The French Revolution | Part 4 | Showdown in Versailles

In the summer of 1788, a monstrous storm swept across France, wiping out the crucial wheat harvest. With the nation already in the throes of political and financial calamity, this meteorological disaster - followed by an apocalyptic drought, and latterly the cruellest winter France had ever known - exacerbated the growing sense of catastrophe. With bankruptcy declared that August and unemployment record high, all eyes turned to Jacques Necker, the newly appointed finance minister. However, the amalgamation of political and financial crisis, the cultural atmosphere of virtue and passion, and the rising social unrest had already contrived to destabilise the situation permanently. By March there was food rioting, law and order had broken down in the countryside, and in April the bloodiest day of the revolution so far erupted in Paris. At last, in June, the Estates General met for the first time since 1614-15, and the mounting pressure to replace the traditional Three Estates with a single assembly resolved itself into the formation of the National Assembly; a body determined to take the fate of the nation into its own hands. With the elements gathering against them, what will Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette do?

Join Dominic and Tom as they recount the dramatic series of calamities that unravelled the nation and spiralled into the infamous Tennis Court Oath of June 1789, and the Revolution itself. From natural disasters and bread riots, and financial ruin, to political instability, Dr Guillotin, and disreputable republican firebrands….
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*The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*

If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

*The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*

Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

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Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor

[TheChuck]

First. Keep this series going until the end of Napoleon

[BlissfulBansuri]

Bonjour,

I am a Frenchman learning about his own history.
What a brilliant set of lectures. I must admit that our British cousins have a tremendous ability for story telling. Thank you so much.

[isaacatkinson]

Really appreciate you guys releasing these closer together. 1 day I will be a patron.

[tommonk]

Frankly, as an American, I really enjoy the British ability to find humor in even the worst of humanity…. History should not always be serious if we want to make it interesting.

[skdjirrrdjdm]

Yall are my new favorite channel, I'm absolutely hooked! Love your humor, love the way you both present the information with colorful details and anecdotes, and the broader context at play. Great duo!

[solastorm]

i love your ability to describe peoples mindsets at the time which is very important to understand why or how certain things happened. i heard all this in school but the teachers never bothered to explain why things happened or how people felt/thought at the time...

[cassiopeiathew]

I’m so happy I discovered this podcast, I love seeing people with similar interests doing things coming together and creating things like this

[billbissenas]

Informative and entertaining. What a combination!

[jimb]

Thank you chaps.
Fortunately nothing like this could ever happen again, there's no chance of misinformation having the same effect these days.
Would it be fair to say that Sieyes hit upon the very model of a modern Estates General?

[martiwilliams]

Love this! Captivating, informative, thought-provoking AND entertaining. Much appreciated, guys. Thank you.

[nickstone]

Superb, superb, and the history too !! And relevant today.

[sandeshvantveen]

Ok but Podpast would actully have been an amazing name!

[kyle-]

"Just pay your taxes" - the most British thing he could have said

[Badgersj]

Fascinating - but you need to do something about the headline! "Eurpts"?

[anonUK]

Looking forward to Episode 5: "la merde frappe le ventilateur".

[dsjwhite]

This is just wonderful. You describe the situation as if you were there but with a real sense of schoolboy glee

[wilsontheconqueror]

Americans (most) are unfortunately unaware of the massive price France paid in their choice to assist the rebellion in the British colonies. Granted France had already accumulated massive debts going back to Louis XlV Sun Kings enormous construction of Versailles. And his wars on the continent of Spanish succession. But the aid to American rebels really pushed Frances economic troubles into overload. It could have recovered because most monarchies dealt with these money issues all the time. But the climate is disastrous to a largely agricultural country like France when it doesn't cooperate. It was just a terrible series of dominoes. Louis XVl should have made arrangements for the extraction of his family to Austria well before. He just seemed to be too late in all his decisions.

[danjerv]

Banger as always. Still waiting for the last 2 episodes on the Sioux!!

[laetitiavisagie-ggkk]

One more episode to conclude would have been nice.... this was a very interesting series

[Player_Review]

Simon Schama's episode on Davide and his painting of Marat in the _Power of Art_ series (2007) was a great work of art history, as were his other episodes in the series, albeit one of them is on Rothko. Thanks to _The Rest is History_ letting me know Schama's broader works has inspired me to 'pick up' a copy of his 'book' on the French Revolution, since they've now cited it several times throughout this particular series.

The body of work from _The Rest is History_ sets a high bar for its own format, entertaining while maintaining academic integrity, masterfully delivering top-shelf slices of history in conversational format. While 'history' is the core of the podcast and does so in high distinction, it is this anon's view the paramount distinguishing appeal lies in their 'absolute-monarchical' command of the English language (spoken tongue/linguistic arts).