The French Revolution - OverSimplified (Part 2)

- King Louie and his family were now in the Tuileries Palace in Paris,

where for the next couple of years,

he watched as the revolutionary government began to strip away his power

and fearing for his safety,

he had to stay on their good side.

Hey, look who it is.

It's my favorite revolutionaries.

Yep, I'm your number one fan.

What can I do for you?

Hey, King Louie.

So we've made a few decisions.

First, all of your friends in the nobility are gonna have to pay taxes

the same as everyone else.

Great idea.

I love it.

And as a side note,

the tax money can no longer pay for all your lavish parties.

Great, I hate those parties.

They're so awkward.

And also we're taking away your Porsche.

Ah, come on.

I mean, Yay.

The king continually found demand after demand being made of him to prove his

support for the revolution.

On one occasion, a mob would invade the palace

and demand he wear the revolutionary bonnet.

This is the face of a man who is definitely pretending he wants to

wear that bonnet.

Now around here, I wanna mention

that one thing King Louie had a problem with was people constantly raiding his

palace,

but one thing he didn't have a problem with was raiding noobs on this

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Now, where was I?

Oh yeah.

Seeing the situation rapidly turning against him,

the king decided it might be a good idea to leave France

and mount a campaign to retake his country from abroad.

Luckily for him, he was married to an Austrian.

So on the night of June 20th, 1791,

the king in his family disguised themselves

as servants and attempted to flee to the Austrian Netherlands.

The royal carriage made a stop in the town of Varennes

and the postmaster there was like,

"hey guys, what's up?

Where are you off to?"

We are but a collection of inconspicuous servants heading for the border for no

particular reason at all.

Say, you, the fat one.

You look kind of familiar.

Aren't you the king?

Nope.

Let me see your passport.

It says here, you're King Louis the 16th.

Nope, not me.

Take him away, boys.

The King was promptly returned to Paris, but now the jig was up.

His lack of support for the revolution was clear to all

and many considered him a straight up traitor who tried to abandon his people.

As a result, the new Constitution of 1791 completely reduced his powers to

that of a simple figurehead,

a constitutional monarch.

However radicals, such as those in the Jacobin Club,

were outraged that the king wasn't to be removed entirely.

So a month later,

these radicals staged a protest on the Champ de Mars calling for the king's

removal.

The government of Paris feared an insurrection was mounting

and they sent the military to disperse the crowd.

The confrontation escalated and resulted in the revolutionary National Guard firing on a crowd

of revolutionaries.

It was a massacre.

The incident exposed a deep division within the brotherhood of the revolution.

On one side, the moderates who wanted to keep the King as a figurehead,

on the other radicals who wanted to see the king deposed and heads roll.

In the wake of the massacre, these radicals received a wave of support.

And speaking of rolling heads,

one form of equality of the revolution introduced was a quality in execution.

This meant no more torturous drawing and quartering, no more inhumane hanging.

They wanted all criminals, regardless of economic status to receive the same penalty.

A quick and painless one.

Luckily, a man by the name of Dr.

Joseph Guillotine had an idea.

A heavy blade that falls like thunder.

The head flies off, blood spurts, and the man is no more.

The guillotine, otherwise known as the National Razor.

The guillotine made its debut in 1791 as the new form of execution.

The writings of Marat

and others continued to call for the execution of anyone suspected of working against

the revolution.

For him, this included some members of the clergy

and nobility who had previously benefited from the cruel system of inequality

that existed before the revolution.

In many parts of the countryside, local lords had found themselves become a target.

Sire, the peasants, they're revolting.

Oh, come on.

That's a bit harsh.

Sure, they smell a bit, but I wouldn't say they're revolting.

Oh, yes, I see what you mean.

Increasingly, these French aristocrats began fleeing France to find solitude in other parts of

Europe.

And once again, fear began to take hold.

The privileged classes of these foreign nations didn't like what they were seeing

because they feared revolutionary ideas may spread to their own lands.

The National Assembly, actually now the Legislative Assembly feared

that these nations may decide to attack.

Then why don't we attack them first?

No, you idiots.

We are definitely not ready for war yet.

Did somebody say something?

France declared war in Austria in April, 1792 and immediately got pummeled.

It also didn't help that Austria's ally, Prussia, joined in the fighting.

The Prussian Duke of Brunswick posted a letter warning the revolutionaries

that if anything happened to the King,

he would burn Paris to the ground.

The Duke's letter proved to be a massive success in inspiring the people of

Paris to do the exact opposite of what he intended.

They were enraged by the threat.

And on the 10th of August, 1792,

the tension in the city exploded and a mob stormed the king's palace.

Fighting broke out between the revolutionaries

and the king's Swiss guard with casualties in the 100s.

King Louis fled and took refuge in the chamber of the legislative assembly where

Robespierre and his radical Jacobins were gaining evermore power.

Given the developing situation, the chamber decided to hold a vote.

And in what some considered to be a second revolution,

it was decided to suspend the monarchy entirely.

King Louis the 16th was now just plain old Louis

and he was sent to a prison cell where an eye could be kept

on him.

A month later, the newly established national convention officially declared the French Republic

and society underwent a massive change.

Enlightened ideas of democracy and equality were being implemented.

But very quickly, these ideas seemed to become secondary to fear,

paranoia and a thirst for blood.

The new republic began working to violently remove any semblance of the old royalist

regime.

The church became a prime target.

Priests who refused to take a oath to the revolution were deported or arrested.

A new state-sponsored atheistic religion named the Cult of Reason was created

as a replacement for the Catholic Church.

Notre Dam, along with many other churches,

had the religious treasures destroyed and were converted to temples of reason.

Even the Christian calendar didn't survive,

as a brand new revolutionary calendar was soon introduced.

Hey honey, I'm home.

Yeah, whatever jerk.

Whoa, what's wrong with you?

You forgot.

Forgot what?

Everything.

This entire year, my birthday was on the third of Germinal.

Our anniversary was the 12th of Thermidor and you promised that in Frimaire,

we'd go on a romantic weekend trip to Venice.

No, I said would do that in December.

December hasn't been a thing for years.

The government of Paris now under the control of the radical San-Culottes began rounding

up suspected enemies of the revolution

and sending them to prison in the 1000s.

Naturally, a large number of those arrested were members of the clergy and aristocracy.

As Francis foreign enemies continued to close in, panic spread.

Georges Danton made impassioned calls for men to defend the republic

and tens of 1000s of troops left Paris for the front lines.

However, in their absence, Paris was left to its own devices.

As enemy troops arrived in Verdun,

the people of Paris feared

that their crowded prisons were becoming a breeding ground for counterrevolutionary conspiracy.

What would happen if the Prussians reached Paris and freed the aristocrats?

Marat believed he knew what would happen.

The aristocrats would enact their vengeance on the people.

Fearing those they had already imprisoned, mobs descended on Paris's prisons.

They broke in.

And during the brutal September massacres, aristocrats,

priests and others were tried and executed on the spot.

Even women and children weren't spared.

With over 1,600 victims, word of the massacre spread across Europe.

One British newspaper wondered, are these the rights of men?

Is this the liberty of human nature?

But there was still one man in particular

that Robespierre and his radicals really wanted to see executed.

Austria and Prussia pledged that after they defeated France,

they'd returned King Louis to the throne.

Well checkmate Austria and Prussia

because he can't return a man to the throne

if he's already dead.

Citizen Louis Capet was put on trial for treason.

Obviously he was found guilty, but his punishment was less certain.

Many moderates wanted to simply deport him.

But Robespierre insisted the revolution could only live if the king was dead.

A vote was held and by just one vote,

Louis was sentenced to the guillotine.

If you don't mind, I'd like to say a few words first.

Gentlemen, I am innocent of everything of which I am accused...

Wait, you're too loud.

They can't hear me.

Hang on, I haven't finished yet.

Wait, dude.

Uncool.

In her prison cell, Marie Antoinette heard the guns fire signaling her husband's death.

Before long, she would meet the same fate.

Back on the war front, France defied all expectations,

and actually managed to push the enemy back.

But then more countries joined the coalition against France

and it all went to pot again.

What do we do?

Conscript the masses.

The National Convention introduced a conscription law with each regional department having to meet

a certain quota of men for the army.

However, not everyone was happy with this new law.

You see, while Paris was definitely a hotbed for radical revolutionary fervor,

some of the regions outside of Paris weren't quite so keen on the revolution.

Some were largely still conservative,

still supported the church

and just didn't suffer from

that much inequality before the revolution.

So as the revolution turned increasingly violent and anti-Christian, many were outraged.

Now they were being conscripted to fight for the new republic they hated.

That was the last straw.

Counterrevolutionary uprisings erupted in a number of regions across France.

Some would last for years,

such as in the Northwest where a large scale uprising was led by The

Owls.

Why were they called The Owls?

Because their leader was named Jean Owl.

Why was he called John Owl?

Possibly because he could do a really good impression of an owl.

Really?

That's what we're going with?

Owls?

Just because this guy can do an impression of one?

Hit him with it, Jean.

Hoot, hoot.

Yeah, okay.

That's pretty good.

The Chouanary uprising lasted all the way until 1800.

In the summer of 1793,

the southern city of Toulon invited the British Navy over for some tea

and crumpets.

And then they asked if they'd possibly like to stay and occupy the city.

Being an important naval base,

this was a heavy blow to the republic who sent a relatively unknown young

captain by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte to help stage the siege of the

city.

Toulon was recaptured by France in the winter

and for his service Napoleon was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.

The most infamous counterrevolution, however, occurred in the Vendee region.

Throughout 1793, revolutionary forces clashed with the region's Catholic and royal army.

The republic defeated the counterrevolution through cruel pacification.

In particular, general Jean Baptist Carrier committed brutal atrocities.

In one instance, he had 1000s of civilians, priests,

women and children tied to ships, which were then sunk.

Carrier would later be found guilty of war crimes and executed.

Back in Paris, the government was still dominated by moderates.

With the war going badly, revolts in the provinces and the economy getting worse,

it seemed the government just wasn't doing a very good job.

Radicals' fear for the safety of the revolution intensified

and Marat even began calling for the moderates in the government to be executed.

In return, the moderates called for the arrest of Marat.

This led to a chain of events with the two sides in heated conflict.

Robespierre declared the Jacobins to be be an insurrection

and called on the people to arm themselves.

It all ended on the 31st of May,

1793 with the National Convention surrounded by radical Sans-culottes

and 29 moderate Girondin politicians arrested.

From this moment on, the moderate ceased to be a political force.

Robespierre and his radicals would be an almost total control of the government.

And this brings us to the story of a woman named Charlotte Corday.

Charlotte lived in the northwest city of Caen

and like many in the area was horrified at the rapid radicalization

and increasing violence of the revolution.

And the man she blamed more than anyone was Jean Paul Marat.

She wanted to bring peace back to France.

And so she did something drastic.

She traveled to Paris

and told Marat she had a list of enemies for him to publish in

his paper.

Marat eagerly invited her in for a meeting.

So where's that list of enemies you promised me?

Here it is.

Wait a minute.

This isn't the list of enemies.

It just says "yippee ki yay mother..."

(Marat screams) And just like that, Marat was no more.

Charlotte was quickly arrested and sent to the guillotine.

Her dream of restoring peace, however, died with her.

Marat became a martyr.

In temples of reason, symbols of the dead Marat became the new crucifix.

In death, he became an even more powerful inspiration for the extreme levels of

violence that were about to rip throughout the new republic.

And that's right.

Here comes the reign of terror.

If you thought this revolution already sounds pretty violent,

well you ain't seen nothing yet, son.

The radicals were now in control

and they believed not only was France surrounded by foreign enemies,

but that within the masses, there were also plenty of internal ones too.

Individuals not loyal to the revolution, conspiring to bring about it's downfall.

Robespierre and the rest of the radical faction were having none of it.

A new committee of public safety was established with 12 members.

Its purpose was to protect the new French republic from its enemies

and it basically became a 12 man dictatorship with Robespierre

as its leading voice.

The revolutionary tribunal was also reinstated.

A special court created to streamline the process of trying suspected enemies

and handing out their death sentences.

With these two new institutions, Robespierre wanted to scare Francis enemies straight.

In September, 1793, it was announced

that terror would be the order of the day.

In other words, fear had become official government policy.

And from then onwards,

we entered to the period known as the reign of terror.

Spies and secret police were everywhere and watched the people closely.

France's public had to be extremely careful what they said and how they behaved.

Obviously criticizing this new system

or the government would quickly have you sent off to the guillotine.

But that's not all,

even the most minor offense could have you tried before the Revolutionary Tribunal.

Hello, citizen Martin.

Hello, Monsieur DuBois.

Monsieur?

Did I just hear you say monsieur?

That's the old style of address, my friend.

To the guillotine.

You know what?

I didn't like him

but I do feel kind of bad for the King

and his family.

Ooh, expressing sympathy for the royal family, are we?

To the guillotine. 12 sous for a loaf of bread?

That's way overpriced.

To the guillotine.

Man, this bread line is taking forever.

To the guillotine.

And you, you look like you're thinking anti-revolutionary thoughts.

To the guillotine.

Max, we're sending way too many people to the guillotine.

To the guillotine.

Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop.

It was insane.

All across France, about 40,000 people were killed for suspected crimes against liberty.

Let's say your neighbor won't stop mowing the lawn at seven in the morning.

Well, then all you gotta do is tell the government they've been talking smack

about the revolution and there's a good chance they'll end up in front of

the Revolutionary Tribunal.

Maybe they'll even be executed,

taking a metaphorical load off your shoulders and a literal one off theirs.

The most prominent victim of the reign of terror was a certain Marie Antoinette

who has finally tried

and found guilty of treason in 1793.

She expected she'd be brought to the guillotine in a royal carriage fit for

a queen.

All the republic could provide for her, however, was a wooden (indistinct).

At 37 years old,

the most hated woman in French history met her end on the 16th of

October,

1793.

Robespierre had saved the revolution through terror.

Internal dissent was being suppressed.

The food situation was no longer quite as bad.

Even the French military had got its act together again

and pummeled the allies at the Battle of Fleurus.

For Danton and his followers,

the time was right to try to normalize the French Republic.

Hey, Robes P, so we were thinking that since things are finally going better,

maybe we should reign in the terror.

And while we're on it,

we could possibly start taking it easier on the church

and also try to end this costly war.

Hmm.

Oh crap.

As time went on, Robespierre seemed to go, for lack of a better term,

a bit mental.

He was hellbent on creating what he called a republic of virtue.

And for him this meant amping up the bloodshed even more.

Throughout the spring and summer of 1794,

executions reached an unprecedented level during a period known as the great terror.

Even those closest to him found their way to the guillotine

if they dare to pose his ideas

and actions.

And he began alienating himself from the rest of the convention.

He created a new deistic religion called the Cult of the supreme being along

with the new annual festival of the supreme being.

Man, I think Robespierre is really starting to lose it.

He thinks he's a God or something.

Nonsense.

Sure, he's gone a little extreme, but he doesn't think he's a God.

My children, bathe your immortal souls in the virtue of my republic.

Okay, yeah.

He's completely lost it.

Robespierre's ultimate mistake, however,

came on July 26th

when he made a speech to the National Convention in

which he said this,

"I have in my hand a brand new list of enemies to be sent

to the guillotine.

And many of you are on this list

but I'm not gonna tell you who yet.

What do you think of that?"

I think we should send Robespierre to the guillotine first.

All in favor?

Oh, no.

Two days later, Robespierre became the final victim of the monstrous terror

and paranoia he had created.

Many historical accounts of the revolution end here with the death of Robespierre

and his terror.

But the revolution officially continued for another five years until 1799.

So what happened between now and then?

Well, after the fall of Robespierre,

a more moderate political group called the Thermidorians took control of the convention.

They wanted to restore stability to the government.

Now Robespierre's allies and other radicals who had fueled the terror themselves became the

target of political suppression.

Bourgeois street fighters took on the radical San-Culottes in the streets during a period

named the white terror.

In 1795, the Thermidorians drafted a new constitution

and created a government called The Directory with the purpose of preventing power from

being able to fall into the hands of a single individual again.

As this new government was being established,

royalists who wanted to bring the monarchy back to France saw this moment

as an opportunity to strike.

They staged an insurrection in Paris

and battled with the National Guard in the streets.

Luckily, one Napoleon Bonaparte happened to be in Paris at the time,

and he took control of the situation firing on the crowd

and putting down the insurrection.

From this moment on,

the people of Paris would never again be able to stage a popular uprising

and lost their control over the revolution.

For his actions, Napoleon became a general

and was sent to take control of the French armies in Italy.

The new directory remained a fairly ineffective government for the remainder of the revolution.

It was plagued with corruption and struggled to keep the economy afloat.

And as a result wasn't very popular.

For the people of France,

with the strict social customs of both royalist France and the terror gone,

they didn't really know what to do with themselves.

Men no longer removed their hats when talking to women,

different classes began intermingling

and a publication began circulating

that looked a lot like a modern dating app.

It was social anarchy.

Outside of France, the war continued.

In 1795, France took the Netherlands where they set up a puppet state.

Then they negotiated both Prussia and Spain out of the war.

The British attempted to land French royalists in the West to reinforce rebellion.

But that plan failed.

In 1796, the French planned a three-pronged attack with the aim of marching on

Vienna and knocking Austria out of the war.

The two northern armies were defeated and forced to retreat.

However, Napoleon in the South with groundbreaking military strategy,

won battle after battle after battle.

He pushed the Austrians out of Italy and began closing in on Vienna.

The Austrians freaked out and Napoleon oversaw the signing of a peace treaty.

He had almost single-handedly knocked Austria out of the war.

And by the way, he was only 28.

So maybe it's about time you moved outta your mom's basement.

Napoleon became a famed hero among the French people

but his aspirations were still higher.

He briefly went off to Egypt and discovered a bunch of gnarly Egyptian stuff.

But then the British destroyed his fleet and trapped his forces.

Say, Napoleon, sir, you're not gonna leave us here stuck in Egypt

and return to France,

are you?

Nonsense, my boy.

I would never dream of abandoning my loyal soldiers.

Wow, what's that over there?

On his return to Paris,

Napoleon found himself to be extremely popular and the government extremely unpopular.

And he started getting some power-hungry ideas.

Conveniently, a politician named Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes approached Napoleon and said, "hey man,

since you're so popular, do you wanna help me stage a coup?"

Great idea.

Let's stage a coup and then I'll coup you.

What?

Napoleon, with the help of his politician brother entered the government chamber,

possibly got punched in the face

and finally his troops intimidated the council to dissolve the government

and create a new constitution

that basically made Napoleon a dictator.

So there you have it.

The French Revolution, born with a great promise of liberty and equality.

The common people dared challenge an oppressive system

that had existed for centuries

but before they knew it,

they found liberty sidelined by terror.

Equality that possibly didn't quite hit the mark

and an absolute monarchy replaced by an absolute dictator.

Napoleon began stabilizing French society.

He restored the Catholic church

and got rid of

that crazy calendar among other things.

But he remained ever ambitious.

He was Francis's first consul,

but he slept soundly at night dreaming of being something even bigger.

Napoleon's expansionist aspirations combined with the ongoing conflict in Europe would eventually lead the

continent into a huge conflict.

Known today as... (dramatic music) (upbeat music)