:11Marat was a man corroded by an
33:13indescribable rage. One only needs to
33:16read the articles published in the
33:18pages of his newspaper to realize it.
33:20He was convinced that everyone was
33:22conspiring against the revolution and
33:24wanted the head of anyone suspected of
33:27being a reactionary. In his articles,
33:33Marat frequently accuses the king and
33:34queen of living in luxury while the
33:36poor go hungry. But on October 2, 1789,
33:41this man's rage reached its peak. In
33:51Paris, word spread that during a
33:53reception at Versailles, the royal
33:54couple had thrown the tricolor flag—
33:56the symbol of the revolution—to the
33:58ground and trampled on it. A furious
34:05Marat had the news published in his
34:07newspaper. Meanwhile, the king prepared
34:10a new coup and had his troops massed
34:12around Paris. While the memory of the
34:16Bastille was still vivid in the minds
34:18of the insurgent French, Marat urged
34:19the citizenry to take action. People of
34:26Paris, the time has come to react.
34:31Shake off your lethargy, wake up, wake
34:33up. On October 5, 1789, a multitude of
34:40women gathered near the Paris city hall
34:42to protest against the high cost of
34:44living. The fear of having to face
34:49royal troops alternated with
34:50indignation over the outrage committed
34:52against the tricolor. Overcome by
34:57exasperation, they began their march
34:59toward Versailles, armed with
35:00pitchforks and muskets. The bulk of the
35:07crowd was made up of the famous
35:09fishwives from the general markets,
35:11women with very grim manners who were
35:13distinguished by their robust build and
35:15their boldness. Beyond being very
35:20muscular, they were equipped with large
35:23knives they used to scale fish. When
35:28the price of bread skyrocketed, these
35:30women, already very poor, realized that
35:32if they did not do something, they
35:33risked starving to death. And it is
35:39extraordinary to note how commoners,
35:41likely illiterate, found themselves
35:43becoming the protagonists of a very
35:45important historical moment. Legend has
35:52it that upon learning the news of the
35:54hungry crowd marching toward the castle
35:56, the queen supposedly uttered the
35:58famous words she never actually said.
36:04Marie Antoinette never said "they have
36:06no bread, let them eat croissants."
36:09This is just a legend. The queen
36:12probably never even had the chance to
36:13realize the destitution of her subjects
36:15. As women gathered before the palace
36:21gates, Louis finally understood he
36:23could no longer ignore the
36:25revolutionaries' demands and agreed to
36:27sign the Declaration of the Rights of
36:29Man. Meanwhile, the crowd kept growing,
36:33and by the next day, a full 20,000
36:35people were packed into the avenues of
36:37Versailles. The crowd demanded the king
36:43and queen move to Paris, and, hesitant
36:45as always, Louis delayed his response,
36:50but his silence only fueled the
36:52people's fury and put the royal
36:54family's lives in jeopardy. When the
37:01people saw their requests were not met,
37:03they invaded the palace with the
37:05intention of killing Marie Antoinette.
37:12The women broke into the royal
37:14apartments, overcoming the guards '
37:16resistance, massacring them, beheading
37:19them, and hanging their heads on pikes.
37:25While searching for the queen, they
37:27shouted things like, "I want to rip out
37:28her guts, give me her head, give me an
37:30arm, give me a leg." If they had found
37:33her, they would have torn her to pieces
37:35. Scared to death, Marie Antoinette
37:44rushed into her husband's room seconds
37:46before the women reached her bedroom
37:48and shredded her bed to pieces. The
37:56king and queen were now at the mercy of
37:58the people who only asked for a little
37:59more attention to their needs. That
38:04enraged multitude would only calm down
38:06if the royals abandoned Versailles and
38:09settled in Paris, where they could no
38:11longer ignore their subjects. And so, a
38:16procession of 60,000 people escorted
38:18the sovereigns from Versailles to Paris
38:21, carrying with them carts of flour
38:23stolen from the royal warehouses. When
38:29the king and queen moved to Paris, they
38:33were forced to travel in a carriage
38:36preceded by the heads of the guards
38:39decapitated by the crowd that had
38:41stormed the castle. Before being stuck
38:47on pikes. Those heads had even been
38:52made up, which shows that the people
38:54were so blinded by hatred that they
38:57indulged in the most brutal acts.
39:01The king and queen were forced to
39:02reside at the Tuileries Palace. They
39:06would never see Versailles again. The
39:09move to Paris completely turned the
39:10sovereigns' lives upside down. From
39:13that moment on, they could no longer
39:16act freely and became prisoners of
39:18their own subjects. Now that Versailles
39:23was abandoned, the seat of the National
39:25Assembly was also moved to Paris. Power
39:29was now in the hands of the people, who
39:32would give France a democratic
39:34structure, an impartial legal system,
39:37and a terrifying new machine for
39:39capital punishment: the guillotine. May
39:501792. Two years have passed since the
39:54royal family and the National Assembly
39:56moved to Paris. Meanwhile, Robespierre
40:01became president of the Jacobin Club, a
40:03political group that owes its name to
40:05the Dominican monastery where its
40:07members initially gathered. Amidst the
40:12turmoil, meetings grew increasingly
40:14heated, and Robespierre, always
40:16attentive to the needs of the masses,
40:18promoted a campaign for universal
40:20suffrage. France had by then become a
40:28constitutional monarchy. The king was
40:31forced to cede much of his power to the
40:34Legislative Assembly and sign measures
40:36aimed at decoupling the French Church
40:38from Rome and aligning it closely with
40:40the State. But Louis XVI did not intend
40:44to yield, and hoping for a reversal of
40:46the situation, he attempted to abandon
40:48the country. Louis would have done
40:56anything to regain power, but he knew
40:58that to succeed, he would have to
41:00resort to the help of other states.
41:05Thus, the royal family attempted to
41:07flee the Tuileries Palace and reach the
41:09nearest border. June 21, 1791. In the
41:18darkness of night, the royal family
41:19boards the carriage that is to take
41:21them out of France. To avoid prying
41:26eyes, the king and queen are disguised
41:28as servants. It is just past midnight
41:34when they reach the town of Varennes,
41:36160 km east of Paris, but their race
41:39toward freedom is destined to end just
41:42meters from the Austrian border.
41:55Unbeknownst to the sovereigns, rumors
41:57of their flight had spread even before
41:58their departure. Having arrived in
42:03Varennes, the royal carriage is stopped
42:05at a checkpoint for passport control.
42:16The gendarme's suspicions are quickly
42:18confirmed. The signature on the
42:20document is indeed that of Louis XVI.
42:23At the sight of the sovereign, the
42:25official is overwhelmed with emotion,
42:27but the soldiers of the revolutionary
42:30guard show no deference to the fleeing
42:32royals. Despite that setback, Louis
42:36continued to hope that the people would
42:39recognize him and rise up in his favor,
42:41but to his great surprise, the reaction
42:44was quite different, and the king was
42:46arrested and taken back to Paris. The
42:52fact that the king had attempted to
42:54abandon his subjects had catastrophic
42:56repercussions. The hostile silence of
43:01the crowd that witnessed Louis XVI's
43:03return to Paris proved that the monarch
43:05no longer appeared just as a
43:06superfluous figure, but also as a
43:08traitor.
43:13After the arrest of the faithless king,
43:15power passed into the hands of the
43:17revolutionaries who by then filled the
43:19seats of the National Assembly. But the
43:23true protagonist of the French
43:25Revolution is Robespierre. In the name
43:29of liberty, equality, and fraternity,
43:32he demanded the abolition of slavery in
43:34the West Indies and railed vehemently
43:36against the death penalty. From a
43:41society that the Enlightenment was
43:43transforming ever more rapidly,
43:45Robespierre intended to erase
43:46everything that remained of the old
43:48regime and its institutions. From the
43:54obscurantist culture of the Early
43:56Middle Ages, the societies of the old
43:58continent inherited a vast range of
44:00macabre capital execution techniques:
44:02quartering, drowning, hanging, burning.
44:10During the Ancien Régime, those
44:12condemned to death were killed in the
44:14most barbaric ways, and decapitation
44:16was reserved for nobles. One of the
44:19first changes that the revolutionary
44:20government wanted to introduce was
44:22precisely a death penalty that was
44:24equal for all. Despite Robespierre's
44:29opposition, a new instrument of death
44:31was placed in the center of Paris. The
44:36new invention was the work of
44:38Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a doctor who
44:40wanted to make decapitation a faster
44:42and less painful death. It was Dr.
44:47Guillotin himself who described the
44:49operation of his machine to the
44:51National Assembly. The blade falls like
44:56a lightning bolt. The head is severed
44:59with a single stroke and death is
45:01instantaneous. As always thirsty for
45:08blood, Jean-Paul Marat published an
45:09article in his newspaper
45:11enthusiastically introducing the new
45:12machine by the name of Guillotine. It
45:19was destined to become infamously known
45:21as the national razor. The French
45:25revolutionaries believed in human
45:27values and therefore considered it
45:28necessary to spare the condemned from
45:30unnecessary suffering. The guillotine,
45:35with its heavy and sharp blade, caused
45:38a quick and painless death, even if,
45:40naturally, no one has ever been able to
45:43recount it from personal experience.
45:50The guillotine would soon silence
45:51anyone suspected of plotting against
45:53the revolution, but it is the enemy
46:00surrounding France that worried the
46:01assembly more than anything else. Fear
46:05spread that the nobles who had fled
46:07abroad might organize new armies to
46:09defeat revolutionary France and restore
46:11the monarchy. The assembly was oriented
46:15toward a preventive war against Austria
46:18, but Robespierre was against it.
46:24Robespierre and the Jacobins were
46:26convinced that France would lose, but
46:28while a defeat was exactly what the
46:30kings and court circles hoped for,
46:32Robespierre feared that a potential
46:35enemy victory would end up crushing the
46:37revolutionary movement. But Robespierre
46:44found himself in a clear minority, and
46:47in April 1792, the National Assembly
46:49declared war on Austria, ruled by Marie
46:52Antoinette's relatives. From this
46:55moment on, the revolution would undergo
46:57an essential turning point. If Austria
47:01were to defeat the revolutionary army,
47:03Louis would reclaim the throne. Marie
47:10Antoinette is suspected of
47:11corresponding secretly with the enemy,
47:13communicating the movements of French
47:15troops by letter. In the meantime, the
47:24king and queen pretend to have embraced
47:27the revolutionary cause. Louis XVI and
47:31Marie Antoinette were playing a double
47:33game. Apparently they supported the
47:35revolutionaries, but secretly they were
47:37conspiring against them. It is obvious
47:40the sovereigns were just trying to
47:42protect themselves, but in the eyes of
47:44the rebels, this was nothing but
47:46treason. The initial military setbacks
47:54against the Austro-Prussian coalition,
47:55in which the monarchy had placed its
47:57hopes, instead hasten its ruin.
48:02Democratic forces denounce the crown's
48:05betrayal, and tension on the streets of
48:07Paris skyrockets. When the commander of
48:15the Prussian troops, the Duke of
48:17Brunswick, issues a manifesto
48:18threatening the destruction of Paris
48:20should the slightest offense be brought
48:22against the royal family, popular
48:23hatred explodes. August 10, 1792.
48:3527,000 armed citizens storm the
48:37Tuileries Palace, turning on the guards
48:40with unheard-of ferocity. By the end of
48:48the clash, the ground is covered with
48:50more than 800 corpses. The king is
48:54forced to seek refuge with the
48:55Legislative Assembly, which declares
48:57the monarchy deposed and proclaims the
48:59Republic. One and indivisible. The
49:07guillotine is inaugurated with the
49:08beheading of the royal guards who
49:10survived the assault. Robespierre, once
49:17strongly opposed to the death penalty,
49:19has revised his position. He will vote
49:22to condemn Louis XVI to capital
49:24punishment, stating that the birth of a
49:26new republic can only happen with the
49:28death of a monarch. The presence of the
49:32guillotine in the center of Paris seems
49:34like a threatening warning to anyone
49:35wishing to challenge the revolutionary
49:37government. Soon the king will meet the
49:40same fate as his guards, and his head
49:43will fall under the blade of the new
49:45death machine. Now that the king has
49:51been deposed, Robespierre and the
49:53Jacobins must face the moderate forces
49:55of the assembly, the Girondins, hostile
49:58to any concessions to popular demands
50:00regarding economic matters. Meanwhile,
50:07a new political movement is born. Its
50:10militants stand out for lacking the
50:12knee-length breeches worn by members of
50:14the aristocracy. They define themselves
50:18as the Sans-culottes, that is, those
50:20without culottes. The Sans-culottes
50:24were mostly artisans, shopkeepers, and
50:26craftsmen who earned their living
50:28through their own work. They refused to
50:33wear short pants, or culottes, as they
50:35considered them a status symbol of the
50:38nobility, from whom they wanted to
50:40distinguish themselves as they were
50:42proud to belong to the people. While
50:48the Sans-culottes take control of the
50:50Parisian municipality, the Jacobins and
50:52Girondins govern the rest of the
50:53country from the benches of the
50:55Convention, the former National
50:56Assembly. Meanwhile, the French army is
51:02busy halting the Austro-Prussian
51:04advance. On the home front, the
51:10revolutionary government resorts to
51:12drastic measures against anyone trying
51:14to hand Paris over to the invaders.
51:19More than 1,000 people are arrested and
51:22imprisoned, including priests,
51:24journalists, and women. For some time,
51:30the alliance between the Jacobin
51:32government and the popular masses
51:33remains strong. But at a certain point,
51:37Robespierre finds himself challenged by
51:39a left-wing opposition led by Georges
51:42Danton, a man destined to become famous
51:44throughout Paris. Although he was an
51:51inveterate drinker and an enterprising
51:54seducer, Georges Danton had a
51:55charismatic personality and a
51:57passionate rhetoric with which he
51:59captivated his listeners. He identified
52:03with the working class much more than
52:06Robespierre did. Danton urges men of
52:13all ages to join the army engaged at
52:15the front against the foreign invader.
52:21As Austro-Prussian troops invaded
52:23France, Danton addressed the people of
52:25Paris, shouting: "Boldness! Boldness!
52:28And more boldness! The fatherland is
52:30saved." He contributed concretely to
52:33saving the country from the armies.
52:42Since all able-bodied citizens are at
52:45the front, Paris remains without
52:46defenses. Its prisons are no longer
52:51able to hold the political prisoners,
52:53and fearing that the situation might
52:55get out of hand, Marat incites the
52:56revolutionaries to storm the prisons
52:58and massacre all the detainees. If the
53:06foreign troops had managed to occupy
53:08Paris, they would certainly have moved
53:11to free the counter-revolutionaries
53:12from the prisons. It was therefore
53:15normal for the population to be scared
53:17to death. In the first week of
53:24September, disastrous news arrives from
53:27the front. The Prussian army has
53:29captured Verdun, a town not far from
53:32Paris. Now that the enemy is
53:34threatening the capital closely,
53:36tension rises rapidly and the breaking
53:39point is reached. Seized by panic, the
53:43sans-culottes storm the prisons and
53:45turn on the political detainees without
53:47mercy. In the prisons were members of
53:54the clergy, nobles, political prisoners
53:56, and anyone suspected of plotting
53:59against the revolution. The
54:01sans-culottes subjected them to very
54:04summary trials that ended in true
54:06carnage. Women are raped and mutilated,
54:14priests disemboweled, and aristocrats
54:16torn to pieces. Within a few days, more
54:21than 1,600 people die horribly, victims
54:23of the murderous fury of the
54:25revolutionaries. The news of the
54:27massacres, having spread throughout
54:29Europe, arouses horror and indignation.
54:39This is how a journalist for the London
54:41Times expresses it.
54:44Are these the rights of man? Is this
54:47the freedom of the person? The most
54:51bloodthirsty of the tyrants who rule
54:53over African populations is certainly
54:55less savage than these two-legged
54:57Parisian animals.
55:01The revolutionary forces have gone too
55:03far. And now that there is no turning
55:07back, the people realize they need a
55:09leader, a man with an iron fist. Thanks
55:14to the power of his words, the
55:16Incorruptible quickly moves to the
55:18front line as the charismatic leader
55:19ready to wage battle against the forces
55:21of conservatism. Although he was
55:27initially in favor of a constitutional
55:29monarchy, Robespierre is now convinced
55:31there is no longer a place for the king
55:34, and the revolutionary government
55:36decides to send Louis XVI to trial.
55:45When the time comes to vote on the
55:47king's death sentence, the Girondins
55:49attempt to save the monarch by
55:50appealing to the people, and the
55:52conflict with the Jacobins becomes
55:54irreconcilable. Although the Girondins
56:00were firm supporters of the Republic,
56:02they were by no means convinced of the
56:04need to send the king to the scaffold.
56:09Nevertheless, the Jacobins prevail with
56:11a small majority. The Jacobins wanted
56:16the death of Louis XVI, as the
56:18revolution had to erase every trace of
56:20the past, and the king represented
56:22everything that post-revolutionary
56:24France should forget. The monarchy had
56:31failed to identify with the needs of
56:32the popular masses, whose aspirations
56:35for a better standard of living had
56:36always been ignored. Louis XVI had also
56:43betrayed his country, an infamy that,
56:45in the eyes of the people, could only
56:46be washed away with blood. January 20,
56:541793, Louis XVI is declared guilty: "
56:57The verdict is capital punishment; the
57:00king must die." That same evening, the
57:07king spends some time with his family.
57:11Faced with their tears, he promises
57:12that he will return to them the
57:14following morning for a final farewell.
57:18But unable to bear the sight of those
57:21pained expressions, Louis misses the
57:23appointment. The next morning, a
57:30covered carriage accompanies the
57:32sovereign on his final journey. Facing
57:38the guillotine, he reacts stoically.
57:50Louis XVI speaks his final words. I am
57:59certain that my death will make my
58:01people happy, but I fear that my
58:03beloved France will one day know the
58:06wrath of the Almighty. But the
58:09sovereign's voice is drowned out by the
58:11roll of drums. At 10:22 AM, the
58:39sovereign's head is displayed to the
58:42people. From the prison where she is
58:46segregated, Marie Antoinette hears the
58:48cannons announcing her husband's death
58:50and is overcome by illness. Louis XVI
58:58is dead. The revolutionaries have won,
59:02but soon the enemies of the revolution
59:04would also score a victory by getting
59:06rid of one of the most prominent
59:08deputies of the Jacobin forces,
59:10Jean-Paul Marat. The new Republic is
59:19baptized with the blood of the last
59:21king of France, but after the
59:25sovereign's death, the contrast between
59:26democratic forces and more moderate
59:28revolutionaries intensifies. Already at
59:32the end of 1792, the most radical
59:34Jacobins had launched into a
59:36no-holds-barred struggle against the
59:38enemies of the revolution. But now the
59:43Girondins, who represent the interests
59:45of the French farmers, fear that this
59:47unstoppable crescendo of unleashed
59:48violence could turn into a civil war.
59:55The opposition to the Girondin moderate
59:57stance was Jean-Paul Marat. In his
1:00:01daily newspaper, he published
1:00:03invectives against Girondin members
1:00:06suspected of conspiring against the
1:00:08revolution, demanding 20,000 heads fall
1:00:10to the guillotine. In his articles,
1:00:18Marat wrote that to nip any
1:00:20counter-revolutionary desire in the bud
1:00:23, anyone even remotely suspected of
1:00:25crimes against the new regime had to be
1:00:28sent to the scaffold. And when in 1792
1:00:35people began to pour into the streets,
1:00:37committing nearly indiscriminate
1:00:39massacres, Marat was the first to take
1:00:42credit for them. But in the French
1:00:48countryside, the peasants were
1:00:49exasperated by the Jacobins 'murderous
1:00:51fury and demanded an end to those
1:00:53senseless bloodbaths. This message was
1:00:57received by Charlotte Corday, a young
1:01:00provincial woman of humble origins, but
1:01:02with great temperament. Charlotte
1:01:08Corday, who lived in the town of Caen,
1:01:11was devastated by the massacres
1:01:13committed in her region during the
1:01:15Reign of Terror. The young woman knew
1:01:19that Marat was one of those responsible
1:01:21for the slaughter, as his newspaper,
1:01:22The Friend of the People, was widely
1:01:24circulated everywhere. July 13, 1793,
1:01:32Charlotte arrives in Paris. The young
1:01:38woman knew that Marat was forced to
1:01:40spend most of his time at home to
1:01:42undergo medicinal baths. Charlotte
1:01:45claimed to possess a list of traitors
1:01:47who were conspiring with foreign troops
1:01:49to put an end to the revolution. The
1:01:54man asked the girl to hand over that
1:01:56list, promising her that the following
1:01:58day the enemies of the fatherland would
1:02:00be guillotined. After giving him the
1:02:05piece of paper, Charlotte pulled out a
1:02:07dagger and dealt him a mortal blow to
1:02:10the heart. Along with Jean-Paul Marat,
1:02:24his caustic newspaper, The Friend of
1:02:25the People, was silenced forever. Marat
1:02:36had never hidden his bloodlust and,
1:02:38through his daily paper, had certainly
1:02:40contributed to establishing a
1:02:41witch-hunt climate. It was therefore
1:02:46understandable that Charlotte Corday,
1:02:48seeing him as the main culprit for the
1:02:51atrocious crimes committed by the mob,
1:02:53wanted to kill him in the hope of
1:02:55stopping the wave of violence.
1:03:01Charlotte did not even try to escape,
1:03:03and in court, she did not appear
1:03:05repentant at all. What did you hope to
1:03:13achieve by murdering Marat?
1:03:16Peace. Now that he is dead, peace will
1:03:19reign once again in my country.
1:03:22Charlotte was executed immediately, and
1:03:24with her, her dream of peace for France
1:03:26died as well. She killed a
1:03:31rabble-rouser, but without knowing it,
1:03:33she created a legend. Marat immediately
1:03:36became a myth, and a famous painter of
1:03:38the time, Jacques-Louis David, depicted
1:03:40his death. Marat became almost a martyr
1:03:45to whom people offered prayers, such as
1:03:47"Heart of Jesus and heart of Marat." At
1:03:52his funeral, the bathtub in which he
1:03:54had been stabbed was even placed on the
1:03:56altar like a crucifix. Looking at the
1:04:00painting of the death of Marat,
1:04:02executed by David, one can easily
1:04:04notice that his body is wrapped in
1:04:06drapery very similar to that which
1:04:08covers the body of Christ in many
1:04:10depictions of the Pietà or the descent
1:04:12from the cross. The intention is
1:04:17therefore evident: to identify Marat
1:04:19with Jesus Christ and make him an
1:04:21immortal figure to be venerated like a
1:04:23divinity. Robespierre reacts with envy
1:04:31to the honors paid to Marat, but his
1:04:33pragmatism leads him to focus on the
1:04:36most urgent issues to be solved. The
1:04:40masses are still thirsty for blood, and
1:04:42this time they are demanding the head
1:04:44of Marie Antoinette. Conciergerie
1:04:49prison, the antechamber of death. Eight
1:04:52months after the beheading of Louis XVI
1:04:55and just a few days after the execution
1:04:57of Charlotte Corday, Marie Antoinette
1:05:00awaits her fate, isolated in a cell.
1:05:08The worst thing that happened to the
1:05:09queen after her husband's death was the
1:05:11separation from her children, who were
1:05:13taken away from her. Marie Antoinette
1:05:17knew that the revolutionaries would
1:05:18subject her son to the most terrible
1:05:20abuses. to make him forget he was the
1:05:22scion of a royal house. And indeed,
1:05:26within two years, the boy died from the
1:05:28hardships and violence he suffered.
1:05:36Although Marie Antoinette is only 38
1:05:38years old, she appears remarkably aged.
1:05:44Marie Antoinette had been a very
1:05:46attractive and elegant woman, but
1:05:48starting in 1789, she began to lose
1:05:53weight rapidly. Her hair turned white,
1:05:57her face is haggard, and all forms of
1:05:59coquetry disappeared from her attire.
1:06:02When she appeared in court for her
1:06:04trial, she was unrecognizable.
1:06:09At the trial on October 15th, the
1:06:11former queen of France is accused of
1:06:13high treason and of having squandered
1:06:15state assets. But the list of charges
1:06:19does not end there. Marie Antoinette is
1:06:24also accused of incest with her son. To
1:06:28this infamy, the woman reacts
1:06:29energetically.
1:06:32I appeal to the conscience of every
1:06:34mother present in the courtroom. Which
1:06:37one of you would not feel horror at the
1:06:40mere thought of such an aberration?
1:06:44Those words were enough to calm the
1:06:46hatred of the women present at the
1:06:48trial, who realized that with those
1:06:51slanders, the prosecution had
1:06:52definitely gone too far. Marie
1:06:58Antoinette deludes herself that this
1:06:59flash of solidarity toward her might be
1:07:02enough to spare her life. She hopes to
1:07:05be deported to Austria, but the reading
1:07:07of the death sentence shatters her
1:07:09hopes. In a certain sense, Marie
1:07:14Antoinette was predestined for failure.
1:07:17The alliance between Austria and France
1:07:19had proven to be disastrous. Her
1:07:22husband's apparent impotence had made
1:07:24her an object of mockery, but above all
1:07:26, she was seen as the spendthrift who
1:07:28had reduced the population to
1:07:29exhaustion. For all these reasons,
1:07:33Marie Antoinette was hated as no French
1:07:35queen had ever been before her. From
1:07:42her cell, Marie Antoinette writes one
1:07:44last farewell letter to her children,
1:07:46promising them she will face death with
1:07:48courage. To prepare her for the
1:07:54guillotine, her long gray hair is cut.
1:08:11With her hands tied by a rope, the
1:08:13queen is led out of the prison, where
1:08:16no royal carriage awaits her, but a
1:08:18cart for transporting those condemned
1:08:20to death. Marie Antoinette had hoped to
1:08:26be granted the same favorable treatment
1:08:28given to her husband, that of being
1:08:30taken to the scaffold in a covered
1:08:31carriage. But unfortunately, it was not
1:08:35so, and the crowd turned on her,
1:08:36showering her with insults and threats.
1:08:43Although she is now reduced to a shadow
1:08:45of her former self, Marie Antoinette
1:08:47retains a dignity befitting her lineage
1:08:49. I. Hallelujah. Before the execution,
1:09:20the charges against her are read aloud.
1:09:33The last queen of France is dead. Two
1:09:39weeks later, a member of the Convention
1:09:42laments the indiscriminate use of the
1:09:44guillotine after numerous colleagues
1:09:46were forced to climb the scaffold. The
1:09:49revolution, he says, is like Saturn; it
1:09:52is devouring its own children. Danton
1:09:56retorts. The revolution, my friend, is
1:10:00not made with rosewater, but the worst
1:10:06is yet to come. September 1793. Four
1:10:13years after the outbreak of the
1:10:15revolution, France is on its knees. The
1:10:19provinces are rising, all territories
1:10:21previously conquered by the French are
1:10:24lost, and enemies are once again
1:10:26pressing dangerously on the borders.
1:10:31With a crushing victory, the English
1:10:32army manages to seize the port town of
1:10:34Toulon. French conquests were soon lost
1:10:41, as European states that had until
1:10:43then refrained from armed intervention
1:10:46were worried by the French army's
1:10:48advance and the revolutionaries'
1:10:51attitude, so they joined Austria and
1:10:54Prussia in a vast anti-French coalition
1:10:56. France found itself surrounded by
1:11:01enemy armies, and the Republic risked
1:11:03collapse. The grave military situation
1:11:06especially worried the population of
1:11:09Paris, who feared a counter-revolution
1:11:11and further bloodbaths. Danton and
1:11:17Robespierre become convinced that to
1:11:19safeguard internal order from any
1:11:21counter-revolutionary plot, it is
1:11:23necessary to resort to the weapon of
1:11:25fear. It is time for French citizens to
1:11:34enjoy the social equality so
1:11:36laboriously won. Let the head of anyone
1:11:40who conspires against it fall; we will
1:11:42win with the weapon of terror. Thus
1:11:48begins a period of violent repression
1:11:51called The Terror. The revolutionaries
1:11:57withdraw the new Constitution,
1:11:59suspending the effectiveness of all the
1:12:01rights it was supposed to guarantee.
1:12:05Then, anyone suspected of conspiring
1:12:07against the government is arrested,
1:12:10summarily tried, and guillotined. The
1:12:17Reign of Terror was conceived as a sort
1:12:19of martial law deemed necessary to
1:12:21safeguard the Republic from any
1:12:23counter-revolutionary attempt. It was
1:12:27called the period of terror because a
1:12:29true persecution was unleashed against
1:12:32all those who tried to oppose the new
1:12:34regime. Nowadays, the vaguest suspicion
1:12:42is enough to send anyone to the
1:12:43scaffold, including politicians who
1:12:45utter even a single word about the
1:12:47defunct monarchy and anyone who uses
1:12:49the titles "monsieur" and "madame"
1:12:50instead of the "citizen" appellation
1:12:52introduced with the establishment of
1:12:54the Republic. Along the cobblestone
1:13:01streets of Paris, there is an incessant
1:13:03procession of carts taking anyone who
1:13:05has been denounced to the guillotine.
1:13:12Decapitation was a sword of Damocles
1:13:14hanging over everyone's head. In Paris,
1:13:18there were spies everywhere, even
1:13:20mingling among the women waiting in
1:13:22line for bread. If they voiced
1:13:25complaints about the high cost of
1:13:26living, they were turned over to the
1:13:28gendarmerie. But one could also be
1:13:32denounced for not showing enough
1:13:33enthusiasm for the revolutionaries and
1:13:35their achievements. In practice, just
1:13:40one word too many or too few was enough
1:13:41to get you into trouble.
1:13:46To accelerate trials and executions,
1:13:48the Jacobins created an exceptional
1:13:50tribunal and entrusted state
1:13:52administration to the Committee of
1:13:54Public Safety, a collegiate body
1:13:56composed of 12 deputies. The Committee
1:14:01of Public Safety met the need to
1:14:03concentrate power in the hands of a few
1:14:06, and the 12 members who composed it
1:14:08imposed a true dictatorship. Thanks to
1:14:15the persuasive power of his dialectics,
1:14:17Robespierre soon rose to the rank of
1:14:19leader of the committee, continuing to
1:14:21systematically use the instrument of
1:14:23terror against all dissenters. At the
1:14:32start of his political career,
1:14:34Robespierre had declared himself firmly
1:14:36against the death penalty, and this was
1:14:38thrown in his face later when he became
1:14:41a staunch advocate of using the
1:14:42guillotine. He never responded to these
1:14:47criticisms except to say that times
1:14:49have changed. The revolution seems to
1:14:55have hardened Robespierre's heart; a
1:14:57former supporter of freedom of the
1:14:59press, he himself reintroduced
1:15:00censorship, which had become a distant
1:15:02memory of the past. Meanwhile, one of
1:15:06the leaders of the radical movement,
1:15:08Jacques Hébert, proposed a violent
1:15:10campaign for the abolition of
1:15:11Christianity. When the serious military
1:15:21situation in the summer of 1793 brought
1:15:23internal conflicts to a breaking point,
1:15:26people began to believe that the true
1:15:28cause of all unresolved problems was
1:15:31religion and the clergy, and that only
1:15:33by annihilating the power of the
1:15:35Catholic Church would it be possible to
1:15:38avert the danger of a
1:15:39counter-revolution. Streets named after
1:15:45saints were renamed. Sacred images were
1:15:51destroyed and replaced with forms of
1:15:52devotion to the new national saint,
1:15:54Marat. Churches were stripped of their
1:15:58altars, statues were destroyed, and
1:16:00stained-glass windows were shattered.
1:16:03Ecclesiastical property was declared
1:16:05national heritage. This violent
1:16:08anti-clericalism shocked public opinion
1:16:10far more than the decapitation of the
1:16:12king had. Not even the Christian
1:16:16calendar was spared. Years were no
1:16:19longer counted from the birth of Christ
1:16:21, but from September 21, 1792, the date
1:16:23coinciding with the establishment of
1:16:26the Republic. The months were renamed
1:16:30according to seasonal cycles. July
1:16:32becomes Thermidor, April Floréal, and
1:16:34so on, with each being divided into
1:16:36three ten-day weeks. The introduction
1:16:42of 10-day weeks aimed to eliminate
1:16:44Sunday and replace traditional
1:16:46ceremonies with decadal festivals and
1:16:48the cult of republican virtues. The
1:16:54climate of terror spreads throughout
1:16:55France, and in the rebellious provinces
1:16:57, the heads of those who dare to
1:16:59attempt reactionary plots fall. In the
1:17:04city of Lyon, where
1:17:06counter-revolutionaries are rapidly
1:17:08gaining ground, the Committee of Public
1:17:10Safety orders the mass execution of
1:17:13hundreds of rebels, who are led into
1:17:15fields and shot. In the Vendée, a
1:17:27region in western France that became a
1:17:29stronghold for counter-revolutionaries,
1:17:32rebels and priests are bound and piled
1:17:34onto boats, which are then ruthlessly
1:17:36sunk. The suppression of the Vendée
1:17:44uprisings cost the lives of a full
1:17:45100,000 people. Meanwhile, in Paris,
1:17:48the guillotine continues its frantic
1:17:50work of severing heads. In the meantime
1:17:59, French troops engaged at the front
1:18:01manage to achieve important victories
1:18:04thanks to a young commander named
1:18:06Napoleon Bonaparte, who inflicts a
1:18:08heavy defeat on the English army at
1:18:10Toulon. These military successes
1:18:13increase the prestige of Robespierre,
1:18:15who hopes to give new strength to the
1:18:17revolution by intensifying the regime
1:18:19of terror. For a certain period of time
1:18:28, terror was the means that allowed the
1:18:31country to be kept united and protected
1:18:33both from the external danger posed by
1:18:36foreign armies pressing against all
1:18:38borders, and from internal enemies,
1:18:40represented by the Girondins and other
1:18:42moderate political movements that
1:18:45opposed the revolutionary government.
1:18:50Although the intensification of
1:18:51repressive measures had the desired
1:18:53effects, the wave of terror would stop
1:18:55only after overwhelming the man who
1:18:57unleashed it, Maximilien de Robespierre
1:18:59. The immense efforts of the
1:19:06revolutionary government have borne
1:19:08fruit. And now that the enemy advance
1:19:12has been halted and all insurrectionary
1:19:15movements have been quelled,
1:19:16Robespierre inaugurates a policy aimed
1:19:19at fighting corruption and vice,
1:19:21appealing to the austerity of true
1:19:23revolutionaries. His dream is to create
1:19:27a new type of society: the Republic of
1:19:30Virtue. According to Robespierre, the
1:19:34virtuous citizen was not one who simply
1:19:37obeyed the law passively, but rather
1:19:40one who participated actively in the
1:19:43life of the State, fighting firsthand
1:19:45against all enemies of the revolution.
1:19:51On February 5, 1794, Robespierre
1:19:53describes his philosophy with searing
1:19:56words. Terror without virtue would be
1:20:01disastrous, but virtue without terror
1:20:04would be powerless. Robespierre was
1:20:08convinced that to overcome corruption
1:20:10and transform men into exemplary
1:20:12citizens, it was necessary to use the
1:20:15weapon of fear. But not everyone thinks
1:20:19so. According to Danton, the revolution
1:20:22is heading in the wrong direction. He
1:20:25believes the time has come to put an
1:20:26end to the regime of terror introduced
1:20:28by the Jacobins and to adopt less
1:20:30drastic security measures. When, in the
1:20:37spring of 1794, bread began to
1:20:39circulate again at more affordable
1:20:41prices and the successes achieved by
1:20:43the French armies allowed the invaders
1:20:46to be pushed back, Danton expressed the
1:20:48conviction that the extraordinary
1:20:50measures were no longer justified by
1:20:52any internal or external danger and, to
1:20:55put an end to the Reign of Terror, he
1:20:57gave life to the political movement of
1:20:59the "Indulgents," immediately seen by
1:21:03Robespierre as a new threat to the
1:21:05revolutionary government.
1:21:10But in Robespierre's Republic of Virtue
1:21:12there is no room for moderates, and so
1:21:15Danton and the Indulgents are condemned
1:21:17to death. Robespierre has by now sent
1:21:23thousands of dissidents to the
1:21:24guillotine, but unable to bear the
1:21:26sight of blood, he decides not to
1:21:28attend the beheading of his former
1:21:30allies. Before being executed, Danton
1:21:34shouts
1:21:36in the face of death. My only regret is
1:21:39that I am going to the scaffold before
1:21:42Robespierre. From this moment on, the
1:21:51terror undergoes a sudden acceleration.
1:21:54The period of the Great Terror begins.
1:22:02The Great Terror is the name given to
1:22:04the final phase of the intimidation
1:22:06campaign pursued by the Jacobins
1:22:08between the spring and summer of 1794.
1:22:13Over a period of a month and a half in
1:22:16Paris alone, there were 1,376 capital
1:22:18executions, more than in the previous
1:22:2112 months. The executioner of Paris is
1:22:28busier than ever, but on June 6, 1794,
1:22:34the traditional drum roll that precedes
1:22:36the beheadings is not heard. It is the
1:22:41day of the inauguration of the Cult of
1:22:43the Supreme Being, a new form of
1:22:45religious devotion to the goddess of
1:22:47reason introduced by Robespierre to
1:22:49replace traditional Catholic ceremonies
1:22:51. Robespierre was convinced that the
1:22:59people needed a higher principle to
1:23:01believe in. To spread the cult of the
1:23:05Supreme Being. In June 1794 he placed
1:23:10an enormous papier-mâché mountain in
1:23:12the center of Paris, from the top of
1:23:14which, at the moment of the ceremony,
1:23:16he emerged wrapped in a toga, then
1:23:18slowly descended toward the assembly of
1:23:20the faithful. I believe many wondered
1:23:24if Robespierre had not become convinced
1:23:26that he was a divinity or a new king.
1:23:31But this new form of cult only ends up
1:23:33intensifying the hostility toward
1:23:35Robespierre, by then seen as a dictator
1:23:38. Many believed that the exaltation of
1:23:44virtue that had inflamed his latest
1:23:46political speeches had spilled over
1:23:48into a religious fanaticism that seemed
1:23:51to have led Robespierre irremediably to
1:23:53madness. On July 27, Robespierre
1:23:59appears at the Convention to attack
1:24:01corrupt deputies, Indulgents, moderates
1:24:04, and extremists, but he does not know
1:24:06that his opponents have coalesced
1:24:08against him. Robespierre claimed to
1:24:17have a new list of enemies of the
1:24:18Republic, but he did not hand it over
1:24:21to his colleagues who, fearing they
1:24:23were on that list, had him arrested the
1:24:25next day without even giving him time
1:24:27to hand over those names.
1:24:32Strong in their newly forged alliance,
1:24:33the opposition on the right and left
1:24:35launch their decisive attack.
1:24:40Robespierre is first declared an outlaw
1:24:43, then expelled from the Convention and
1:24:45transferred along with his closest
1:24:47collaborators to the Hôtel de Ville,
1:24:50where he remains under guard all night
1:24:52long. The next morning, the guards hear
1:24:57gunshots and rush to the second floor.
1:25:00Upon opening the door, they are faced
1:25:02with a gruesome scene. One of
1:25:05Robespierre’s allies has jumped from
1:25:07the window, another has just shot
1:25:09himself, while Robespierre is found
1:25:11semi-conscious with a bullet in his jaw
1:25:13after an apparent suicide attempt.
1:25:25Robespierre spends his final hours on a
1:25:27table at the Committee of Public Safety
1:25:29, in the very room where he had adopted
1:25:31measures aimed at intensifying the
1:25:33terrorist direction of his policy. His
1:25:38former colleagues insult and mock him,
1:25:40but Robespierre is unable to defend
1:25:42himself. The great orator of the past
1:25:45has been reduced to silence forever.
1:25:49Win the revolution with History Channel
1:25:51and fly to Paris to celebrate the
1:25:53anniversary of the French Revolution.
1:25:57Locked up in the Conciergerie prison,
1:25:59Robespierre awaits his turn on the
1:26:01scaffold. His cellmate, the
1:26:07revolutionary Saint-Just, points at a
1:26:09painting depicting the Declaration of
1:26:11Rights and says to him: "At least in
1:26:13this, we won." Robespierre led a
1:26:18revolution that gave France a new face,
1:26:25but to transform it into the Democratic
1:26:27Republic he had always dreamed of, he
1:26:28made the mistake of resorting to
1:26:30tyrannical and bloody methods that
1:26:32ultimately turned against him. The
1:26:38desire to put an end to the Terror had
1:26:41been widespread for some time, but no
1:26:43one knew how to achieve this goal. It
1:26:46was then decided to solve the problem
1:26:48at the root by directly eliminating
1:26:50Robespierre. On July 27, 1794, the
1:26:57guillotine blade severs the head of the
1:27:01Incorruptible, and the wave of terror
1:27:04that shocked France is finally stemmed.
1:27:10The new phase that opens with
1:27:11Robespierre's death sentence is marked
1:27:13by the gradual dismantling of the
1:27:15revolutionary government and the return
1:27:17of the revolution to its bourgeois
1:27:19roots. Thus begins a period of
1:27:24uncertainty in which France finds
1:27:27itself paralyzed by the fear that
1:27:29monarchical absolutism, so arduously
1:27:31eradicated, might return. After five
1:27:40years of political stagnation, these
1:27:43fears prove well-founded when power
1:27:45ends up concentrated once again in the
1:27:48hands of a single man, Napoleon
1:27:50Bonaparte. Some historians argue that
1:27:54the French Revolution ends with the
1:27:55rise to power of Napoleon. Others,
1:27:58however, claim that it continued into
1:28:00the 19th century and beyond. One of the
1:28:05most important changes introduced by
1:28:07the French Revolution was the
1:28:09realization by the popular masses that
1:28:11they could influence the direction of
1:28:13political policy. The fact that the
1:28:18subjects of the oldest, most
1:28:19established, and most prestigious
1:28:21monarchy in Europe had managed to
1:28:23rewrite history was a phenomenon that
1:28:25had a vast resonance throughout the
1:28:27world. The French Revolution left an
1:28:33indelible mark on the modernization
1:28:36process of the Western world.
1:28:41Considering the upheavals caused by the
1:28:43French Revolution, one has to wonder if
1:28:46it is right for peoples, in the name of
1:28:48the right to self-determination, to
1:28:50completely subvert the established
1:28:51order. To what extent can violence be
1:28:55justified as the price to pay for a
1:28:58better society? It is a question that
1:29:01is still very relevant today.
1:29:05With their bold reforms, Robespierre
1:29:07and his colleagues catapulted France
1:29:09into the future, but they could never
1:29:11have foreseen the perennial relevance
1:29:14of their revolution. More than 200
1:29:19years since those days, the shadow of
1:29:20Robespierre hovers over revolutionary
1:29:22movements everywhere. From Russia to
1:29:25Vietnam, from China to Latin America,
1:29:27the French experiment with democracy
1:29:29has inspired models all over the world.
1:29:33Wherever dictatorship stifles human
1:29:35rights, the battle cry will always be
1:29:37liberty, equality, fraternity. Hey

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