French Revolution

Does the Man at the Top Get the Blame for Bankruptcy? French Nobles Found Out the Hard Way

by Christine Adams

French nobility expected a bankruptcy crisis abetted by their intransigence to force Louis XVI to accept a constitutional monarchy. They got revolution instead. Does the House Freedom Caucus understand this lesson? 

The French Fascination with the Cadavers of the Bastille

by Nicole Bauer

The prison held a symbolic place in the minds of antiroyalists that exceeded its actual significance; the themes of gothic horror were reflected in political tracts that denounced the horrors of imprisonment there. 

Thoroughly Modern Maxie: Robespierre and His Legacy for Democracy Today

by Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall

"If Robespierre was not by nature a murderous despot, who was he and what does he have to teach us – especially at a time, like that of the French Revolution, when progressives and liberals are divided about how to prioritize the rights of minoritized groups?"

The End of the Terror

by David A. Bell

Colin Jones's book examines the events of one day, but poses big questions about popular will and the legitimacy of the state. 

Lafayette as "The Nation’s Guest" (1824-1825)

by Mike Duncan

When Lafayette returned to America in 1824, he found the new nation already torn between his beloved ideal of liberty and the entrenched institution of slavery. HNN presents an excerpt from Mike Duncan's new book "Hero of Two Worlds." 

The Difference a Day Makes: Robespierre's 9 Thermidor

by Colin Jones

The eventful 9 Thermidor (July 27, 1794) is seen as a pivotal day for French Revolution. Colin Jones digs deep into the archival documentation of the day and argues that the day's significance is real but misunderstood. 

The French Revolution Offers a Critical Lesson as the U.S. Returns to Normal

by Christine Adams

The aftermath of the French Reign of Terror shows that prematurely embracing a "new normal" after traumatic political violence leads to unsustainable peace, especially when that normalcy amounts to the upper classes reclaiming privilege and pleasure. 

January 6, 2021: A Day of Populist Transgression

by Robert A. Schneider

The Capitol riot included a small core of actors bent on destruction, with many more along for the ride reveling in a moment of transgression. In this way, it was a microcosm of the Trumpian movement that, now unleashed, will be difficult to contain.

4 Cautionary Tales from the French Revolution

by Christine Adams

A historian of revolutionary France argues that the period presents cautions about the prevalence of disinformation, the potential of rhetoric to incite, the folly of blaming singular figures for broad trends and movements, and the cynicism that flows from efforts to undermine the legitimacy of democratic institutions. 

Conspiracy Theories Make Sense of a Topsy-Turvy World — But Undermine Democracy

by Zachary R. Goldsmith

While the “paranoid style” in the various conspiracy theories of QAnon are nothing new, they certainly bode ill for democracy.

Liberté, Equality, #ICantBreathe! Teaching the Age of Revolutions Using the NBA’s 2020 Summer Restart

by Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall

The slogans NBA players are wearing on their jerseys can help lead students to understand the objectives of 18th century revolution and the incompleteness of attempts to secure the rights and dignity of all humanity.

What the French Revolution teaches us about the dangers of gerrymandering

by Rebecca L. Spang

Our institutions must remain representative and responsive.

How Historians Can Help Us Better Understand the Revolutions Taking Place Around the World

by Jack Censer

The key is to understand revolution as a global phenomenon.

How the French Revolution Gave Birth to the Third World

by Pooja Bhatia

The term is still bandied about, but what does it mean?

University of Kansas historian Jonathan Clark says Thomas Paine didn't write the account of the French Revolution included in the Rights of Man

by Jonathan C. Clark

Who did?  The Marquis de Lafayette, with whom Paine boarded for a time. 

3 Lessons from the French Revolution European Policymakers Should Keep in Mind

by Rebecca L. Spang

The moment has come to diversify our analogy portfolio to include the French Revolution if we are to understand the Euro crisis.

This is how kids are learning the history of the French Revolution now (video)

by Kabir Chibber

Let Them Play Assassin's Creed? With sympathetic noblemen and bloodthirsty common folk, the French Revolution-set Unity is re-igniting an historic debate over the period's heroes and villains.

This Ghost Story Puts the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror in a New Light

by Ronen Steinberg

The Reign of Terror (1793-4) was an event of mass violence in the middle of the French Revolution. Tens of thousands of people were executed and hundreds of thousands were imprisoned.

This company claims its video games about the French Revolution are accurate

Trois-Rivieres history professor Laurent Turcot sees the potential for video games to introduce students and others to how people lived in the past.

Understanding Modern Violence Through the Lens of the Reign of Terror

by Jack Censer

One of the most stimulating books I have read in some time is Sophie Wahnich’s In Defense of the Terror: Liberty or Death in the French Revolution (published in 2003, but in English 2012). But it’s not the writing (which is murky) or its purpose (with which I generally disagree) but its viewpoint on Terrorism that can be instructive.In fact, this little book is an apologetic for the Terrorists in the French Revolution. And its value is that in associating herself so clearly with her subject, she does see them much as they saw themselves. In short, Wahnich argues that the Terrorists were motivated by the “dread” that they felt after the assassination of Marat. They then had acted to protect the purity and integrity of the “sacred” revolution that they had made to affirm the political equality of all. More originally, Wahnich also claims that the mechanism of the Terror led to more incarcerations than executions and that its organizational existence at least put limits on popular “enthusiasm.” In sum, the Terrorists were justified and their leadership contained excesses.