From Liberty to Empire: The French Revolution’s Collapse from Radical Idealism to Authoritarian Rule

From Liberty to Empire: The French Revolution’s Collapse from Radical Idealism to Authoritarian Rule

October 22, 2025

To study the French Revolution, then, is to confront the fragility of all revolutions. Every movement for...

Ten Years of Terror: The French Revolution and Violent Paranoia

October 21, 2025

The Revolution quickly devolved into violent paranoia, and 20-40,000 people were killed in the Reign of Terror....

The Coup of 9 Thermidor and the Fall of Maximilien Robespierre in 1794

September 15, 2025

21 leading Robespierrists were guillotined without trial in Paris. Introduction The fall of Maximilien Robespierre, or the...

The Language of Purge: Rhetoric, Fear, and the Machinery of Violence in the French Revolution

November 9, 2025

By equating political opposition with existential threat, leaders constructed a framework in which violence became inevitable. The...

Louis XVI, the Girondins, and the Road to Revolutionary War in France

September 4, 2025

The Girondins, gifted orators, were soon to be known as Brissotins, after their leader Jacques-Pierre Brissot. Introduction...

Streets Red with Blood: The French Revolution and the ‘Reign of Terror’

August 15, 2025

They were paranoid to root out counter-revolutionary spies and conspirators, turning citizens against each other. Introduction The Reign...

‘The Widow Capet’: The Trial and Execution of Marie Antoinette

November 11, 2024

Marie Antoinette was immensely unpopular in France. Introduction The trial and execution of Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), formerly the queen...

The French Federalist Revolts against Power Concentration in 1793

July 25, 2024

The federalist revolts were a series of rebellions that erupted in several parts of France in the summer of...

The French Revolution and the Cult of the Supreme Being

October 1, 2025

Robespierre intended to shepherd the French Republic toward a state of absolute virtue, or moral excellence. Introduction...

Camille Desmoulins: A Journalist Ended by His Own Words in the French Revolution

May 6, 2025

Due to a stutter and fear of public speaking, he decided to pursue a career in political...

Jacques-Pierre Brissot: Journalist and Abolitionist in the French Revolution

November 17, 2024

He was executed alongside 20 of his colleagues during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. Introduction Jacques-Pierre...

Gracchus Babeuf and the Conspiracy of Equals during the French Revolution

January 27, 2025

Babeuf’s conspiracy is famous for its effect on later political thinkers and later revolutions. Introduction On 10...

‘La Nation’: Caesarism in the French Revolution and the Rise of Napoleon

March 31, 2024

The question was that of the definition of the “nation”, to which the government was accountable. Introduction...

Passive No More: Four Women of the French Revolution

June 19, 2024

Prior to the Revolution, women were deemed to be ‘passive’ citizens. That changed. Introduction The French Revolution (1789-1799) sought...

The French Revolution and the Women’s March on Versailles in 1789

September 8, 2024

The march stripped the king of much of his remaining independence and authority. Introduction The Women’s March on...

Robespierre ‘s Ironic Opposition to the Death Penalty before the French Revolution

February 6, 2023

How could such an allegedly moralistic man could be the cause of so much death? Introduction “I...

The Mentelles: The Elite Parisian Family Who Educated Antebellum Kentucky

July 9, 2024

The Mentelles brought French enlightenment values to education in the New World. Sometimes in American history, immigrants...

Robespierre’s 9 Thermidor: The Difference a Day Makes

December 30, 2022

What makes 9 Thermidor a pivotal day in history, and not just for the French? The history...

Storming of the Tuileries Palace: The ‘Insurrection of 10 August’

August 7, 2024

The Storming of the Tuileries is significant for putting more power into the hands of the working-class...

The Three Estates of Pre-Revolutionary France

November 3, 2022

By 1789, the eve of revolution, the three estates of the realm still constituted the fabric of...

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in the Early French Revolution

July 16, 2025

The Declaration, first adopted in August 1789, served as an affirmation of the core values of the...

Crown in Crisis: The French Assembly of Notables of 1787

June 14, 2022

Charles Alexandre de Calonne presented a five-point plan to King Louis XVI for financial reform. Introduction The...

The ‘August Decrees’: Abolishing Slavery and Upper Class Tax Exemption in 1789 France

January 29, 2025

The decrees as a whole had a major impact on the destruction of France’s oppressive Ancien Régime. Introduction...

Revolt of the Parlements in France, 1787-1788

June 9, 2022

The Revolt of the Parlements was a major clash between the king and estates of France in...

The ‘Great Fear’: Setting the Stage for the French Revolution

June 27, 2024

The seeds of distrust planted by the Great Fear lasted far longer than the event itself. Introduction...

The Organizational Chaos of the French Revolution

June 9, 2025

Some citizens were more equal than others. Introduction Throughout the 18th century, France faced a mounting economic...

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Subject to Citizen, Kingdom to Nation: Changing Notions of Identity in the Age of the French Revolution

June 11, 2022

What did it mean to become a citizen of the new nation? Originally published by Newberry Digital...

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“Courtesans of the King”: Diplomats and the French Revolution

June 4, 2022

French revolutionaries aimed to jettison the old order and everything associated with it. During the Revolution, the...

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Memories of Fear in the Early French Revolution

September 1, 2022

“Be afraid. Be very afraid.” “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” These words could have been reasonably spoken...

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Maximilien Robespierre, a Violent Flash in the Populist Pan

July 10, 2024

His name is associated with the Reign of Terror which claimed thousands of lives of “enemies of...