1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: I'm editor Kandis Kip synjoined by staff writer Jane McGrath. 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,479 Speaker 1: Like canis Jane this morning, and I was having a 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:22,599 Speaker 1: bagel for breakfast, and I got to thinking about how, 6 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 1: you know, it's a treat for me. It's sort of 7 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 1: a luxury. Every now and then on the way to work, 8 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: I'll stop at Einstein's and I'll grab a bagel, and 9 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: I don't really question where my bread is going to 10 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:32,880 Speaker 1: come from. I have a loaf at home. Maybe I'll 11 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 1: stop by the Veigel shop. But for the people of 12 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: France back around seventeen eighty seventeen eighty nine really took 13 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 1: off bread was a huge point of contention because they 14 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: didn't really have much. That's true, they were suffering from 15 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: some really bad harvest and economic depression in general, and 16 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: this was a problem. It means kind of a perfect 17 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,160 Speaker 1: storm sort of situation where um, not only were the 18 00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: people having the food issues, but the government was having 19 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: any issues as well. And we don't typically think of 20 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: the plague and other massive diseases as a good thing, 21 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: but they kind of were in the sense that they 22 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: kept France's population in check. But during this point in time, 23 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: everyone was really healthy, they were living longer, and all 24 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: of a sudden there wasn't enough to go around. And 25 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: there's been a couple of kings in the House of 26 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:23,320 Speaker 1: Bourbon who screwed a lot of things up. We had 27 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: Louis the fourteenth, who was really excessive and had a 28 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: lot of superfluous luxuries, and he didn't even like being 29 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: in the middle of the dirty knts and squalor of Paris. 30 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: So he built a castle called Versa. I'm sure you've 31 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,039 Speaker 1: all heard of it about um what was that twelve 32 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:43,759 Speaker 1: thirteen miles away from the city, so that you could 33 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: have a retreat. And then Louis the fifteenth came in 34 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: and he was more interested in being the boss at 35 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: the bedroom than the boss of his subjects. And then 36 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: Larie's sixteen, who we now married Marie Antoinette. He was 37 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: the one who famously said, you know, help us God, 38 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: we are too young to reign. And it's true, you know, 39 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: if you look at our country today, we have a 40 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: new presidental lect who's going to be taking on a 41 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: massive financial deficit, and a couple of wars, and you know, 42 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: he's coming into a really hard position. And we could 43 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: say that the same was pretty comparable for living sixteen. 44 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: That's a financial debt unhappy subjects, that's true. And um, 45 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 1: you can see the contrast from then to now. Is 46 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: that back then, the way they had it in France anyway, 47 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: was that the nobles and the upper people in the 48 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: clergy didn't even have to pay taxes and uh and 49 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: this is sort of contrary to our sensibilities now where 50 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: where the if the more money you have, the more 51 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: money you owe to the country. Basically, and this was 52 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: part of the financial problems is that the more um 53 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: money problems they had, the more they wanted to tax 54 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: people to raise money. But they could only tax the 55 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: people who were suffering at this time when important tax 56 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: I think it's called the gabelle um if I'm pronouncing 57 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: all right, um, But it was a tax on salt actually, 58 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,959 Speaker 1: which not only was you know, an edit thing for food, 59 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: but it was also very important for preserving food, you know, 60 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: back then before they head refrigerators. Yeah, and so people 61 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:04,519 Speaker 1: at this time, if they didn't have the salt to 62 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: preserve their food, they didn't have enough flower for bread. 63 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: They were foraging as best they could, but you know, 64 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: in urban areas like Paris that wasn't working too well 65 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: because there wasn't enough land of forage in and then 66 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 1: the outlying provinces there was, you know, such severe winters 67 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: and hot summers that nothing was really working in anyone's favor. 68 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,960 Speaker 1: And so we see, like Jane said, the perfect storm 69 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: at the beginnings of an uprising that would eventually blossom 70 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: into the French revelation. That's right. And another element of 71 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: the perfect storm is basically the ideas that were becoming 72 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: more and more popular even among nobility. They were discussing 73 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: these ideas brought up by Rousseau and Voltair of equality 74 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: and liberty, and basically when all these things came together, 75 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: a revolution bubbled up. And what's funny about these ideas 76 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: and these Enlightenment thinkers is that these were very popular 77 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: subjects and salons especially. People would get together and the 78 00:03:57,680 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: people who at the time to really sit around it 79 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: contemplate the universe and really to start thinking that aspects 80 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: of their life weren't fair. But the poor people really 81 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: didn't have the time and luxuries for this. But I 82 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: think there were people in the middle class, in the 83 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: upper middle class, and maybe even parts of the upper 84 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: class who were looking out for them. And there were 85 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: certain members who really started to contemplate the idea of 86 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:24,720 Speaker 1: equality and that it should be available to everyone. And 87 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: one thing that was really sort of strange was um 88 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: this idea of equality and death. And we have to 89 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: remember that during this time a lot of middle age 90 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: ideas still permeated the justice system in Europe, and so 91 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:40,919 Speaker 1: when people of a lower class war sentenced to death, 92 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: it was done by scary things like quartering or being 93 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: burned or be it wasn't browned. Yeah, and now it 94 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: hurt that it hurt a lot. I'm sure we can't 95 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,840 Speaker 1: speak from personal experience. But whereas the nobles, on the 96 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,720 Speaker 1: other hand, they deserved a more humane death and less painful, yeah, 97 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: a gentleman's death. They were usually beheaded, which again we're 98 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,679 Speaker 1: not saying that doesn't hurt. We really imagined that it does. 99 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: But it was seen as more humane and faster death 100 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: at least. Yeah. And something really interesting came out of 101 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,600 Speaker 1: this whole debate about being equal in death, and that 102 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: was the creation of a death device by a member 103 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:24,720 Speaker 1: of the Constitutional Assembly named Joseph Gillotan, that's right, and 104 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,599 Speaker 1: he Um there were other machines similar to it in 105 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,160 Speaker 1: other European countries at the time that he Um kind 106 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: of perfected it being introduced it to France, and it 107 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: became synonymous with the French Revolution because of the ideas 108 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 1: of equality bubbling up there and because of the eventually, 109 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:43,160 Speaker 1: although he didn't quite foresee this, the massive killings, and 110 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,280 Speaker 1: they would end up using this death machine basically a 111 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:50,279 Speaker 1: lot during the following years. And so it's ironic is 112 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: that what was intended to be a humanitarian device was 113 00:05:55,279 --> 00:06:00,360 Speaker 1: eventually repurposed into a death machine. And that's the crazy 114 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: thing about the guillotine. And Um we were joking earlier, 115 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,039 Speaker 1: can you can you really say if if it hurts 116 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: or if it doesn't because it is so quick And 117 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:11,360 Speaker 1: doctors today have done some research into the guillotine and 118 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: they look at how it actually kills someone, and you know, 119 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,119 Speaker 1: they talk about, you know, the severing of the skin 120 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: and then the bone and then the spinal cord and 121 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 1: then the brain death that results. And people today look 122 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:24,800 Speaker 1: at it and say, I better it hurts a lot. 123 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: It's considered hitarian as it was back then. No, not 124 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:32,280 Speaker 1: at all. And a really interesting rumor that sort of 125 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: sprung up around the guillotine and the concept of decapitation 126 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: is that after someone's decapitated, they're still sort of alive, 127 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:42,479 Speaker 1: at least for a couple of seconds, for a little while. 128 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: Their legends surrounding one of the famous people who were killed, 129 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 1: Charlotte Corday. Um legend is that the executioner actually picked 130 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: up her head afterwards and it actually looked at him, 131 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:59,039 Speaker 1: I think, indignantly and look like, hey, come on. And 132 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 1: Charlotte where Dave was famous because she was from one 133 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: of the outlying provinces in France. She was she wasn't 134 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: a revolutionary, or she was to a certain extent, but 135 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: she was essentially, um, a provincial girl who had been 136 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: hearing about all of the riots in Paris, and she 137 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 1: was blaming everything on this one journalist name Murat. That's true, 138 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 1: and he was quite I mean, you could say he 139 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: was responsible for a lot of the violence. He intentionally 140 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: instigated all all this violence through his propaganda and his writing, definitely, 141 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: and she knew exactly where to find him. He had 142 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 1: a really bad skin condition that required him to soak 143 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: in a tub for a couple of hours a day, 144 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: and she came to Paris with the intent of finding 145 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: him and killing him. It's kind of ironic trying to 146 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: prevent the violence fight killing this guy. Yeah, but I 147 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 1: was I was thinking, clearly, and it kind of backfired 148 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:46,559 Speaker 1: on her, right because he ended up being the martyr 149 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: out of the situation, and people were celebrating when she 150 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: was guillotined exactly. And that's how the French Revolution was. 151 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: You know, a hero one day, a martyr the next, 152 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: absolutely hated the next day. It was. It was crazy, 153 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: these these turning hides. But you know, we could go 154 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: on and on about some of these. The motley crew 155 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:05,960 Speaker 1: of the French revolutions, I like to call them that, 156 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: just to get down to basics. I mean, we know 157 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: who the main players are. We've got Louis and we've 158 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: got his wife, Marie Antoinette. And there was so much 159 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 1: ire directed toward her. She was a total spendthrift and 160 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 1: she was expected to produce an air to the throne. 161 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 1: She hadn't done that yet, and um, the people of 162 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: France were just furious with both of them, and there 163 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,640 Speaker 1: were scandals surrounding everything that she did, right, Like, um, 164 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:35,440 Speaker 1: you wrote about these sort of scandals that that happened 165 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:37,200 Speaker 1: around her, and one of the articles on the site, 166 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: uh where she would say let them eat cake and 167 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: she was having supposedly affairs as well and having just 168 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,439 Speaker 1: in general just this extravagant lifestyle. Yeah, and some of 169 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:50,400 Speaker 1: the rumors surrounding her, like the hold at the meat 170 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: cake thing. We know today that she didn't actually say that, 171 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:56,679 Speaker 1: but she did project an air of, you know, carelessness. 172 00:08:57,160 --> 00:08:59,599 Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson, who you know obviously have to referred to 173 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 1: him and every single podcast we do, he apparently said 174 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,000 Speaker 1: about heard that if someone had shut that lady up 175 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,560 Speaker 1: in a convent, the French Revolution would never have happened. 176 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:10,719 Speaker 1: And that's a good point. And he was he was 177 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: a relative sympathizer with the French Revolution, Is that right? Yeah, 178 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:18,839 Speaker 1: because the French Revolution used as its model the American Revolution. 179 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:22,079 Speaker 1: And I think that when we look at the Declaration 180 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: of Independence and the ideals of life, liberty and the 181 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: pursuit of happiness, and then we look for the parallels 182 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: and the French Revolution, you know, the sort of rallying 183 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: cry there was um liberty, equality and brotherhood or brute 184 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: galate and fraternity, I don't profess to be a native 185 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:42,479 Speaker 1: French speakers, and the acast him from the south. That 186 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: um that that was the general governing idea, and it 187 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:47,719 Speaker 1: was important because no one had ever thought to go 188 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: up against the king, and people in general wanted to 189 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: love the king. You know, he was sort of the 190 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: father of the country, and he was supposed to be 191 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 1: looking out for everyone, and and there they kind of 192 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,880 Speaker 1: kept him around for a little while. Even after yeah, yeah, 193 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:03,079 Speaker 1: and there was affection for him, and even when their children, 194 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: Marie Antoinete and Louie's children were born, there was genuine 195 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: affection and celebration for the birth of the new king. 196 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 1: But when things again things started going poorly, they tried 197 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 1: to get the king on board with this idea of 198 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: a new sort of constitution which therapy power more evenly 199 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: divided among the classes. Jane was saying that the clergy 200 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:28,640 Speaker 1: and the upper classes, the airs doctor state, they had 201 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:31,280 Speaker 1: all the voting power. Essentially, they were maybe three percent 202 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: of the population. They were making the laws that governed 203 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: everyone else. And Louis was basically pigeonhouled into hiring a 204 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:41,959 Speaker 1: finance minister to sort everything out because things had gotten 205 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,199 Speaker 1: so financially messy, and he hired a man named Jacques Necker, 206 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: and this guy became pretty important for doing something that 207 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: hadn't been done in a hundred and seventy five years, 208 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: and that was calling together, uh, these States General UM. 209 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:56,400 Speaker 1: And this was this group. Obviously the first and second 210 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: Estates were the clergy and the nobles who had the 211 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:02,360 Speaker 1: most power, and the eard Estate UM at these meetings 212 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:07,760 Speaker 1: began to rise up and demanding, uh, just making demands 213 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,559 Speaker 1: of the king that he wouldn't give into. And one 214 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: of the most important members of the third Estate was 215 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:16,320 Speaker 1: a lawyer named Maximilian robes Pierre, and he became a 216 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:21,319 Speaker 1: very outspoken advocate of the lower classes, and people really 217 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: respected ropes Pierre. He had a lot of really silient 218 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:27,319 Speaker 1: things to say, and he was actually called the incorruptible 219 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,840 Speaker 1: because he seemed so ethical and so wise and everything 220 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:33,560 Speaker 1: that he did and then ended up not being quite true. 221 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: And you know, at least at the beginning, it seemed 222 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:38,080 Speaker 1: like his heart was in the right place. And so 223 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:41,520 Speaker 1: the Estates General continued on with their work and they 224 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:44,559 Speaker 1: were you know, they actually included members of the upper 225 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:46,680 Speaker 1: class to come and meet with them because they weren't, 226 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 1: you know, aren't supporters of the group, because obviously they 227 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: saw their power being slowly cut off. But some would calm, 228 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:56,319 Speaker 1: they'd all meet and have their assemblies. And then one 229 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 1: day they went to the palace to meet as usual, 230 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: and the doors were shut and reality what was going 231 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: on is that someone in the palace was preparing the 232 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 1: room for an address that the king would give later. 233 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,360 Speaker 1: So they weren't shutting them them out. No, not exactly. 234 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:12,320 Speaker 1: I think that this has been interpreted in many ways 235 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:14,599 Speaker 1: throughout history, but I think the general of court is 236 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:16,679 Speaker 1: they were not being bolted out. It was just an 237 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: unfortunate timing either way, though, they believed that they were 238 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 1: being bolted out and that's all they needed to build. 239 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:24,600 Speaker 1: So they went to the closest room they could find, 240 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:26,520 Speaker 1: which was an indoor tennis court, and they made it 241 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:30,240 Speaker 1: that they would not rest until France had a new constitution. 242 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: That's right, and this seems to be a very good 243 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: step um in the people's um pursuit of more power. 244 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: But actually um, by like the next month, the people 245 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: were getting so frustrated they didn't think that peaceful reform 246 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: was quite possible, and so they ended up storming the 247 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: best deal, and they went there to get guns and 248 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,280 Speaker 1: gunpowder and essentially show Louis that they were not playing 249 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 1: around anymore. And I think a really famous anecdoubt from 250 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 1: the French Revolution is that Louis was out hunting the 251 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 1: day that that happened, and when he got back in, 252 00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: one of his advisers told him what had happened, and 253 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:07,680 Speaker 1: he asked, is it a revolt? And his adviser said, no, sire, 254 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: it's a revolution. Like it was a big deal, and 255 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:13,079 Speaker 1: I don't think Louis comprehended the gravity of the situation. 256 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:16,719 Speaker 1: And on that day the guards were slaughtered, prisoners were 257 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:20,080 Speaker 1: set free. And what's more, the best deal was this fortress, 258 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: this medieval fortress, and it was a symbol to the 259 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 1: people of the king's corruptibility because there were prisoners kept 260 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 1: there who were convicted of crimes sort of outside the 261 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: balance of common law, and no one knew what happened 262 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:36,320 Speaker 1: inside this prison, but there were awful tales that people 263 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 1: were tortured and maimed and terrible things went on. So 264 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 1: the people of Paris just started knocking it down, brick 265 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 1: by brick by brick, and they certainly made their point 266 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:48,240 Speaker 1: with the storming of the best deal that it was 267 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:51,960 Speaker 1: a very dramatic episode. And so it seemed that the 268 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: people of Paris had united, Louie was going to be 269 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 1: forced into going along with the new constitution. Things were 270 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:02,120 Speaker 1: going pretty well until they were rumors swirling around town. Uh, 271 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:05,760 Speaker 1: courtesy of Mraz crazy newspaper. Well, I shouldn't say crazy, 272 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:09,720 Speaker 1: that's not fair. Uh, courtesy of his newspaper in which 273 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: he broadcasts all this propaganda that the king and his 274 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,640 Speaker 1: courtiers had stomped on the treat Caluur, which was a flag. 275 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 1: It's still the flag of France to day. It's the 276 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: red and blue of France, separated by the white of 277 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: the House of Bourbon, which represented the royalty. Anyway, rumors 278 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: that they had stomped on the flag, they had desecrated 279 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 1: the simpole of the the symbol of the revolution, certainly 280 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: incented the people, and at this time the women of 281 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: parish really took action, and they stormed first side. This 282 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: time they went for bread, and they went for Marie 283 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 1: Antoinette's head, that's right, and they just barely missed her. 284 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: She had just fled from her room when they when 285 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: they stormed in and but they eventually got what they wanted. 286 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:53,760 Speaker 1: They got what the this king to to sign away 287 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:56,880 Speaker 1: the Declaration of the Rights of Man and which basically, 288 00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:00,440 Speaker 1: you know, took power away from him significantly and actually 289 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:06,880 Speaker 1: moved the royal family to toiletries as in the heart 290 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: of Paris, so they were under lock and key. And 291 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: then there were rumors again that Marie Antoinette was plotting 292 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:17,280 Speaker 1: with her relatives in Austria to take control of Paris, 293 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: and they thought, well, you know, there's still a chance 294 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:23,640 Speaker 1: that the royal family can reclaim power. And Marie Antoinette's lover, 295 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,640 Speaker 1: han Zaxolovon first and actually orchestrated an escaped for the 296 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 1: royal family, and they nearly made it to Austria. They 297 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:32,880 Speaker 1: were captured in Varenne, which was just miles from the 298 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 1: Austrian border. So Louis was brought back. He just made 299 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 1: him look worse, I'm sure, as trying to escape. Obviously, 300 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: he didn't look like he was going to cooperate, no, 301 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:45,200 Speaker 1: and so any ire toward him always magnified a million times, 302 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: and he was put on trial, and at this point 303 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: he wasn't even referred to as King Louis anymore. He 304 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: was called by his surname Cape, which actually wasn't even 305 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: his surname. He was a Bourbon, so they got his 306 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: name wrong too, you know, to add insult to injury. 307 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:03,200 Speaker 1: And this is when we see the National Assembly which 308 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:05,120 Speaker 1: a draft at the Declaration of the Rights Man, they 309 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:09,040 Speaker 1: had drafted this constitution. They seem unified until this point. 310 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 1: And then when you have a monarch on trial and 311 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 1: you have the extremists they want to put him to 312 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: death like a common person, and you have some people 313 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: who still have some loyalty to the crown, it was 314 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 1: split and there was frustrations at this time as well. 315 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 1: Keeping the king alive obviously might encourage um other countries 316 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: with that were monarchies at the time, to go in 317 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:33,560 Speaker 1: and restore power, because the king was obviously uh he 318 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: when he was writing to other powers trying to get help, 319 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: he was saying like, look, what's happening here, The same 320 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: thing could happen in your country, and so if you 321 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: help me out, you know, we can we can stop 322 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: this sort of revolutionary fever going on. And that's certainly 323 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: was a factor. And I believe it was the Duke 324 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: of Prussia who wrote the Revolutionaries the letter later published, 325 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:54,080 Speaker 1: and one of the newspapers, maybe Courtisy Murra, that if 326 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:56,960 Speaker 1: anything happened to Louis, they would come in and burn 327 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:00,040 Speaker 1: Paris to the ground. And that was all that a 328 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 1: lot of people needed to hear. And so Louis was convicted, 329 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: put to death, and that was the end of him. 330 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: So Louie's dad, the National Convention is a split. We 331 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: now over his death and now we see a new uprising. 332 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:15,199 Speaker 1: And we should mention that these different factions did have 333 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 1: specific names. The moderates for the Giron downs, and then 334 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,639 Speaker 1: the radical members were the Jacobins, and that's where Robespierre was. 335 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:24,639 Speaker 1: So who was the leader of that? Do you remember 336 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:26,919 Speaker 1: robes Pierre? You're about to see him get really corrupt. 337 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 1: A side note anyway, So then the other group we 338 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:33,040 Speaker 1: see emerges a song coo lot and that translates into 339 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:35,960 Speaker 1: those who do not wear breeches or those without breeches. 340 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:39,680 Speaker 1: And these were the artisans of Paris, and they weren't 341 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: they weren't walking around without pants. They were walking around 342 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: without the little knee shorts. And they're actually wearing longer pants. 343 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,520 Speaker 1: Wearing longer pants, yeah, because the custom was to wear breeches. 344 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:51,920 Speaker 1: And you know, cute little tights and the danky little 345 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,119 Speaker 1: buckle shoes and all the other things that sweet little 346 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,480 Speaker 1: pre revolutionary frands people wore. And these were people who 347 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: were ruling the local areas. Was yes, yes, So we 348 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 1: start to see power again shifting contracting, and the ideals 349 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 1: of the revolution in the first place, or the ideals 350 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: of the reform that people originally wanted, they start to 351 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:18,120 Speaker 1: get really muddied and confused because we know that at 352 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:22,440 Speaker 1: first the people had wanted sort of a constitutional monarchy. Well, 353 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: obviously that wasn't gonna happen now because the monarch is dead, 354 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:28,720 Speaker 1: So who was going to rule? There was a really 355 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 1: important question. And this is when Robespierre really gained in power. 356 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,359 Speaker 1: And uh he obviously he sort of filled the void 357 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:40,119 Speaker 1: of power at this time, and um, he was able 358 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,320 Speaker 1: to solidify it by killing a lot of his political 359 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 1: enemies at the time, and he would eventually go on 360 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: to condone these killings publicly. At first, like the events 361 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: of the September massacre, he sort of turned his head 362 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: away and he thought, you know, well, these are the 363 00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,720 Speaker 1: people of Paris. They're the ones who are acting like 364 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: like beasts and and killing their fellow countrymen. I'm not 365 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 1: really a part of this, but later on, like during 366 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 1: the Great Terror and the Great Fear, he himself would 367 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: compose the lists of counter revolutionaries who would be put 368 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: to death. And it's important to remember at this time 369 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,440 Speaker 1: that there was really not a lot of peace and France. 370 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:20,880 Speaker 1: You know, people were fearing every day that they would 371 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:23,879 Speaker 1: be accused of counter revolutionary activity. It was like a 372 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:26,800 Speaker 1: witch hunt, really was right, and they did have some 373 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,680 Speaker 1: semblance of justice when we tried to institute the revolutionary 374 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: tribunals to try these people who were accused of anti 375 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,359 Speaker 1: revolutionary activity. But if you look at the stats, I 376 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:38,440 Speaker 1: think about nine out of ten people who were tried 377 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,520 Speaker 1: were found guilty and killed, and one of those was 378 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 1: Marie Antoinette. She wasn't going to be around for too 379 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: much longer. She continued to be suspected of plotting with 380 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:51,480 Speaker 1: Austria to overthrow the revolutionaries, and she was put on 381 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: trial and one of the most poignant charges that came 382 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:58,600 Speaker 1: against her was molestation of her own son. And Marie Antoinette, 383 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:00,639 Speaker 1: as we now, she had been you know, sort of 384 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: a twit. No one really she but no, and that 385 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:08,880 Speaker 1: was absolutely not true. At all. It was a horrible, 386 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:11,920 Speaker 1: salacious rumor started and she sort of hung her head 387 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,199 Speaker 1: when all the other charges against her were red. But 388 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 1: when that one was read, that was when she spoke 389 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:18,720 Speaker 1: up and said no. And she implored the other women 390 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:20,400 Speaker 1: in the room to sympathize with her and to really 391 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,160 Speaker 1: think about how they would feel if they were charged 392 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:26,399 Speaker 1: with such a terrible thing I can't image. And she 393 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:29,320 Speaker 1: won their sympathy for an instant and then like that 394 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: it was gone. Yeah. And when Louis was put to 395 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:35,959 Speaker 1: death at the guillotine, he at least was driven up 396 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: to the stand in an closed cart, but she was 397 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,199 Speaker 1: driven in an open cart, a common criminals cart, so 398 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: people could throw things at her and spit and jeer, 399 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:46,960 Speaker 1: and so it seemed like the people hated her even 400 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: more than they hated the king. And they did, they did. 401 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:51,640 Speaker 1: And when she went up to the stand, I think 402 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: people really wanted to see her cry and prostrate herself, 403 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,240 Speaker 1: and that didn't happen at all. She was very dignified 404 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 1: until the moment that she died. Pretty pressive. I couldn't 405 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,920 Speaker 1: do that, I know. But as much as the people 406 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:06,200 Speaker 1: wanted marantoin Net dead, and as much as her death 407 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:09,000 Speaker 1: symbolized for the people of France and for the revolution, 408 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:11,760 Speaker 1: it's off it. It wasn't enough. The revolution still was 409 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 1: not over, that's right. And as you said, Rospierre was 410 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:16,919 Speaker 1: coming up with with lists of people that that he 411 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: felt needed executed, and eventually he ended up executing one 412 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 1: who used to be his ally, D'Anton um. And he 413 00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:28,160 Speaker 1: was a leader of the opposing party with different ideas 414 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,919 Speaker 1: for where the revolution should be taken. And that's what 415 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:34,040 Speaker 1: was so crazy about the splits and the factions of 416 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,080 Speaker 1: the National Convention is that they kept splitting in factions 417 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: that had split off, you know, split and enough themselves. 418 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 1: And one of the biggest things that was really upsetting 419 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: the people here in this assembly was that they feared 420 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: so much that outside countries would attack France that they 421 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:53,320 Speaker 1: went to war to keep their borders clear. And that 422 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:55,439 Speaker 1: meant that there weren't enough people in the city to 423 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,680 Speaker 1: quell any violent uprisings that occurred. So people were either 424 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:01,679 Speaker 1: for the French revolute snary wars, they were for you know, 425 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,199 Speaker 1: fighting in the cities. No one knew where their affiliations 426 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 1: really were. And danton and robes Pierre had been I 427 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:11,119 Speaker 1: to eye all along, but then ribes Pierre one day 428 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:13,359 Speaker 1: said nope, that's enough, Danton must die. And when he 429 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:17,320 Speaker 1: went to the guillotine, I think he famously said, um, 430 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,920 Speaker 1: I regret that I go before that rat Robespierre. So 431 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 1: he knew that Robespierre would would come soon. Yeah, And 432 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:27,120 Speaker 1: you can see the public opinion is starting to get 433 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:31,040 Speaker 1: um a little against Robespierre at the time, because Rospierre 434 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:33,880 Speaker 1: started looking a little crazy. Um. He actually a few 435 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: months after he executed Danton, he uh, he started this 436 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 1: festival of the Supreme Being and he had this paper 437 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:44,560 Speaker 1: mache mountain um that he paraded on through the streets 438 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 1: of Paris, and he looked like he was making himself 439 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,240 Speaker 1: a god. Really. He had this sort of cult that 440 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:52,280 Speaker 1: he started was sort of he was a Daist cult, 441 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:55,919 Speaker 1: and he just wanted um morality um. As much as 442 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:57,960 Speaker 1: he wanted to get rid of Christianity in France, he 443 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 1: thought that morality was pretty essential to to a civil society. Um. 444 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,760 Speaker 1: So he's tried to unite the people with the Supreme 445 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: Being festival, when really it backfired on him and people 446 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: are like, he's crazy, We've got to get him out 447 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,040 Speaker 1: of here. And he had done some other extremist things too. 448 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 1: He tried, after the death of Luie and toward the 449 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 1: shift away from the monarchy, to really really rid France 450 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: of any feelings at all that it may have had 451 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:27,399 Speaker 1: towards the monarchy, or towards Christianity, or even toward time. 452 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,359 Speaker 1: That's right, and what was I found fascinating. I didn't 453 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: know this until I started researching for this podcast, actually 454 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 1: was the idea of UM changing the concept of time 455 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,840 Speaker 1: through what they called the Revolutionary Calendar, and they basically 456 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:44,320 Speaker 1: reconstructed the days in the hours and basically what they 457 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:46,879 Speaker 1: did UM they still had twelve months in a year, 458 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:50,120 Speaker 1: but they ended up renaming everything and they ended up 459 00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:52,640 Speaker 1: taking out the seven day week and instead each month 460 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,360 Speaker 1: would have three decades decades. I don't know how it's pronounced, 461 00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,520 Speaker 1: but UM three periods of ten days. And so this, 462 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:02,800 Speaker 1: if you think about it, UM is no longer seven 463 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:04,760 Speaker 1: day week. It would be a nine day week with 464 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: one or sorry at ten day week with one day 465 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: of rest in UM nine days of work. And so 466 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,640 Speaker 1: this was sort of an attempt to get rid of 467 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 1: the the Christianity in the country, so they no longer 468 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,080 Speaker 1: have the sense of Sundays with the Catholic church or 469 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:24,040 Speaker 1: in these other sort of Catholic or a Christian sex. Yeah, 470 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,920 Speaker 1: so Sunday being the proverbial day of worship. Unrest was 471 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: based out completely with the hope that people wouldn't even 472 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,960 Speaker 1: recognize that this day was meant to be Sunday. That's right, 473 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,200 Speaker 1: And they actually they tried to constitute a new clock. However, 474 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,240 Speaker 1: I'm not really sure how this would work because they 475 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:41,000 Speaker 1: put extra seconds in the day from what we have UM. 476 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:42,840 Speaker 1: But at least what I read is that they each 477 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,080 Speaker 1: day had ten hours UM. Each hour had ten minutes 478 00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: or a hundred minutes, and each minute had a hundred seconds, 479 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: which you can see how this dramatically the revolution, the 480 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,119 Speaker 1: whole sense of is trying to dramatically change how people 481 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: thought about everything, and the people who had the masterminds 482 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,920 Speaker 1: behind these really radical change is are beginning to lose 483 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 1: sight of what's going on in the streets. And meanwhile 484 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: the people in the streets are harping on the bread again. 485 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,920 Speaker 1: You know, where's our bread? We're still going hungry. Nothing 486 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,120 Speaker 1: has changed. The only thing that really has is that 487 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 1: we don't hate literally, we just live in a constant 488 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:17,440 Speaker 1: state of fear that we're going to be called a 489 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,680 Speaker 1: counter revolutionary. That could be something like you know, bad 490 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,920 Speaker 1: nothing gropes Pierre, or it could be something like plotting 491 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: against the revolution, or even just calling someone madame or 492 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: monsieur instead of citoyan, which meant citizen. So really it 493 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:32,520 Speaker 1: was time for a revelation to come to an end. 494 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:35,080 Speaker 1: I hadn't accomplished what it set out to accomplish. And 495 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,959 Speaker 1: there was a quick and sustinct way to do this, 496 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:39,840 Speaker 1: and that was to kill Ropes Pierre and all of 497 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 1: his allies. And that didn't quite ended. They ended up 498 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,600 Speaker 1: setting up a directory after after that, right, and um, 499 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,400 Speaker 1: that didn't quite satisfy anybody's needs. Like there were two 500 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,560 Speaker 1: opposing views and this sort of tried to um straddle 501 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,400 Speaker 1: the middle, and it ended up satisfying no one. And 502 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:57,240 Speaker 1: so they called in one of the biggest war heroes 503 00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,639 Speaker 1: at the French Revolutionary wars, and that was good, only 504 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,520 Speaker 1: appall lyambent apart. So he came in and he was 505 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:06,119 Speaker 1: supposed to reunite friends, and he did restore religions. That 506 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,800 Speaker 1: was something that he did accomplish with people of friends, 507 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:11,120 Speaker 1: and he did restore you know, a semblance of order 508 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,200 Speaker 1: and and there was food and there were resources for them. 509 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,920 Speaker 1: But as we know, he went on to become a dictator, 510 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:18,959 Speaker 1: that's right, and you wouldn't call himself king. Obviously they 511 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:20,919 Speaker 1: didn't have good idea stores as a king, but he 512 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 1: did end up being what was called the first Console, 513 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:27,199 Speaker 1: and I think eventually the Emperor. So obviously France had 514 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:29,119 Speaker 1: a long way to go before it really reached the 515 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: ideals of the revolution, if it ever did. And that's 516 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 1: something that you can pursue more for yourself when you 517 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:37,679 Speaker 1: read How the French Revolution worked on how stuff works 518 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:42,160 Speaker 1: dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics. 519 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,359 Speaker 1: Doesn't how stuff works dot com. Let us know what 520 00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:48,560 Speaker 1: you think. Send an email to podcast at how stuff 521 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:55,560 Speaker 1: works dot com.