WESTERN EUROPE FRANCE

This week's class is revolting. And French.    

The French Revolution (1789-1799) was a watershed moment in the history of France, the history of Europe, the history of the world, and the history of all who value "LIBERTÉ!, ÉGALITÉ! and FRATERNITÉ!," French for "Liberty!, Equality! and Fraternity!" The causes of the French Revolution are many--inspiration from the American Revolution, France's financially and socially draining participation in the Seven Years War. the increased secularization of society, solidified during the Enlightenment, convincing the French people that King Louis XVI may not be absolutely divine.... These were just some of the immediate causes. French society had long been divided into two entirely separate classes--the upper crust (royalty, clergy and the nobles) and the rest. The French people were increasingly frustrated with the waste of the royalty and increasingly confident in their right to control their political and economic lives. 

In class we recall the French Revolution by metaphorically simulating the storming of the Bastille, a watershed moment on July 14, 1789 in which the French people overtook a military prison in Paris, proving themselves to be a legitimate force. Every year on July 14th the French celebrate “La Fête Nationale” with a huge military parade and much Francophile revelry. We celebrate by stomping around the room and reciting the first several lines of the Declaration of the Rights of Man.