Everyday History

On September 5, 1793, the French National Convention ruled that it was just fine to use terror to take care of any threats to their newly formed revolutionary government.  In short, terror became an official policy.  So began the Reign of Terror.  That was followed by the Law of Suspects on September 17, which pretty much said that anybody who even appeared to be an enemy of the state was as good as guilty.  And then the heads started to roll, quite literally.

The French Revolution is a great lesson in cause and effect.  Let’s start with the French-Indian War, which raged in North America from 1754 to 1763.  Pretty much, it was the British against the French, and Britain won, taking a lot of land from France, but costing them a fortune.  So to pay off their debts, they raised the taxes on the American colonies... without representation, by golly.

So the colonies revolted against Britain.  That whole 1776 thing.  The French, who were still pissed at Britain, heavily financed the Americans.  Sure, it greatly helped the Americans, but it left the French heavily in debt.  To deal with all that debt and hungry citizens and what have you, King Louis XVI did the only sensible thing... well, if you’re an idiot.  He raised taxes and ignored the common folk.  The common folk, in turn, stormed the Bastille on July 14, 1789 (France’s Independence Day).  Yeah, the Bastille was a prison, but more than that it was an armory.  As the story goes, the troops inside came marching out with all their guns and cannons, looking mean and determined, turned around, and fired on the Bastille.  A lesson for any ruler:  Never expect your troops to fire on their fellow citizens.

And then came the Reign of Terror, led by Maximilien Fran ois Marie Isidore de Robespierre, “him” for short.  In the two years it lasted (1793-1794), it is estimated that anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 people were killed.  Maybe half of those were guillotined, including Louis XVI on January 21, 1793.   Many died in prison, and many more were just killed without even the pretense of a trial.  When the people finally got tired of the Reign of Terror they guillotined Robespierre, on July 28, 1794, fittingly without a trial.  Another lesson for any ruler:  Summarily killing your citizens is not a sustainable form of governance.

And no, Marie Anntoinette never did say, “Let them eat cake,” either in French or otherwise.  That was probably made up to fuel hatred.  It is also not true that her head was taken to hairdresser’s after it was removed from her body so they could do up her hair, which folks had come to despise.  She did, though, have a lot of it – hair, that is, all towering and heavily powdered – what was known as “poufs.”  The peasants saw it as a sign of out-of-touch aristocratic vanity while they were starving.  Her hair was cut off, shortly before the rest of her head, so the guillotine would have a more clear target, which was common.  It is reported that her hair had turned white from stress before she was executed, what became known as the “Marie Antoinette Syndrome.”  But I digress.

For the next five years the French government was a little more relaxed.  During that time a certain general named Bonepart was making a name for himself.  When the counsel running France became ineffective, Napoleon took over and crowned himself Emperor.  Then came the Napoleonic Wars, which lasted from 1802 to 1815, which totally shifted the power base in Europe, which led to all sorts of things. 

As well, because Spain was busy fighting Napoleon, it led to all of their colonies in the New World claiming their independence.  At one time, Spain pretty much claimed all of North and South America, as well as the Caribbean, and now they had nothing.  And that led to all sorts of things.

Meanwhile, the United States remained neutral, which allowed them to expand their territory, such as the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which more than doubled the US, because Napoleon needed the money to fund his war.  And that made the United States a whole lot stronger, which led to all sorts of things.

Mind you, I could’ve started well before the French-Indian War, and I could’ve kept going.  For instance, it can be argued that the Napoleonic Wars led to European nationalism and the shift of power throughout Europe, which eventually led to WWI, which can be argued has never ended.  But we’ll end there.