1 00:00:02,623 --> 00:00:07,438 Royal history is at the heart of the stories we tell about the past. 2 00:00:07,463 --> 00:00:10,438 We often think it's definitive. 3 00:00:10,463 --> 00:00:13,037 Kings and queens, dates and facts. 4 00:00:13,062 --> 00:00:15,878 All unchanging and fixed. 5 00:00:17,823 --> 00:00:19,438 But it's not like that at all. 6 00:00:19,463 --> 00:00:22,128 History is a cacophony of voices, 7 00:00:22,153 --> 00:00:25,928 all of them competing to tell their own version of the story. 8 00:00:25,953 --> 00:00:28,287 And, when revolution's in the air... 9 00:00:30,153 --> 00:00:33,077 ...that competition gets really intense. 10 00:00:33,102 --> 00:00:35,638 In this series, I'm lifting the lid 11 00:00:35,663 --> 00:00:39,488 on three of royal history's most extraordinary periods. 12 00:00:39,513 --> 00:00:43,768 We think of the Georgian era as genteel and ordered, 13 00:00:43,793 --> 00:00:47,768 but have fibs distracted us from a country in turmoil? 14 00:00:47,793 --> 00:00:49,957 BOOM! 15 00:00:49,982 --> 00:00:52,848 Was the Russian Revolution really a victory 16 00:00:52,873 --> 00:00:54,878 for Lenin and the Bolsheviks? 17 00:00:57,232 --> 00:01:00,077 And in this programme, the French Revolution. 18 00:01:00,102 --> 00:01:03,957 When the people rebelled against Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI 19 00:01:03,982 --> 00:01:08,568 and triumphantly created a new republic. 20 00:01:08,593 --> 00:01:10,678 Vive la revolution! 21 00:01:10,703 --> 00:01:13,287 It's a stirring story, 22 00:01:13,312 --> 00:01:18,048 but it's full of distortions, exaggerations 23 00:01:18,073 --> 00:01:20,878 and some whopping great fibs. 24 00:01:22,663 --> 00:01:26,798 Was Marie Antoinette really the cause of all the trouble? 25 00:01:26,823 --> 00:01:28,957 Let them eat cake! 26 00:01:28,982 --> 00:01:33,568 Who was the driving force behind this people's revolt? 27 00:01:33,593 --> 00:01:36,388 It's surprising that the revolution was started 28 00:01:36,413 --> 00:01:38,287 by people who were bourgeois. 29 00:01:38,312 --> 00:01:40,928 And was the revolutionary Robespierre 30 00:01:40,953 --> 00:01:43,358 really a bloodthirsty villain? 31 00:01:43,383 --> 00:01:45,928 He tried to get the death penalty abofished 32 00:01:45,953 --> 00:01:47,878 because he said it was barbaric. 33 00:01:49,102 --> 00:01:52,128 The French Revolution was the moment the people rose up 34 00:01:52,153 --> 00:01:54,568 and took down the monarchy. 35 00:01:54,593 --> 00:01:59,798 It was the start of a new age, of liberty, equality and fraternity. 36 00:01:59,823 --> 00:02:02,638 Or at least, so the story goes. 37 00:02:19,312 --> 00:02:23,207 In the late 18th century, France was a feudal state. 38 00:02:23,232 --> 00:02:27,638 And King Louis XVI held absolute power. 39 00:02:27,663 --> 00:02:29,957 But new ideas about democracy 40 00:02:29,982 --> 00:02:33,157 were leading to revolts across the world. 41 00:02:33,182 --> 00:02:35,998 And the French Revolution would be the biggest of them all. 42 00:02:37,593 --> 00:02:43,238 Its bloody climax began on 21st January, 1793, 43 00:02:43,263 --> 00:02:45,848 when the king faced the guillotine. 44 00:02:47,463 --> 00:02:49,957 The king's hands were tied behind his back. 45 00:02:49,982 --> 00:02:54,998 His long hair was cut to expose his neck. 46 00:02:55,023 --> 00:02:58,207 He was placed face down on a board, like this, 47 00:02:58,232 --> 00:03:02,287 and then, the rope was released 48 00:03:02,312 --> 00:03:06,358 and that blade came whizzing down. 49 00:03:12,903 --> 00:03:16,037 Afterwards, the guards took his head out of that basket 50 00:03:16,062 --> 00:03:19,358 and waved it in the air so the crowd could see. 51 00:03:19,383 --> 00:03:22,568 And they shouted out, "Vive la Republique!" 52 00:03:25,263 --> 00:03:27,488 There were thousands of witnesses, 53 00:03:27,513 --> 00:03:31,878 but people can't even agree on the king's final moments. 54 00:03:31,903 --> 00:03:35,438 A Republican newspaper reported that he cried out in fear, 55 00:03:35,463 --> 00:03:37,878 "l am lost!" 56 00:03:37,903 --> 00:03:42,157 But his priest recalled that he went to his death bravely. 57 00:03:44,182 --> 00:03:46,878 So someone was already telling fibs. 58 00:03:46,903 --> 00:03:50,957 And the fibs about the French Revolution have just kept coming. 59 00:03:52,903 --> 00:03:55,157 Today, there's just this small plaque 60 00:03:55,182 --> 00:03:57,207 to mark the end of a French dynasty 61 00:03:57,232 --> 00:04:00,848 that had lasted for 900 years. 62 00:04:01,982 --> 00:04:04,678 The French Revolution has gone down in history 63 00:04:04,703 --> 00:04:07,798 as the model for all future revolutions. 64 00:04:07,823 --> 00:04:11,077 But there are many competing versions of events, 65 00:04:11,102 --> 00:04:14,438 depending on your politics and your nationality. 66 00:04:15,663 --> 00:04:18,998 For some, it was the birth of the modern world. 67 00:04:19,023 --> 00:04:22,718 For others, the end of civilisation. 68 00:04:22,743 --> 00:04:25,488 So, what's the real story of the French Revolution? 69 00:04:25,513 --> 00:04:27,998 And how did it get started? 70 00:04:31,153 --> 00:04:36,128 France, in the late 1780s, was a tinderbox of dissatisfaction. 71 00:04:37,743 --> 00:04:40,768 Cold winters and two disastrous harvests 72 00:04:40,793 --> 00:04:43,277 had left the peasants starving. 73 00:04:44,302 --> 00:04:46,878 The country was bankrupt, taxes were high. 74 00:04:46,903 --> 00:04:51,568 And one member of the royal family was getting the blame. 75 00:04:51,593 --> 00:04:53,318 DRAMATIC INSTRUMENTAL 76 00:05:09,663 --> 00:05:12,928 The queen of France was Marie Antoinette. 77 00:05:12,953 --> 00:05:16,318 An Austrian princess, she'd been married at the age of 14 78 00:05:16,343 --> 00:05:20,598 to the French crown prince to forge a political alliance. 79 00:05:21,982 --> 00:05:26,358 She was notorious for her love of shoes and dresses 80 00:05:26,383 --> 00:05:28,358 and extravagant parties. 81 00:05:35,593 --> 00:05:39,388 Marie Antoinette came in for much more criticism than the king. 82 00:05:39,413 --> 00:05:44,768 At the time, Thomas Jefferson was the American ambassador in Paris, and he wrote, 83 00:05:44,793 --> 00:05:50,277 "Had there been no queen, there would have been no Revolution". 84 00:05:50,302 --> 00:05:52,768 And that judgment has stuck. 85 00:05:56,663 --> 00:05:58,488 BIRDSONG 86 00:06:04,703 --> 00:06:07,768 Marie Antoinette is supposed to have come up with 87 00:06:07,793 --> 00:06:10,077 one of the most famous phrases in history. 88 00:06:10,102 --> 00:06:14,688 She addressed her starving people, who'd run out of bread, and said, 89 00:06:14,713 --> 00:06:17,027 "Let them eat cake!" 90 00:06:26,232 --> 00:06:31,128 "Let them eat cake" is still taught to almost every schoolchild in the world. 91 00:06:32,513 --> 00:06:37,207 The line's used to prove the queen's indifference to her subjects. 92 00:06:37,232 --> 00:06:40,718 And it's seen as a catalyst for the whole uprising. 93 00:06:40,743 --> 00:06:44,238 But it's a great, big, revolutionary fib. 94 00:06:45,513 --> 00:06:48,157 For a start, the phrase in French is, 95 00:06:48,182 --> 00:06:50,848 "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche". 96 00:06:50,873 --> 00:06:53,157 Meaning brioche, a kind of an eggy bun. 97 00:06:53,182 --> 00:06:55,488 But "Let them eat a kind of eggy bun" 98 00:06:55,513 --> 00:06:57,678 isn't quite so catchy in translation. 99 00:06:57,703 --> 00:07:01,798 But there's a more fundamental cake fib than that. 100 00:07:01,823 --> 00:07:05,848 There's absolutely no evidence Marie Antoinette ever said those words. 101 00:07:05,873 --> 00:07:09,488 No documents, no eyewitness reports, no nothing! 102 00:07:12,153 --> 00:07:16,598 The phrase had been reported coming from the mouth of another French queen, 103 00:07:16,623 --> 00:07:20,157 the wife of Louis XIV, a century earlier. 104 00:07:23,102 --> 00:07:27,238 It wasn't until 50 years after Marie Antoinette's death 105 00:07:27,263 --> 00:07:30,438 that the phrase was first written down and ascribed to her. 106 00:07:30,463 --> 00:07:33,598 And even then, they said it was a rumour that wasn't true. 107 00:07:36,413 --> 00:07:39,157 But politicians and historians around the world 108 00:07:39,182 --> 00:07:42,638 were still trying to explain the cause of the Revolution. 109 00:07:42,663 --> 00:07:46,568 Their narratives needed a royal scapegoat. 110 00:07:46,593 --> 00:07:51,207 And by the 20th century, the myth had become a fixture. 111 00:07:51,232 --> 00:07:54,868 This is an American history primer from 1918. 112 00:07:54,893 --> 00:07:57,227 And they've put it like this - 113 00:07:57,252 --> 00:08:00,378 "When at last the court, overwhelmed with debts, 114 00:08:00,403 --> 00:08:02,977 "had so far crushed the people with taxes 115 00:08:03,002 --> 00:08:05,227 "that they had no bread to eat, 116 00:08:05,252 --> 00:08:07,588 "Marie Antoinette cried out, 117 00:08:07,613 --> 00:08:10,818 "If they have no bread, let them eat cake". 118 00:08:10,843 --> 00:08:13,618 The words have been put into her mouth 119 00:08:13,643 --> 00:08:17,018 to show how thoughtless and out of touch she was. 120 00:08:17,043 --> 00:08:20,097 But worse than that, they've been used to justify 121 00:08:20,122 --> 00:08:22,898 the bloody events that followed. 122 00:08:24,643 --> 00:08:29,047 Even before the Revolution, many of her subjects hated the queen. 123 00:08:29,072 --> 00:08:31,788 And not just because she was a woman. 124 00:08:31,813 --> 00:08:35,427 Being Austrian, she was seen as the enemy. 125 00:08:35,452 --> 00:08:40,458 She wasted money on clothes and outrageous hairstyles. 126 00:08:40,483 --> 00:08:43,818 She was too frivolous to be a proper queen. 127 00:08:43,843 --> 00:08:47,698 But in 1787, Marie Antoinette fought back 128 00:08:47,723 --> 00:08:50,898 by cultivating a more responsible image. 129 00:08:52,252 --> 00:08:55,018 Mathieu, what's happening in this picture? 130 00:08:55,043 --> 00:08:58,068 This is a portrait of Marie Antoinette with her children. 131 00:08:58,093 --> 00:09:02,338 And it's very important because it is a political representation 132 00:09:02,363 --> 00:09:04,148 of the new queen of France. 133 00:09:04,173 --> 00:09:08,618 Because at first, she was considered as a selfish woman. 134 00:09:08,643 --> 00:09:12,148 So with this portrait, she decided to be represented 135 00:09:12,173 --> 00:09:14,227 as a queen of France. Mm-hm. 136 00:09:15,533 --> 00:09:18,588 Marie Antoinette was also looking for other creative ways 137 00:09:18,613 --> 00:09:20,047 to improve her PR. 138 00:09:21,433 --> 00:09:23,538 Marie Antoinette loved children. 139 00:09:23,563 --> 00:09:26,458 And she took some orphans at court, 140 00:09:26,483 --> 00:09:28,538 she paid for their education. 141 00:09:28,563 --> 00:09:31,588 And she did that partly through sincere feeling 142 00:09:31,613 --> 00:09:35,258 and partly, it must have helped her image, as a selfish person? 143 00:09:35,283 --> 00:09:37,148 Mm...l think both. 144 00:09:37,173 --> 00:09:39,148 Oh. Both. She, er... 145 00:09:39,173 --> 00:09:43,977 I think she was very sincere when she paid for these children 146 00:09:44,002 --> 00:09:47,508 and probably, she had on her mind, er... 147 00:09:47,533 --> 00:09:50,948 the image she had all around the public. 148 00:09:52,763 --> 00:09:56,378 Her critics nicknamed her Madame Deficit, 149 00:09:56,403 --> 00:09:59,148 and said she'd bankrupted France. 150 00:09:59,173 --> 00:10:01,148 But this was another fib. 151 00:10:03,173 --> 00:10:05,047 France had built up huge debts 152 00:10:05,072 --> 00:10:07,818 during the American War of Independence, 153 00:10:07,843 --> 00:10:11,177 when they'd supported the rebels against the British Crown. 154 00:10:12,563 --> 00:10:15,148 The war had ended just four years earlier, 155 00:10:15,173 --> 00:10:17,297 and the French still couldn't balance the books. 156 00:10:18,973 --> 00:10:22,258 France supports the independence war of America, 157 00:10:22,283 --> 00:10:26,738 and it costed about 1.5 billions. 158 00:10:26,763 --> 00:10:30,618 And the budget of France was about 600 millions a year. 159 00:10:30,643 --> 00:10:35,618 So that is to say, about two and a half more 160 00:10:35,643 --> 00:10:38,788 than an annual budget of France. 161 00:10:38,813 --> 00:10:42,018 Oh, wow! So it...it's very important. 162 00:10:42,043 --> 00:10:47,338 And the Americans, after 1783, 163 00:10:47,363 --> 00:10:51,698 they decided not to reimburse the France people. 164 00:10:51,723 --> 00:10:53,977 So we have the revenue of France... Yes. 165 00:10:54,002 --> 00:10:57,788 ...we have the clothes of Marie Antoinette... Yes. 166 00:10:57,813 --> 00:11:01,588 ...but then we have the cost of the war to help America up here somewhere. 167 00:11:01,613 --> 00:11:05,297 Yes. France did not recover from this deficit. 168 00:11:05,322 --> 00:11:07,258 So maybe it's, um... 169 00:11:07,283 --> 00:11:10,097 It explains the Revolution. 170 00:11:11,403 --> 00:11:14,948 So it wasn't so much Marie Antoinette's extravagance 171 00:11:14,973 --> 00:11:16,618 that bankrupted France, 172 00:11:16,643 --> 00:11:20,618 it was France's support for the American War of Independence. 173 00:11:20,643 --> 00:11:24,018 Thomas Jefferson neglected to mention that a key cause 174 00:11:24,043 --> 00:11:27,818 of the French Revolution was the birth of the United States. 175 00:11:30,973 --> 00:11:34,948 The French Revolution is also widely believed to have been sparked 176 00:11:34,973 --> 00:11:37,338 by a peasants' revolt. 177 00:11:37,363 --> 00:11:39,508 In this version of the story, 178 00:11:39,533 --> 00:11:43,898 the starving poor rose up to overthrow Louis XVI. 179 00:11:43,923 --> 00:11:47,508 But this image of class war is also a myth. 180 00:11:47,533 --> 00:11:49,097 So what really happened? 181 00:11:50,973 --> 00:11:56,378 In May 1789, the king called a meeting at Versailles 182 00:11:56,403 --> 00:11:58,868 to try to resolve the financial crisis. 183 00:12:00,813 --> 00:12:05,068 1,200 delegates represented three groups, or estates. 184 00:12:07,252 --> 00:12:09,588 The first was the priests and bishops. 185 00:12:11,202 --> 00:12:13,738 The second, the titled aristocracy. 186 00:12:15,002 --> 00:12:17,588 And finally, the third estate were the commoners. 187 00:12:18,843 --> 00:12:21,788 But the three estates were at loggerheads. 188 00:12:22,893 --> 00:12:26,227 Finally, the commoners split off to set up their own meeting. 189 00:12:28,363 --> 00:12:31,177 The one place that was big enough for them all to get inside 190 00:12:31,202 --> 00:12:34,177 was the indoor royal tennis court, 191 00:12:34,202 --> 00:12:36,458 just around the corner from the palace over there. 192 00:12:36,483 --> 00:12:38,538 So this is where they came. 193 00:12:38,563 --> 00:12:41,297 And the king had no idea what was going on. 194 00:12:41,322 --> 00:12:43,948 RACQUETS HIT BALL 195 00:12:43,973 --> 00:12:45,338 APPLAUSE 196 00:12:45,363 --> 00:12:46,658 15-0 to the commoners. 197 00:12:48,283 --> 00:12:52,658 This assembly of commoners was the spark that ignited the Revolution. 198 00:12:52,683 --> 00:12:54,338 RACQUETS HIT BALL 199 00:12:54,363 --> 00:12:58,508 On 20th June, 1789, they all agreed 200 00:12:58,533 --> 00:13:01,818 that France should have a fairer form of government 201 00:13:01,843 --> 00:13:03,618 that represented the people. 202 00:13:03,643 --> 00:13:06,868 The king's powers should be limited, 203 00:13:06,893 --> 00:13:09,227 although the monarchy wouldn't be abofished. 204 00:13:09,252 --> 00:13:10,818 Deuce. 205 00:13:12,043 --> 00:13:16,018 And this agreement became known as the Tennis Court Oath. 206 00:13:16,043 --> 00:13:17,868 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 207 00:13:21,723 --> 00:13:24,097 They took the oath partly out of idealism 208 00:13:24,122 --> 00:13:26,938 and partly because they wanted fairer taxes. 209 00:13:28,043 --> 00:13:30,738 Either way, it was a revolutionary act. 210 00:13:33,093 --> 00:13:37,818 So here we have them, nearly 500 excitable revolutionaries. 211 00:13:37,843 --> 00:13:40,097 Bang in the middle, Monsieur Bailly, 212 00:13:40,122 --> 00:13:43,618 the astronomer who was in charge of the occasion. 213 00:13:43,643 --> 00:13:46,938 Over to the right, we have a small-town lawyer. 214 00:13:46,963 --> 00:13:50,427 But he would turn out to be the most controversial revolutionary of them all - 215 00:13:50,452 --> 00:13:52,868 Maximilien Robespierre. 216 00:13:52,893 --> 00:13:55,698 Robespierre would go down in history 217 00:13:55,723 --> 00:13:58,938 with the blood of the king and queen on his hands. 218 00:14:00,002 --> 00:14:02,868 And over to the left, we have a doctor. 219 00:14:02,893 --> 00:14:06,618 His name was Dr Joseph Guillotin. 220 00:14:08,713 --> 00:14:12,458 What jumps out at me is just how nattily dressed 221 00:14:12,483 --> 00:14:14,508 they all are in their smart suits. 222 00:14:14,533 --> 00:14:17,458 They're not peasants, they're not workers, 223 00:14:17,483 --> 00:14:20,297 they're definitely members of the bourgeoisie. 224 00:14:20,322 --> 00:14:23,588 Which is a reminder that this revolution was led 225 00:14:23,613 --> 00:14:25,788 by the upper middle classes. 226 00:14:25,813 --> 00:14:27,458 RACQUETS HIT BALL 227 00:14:27,483 --> 00:14:28,938 Advantage bourgeoisie. 228 00:14:28,963 --> 00:14:31,097 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 229 00:14:31,122 --> 00:14:33,378 They swore never to separate 230 00:14:33,403 --> 00:14:36,688 until the constitution is established. 231 00:14:38,173 --> 00:14:40,018 It's a wonderful, idealistic moment 232 00:14:40,043 --> 00:14:41,977 that happened here, in the tennis court. 233 00:14:42,002 --> 00:14:43,977 Yes, it is. It's quite exhilarating 234 00:14:44,002 --> 00:14:47,047 that the deputies who assembled here on 20th June, 235 00:14:47,072 --> 00:14:49,938 who had all these ideas about, "How could we make our country better? 236 00:14:49,963 --> 00:14:53,227 "How can we reform France? How can we give France a constitution?" 237 00:14:53,252 --> 00:14:55,868 Which is what the...Tennis Court Oath was all about. 238 00:14:55,893 --> 00:15:00,427 But it's certainly true that the actual unity was, I would say, skin-deep. 239 00:15:00,452 --> 00:15:03,148 Tell me about some of the different factions that began to form. 240 00:15:03,173 --> 00:15:05,588 You have the monarchists, who tried to create 241 00:15:05,613 --> 00:15:07,977 almost like a British-style constitution, 242 00:15:08,002 --> 00:15:10,618 But then you have radicals, like Robespierre, 243 00:15:10,643 --> 00:15:13,148 who want something more democratic. 244 00:15:13,173 --> 00:15:16,588 One of the surprising things about all these people in the tennis court to me, 245 00:15:16,613 --> 00:15:19,588 is that they're all pretty bourgeois, aren't they? 246 00:15:19,613 --> 00:15:23,018 Yes. The third estate was a collection of mostly middle-class people. 247 00:15:23,043 --> 00:15:25,297 Lawyers, government office- holders, 248 00:15:25,322 --> 00:15:28,068 financiers and people with property. 249 00:15:29,643 --> 00:15:33,938 These revolutionaries were much wealthier than we usually imagine. 250 00:15:33,963 --> 00:15:36,818 Soon, aristocrats would join them, too. 251 00:15:36,843 --> 00:15:39,177 The Marquis de Lafayette 252 00:15:39,202 --> 00:15:41,977 had fought against the British in the American Revolution. 253 00:15:43,403 --> 00:15:46,738 Now, with the help of his American friend, Thomas Jefferson, 254 00:15:46,763 --> 00:15:50,338 he began drafting a Declaration of the Rights of Man. 255 00:15:52,122 --> 00:15:54,898 The draft that Lafayette presented to the National Assembly 256 00:15:54,923 --> 00:15:59,868 on 11th July, 1789, was the fruit of this collaborative work. 257 00:15:59,893 --> 00:16:02,618 So in many ways, Jefferson helped to shape what became 258 00:16:02,643 --> 00:16:05,738 the founding principles of the Revolution of 1789. 259 00:16:05,763 --> 00:16:11,297 So, the French had helped the Americans have their revolution against the British... Yes. 260 00:16:11,322 --> 00:16:15,047 And then it's nice to think of Jefferson and Lafayette, 261 00:16:15,072 --> 00:16:17,658 with their American experience, returning the favour 262 00:16:17,683 --> 00:16:21,047 and helping the French have their own revolution. Absolutely. 263 00:16:24,643 --> 00:16:29,227 The Tennis Court Oath unleashed a political earthquake. 264 00:16:29,252 --> 00:16:33,427 Just a month later, bread riots started on the streets of Paris. 265 00:16:37,452 --> 00:16:40,227 This is a well-known part of the city - Bastille. 266 00:16:40,252 --> 00:16:41,427 SIREN WAILS 267 00:16:41,452 --> 00:16:44,177 Many protests in Paris start here 268 00:16:44,202 --> 00:16:48,068 in memory of the events of 14th July, 1789, 269 00:16:48,093 --> 00:16:51,658 when the people attacked the Bastille fortress. 270 00:16:53,403 --> 00:16:55,338 The Storming of the Bastille 271 00:16:55,363 --> 00:16:58,898 is usually seen as the Revolution made real. 272 00:16:58,923 --> 00:17:01,227 DISGRUNTLED SHOUTS 273 00:17:01,252 --> 00:17:04,977 A huge crowd of workers waving banners 274 00:17:05,002 --> 00:17:08,047 marched upon the city's most famous prison. 275 00:17:08,072 --> 00:17:10,177 100 of them got killed in the attack, 276 00:17:10,202 --> 00:17:13,018 becoming martyrs of the Revolution. 277 00:17:13,043 --> 00:17:15,458 In Britain, a magazine reported 278 00:17:15,483 --> 00:17:19,588 that all the poor and unhappy state prisoners, 279 00:17:19,613 --> 00:17:24,458 many of whom had languished for years in execrable abode, 280 00:17:24,483 --> 00:17:26,148 were released. 281 00:17:26,173 --> 00:17:28,738 Nobody would ever forget the 14th ofjuly. 282 00:17:28,763 --> 00:17:31,658 MUSIC: La Marseillaise 283 00:17:31,683 --> 00:17:35,588 Every year, the French commemorate it as Bastille Day - 284 00:17:35,613 --> 00:17:38,618 the National Day of Republican France. 285 00:17:40,283 --> 00:17:42,688 The Bastille prison is long gone. 286 00:17:42,713 --> 00:17:45,258 An opera house now stands there. 287 00:17:47,043 --> 00:17:50,708 The Storming of the Bastille is remembered as THE defining moment, 288 00:17:50,733 --> 00:17:53,338 when all the political prisoners were set free 289 00:17:53,363 --> 00:17:55,738 and the monarchy swept away. 290 00:17:55,763 --> 00:17:58,818 But how much of this is true? 291 00:17:59,843 --> 00:18:03,177 Munro, we are metres away from the site of the Bastille, aren't we? 292 00:18:03,202 --> 00:18:05,508 Where was it exactly? 293 00:18:18,202 --> 00:18:21,588 Now, a lot of people got the idea it was packed full of revolutionaries 294 00:18:21,613 --> 00:18:23,097 who all got freed at this moment. 295 00:18:50,893 --> 00:18:52,378 A libertine. 296 00:18:52,403 --> 00:18:55,738 How did the revolutionaries present their work in storming the Bastille? 297 00:19:17,683 --> 00:19:21,047 After the fall of the Bastille, what was next for the monarchy? 298 00:19:32,002 --> 00:19:33,378 YELLING 299 00:19:33,403 --> 00:19:36,977 The idea that the fall of the Bastille went hand in hand 300 00:19:37,002 --> 00:19:39,538 with the end of the monarchy is another fib. 301 00:19:40,483 --> 00:19:42,538 In fact, over the next three years, 302 00:19:42,563 --> 00:19:46,018 the king retained a key constitutional role. 303 00:19:47,683 --> 00:19:52,068 But as Bastille Day later turned into a Republican celebration, 304 00:19:52,093 --> 00:19:54,938 this initial support of the monarchy was soon forgotten. 305 00:19:57,643 --> 00:19:59,938 Even so, the French national flag 306 00:19:59,963 --> 00:20:03,538 contains a clue about the king's role in this early period. 307 00:20:05,283 --> 00:20:08,977 The revolutionaries replaced the royal fleur-de-lis 308 00:20:09,002 --> 00:20:11,818 with the red, white and blue Tricolour. 309 00:20:11,843 --> 00:20:15,427 The flag of the people...or was it? 310 00:20:17,683 --> 00:20:20,688 So, what about these colours of the French flag? 311 00:20:20,713 --> 00:20:23,938 The red and the blue were the colours of Paris. 312 00:20:23,963 --> 00:20:26,588 And you might be thinking, well, the white, 313 00:20:26,613 --> 00:20:28,618 that must be the colour of liberty. 314 00:20:28,643 --> 00:20:30,378 Far from it. 315 00:20:30,403 --> 00:20:34,148 White was the ancient colour of the Bourbon royal family. 316 00:20:34,173 --> 00:20:36,227 So the flag represented a compromise 317 00:20:36,252 --> 00:20:38,588 between the king and the revolutionaries. 318 00:20:38,613 --> 00:20:41,458 And that's how, after the fall of the Bastille, 319 00:20:41,483 --> 00:20:46,148 they persuaded him to wear in his hat the tri-coloured cockade, 320 00:20:46,173 --> 00:20:50,898 as a sign that he was...all right with the changes so far. 321 00:20:50,923 --> 00:20:53,018 MUSIC: La Marseillaise 322 00:20:57,002 --> 00:21:02,047 The idea that the Revolution was truly egalitarian is also a fib. 323 00:21:02,072 --> 00:21:03,658 We tend to think 324 00:21:03,683 --> 00:21:06,508 that the revolutionaries rallied to the cry of liberty, 325 00:21:06,533 --> 00:21:10,297 equality and fraternity right from the start. 326 00:21:10,322 --> 00:21:13,818 But the revolutionaries had lots of other stirring slogans. 327 00:21:15,322 --> 00:21:18,938 There was, "Union, strength, virtue". 328 00:21:18,963 --> 00:21:22,977 There was, "Strength, equality, justice". 329 00:21:23,002 --> 00:21:27,297 There was even, "Liberty, security, property". 330 00:21:27,322 --> 00:21:29,818 That doesn't sound very revolutionary at all. 331 00:21:29,843 --> 00:21:32,427 And finally, there was Robespierre's version. 332 00:21:32,452 --> 00:21:35,177 "Liberty, equality, fraternity." 333 00:21:35,202 --> 00:21:37,297 It came up in a military context, 334 00:21:37,322 --> 00:21:40,148 and it didn't catch on more generally for ages. 335 00:21:40,173 --> 00:21:42,938 It wasn't until 1848 336 00:21:42,963 --> 00:21:46,458 that "Liberte, egalite, fraternite" 337 00:21:46,483 --> 00:21:49,148 became the official motto of France. 338 00:21:49,173 --> 00:21:52,227 And shorthand for revolution everywhere. 339 00:21:54,002 --> 00:21:57,977 So, how egalitarian was the 1789 Revolution? 340 00:21:58,002 --> 00:22:01,618 Only wealthier people over the age of 25 341 00:22:01,643 --> 00:22:05,868 would be allowed to vote for the deputies in the National Assembly. 342 00:22:05,893 --> 00:22:08,338 Just 15% of the population. 343 00:22:09,533 --> 00:22:12,177 And, of course, we're talking about men. 344 00:22:12,202 --> 00:22:14,338 That's what fraternity is all about. 345 00:22:14,363 --> 00:22:17,738 Ooh! Here's a lady at last! I've been looking for her. 346 00:22:17,763 --> 00:22:20,898 What had the French women been up to all this time? 347 00:22:24,893 --> 00:22:27,378 Three months after the storming of the Bastille, 348 00:22:27,403 --> 00:22:29,538 in October, 1789, 349 00:22:29,563 --> 00:22:33,708 10,000 market women from Paris marched on Versailles. 350 00:22:35,643 --> 00:22:39,148 Angered by the cost of bread, they wanted the king to act. 351 00:22:40,363 --> 00:22:44,868 It was a brave, revolutionary confrontation right on his doorstep. 352 00:22:47,283 --> 00:22:49,508 But it's been largely overshadowed 353 00:22:49,533 --> 00:22:51,688 by the more famous storming of the Bastille. 354 00:22:54,252 --> 00:22:56,818 In France at this time, there was a fantastic feminist 355 00:22:56,843 --> 00:22:59,427 called Olympe de Gouges. 356 00:22:59,452 --> 00:23:02,047 Here she is. And she responded 357 00:23:02,072 --> 00:23:05,508 to the writings of Jefferson and Lafayette on the rights of man 358 00:23:05,533 --> 00:23:07,177 with a little something of her own, 359 00:23:07,202 --> 00:23:10,337 called a Declaration of the Rights of Women. 360 00:23:10,362 --> 00:23:13,497 "Oh, women, women," she wrote. 361 00:23:13,522 --> 00:23:16,337 "When will you cease to be blind? 362 00:23:16,362 --> 00:23:20,056 "What advantage have YOU realised from the Revolution?" 363 00:23:21,242 --> 00:23:25,217 As time went on, the Revolution's claims to equality 364 00:23:25,242 --> 00:23:27,617 rang increasingly hollow. 365 00:23:27,642 --> 00:23:29,256 FORMAL DANCE MUSIC 366 00:23:35,411 --> 00:23:38,467 Over the next three years, the National Assembly 367 00:23:38,492 --> 00:23:41,497 engaged in a diplomatic two-step with the king. 368 00:23:46,882 --> 00:23:49,777 Royal power shifted backwards and forwards. 369 00:23:51,961 --> 00:23:55,256 The radicals, the jacobins, wanted rid of the monarchy. 370 00:23:56,772 --> 00:23:58,747 But most of the Assembly was moderate, 371 00:23:58,772 --> 00:24:00,977 and hoped to continue working with the king. 372 00:24:03,242 --> 00:24:07,107 The king remained relatively popular for two more years. 373 00:24:10,642 --> 00:24:13,777 He was the guest of honour at a party held in 1790 374 00:24:13,802 --> 00:24:15,936 to commemorate the fall of the Bastille. 375 00:24:19,411 --> 00:24:23,537 This lingering affection for the king got written out of history. 376 00:24:26,002 --> 00:24:30,467 Meanwhile, the queen was growing ever more unpopular. 377 00:24:33,031 --> 00:24:37,186 And that's thanks to some very nasty propaganda. 378 00:24:44,772 --> 00:24:47,467 Charles-Eloi Vial at the National Library of France 379 00:24:47,492 --> 00:24:50,777 has investigated how dangerous libels about her 380 00:24:50,802 --> 00:24:52,697 were gathering momentum. 381 00:24:52,722 --> 00:24:55,256 Charles-Eloi, what are you looking at? 382 00:25:12,312 --> 00:25:15,977 And do you have other, worse images of her? 383 00:25:43,802 --> 00:25:47,936 Do you think here we have some negative feelings towards the king, 384 00:25:47,961 --> 00:25:52,136 but we can't criticise the king, we will turn to his wife? 385 00:26:04,922 --> 00:26:07,857 And do you have another image of her private life? 386 00:26:14,411 --> 00:26:15,617 He comes in! 387 00:26:16,802 --> 00:26:19,386 So we have the wife, the lover and the husband. 388 00:26:19,411 --> 00:26:22,857 What was the motivation for the people producing 389 00:26:22,882 --> 00:26:24,386 and selling these images? 390 00:26:43,772 --> 00:26:46,497 Louis' uneasy dance with the National Assembly 391 00:26:46,522 --> 00:26:48,497 was grinding to a halt. 392 00:26:49,961 --> 00:26:52,056 The propaganda against his wife didn't help. 393 00:26:53,312 --> 00:26:56,497 The revolutionaries were confiscating church lands, 394 00:26:56,522 --> 00:26:58,186 and this enraged the king. 395 00:27:00,522 --> 00:27:03,107 And as they thrashed out a new constitution, 396 00:27:03,132 --> 00:27:07,056 the Assembly was constantly eroding the king's power. 397 00:27:11,242 --> 00:27:14,056 The king took drastic action. 398 00:27:14,081 --> 00:27:17,287 Around midnight on June 20th, 1791, 399 00:27:17,312 --> 00:27:20,287 the royal family sneaked out of their palace. 400 00:27:23,161 --> 00:27:26,857 They were in disguise as an ordinary bourgeois family. 401 00:27:26,882 --> 00:27:30,287 A prearranged carriage was waiting for them. 402 00:27:30,312 --> 00:27:32,497 They got in, they travelled out of Paris. 403 00:27:32,522 --> 00:27:35,337 It looked like they'd escaped from the revolutionaries! 404 00:27:35,362 --> 00:27:38,537 They must have breathed the biggest sigh of relief. 405 00:27:42,772 --> 00:27:46,337 The carriage trundled east from Paris along the back roads. 406 00:27:46,362 --> 00:27:49,857 Some claimed they were deserting France altogether. 407 00:27:49,882 --> 00:27:51,997 Others that they intended to rule 408 00:27:52,022 --> 00:27:54,797 from the safety of a royal palace near the border. 409 00:27:55,942 --> 00:27:58,156 Either way, within 24 hours, 410 00:27:58,181 --> 00:28:02,437 they were approaching the Austrian-occupied Netherlands. 411 00:28:04,872 --> 00:28:07,767 But when they reached the town of Varennes, 412 00:28:07,792 --> 00:28:10,136 everything went wrong. 413 00:28:10,161 --> 00:28:11,917 Arretez-vous! 414 00:28:14,622 --> 00:28:17,637 Local officials wanted to know who was travelling. 415 00:28:17,662 --> 00:28:22,487 And the postmaster thought, "Hang on, I've seen that face before". 416 00:28:22,512 --> 00:28:24,206 He recognised the king 417 00:28:24,231 --> 00:28:27,206 because he'd seen pictures of him on money. 418 00:28:29,622 --> 00:28:31,847 Sacre nom... 419 00:28:31,872 --> 00:28:34,406 The whole gamble had failed. 420 00:28:34,431 --> 00:28:36,637 The king, Marie Antoinette and the children 421 00:28:36,662 --> 00:28:39,637 were all taken back to Paris in disgrace. 422 00:28:41,012 --> 00:28:43,517 Confidence in the king was shattered, 423 00:28:43,542 --> 00:28:45,276 and he was suspended from power. 424 00:28:46,582 --> 00:28:48,717 But then, that astronomer, Jean Bailly, 425 00:28:48,742 --> 00:28:51,206 a monarchist supporter among the revolutionaries, 426 00:28:51,231 --> 00:28:52,956 told a whopping fib. 427 00:28:54,872 --> 00:28:58,406 He claimed that the king and his family had been kidnapped. 428 00:28:58,431 --> 00:29:00,847 Forced to leave Paris against their will. 429 00:29:02,262 --> 00:29:04,797 Amazingly, the fib was accepted. 430 00:29:04,822 --> 00:29:07,847 On 15th July, 1791, 431 00:29:07,872 --> 00:29:11,206 the National Assembly reinstated the king, 432 00:29:11,231 --> 00:29:14,276 who finally approved the new constitution. 433 00:29:16,462 --> 00:29:19,847 This was seen as a revolutionary new dawn. 434 00:29:19,872 --> 00:29:23,917 The Assembly wanted people to embrace a whole new way of living, 435 00:29:23,942 --> 00:29:27,026 based on enlightenment and progress. 436 00:29:27,051 --> 00:29:29,917 They were getting excited about all the latest developments 437 00:29:29,942 --> 00:29:31,637 in science, in philosophy 438 00:29:31,662 --> 00:29:35,406 and in technology, including flight. 439 00:29:37,981 --> 00:29:39,997 The story of the French Revolution 440 00:29:40,022 --> 00:29:42,767 is usually all about anarchy and destruction. 441 00:29:42,792 --> 00:29:45,956 The storming of the Bastille and the cutting off of heads. 442 00:29:47,332 --> 00:29:49,307 But this is only half the story. 443 00:29:52,101 --> 00:29:55,637 The revolutionaries were also keen to bring rationality, 444 00:29:55,662 --> 00:29:58,357 order and progress to the world. 445 00:29:59,742 --> 00:30:03,237 One scientist was inspired to fly a hot-air balloon, 446 00:30:03,262 --> 00:30:05,026 only recently invented, 447 00:30:05,051 --> 00:30:08,517 all the way from Paris to a little town 15 miles away. 448 00:30:12,051 --> 00:30:16,406 He took along piles of copies of the brand-new constitution. 449 00:30:16,431 --> 00:30:20,877 La Constitution de la France nouvelle! 450 00:30:20,902 --> 00:30:22,917 Tres importante. 451 00:30:22,942 --> 00:30:26,276 And, of course, being French, he took some refreshments, too. 452 00:30:26,301 --> 00:30:29,557 Some freshly-baked bread for you, monsieur. 453 00:30:29,582 --> 00:30:31,437 A picnic of roast chicken. 454 00:30:31,462 --> 00:30:36,127 And, inevitably, une bouteille du vin. 455 00:30:36,152 --> 00:30:38,487 Bon voyage! 456 00:30:39,622 --> 00:30:41,047 FLAME ROARS 457 00:30:42,622 --> 00:30:44,597 Liftoff! 458 00:30:46,902 --> 00:30:48,797 Vive la revolution! 459 00:30:50,382 --> 00:30:53,517 As he floated off, this revolutionary aeronaut 460 00:30:53,542 --> 00:30:56,847 scattered the constitution across the countryside. 461 00:30:56,872 --> 00:30:58,847 Vive la revolution! 462 00:30:58,872 --> 00:31:03,076 He was spreading the word that a new France had been born. 463 00:31:06,022 --> 00:31:08,717 The popular story of the Revolution often ignores 464 00:31:08,742 --> 00:31:11,597 this love of new technology, like the balloon. 465 00:31:14,382 --> 00:31:16,357 But in fact, the revolutionaries 466 00:31:16,382 --> 00:31:19,206 frequently pushed the boundaries of science. 467 00:31:21,512 --> 00:31:25,437 In the old regime, weights and measures were an inexact affair. 468 00:31:26,822 --> 00:31:29,997 Measurements were based on the length of the king's own foot. 469 00:31:31,382 --> 00:31:35,076 And units of distance differed wildly across France. 470 00:31:36,462 --> 00:31:38,517 But now, all measures would be standardised, 471 00:31:38,542 --> 00:31:42,717 using the scientific precision of the new metric system. 472 00:31:44,582 --> 00:31:48,276 The perfect metre would be exactly one ten-millionth 473 00:31:48,301 --> 00:31:50,717 of the distance from the pole to the equator. 474 00:31:52,181 --> 00:31:55,667 A kilogram based on the mass of a specific volume of water. 475 00:31:57,301 --> 00:32:00,156 With everything neatly divisible by ten. 476 00:32:02,022 --> 00:32:04,076 Few people today remember 477 00:32:04,101 --> 00:32:08,156 that this building block of modern science was laid during this period. 478 00:32:09,942 --> 00:32:13,767 There seemed no end to the revolutionary ingenuity. 479 00:32:16,101 --> 00:32:20,637 They even tidied up time by decimalising it. 480 00:32:20,662 --> 00:32:23,997 The day was now going to be split into ten hours, 481 00:32:24,022 --> 00:32:26,276 as this revolutionary clock shows. 482 00:32:26,301 --> 00:32:28,946 You can see one to ten on the clock face there. 483 00:32:28,971 --> 00:32:32,437 And each minute was going to contain 100 seconds. 484 00:32:33,622 --> 00:32:36,717 Ten-hour clocks didn't stand the test of time, 485 00:32:36,742 --> 00:32:40,026 but one innovation would never be forgotten. 486 00:32:43,692 --> 00:32:46,517 The guillotine is presented in history 487 00:32:46,542 --> 00:32:49,667 as a deliberately brutal killing machine 488 00:32:49,692 --> 00:32:52,917 created for the blood lust of the radicals. 489 00:32:52,942 --> 00:32:54,717 But that's a fib. 490 00:32:56,822 --> 00:33:00,156 In fact, the revolutionaries intended to make capital punishment 491 00:33:00,181 --> 00:33:03,237 more egalitarian and humane. 492 00:33:04,542 --> 00:33:07,487 Until then, noblemen were beheaded with a sword, 493 00:33:07,512 --> 00:33:09,877 while commoners were usually hanged. 494 00:33:11,742 --> 00:33:15,667 Dr Joseph Guillotin proposed an enlightened alternative. 495 00:33:18,822 --> 00:33:22,026 Joseph Guillotin said that it was virtually painless. 496 00:33:22,051 --> 00:33:27,076 That all you'd feel was a little coolness on the back of the neck. 497 00:33:39,742 --> 00:33:41,517 One of its first victims 498 00:33:41,542 --> 00:33:44,127 would turn out to be the most famous of them all. 499 00:33:45,872 --> 00:33:49,877 By August 1792, the National Assembly was afraid 500 00:33:49,902 --> 00:33:53,437 the king would become a figurehead for counter-revolutionaries. 501 00:33:54,582 --> 00:33:57,637 The delegates voted to get rid of the monarchy. 502 00:33:57,662 --> 00:33:59,307 The king was imprisoned, 503 00:33:59,332 --> 00:34:01,877 but it still wasn't clear what would happen to him. 504 00:34:03,792 --> 00:34:06,597 Today, we often assume that it was a foregone conclusion 505 00:34:06,622 --> 00:34:09,076 that the king would be guillotined. 506 00:34:11,101 --> 00:34:14,047 But his execution wasn't inevitable. 507 00:34:15,742 --> 00:34:21,557 By now, the jacobin revolutionaries had split into two main factions. 508 00:34:21,582 --> 00:34:24,667 The moderates were the Girondins. There they are. 509 00:34:24,692 --> 00:34:27,357 And they wanted to keep the king alive. 510 00:34:27,382 --> 00:34:31,687 On the other side, though, we have the more radical Montagnards, 511 00:34:31,712 --> 00:34:33,437 led by Robespierre. 512 00:34:33,462 --> 00:34:35,156 And they wanted to execute him. 513 00:34:36,512 --> 00:34:39,076 The two sides were battling over poor old Louis, 514 00:34:39,101 --> 00:34:40,487 trapped in the middle. 515 00:34:40,512 --> 00:34:43,487 Eventually, a compromise was reached. 516 00:34:43,512 --> 00:34:45,637 The king would be given a proper trial, 517 00:34:45,662 --> 00:34:47,637 with proper lawyers to defend him. 518 00:34:49,742 --> 00:34:53,917 The charges against the king included his crime of fleeing Paris 519 00:34:53,942 --> 00:34:58,997 and of treason - for causing the blood of Frenchmen to flow. 520 00:34:59,022 --> 00:35:03,237 He was found guilty by a huge majority of the National Assembly. 521 00:35:03,262 --> 00:35:06,597 95% of the 700 delegates against him. 522 00:35:08,742 --> 00:35:11,026 But the vote over his punishment - 523 00:35:11,051 --> 00:35:13,877 banishment, imprisonment or the guillotine - 524 00:35:13,902 --> 00:35:15,847 was much closer. 525 00:35:15,872 --> 00:35:19,076 The death penalty, to be carried out immediately, 526 00:35:19,101 --> 00:35:23,517 was passed by a close margin of just 6%. 527 00:35:23,542 --> 00:35:28,406 Louis XVI almost survived the French Revolution. 528 00:35:33,101 --> 00:35:37,076 The king's execution marked the beginning of the Terror. 529 00:35:39,582 --> 00:35:44,237 The Terror is rarely remembered by those who celebrate the French Revolution. 530 00:35:44,262 --> 00:35:47,026 But the enemies of the Revolution point to it 531 00:35:47,051 --> 00:35:49,357 as a powerful counter-argument. 532 00:35:52,692 --> 00:35:55,357 Many early victims of the Terror were aristocrats... 533 00:35:56,582 --> 00:36:00,156 ...and soon included the scapegoat for the Revolution, 534 00:36:00,181 --> 00:36:01,487 Marie Antoinette. 535 00:36:20,991 --> 00:36:24,657 One accusation was especially outrageous. 536 00:36:24,682 --> 00:36:28,897 That the queen had sexually abused her eight-year-old son. 537 00:36:30,602 --> 00:36:34,617 Do you think that this charge of incest 538 00:36:34,642 --> 00:36:37,537 grew out of the earlier pornography 539 00:36:37,562 --> 00:36:39,577 and the pamphlets against her? 540 00:36:56,892 --> 00:37:00,096 Would you describe this as a true trial, 541 00:37:00,121 --> 00:37:01,966 or more of a show trial? 542 00:37:34,842 --> 00:37:38,737 This is the exact spot occupied by the prison cell 543 00:37:38,762 --> 00:37:43,867 in which Marie Antoinette spent the final 75 clays of her life. 544 00:37:45,991 --> 00:37:49,737 She was 37 when she died, with two young children. 545 00:37:51,922 --> 00:37:55,426 She wrote a very moving final letter to her sister-in-law. 546 00:37:55,451 --> 00:37:59,617 She wrote, "l embrace you with all my heart, 547 00:37:59,642 --> 00:38:02,966 "as well as those poor, dear children. 548 00:38:02,991 --> 00:38:08,737 "My God, it is heartbreaking to leave them forever." 549 00:38:13,172 --> 00:38:15,737 History's come up with wildly different ideas 550 00:38:15,762 --> 00:38:19,216 about the significance of the queen's execution. 551 00:38:21,071 --> 00:38:23,577 For the revolutionaries, killing Marie Antoinette 552 00:38:23,602 --> 00:38:27,426 kept the fire of revolution burning brightly. 553 00:38:27,451 --> 00:38:30,737 But for critics of the Revolution, 554 00:38:30,762 --> 00:38:33,377 it revealed their ultimate cruelty. 555 00:38:37,762 --> 00:38:40,787 Maximilien Robespierre is usually remembered as 556 00:38:40,812 --> 00:38:44,017 the fanatical monster who unleashed the Terror. 557 00:38:45,892 --> 00:38:47,867 For most of the revolutionary years, 558 00:38:47,892 --> 00:38:50,176 he lived in this house in the centre of Paris. 559 00:38:51,642 --> 00:38:53,787 He was fastidious. 560 00:38:53,812 --> 00:38:55,296 A stickler for detail. 561 00:38:56,712 --> 00:38:58,817 The hard-working Robespierre 562 00:38:58,842 --> 00:39:01,897 was totally dedicated to the Revolution. 563 00:39:01,922 --> 00:39:04,377 He became known as "The lncorruptible". 564 00:39:04,402 --> 00:39:09,296 He's gone down in history as a cruel tyrant. 565 00:39:09,321 --> 00:39:10,787 As a despot. 566 00:39:10,812 --> 00:39:12,897 But what's the real version? 567 00:39:18,282 --> 00:39:21,176 This is the main law court in Paris, 568 00:39:21,201 --> 00:39:23,017 where the Terror was launched. 569 00:39:24,682 --> 00:39:27,147 Now, Marisa, a lot of people think of Robespierre 570 00:39:27,172 --> 00:39:30,617 as a cruel, reptilian sort of a person. 571 00:39:30,642 --> 00:39:32,737 But you think differently, don't you? 572 00:39:32,762 --> 00:39:35,377 Yes. This is a complete misunderstanding of who he was. 573 00:39:35,402 --> 00:39:37,577 What were his redeeming features 574 00:39:37,602 --> 00:39:39,937 that I might be surprised to hear that he had? 575 00:39:39,962 --> 00:39:43,657 He was a very idealistic man. 576 00:39:43,682 --> 00:39:46,296 He was very humanitarian, 577 00:39:46,321 --> 00:39:49,147 which might surprise you, but it certainly is the case. Mm. 578 00:39:49,172 --> 00:39:52,937 He was opposed to the death penalty. 579 00:39:52,962 --> 00:39:55,377 Right up until May, 1791, 580 00:39:55,402 --> 00:39:57,426 he tried to get the death penalty abofished 581 00:39:57,451 --> 00:40:01,737 because he said it was barbaric and it didn't stop crime. 582 00:40:01,762 --> 00:40:05,817 He was very strongly in favour of equality of rights. 583 00:40:05,842 --> 00:40:09,897 So they'd had this Declaration of the Rights Of Man and Citizen, which is all very fine, 584 00:40:09,922 --> 00:40:12,817 but he said, "lf you don't actually put this into practice, 585 00:40:12,842 --> 00:40:15,817 "if you don't give everybody..." Well, every man. 586 00:40:15,842 --> 00:40:17,867 "If you don't give every man a vote, 587 00:40:17,892 --> 00:40:20,257 "then that's not really equality, is it?" 588 00:40:20,282 --> 00:40:21,687 This included the Jews. 589 00:40:21,712 --> 00:40:25,096 The Jews were the biggest religious minority in France at that time, 590 00:40:25,121 --> 00:40:27,966 and lots of people didn't want to give the Jews political rights. 591 00:40:27,991 --> 00:40:30,507 Robespierre certainly was one of those who argued for that. 592 00:40:32,602 --> 00:40:35,377 But by 1793, many revolutionaries feared 593 00:40:35,402 --> 00:40:38,657 that the young republic was going to be crushed. 594 00:40:40,532 --> 00:40:45,377 France was riven by civil war and foreign armies were on the march. 595 00:40:45,402 --> 00:40:50,257 To save the Revolution, Robespierre became more extreme. 596 00:40:50,282 --> 00:40:52,176 He and the radicals now felt justified 597 00:40:52,201 --> 00:40:54,817 in eliminating all opposition. 598 00:40:54,842 --> 00:40:58,327 A ruthless legal machine went into action. 599 00:41:00,962 --> 00:41:04,257 This is the room where the Revolutionary Tribunal met. 600 00:41:04,282 --> 00:41:07,657 Where so many trials were held of famous people. 601 00:41:07,682 --> 00:41:09,537 Just here, in this space? Right here. 602 00:41:09,562 --> 00:41:13,937 So this is where so many came at the moment of crisis, 603 00:41:13,962 --> 00:41:17,147 before their... before their execution. 604 00:41:17,172 --> 00:41:18,607 Gives you a shiver. 605 00:41:19,991 --> 00:41:22,377 The Terror was used to destroy opposition 606 00:41:22,402 --> 00:41:25,737 and frighten citizens into submission. 607 00:41:25,762 --> 00:41:30,346 In Paris alone, up to 3,000 people were sentenced to death. 608 00:41:30,371 --> 00:41:32,046 Nobody was safe. 609 00:41:33,482 --> 00:41:36,507 That astronomer from the tennis court got the chop. 610 00:41:36,532 --> 00:41:40,216 Olympe de Gouges was guillotined for her feminist beliefs. 611 00:41:40,241 --> 00:41:43,426 There's a persistent story that Dr Guillotin himself 612 00:41:43,451 --> 00:41:45,537 was the victim of his own invention. 613 00:41:45,562 --> 00:41:48,897 But that's too good to be true. It's just a story. 614 00:41:48,922 --> 00:41:51,897 It comes from this satirical cartoon, 615 00:41:51,922 --> 00:41:55,176 which shows Robespierre guillotining Dr Guillotin 616 00:41:55,201 --> 00:41:58,687 because he was literally the only man left living in Paris. 617 00:42:01,042 --> 00:42:04,296 There's no doubt that Robespierre played a key role in the Terror. 618 00:42:05,402 --> 00:42:08,737 But he was part of a system of revolutionary committees 619 00:42:08,762 --> 00:42:11,937 and tribunals, with many enthusiastic supporters. 620 00:42:13,962 --> 00:42:18,426 In the end, Robespierre himself would fall foul of the tribunal. 621 00:42:19,712 --> 00:42:23,817 In the summer of 1794, he was accused by fellow revolutionaries 622 00:42:23,842 --> 00:42:25,377 of being a dictator. 623 00:42:26,562 --> 00:42:29,687 He and his allies were sentenced to death, 624 00:42:29,712 --> 00:42:31,327 and quickly guillotined. 625 00:42:33,402 --> 00:42:38,017 Do you think that Robespierre has the reputation that he deserves from history? 626 00:42:38,042 --> 00:42:42,457 Robespierre was made into a scapegoat after his execution 627 00:42:42,482 --> 00:42:45,176 for all the things that had happened in France 628 00:42:45,201 --> 00:42:46,577 during the period of terror. 629 00:42:46,602 --> 00:42:50,457 Once he was dead, yes, it became very convenient to say 630 00:42:50,482 --> 00:42:53,966 that this had all been Robespierre, it had all been one man. 631 00:42:53,991 --> 00:42:58,296 They invent this notion of him being the mastermind behind the Terror. 632 00:42:58,321 --> 00:43:00,737 Like a sort of spider in the centre of a web 633 00:43:00,762 --> 00:43:03,426 who'd been the one person who'd thought of all these things. 634 00:43:03,451 --> 00:43:05,096 And this is... this is nonsense. 635 00:43:07,352 --> 00:43:11,216 We often think of the Revolution as being confined to France itself. 636 00:43:13,121 --> 00:43:15,817 But at the time, France's neighbouring nations 637 00:43:15,842 --> 00:43:18,147 were terrified that revolutionary ideas 638 00:43:18,172 --> 00:43:21,096 would spread across the whole of Europe. 639 00:43:21,121 --> 00:43:24,096 And by 1793, France was caught up 640 00:43:24,121 --> 00:43:26,737 in a violent, counter-revolutionary war. 641 00:43:28,352 --> 00:43:31,687 The monarchies of Austria and Prussia were the main antagonists. 642 00:43:33,172 --> 00:43:35,657 Before long, Spain, Portugal, 643 00:43:35,682 --> 00:43:38,147 Holland, Sardinia and Naples 644 00:43:38,172 --> 00:43:40,577 were all piling in against the Revolution. 645 00:43:41,991 --> 00:43:46,296 Across the Channel, Britain had a complex attitude to the French Revolution. 646 00:43:47,812 --> 00:43:50,147 In the early clays, British radicals had seen it 647 00:43:50,172 --> 00:43:53,426 as a beacon of hope for political progress. 648 00:43:55,882 --> 00:43:59,657 The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham was terribly excited. 649 00:43:59,682 --> 00:44:01,507 "Now is the time", he argued, 650 00:44:01,532 --> 00:44:05,046 "to give the vote to both men and women in Britain!" 651 00:44:05,071 --> 00:44:09,176 Meanwhile, William Wordsworth was getting excited in poetry! 652 00:44:09,201 --> 00:44:13,096 "Bliss it was," he wrote, "in that dawn to be alive! 653 00:44:13,121 --> 00:44:16,577 "But to be young was very heaven!" 654 00:44:16,602 --> 00:44:20,737 Obviously, the supporters of King George Ill were much less keen. 655 00:44:20,762 --> 00:44:23,537 And as the news of the Terror filtered through, 656 00:44:23,562 --> 00:44:28,397 enthusiasm turned to horror and condemnation. 657 00:44:30,302 --> 00:44:35,877 The execution of Louis XVI was the final straw for King George. 658 00:44:35,902 --> 00:44:40,627 And in 1793, Britain joined the European Coalition, 659 00:44:40,652 --> 00:44:43,397 dedicated to restoring the French monarchy. 660 00:44:45,062 --> 00:44:49,366 A Royal Navy force sailed to the port of Toulon in southern France. 661 00:44:50,902 --> 00:44:54,087 They were supporting a group of French royalists 662 00:44:54,112 --> 00:44:57,557 who were fighting against the revolutionary army. 663 00:44:57,582 --> 00:45:01,527 But the expedition failed, largely because of the brilliance 664 00:45:01,552 --> 00:45:07,167 of a young Republican artillery officer, Napoleon Bonaparte. 665 00:45:08,192 --> 00:45:10,557 He was known as the Little Corporal. 666 00:45:10,582 --> 00:45:12,986 And he wasn't actually that little. 667 00:45:13,011 --> 00:45:15,877 He was five foot seven, a fairly average height. 668 00:45:15,902 --> 00:45:19,557 But we think of him as little because British propaganda 669 00:45:19,582 --> 00:45:21,807 always made out that he was super-small. 670 00:45:21,832 --> 00:45:24,236 He did very well at Toulon, 671 00:45:24,261 --> 00:45:27,957 and Europe would be hearing a lot more about this chap. 672 00:45:29,832 --> 00:45:33,957 The French Revolution is usually assumed to have brought 673 00:45:33,982 --> 00:45:36,677 autocratic rule in France to an end. 674 00:45:36,702 --> 00:45:38,597 But is that really true? 675 00:45:40,372 --> 00:45:44,707 In 1789, France had an absolute monarch, that was Louis, 676 00:45:44,732 --> 00:45:47,557 and then, monarchy was ended with the Revolution. 677 00:45:47,582 --> 00:45:50,957 But just ten years later, by 1799, 678 00:45:50,982 --> 00:45:54,597 France was once again under the control of just one man. 679 00:45:54,622 --> 00:45:59,446 It was the hero of the Siege of Toulon - Napoleon Bonaparte. 680 00:46:01,982 --> 00:46:04,477 Napoleon's goal was to conquer much of the world 681 00:46:04,502 --> 00:46:06,957 and turn it into a vast empire. 682 00:46:09,141 --> 00:46:11,807 He would soon be the most powerful man in Europe. 683 00:46:13,471 --> 00:46:16,557 This painting shows him and his wife, Josephine, 684 00:46:16,582 --> 00:46:19,236 being crowned Emperor and Empress of France. 685 00:46:21,782 --> 00:46:24,917 In what ways was Napoleon Bonaparte like a king? 686 00:46:24,942 --> 00:46:27,397 For most people at the time, most observers, 687 00:46:27,422 --> 00:46:31,446 it was pretty clear that a rather monarchical form of government 688 00:46:31,471 --> 00:46:32,986 had been restored in France. 689 00:46:33,011 --> 00:46:35,066 He's made First Consul for life, 690 00:46:35,091 --> 00:46:38,347 the right to nominate his own successor. 691 00:46:38,372 --> 00:46:40,757 And you don't get more kingly than that. 692 00:46:42,942 --> 00:46:47,527 But Napoleon's imperial goals were eventually thwarted. 693 00:46:47,552 --> 00:46:50,757 And in 1814, after the allies deposed him, 694 00:46:50,782 --> 00:46:52,837 something astonishing happened. 695 00:46:55,862 --> 00:46:59,677 They put a Bourbon king back on the French throne. 696 00:46:59,702 --> 00:47:01,986 The monarchy had returned! 697 00:47:03,582 --> 00:47:06,757 When you look at the executions of Louis XVI 698 00:47:06,782 --> 00:47:08,627 and Marie Antoinette, 699 00:47:08,652 --> 00:47:11,986 things like the fall of the Bastille, the reign of terror, 700 00:47:12,011 --> 00:47:14,677 it's pretty hard to imagine that in 1814, 701 00:47:14,702 --> 00:47:16,597 the Bourbons will be restored 702 00:47:16,622 --> 00:47:18,627 and France will be a monarchy again under them. 703 00:47:19,622 --> 00:47:22,677 It happens largely because the allies want it to. 704 00:47:22,702 --> 00:47:27,957 Louis XVIII, Louis XVI's younger brother, returns as king. 705 00:47:29,422 --> 00:47:32,366 This Bourbon dynasty lasted for 15 years. 706 00:47:33,582 --> 00:47:35,397 But it's often written out of the story, 707 00:47:35,422 --> 00:47:38,877 because yet more French revolutions were on the way. 708 00:47:40,341 --> 00:47:43,196 Most people, particularly British people, 709 00:47:43,221 --> 00:47:46,757 assumed that 1789 had somehow settled it, 710 00:47:46,782 --> 00:47:49,677 but there were revolutions in 1830, 711 00:47:49,702 --> 00:47:52,957 in 1848, in 1871. 712 00:47:52,982 --> 00:47:58,037 Every revolution is followed by a restoration, 713 00:47:58,062 --> 00:48:00,807 or the potential of a restoration. 714 00:48:00,832 --> 00:48:04,037 It seems like it's two steps forward and one step back each time. 715 00:48:10,732 --> 00:48:15,347 But the events of 1789 are still remembered as the real French Revolution. 716 00:48:15,372 --> 00:48:19,597 Its story and imagery have echoed around the world. 717 00:48:19,622 --> 00:48:24,477 And this is largely thanks to a young German radical, Karl Marx. 718 00:48:26,502 --> 00:48:30,116 In 1843, Marx moved to Paris. 719 00:48:30,141 --> 00:48:33,917 He would hang out in the cafes along this very bit of street 720 00:48:33,942 --> 00:48:36,037 with his best friend, Engels. 721 00:48:36,062 --> 00:48:38,277 They believed that consuming alcohol 722 00:48:38,302 --> 00:48:40,957 was a necessary response to capitalism. 723 00:48:40,982 --> 00:48:44,757 Marx had this scientific theory of history, 724 00:48:44,782 --> 00:48:48,196 in which he thought he could see patterns emerging. 725 00:48:48,221 --> 00:48:52,807 And he wrote that, "the revolutionary movement, which began in 1789, 726 00:48:52,832 --> 00:48:55,347 "gave rise to the communist idea. 727 00:48:55,372 --> 00:48:57,837 "This idea, consistently developed, 728 00:48:57,862 --> 00:49:01,116 "is the idea of a New World Order." 729 00:49:01,141 --> 00:49:04,917 So Marx's theory is rooted in a radical version 730 00:49:04,942 --> 00:49:08,316 of the story of the French Revolution. 731 00:49:08,341 --> 00:49:11,707 And the result would be the promise of a world revolution 732 00:49:11,732 --> 00:49:13,707 and the birth of communism. 733 00:49:14,982 --> 00:49:19,807 Mike, do you see the French Revolution as the granddaddy of revolutions? 734 00:49:44,652 --> 00:49:46,597 The leaders of the Russian Revolution 735 00:49:46,622 --> 00:49:49,957 appropriated the symbolism of the French one. 736 00:49:49,982 --> 00:49:52,116 Workers marching through the streets. 737 00:49:52,141 --> 00:49:53,986 Riots and street battles. 738 00:49:54,011 --> 00:49:56,837 And the storming of significant state buildings. 739 00:49:58,192 --> 00:50:00,917 The crowds even sang the Marseillaise. 740 00:50:02,422 --> 00:50:05,446 Lenin admired the most radical French revolutionaries. 741 00:50:05,471 --> 00:50:10,167 He had statues of Robespierre erected in Moscow and St Petersburg. 742 00:50:11,702 --> 00:50:15,397 Lenin and his fellow Bolsheviks described themselves as 743 00:50:15,422 --> 00:50:18,116 "Glorious Jacobins". 744 00:50:18,141 --> 00:50:21,477 The parts of the French Revolution that particularly appealed to Lenin 745 00:50:21,502 --> 00:50:25,877 were the revolutionary tribunal and state-sponsored terror. 746 00:50:27,502 --> 00:50:32,777 In 1918, Lenin said that "Class struggle is inconceivable 747 00:50:32,802 --> 00:50:36,517 "without severest destruction and terror". 748 00:50:38,542 --> 00:50:43,196 The French Revolution has been adopted as a model for action against oppression, 749 00:50:43,221 --> 00:50:46,116 especially in France. 750 00:50:46,141 --> 00:50:49,807 From the Paris riots of May 1968 751 00:50:49,832 --> 00:50:52,986 to the recent Gilet jaunes demonstrations 752 00:50:53,011 --> 00:50:55,316 against the Macron government's reforms. 753 00:50:57,221 --> 00:51:00,697 But people aren't always honest about the Revolution's legacy 754 00:51:00,722 --> 00:51:04,517 of violence, dictatorship and bloodshed. 755 00:51:06,502 --> 00:51:09,236 Modern France has a complicated relationship 756 00:51:09,261 --> 00:51:10,986 with the French Revolution. 757 00:51:11,011 --> 00:51:14,446 This extraordinary building - it's a sculpture - 758 00:51:14,471 --> 00:51:18,556 was opened in 1989 to commemorate 200 years since the Revolution. 759 00:51:18,581 --> 00:51:22,226 And it's called the Grand Arch of Fraternity, 760 00:51:22,251 --> 00:51:25,226 in reference to revolutionary ideals. 761 00:51:25,251 --> 00:51:29,586 President Macron likes to refer to these ideals. 762 00:51:29,611 --> 00:51:35,636 In 2018, he celebrated France's fraternity with the United States 763 00:51:35,661 --> 00:51:37,876 in their Congress. 764 00:51:37,901 --> 00:51:41,436 Our two nations are rooted in the same soil, 765 00:51:41,461 --> 00:51:44,075 grounded in the same ideals, 766 00:51:44,100 --> 00:51:46,836 of the American and French revolutions. 767 00:51:48,021 --> 00:51:52,556 We have worked together for the universal ideals of liberty, 768 00:51:52,581 --> 00:51:55,275 tolerance and equal rights. 769 00:51:55,300 --> 00:51:56,856 APPLAUSE 770 00:51:56,881 --> 00:51:58,656 But, along with many of his compatriots, 771 00:51:58,681 --> 00:52:02,916 Macron rarely mentions the Terror of 1793. 772 00:52:06,331 --> 00:52:10,195 You know, it seems to me that the French have almost airbrushed 773 00:52:10,220 --> 00:52:13,025 the more horrific aspects of their revolution 774 00:52:13,050 --> 00:52:15,476 out of their national story. 775 00:52:15,501 --> 00:52:16,916 And who can blame them? 776 00:52:16,941 --> 00:52:20,556 Why would you concentrate on the bits that make your nation look bad? 777 00:52:20,581 --> 00:52:25,215 An example of this is that there are surprisingly few statues of Robespierre, 778 00:52:25,240 --> 00:52:27,796 the most influential revolutionary of them all. 779 00:52:27,821 --> 00:52:30,046 There is one in Paris, but it's really small 780 00:52:30,071 --> 00:52:33,436 and it's tucked away in an insignificant little square. 781 00:52:33,461 --> 00:52:37,876 It's almost like Robespierre has become a state secret. 782 00:52:58,310 --> 00:53:00,776 While the French often gloss over the Terror, 783 00:53:00,801 --> 00:53:04,596 the British remember a very different version of the story. 784 00:53:04,621 --> 00:53:07,955 In Britain, a die-hard monarchy, 785 00:53:07,980 --> 00:53:11,415 we've a long tradition of using the Terror as a warning 786 00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:15,205 against ideologues who take things too far. 787 00:53:15,230 --> 00:53:19,205 And that perhaps explains the popularity of Charles Dickens' 788 00:53:19,230 --> 00:53:23,105 revolutionary novel, A Tale of Two Cities. 789 00:53:23,130 --> 00:53:28,056 It's about what happens when the brutality of revolution gets out of hand. 790 00:53:28,081 --> 00:53:31,806 As he writes, "Liberty, equality, 791 00:53:31,831 --> 00:53:34,446 "fraternity or death. 792 00:53:34,471 --> 00:53:39,285 "The last much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!" 793 00:53:42,060 --> 00:53:44,056 With Madame Tussaud's waxworks, 794 00:53:44,081 --> 00:53:46,316 the Terror became a national obsession. 795 00:53:47,701 --> 00:53:50,826 In the early 1880s, she escaped from France 796 00:53:50,851 --> 00:53:52,726 and set up her museum in London. 797 00:53:54,341 --> 00:53:57,596 She exhibited wax heads of executed victims of the Terror, 798 00:53:57,621 --> 00:53:59,806 including Marie Antoinette. 799 00:54:01,701 --> 00:54:06,085 Madame Tussaud even claimed to have the original guillotine blade. 800 00:54:06,110 --> 00:54:09,205 Britain would never forget the Terror. 801 00:54:13,511 --> 00:54:16,586 Americans have yet another perspective on the French Revolution, 802 00:54:16,611 --> 00:54:19,506 somewhere in between that of the French and the British. 803 00:54:21,511 --> 00:54:25,316 They're big fans of Lafayette, the moderate revolutionary 804 00:54:25,341 --> 00:54:29,006 who'd helped the Americans win their own independence. 805 00:54:49,471 --> 00:54:51,236 I love this idea that the Americans 806 00:54:51,261 --> 00:54:53,776 had a better revolution than the French did. 807 00:54:53,801 --> 00:54:55,285 ETHEREAL SINGING 808 00:54:56,671 --> 00:54:58,776 There are still some people in France 809 00:54:58,801 --> 00:55:02,486 who will never allow the Terror to be written out of history. 810 00:55:04,591 --> 00:55:07,886 The Cathedral of Saint-Denis is the resting place 811 00:55:07,911 --> 00:55:10,566 for most of the kings and queens of France, 812 00:55:10,591 --> 00:55:13,975 including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. 813 00:55:16,871 --> 00:55:20,526 And every year, on the anniversary of the king's execution, 814 00:55:20,551 --> 00:55:22,886 a small group of royalists, 815 00:55:22,911 --> 00:55:25,415 some wearing Bourbon white, gather here. 816 00:56:12,911 --> 00:56:14,415 They love the queen! 817 00:56:49,801 --> 00:56:54,415 Marie Antoinette's reputation is finally being reappraised. 818 00:56:54,440 --> 00:56:56,596 Instead of seeing her as the hate figure 819 00:56:56,621 --> 00:57:00,085 whose careless words caused the Revolution, 820 00:57:00,110 --> 00:57:02,596 many now view her with more sympathy. 821 00:57:04,081 --> 00:57:08,285 This exhibition in Paris is a celebration of her life and of her image. 822 00:57:10,190 --> 00:57:13,085 Fashion people really love her. 823 00:57:13,110 --> 00:57:17,646 Here's John Galliano referencing her style for Dior. 824 00:57:17,671 --> 00:57:20,205 It seems that fashion just can't get enough 825 00:57:20,230 --> 00:57:24,415 of the tragic glamour of the doomed queen. 826 00:57:27,031 --> 00:57:31,846 The Revolution is a stirring national myth for Republican France. 827 00:57:31,871 --> 00:57:34,366 It's a powerful story 828 00:57:34,391 --> 00:57:38,776 that continues to be told and retold all over the world. 829 00:57:38,801 --> 00:57:44,366 Complete with exaggeration, manipulation and fibs. 830 00:57:44,391 --> 00:57:46,726 From the exciting fall of the Bastille 831 00:57:46,751 --> 00:57:50,596 to the tragic execution of Marie Antoinette, 832 00:57:50,621 --> 00:57:54,085 everybody has their favourite parts of the French Revolution 833 00:57:54,110 --> 00:57:57,526 that they like to pick out to tell their own version of the story. 834 00:57:57,551 --> 00:58:02,056 And the fib that poor Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake" 835 00:58:02,081 --> 00:58:06,285 is going to be almost impossible to erase from history. 836 00:58:09,440 --> 00:58:12,955 Next time, George IV and Regency Britain. 837 00:58:12,980 --> 00:58:16,366 Was the king as foolish as his caricatures suggest? 838 00:58:17,440 --> 00:58:20,486 Who really won the Battle of Waterloo? 839 00:58:20,511 --> 00:58:24,926 And was the United Kingdom as united as we think? 840 00:58:24,951 --> 00:58:28,646 In some ways, it was the most astounding piece of propaganda 841 00:58:28,671 --> 00:58:29,926 in the 19th century.