World History 173: The Age of Revolution
Artifacts
Marie-Antoinette in Court Dress by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Lebrun, 1779-1788.
For more on this image, click here
The National Assembly taking the Tennis Court Oath by Jacques-Louis David, 1791, via Musée National du Château, Versailles
For more on this image and Jacques-Louis David, click here
For more on the Tennis Court Oath, click here
Jacques-Louis David, Death of Marat (1793). Collection of Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.
For more on Jean-Paul Marat, his assassin Charlotte Corday, and David's painting click here
Execution of King Louis XVI, coloured engraving published by Paul-André Basset after an image by Georg Heinrich Sieveking, ca. 1793.
For more on prints depicting the execution of Louis XVI (and there are many), click here
Deeper Dives
Deeper Dives
The French Revolution: tearing Up History (58:00)
Tells the story of the French Revolution "through the destruction of art, buildings and symbols."
- Vive la révolution!
Must radical political change generate uncontainable violence? The French Revolution is both a cautionary and inspiring tale
French Revolution
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Background/Overviews
- The French Revolution
Visual story. The format is not for everyone but this includes great images.
Setting the Stage
- Causes of the French Revolution
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- Causes of the French Revolution (videos)
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A selection of brief videos (5 minutes each) with transcripts and outlines. Very well designed.
Key People, Ideas & Events
- Louis XVI
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- Phases of the Revolution
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- Phases of the Revolution
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A selection of brief videos (5 minutes each) with transcripts and outlines. Very well designed. - Abbé Sieyès: What Is the Third Estate? (1789)
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- Declaration of the Rights of Man - 1789
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- Girondins
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- Jacobeans
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- Reign of Terror
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- The death of Louis XVI The Observer, 27 January 1793
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On 21 January 1793, King Louis XVI of France was guillotined in Paris. See how the Observer reported events. - A Patriotic Murder
Charlotte Corday killed Jean-Paul Marat on 13 July 1793. - Guillotined in the French Revolution: the bloody story through 7 severed headsWriting for BBC History Revealed, Emma Slattery Williams cuts a path through one of the bloodiest periods of French history, tracking the revolution through the deaths of seven key figures…
Legacy & Impact
- How progressive was the French Revolution?Here are 10 ways in which the revolution advanced the causes of liberty, fraternity and equality
- Napoleon’s chance: why the French Revolution was Bonaparte's big breakThe ending of privilege in France gave the young Napoleon the opportunity to shine in his military career, says Marisa Linton, but what really allowed him to rise to the top was his astute exploitation of the political instability and years of war that followed the French Revolution
Understanding 'laïcité', France's special brand of state secularism (12:24)
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