72. France explodes

The French Revolution! A turning point in the history of the world. Or so it’s frequently claimed. But in the myth-busting spirit of this podcast, this episode questions that belief, without denying that the wars to which the revolution led had a pretty dramatic impact. At least in Europe, though claiming that a European event changed the world may be a slight overreach.

It also takes a look at how Britain and France had similar developments of parliamentary systems way back in ancient history, but then the two nations diverged. Some of the aspects that made France different set up the crisis that led to the revolution. Then two lousy harvests and the hunger that followed ensured that the most oppressed sectors of society rose too, in a resentful fury that made the whole thing all the bloodier.

So don’t expect rose-tinted glasses in this assessment of the revolution.

Illustration: The Taking of the Bastille, by Jean-Pierre Houël. Public domain.

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License