The French Revolution: Crash Course European History #21

In 1789, the French Monarchy's habit of supporting democratic popular revolutions in North America backfired. Today, we're talking about the French Revolution. Across the world, people were rising up to throw off monarchies, and Louis didn't see the writing on the wall until it was too late. Today we'll talk about how the French Revolution unfolded, and what (if anything) was really accomplished. You'll learn about stuff like the National Assembly, the Tennis Court Oath, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, the guillotine, Robespierre, and a bunch of other kind of unbelievable details.

Sources
Hunt, Lynn et al. Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2019.

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[megamangos]

History doesn't necessarily repeat itself, but it does rhyme from time to time.

[dylanchouinard]

A video about the French Revolution? Yeah, there’s a tax for that.

[LetsTakeWalk]

You could make a religion out of...
*NO, DON'T*

[Accoo]

Hi John.
Frenchie here. It's well known that the famous "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" of Jean Jacques Rousseau's Confession is often attributed to be about Marie Antoinette.
However most french do know that this was misattributed. There are no known records of Marie Antoinette saying those words.
Most likely they are about Madame Victoire. The French wiki article is well documented on this topic.
Regards,

[EmilieHeldal]

Haven’t historians pretty much confirmed that Marie Antoinette didn’t say let them eat brioche? It was first written down while she was a child, and it is more likely that it was Marie-Therese or someone else entirely

[blitzwaffe]

Clicked faster than a guillotine coming down on a noble

[lazlooegema]

French citizens: we don’t want anymore monarchs!




Napoleon: hold my croissant

[umjackd]

I know you don't usually focus much on the military side, but the concept of changing France into a nation of citizens is a huge factor in France's military success both before and during Napoleon's reign. Other countries would field royal, professional armies, but France mobilised its people into huge armies that could more easily weather defeats or casualties compared to its rivals. So everyone looked at the French armies and said "Oh wow, they can just recruit anyone? We have to do that too!" and thus, by necessity, the other European countries at the time also had to change, arguably even democratise, their military mindset.

[warfilgames]

um actually, napoleon was not a commoner. he come from an empovrished corsican noble family. he enjoyed expensive education and was a lieutenant when he joined the army.

[constancestrychasz]

i hope everything is okay, your energy seems different.

[sundhaug]

"Let them eat cake" was said long before Marie Antoinette, there's no proof she said it

[cruzcflores]

This video is lousy with historical inaccuracies and I'm glad the comments are pointing them out.

[Pratchettgaiman]

The “let them eat brioche” line almost certainly was not said by Marie Antoinette, if it was said by anyone at all, given that the line was first reported before Marie Antoinette was born

[adamguinee]

For all of those who are quick to point out that Marie Antoinette never actually said “Let them eat cake/brioche” Two things. 1. He mentioned that she never actually said that in his World History episode on the subject and 2. Even though she never said that, that quote does a good job summarizing how she saw the world.

[iSometimesWriteMusic]

I just wanted to congratulate Crash Course History for evolving in the right direction regarding tempo and speed. There was too much action for most people to truly learn anything in the first seasons of Crash Course history. From an educational perspective, this series on European history is way better.

[JessicaWarrener]

Loving this series! I used this channel as a student in school and university. Now I am a high school teacher recommending my students watch your videos! :)

[DarknessAlmighty]

10:57 One potentially important clarification. Napoleon wasn't a commoner, but by this point, most nobles had either renounced their titles of nobility or fled the country.

[anxiousandworrying]

This is honestly garbled, some basic facts are wrong Napoleon was absolutely not a commoner, some fairly important details are omitted (civil constitution of the clergy and the Levee en Masse being the standouts) and the chronology is just confused the royalist uprising in the Vendée wasn’t a reaction against the terror the two events happened basically simultaneously.

[joeblow]

Crash Course European videos are what I turn to when I'm feeling down and out

[Oxtocoatl]

When the revolution tried to "rationalize" everything according to the decimal system (ten months, ten-day weeks, metric measurements), they ended up hurting the poor even more. The Catholic calendar had one rest day for six workdays, Sunday, while the new calendar had one rest day for nine workdays. A reminder that people in charge of the revolutionary government were never the poorest of the poor, but rather disgruntled middle-class idealists.