1res européennes

3 September 2026

What should pupils do ?

On 10 August 1792, the French monarchy was overthrown. Even though many Britons had been impressed by the revolution of 1789, it was now obvious that the French revolution was escalating into a civil war. The British idea of liberty, based on the parliamentary monarchy established in 1688, following the “Glorious revolution” was challenged by French radicalism. More, the French revolution was becoming a threat to its European neighbours. Propaganda leaflets like this one were intended to convince the British public to reject the ideology of revolutionary France and to support the British government in its efforts to contain it. War actually began on 1 February 1793. King Louis XVI had been executed on 21 January.

The French revolution: a view from England

Why did our revolution influence England and how did the British government eventually react ?

❑ Some Englishmen or Englishwomen were for the FR, others were against it.An example : Mary Wollstonecraft, a writer and feminist thinker, came to France and witnessed our revolution. She admired it.

➣ WATCH: Richard Clay, “Tearing up history” (BBC, 2014). A study of revolutionary violence and of its relationship to political emancipation. Professor Clay is an English historian who has focused on iconoclasm. Iconoclasm means the destruction of images, statues and symbols. R. Clay admires the FR which “changed the world”. He admires it because of its values: liberty, equality and brotherhood (universal values). He likes the FR, notwithstanding (in spite of) its dark episodes.

❑ Still today, English and American historians study the FR. They see it as a defining moment in world history. E. g. : Richard Clay.

❑ Oddly enough, that art historian studies the destruction of art, not its creation. Revolution always implies some violence (usually a lot of it), and art is also involved in that violence. Not least because art is an element of power, that displays the symbols of the ruling elite.

10 September 2026

➙ Subject № 1 : The Contrast.

The events of the French Revolution

❑ 1789 : the king summons the three estates. He wants them to raise new taxes in order to solve the state deficit. Because of enormous expenses, the state was nearly bankrupt. The war in America had cost almost one billion pounds. Besides, the nobility and the clergy, the privileged orders, didn’t pay much to the royal treasury.

❑ On June 20, 1789, the representatives of the third estate, together with some members of the nobility and clergy, took an oath, the tennis court oath, in which they announced that they would not part, until they had given a constitution to France. On July 9, they decided to become the National Assembly. No longer the king, but the people, was now sovereign.

❑ The king disagreed and moved troops around Paris and Versailles. It was awkward, because the people was frightened and started to rebel. On July 14, they stormed the Bastille to get guns, rifles and powder. Two days later, king Louis XVI came to Paris, and accepted the colors of the revolution. A constitutional monarchy was now being set up.

❑ 1790-1792 : creation and failure of the absolute monarchy. First, king Louis XVI seemed to accept the constitution. But in June 1791, he took flight to Germany. The royal family, however, was arrested and sent back to Paris. In April 1792, Louis XVI decided to declare war on Austria, in the hope that France would lose the war. In July, France was being invaded by Prussians (Austria’s allies). Louis XVI was called a traitor. On 10 August 1792, the Parisians stormed the royal palace, the Tuileries. The king was now a prisoner. A republic was proclaimed on September 21. The Sans-Culottes started to murder nobles and clergymen, including women. The bloodshed was soon known abroad, including in England. The British were horrified. On 21 January 1793, the king was beheaded.

❑ On 1 February 1793, England declared war on France. The reason was that France was now considered a threat to the safety and peace of Europe.

17 September 2026

➪ READ: Timothy Tackett's vision of the French revolution. Tackett is an American historian. In his book, When the king took flight (Harvard, 2004) he puts stress on the contrast between the lofty ideals of the revolution and the regime of Terror that followed. He takes sides with the revolution and argues that the monarchy, not the people, is to blame for the violence that happened. The people were oppressed, their rebellion was legitimate, and king Louis XVI failed to implement the social and political reforms that might have prevented the outburst of violence.

24 September 2026

Orals : Gabriel and Lilian on subject № 1.

 

➪ Subject № 2 : a text by Mary Wollstonecraft and an etching representing the execution (“martyrdom”) of king Louis XVI.

1 October 2026

Oral : Alix on subject № 1 or 2.

 

➪ Subject № 3 : a declaration of the English government in October 1793 quoted in a book by Edmund Burke and an English cartoon by Gillray “Petit souper à la parisienne”.

3 | For the French revolution : Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), English feminist and political writer

➪ WATCH: Simon Schama's history of Britain, episode 12. Look at 23 minutes from the beginning for our extract on Mary Wollstonecraft.

In England, many intellectuals admired the FR, because for them it meant progress, emancipation and a fairer society. Meanwhile, others like Burke, said that the French revolution was leading to the reign of Terror. Mary Wollstonecraft, on the contrary, believed in what we call gender equality. She was a determined feminist (supporter of women’s rights). She wrote the Vindication of the rights of woman (1792), under the influence of the FR. She argued that (the problem was that) women were educated to please men, and that equal access to education should be granted to them. For this, she was called “ a hyena in petticoats” by Walpole, who did not share her progressive views. Her ideas were very similar to those defended by Olympe de Gouges in France. Mary Wollstonecraft died shortly after giving birth to her daughter Mary Shelley, who later wrote Frankenstein.

8 October 2026

❑ Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was a “one-woman revolution”, she was an intellectual and an activist. She was above all a feminist, who wanted “gender equality”. Girls, she argued, deserved the same education as boys. That equality was a cornerstone for the democratic society she was dreaming of.

❑ So, as soon as 1789, she defended the FR. And in 1792, she moved to France, so that she might witness it from within. Unfortunately, it was the beginning of Terror. She saw the king and queen go to the scaffold. Then, she was considered a spy, because she was an Englishwoman (remember, the war between England and France started in February 1793). To escape from France, she had to marry an American who soon abandoned her.

❑ Mary Wollstonecraft started to show criticism towards the FR from 1793 onwards.

 

➪ Subject № 4 For or against the French revolution (Cartoon of Burke by Cruikshank, an excerpt from a letter by Mary Wollstonecraft).

➪ Subject № 5 Burke and the French revolution (Burke on Marie-Antoinette in his Reflections on the revolution in France and starical cartoon on Burke and Marie-Antoinette.