French Revolution
Stories About the French Revolution by Those Who Lived It
Stories about the French Revolution frequently begin with the fall of the Bastille because it was a pivotal moment that happened on 14 July 1789 when revolutionaries stormed the prison that had once been a fortress. For many of them, the Bastille was a symbol of Louis XVI’s tyranny and monarchical despotism and therefore important…
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Pierre Charles L’Enfant Revolutionary Architect and Washington, D.C. Planner
Pierre Charles L’Enfant was a military engineer born in Paris on 2 August 1754 to Pierre L’Enfant, a painter who served King Louis XV, and Marie L’Enfant, the daughter of a minor court official. After his older brother died at the age of six, L’Enfant was sent to study art at the Royal Academy in…
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James Lackington Revolutionized the Book Trade
James Lackington revolutionized the book trade because of his innovative book-selling practices. He was born in on 31 August 1746 in Wellington, Somerset to a shoemaker and was one of eleven children. His father had some money and young Lackington was lucky enough to attend a “Dame School,” but it lasted only a short time…
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Severed Heads During the French Revolution
Suppose you see a severed head dripping blood on a pike. What do you feel? Revulsion? Terror? Severed heads were often a common image associated with the French Revolution. Why were they so prevalent and how prevalent were they?
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An Escape From the Guillotine During the French Revolution
During the French Revolution, between 5 September 1793 and 28 July 1794 (a period known as The Terror), it has been estimated that at least 40,000 people were executed, including Maximilien Robespierre, a French lawyer and politician, and one of the best known and most influential figures associated with the French Revolution. Official records however…
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Edmund Burke’s “Reflections on the Revolution in France”
Edmund Burke wrote the pamphlet, Reflections on the Revolution in France, And on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event, In a Letter Intended to Have Been Sent to a Gentleman in Paris. He did so in 1790 and besides being remembered for his objections to the French Revolution he is…
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Grace Dalrymple Elliott and the French Revolution
Grace Dalrymple Elliott was considered a great beauty in her times, but a bad omen accompanied her birth in 1754. She had been educated in France at a convent, returned to Scotland, and met and married Sir John Elliot,* a respected physician. Yet, despite being married, she fell in love with a Lord Valentia, whom…
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Reine Audu: Heroine of the French Revolution
Reine Audu, a heroine of the French Revolution, was born Louise-Renée Leduc. She became a French fruit seller in Paris and first gained recognition in October of 1789, when she and others led the Women’s March on Versailles resulting in Royal Family being taken to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. At the time, the marching…
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Dogs During the French Revolution: What Became of Them
All sorts of events were associated with dogs during the French Revolution and many stories exist because the revolution was a chaotic time not just for people but also for the dogs. Sometimes dogs suffered danger and sometimes they were the danger. Dogs also helped to maintain prisoner morale, functioned as messengers, and sometimes served…
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Festival of Reason during the French Revolution
The Cult of Reason (Culte de la Raison) was the first state sponsored atheistic religion. Bringing this civic religion to fruition was the Festival of Reason (Fête de la Raison), a celebration that would launch a dechristianization movement. The Cult of Reason had been created to replace Roman Catholicism because there was great unhappiness over…
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