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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 มิ.ย. 2024
- Hello! I'm an American on a quest to learn more about history, geography and the universe in general. In this video I learn about the French Revolution. Since we're in the middle of the Napoleon Wars series, I figured it would be best if I got some context for the wars. It's been so long since I studied this in school, that I don't remember any of it! If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe!
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#oversimplified #frenchrevolution #france #american #reaction
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If you get chance, watch through some "History Matters" They're only about 3 minutes and they're really quite informative.
Can you have a look a the English cival war (the one between the parliamentarians and royalists) after the French revolution
th-cam.com/video/xycPUC2f6xA/w-d-xo.html
This may be a good one to start with about the US Civil War.
Most of what we in the modern world would regard as making France, at that time, cultured and sophisticated actually came from how the Russian nobility behaved, ate and regarded the art's, except for music, that was co-opted from Prussian and Austrian society. France prerevolution tends to be viewed in a more fictional than earned or real, romantic overview.
Yes, the Seven Years war of 1756 to 1763 did bankrupt France and her allies. But the real blunder for France was deciding to invest nearly 30% of its money and a large military force in the American Revolution while being in so much debt. I refer you to what I wrote on the French Revolution response.
And yes, George Washington was a Major in the Seven year war, as well as the build up to it. However, he surrendered on the 3rd of July 1754 while in command of the Virginia Regiment at Fort Necessity (Pennsylvania) with 293 men, to 600 French and about 100 Native allies. After this he was offered a demotion to Captain, he refused and resigned his commission. He became re-involved in 1755 as an aide to General Braddock. In August 1755 the Virginia Regiment was again under his command, this time a Colonel, but he was out ranked by a Royally commissioned officer of Captain or higher. He was given a brevet (a brevet is a form of reward given for bravery etc) Brigadier General ship 1758 and put in charge of a Brigade during the Forbes Expedition to capture Fort Duquesne. But the French ran away, and other than friendly fire incident there was no action, after which he resigned again and became interested in politics.
Oh dear, this video portrays King Louis XVI all wrong, he was actually very enlightened and intelligent, sadly for him the French Parliament of the time decided to go in a harsher direction with regards towards the peasantry, as apposed to the softer way King Louis wanted. But it was his idea to aid the Colonies against the British, but the French Parliament was also in favour. But the British Parliament had a lot more money available than France, helps to have an Empire. Yeah, it would have really helped if France had been paid back.
Oh dear again, Marie Antoinette was not a crazy spender, and she never said "let them eat cake". She was actually a very private person, who preferred to be out of the public eye, sadly she has been on the wrong end of years of propaganda.
Yes the French government taxed nearly everything, so much so that people were dropping dead in the streets from hunger and diseases. The man who really caused the terrible burdens on the Peasants was the Economic Minister Turgot. But it was easier to blame the King and spread propaganda.
And yes, you are right, the Ministers, the Church and some of the middle class were behind most of the propaganda aimed at the King. The 3rd Estate actually had more votes than the Church and the Nobility put together (isn't propaganda great?).
King Louis didn't lock them out of the building, it was the Nobility and some of the Church. Louis was more in favour of working with National Assembly than the 3rd Estate, and because of this the Nobility decided to take over with senior Clergy.
The Jacobin Club was named after the Jacobite rising of 1745, when with the aid of Scottish Highland Lords supported Charles Stuart, or Bonnie Prince Charlie.
It was the Nobility that sacked Jaques Necker because he wanted to tax the rich and the church, and Louis was in favour of it.
It started being reasonably accurate until the crowd size marching on Versailles (hmmm, I'm pretty sure someone recently was stuck on "crowd size"), it was only about 2,500 people, but history is written by the victor. And we see more Marie Antoinette propaganda at the end.
We get the term "eat the rich" from this time in French history, and it's not meant in the way Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk would hope.
Tell Roger to take that silly French hat off...
I’ve had a lot of recommendations for that channel. It’s on my list, thanks 😊
The video : "American Reacts to the French Revolution"
Me, as a French : "...ok, but which revolution?"
Nice slight oh hand.
I know you had revolutions in the 19th century. But in America the term "French Revolution" refers to what I think you guys call the Revolution of 1789. It was massively impactful on world history for one thing and specifically for us it has direct relevance to US history. So yeah it is why we focus on it as THE French Revolution.
I am Australian i was like the same which one of the French revolutions lol.
Yes. Would be better to call it A French Revolution rather than THE French Revolution.
@@bobmeyer854 yes, and when someone say "the", we obviously know which one it is. But in reverse, saying "the" is giving peoples the wrong impression (as in, that there's only one). Which leads to follow up like " The French revolution, like we see in Les misérables'!". which isn't the same revolution. So calling it "the" comes at a cost imo.
The French Revolution is a lot more complex than people think. When they say Oversimplified, they mean it. Oh and the window tax was a real thing.
still is
@@mikestauffer7033not really
Just a note. Marie Antoinette is now recognised as never had saying “Let them eat cake”. It was first quoted that she said those words fifty years after the Revolution. The story had been around for years before and given to many other people.
Precisely, Maria Antoinette was vilified and used as a scapegoat because the people didn't really want to think that the king was truly behind their problem. She did try to reduce her spending but then she was blamed for the silk merchants losing money. Very much a case of damned if you do damned if you don't.
@@lucyfur Colluding with the Austrian, escaping with the king not long after accepting the 1791 Constiution. Hur dur muh innocent queen.
Yeah she didn't say 'let them eat cake', instead she built a whole Hameau de la Reine just to cosplay as poor people. Much better isn't it
"Let them eat cake" is also reference to french law, that during famine bakers are obligated to sell cake and similar the same price as bread, thus preventing them to use flour for luxury instead of feeding ppl.
No, it was Melania Trump.
@@minhvuongtran5544 She gave ton to charity. Was actually very modest. Raised her kids into believing into equality. Literally was angry at her daughter for being too snobbish. The whole "she betrayed France" was never prouven. In fact they took MONTHS to prouve her guilty. At a point they even searched for the slightest details. All her trial was a scam. It was people she never even saw who were testifying against her. She was totally ruined mentally. They even accused her of having souvenirs of her husband. She really loved frnace, in most of her memoirs it's said she really loved us. She also said not long before dying : I see what they are doing, and I forgive them. At her trial she was mostly accused of being a lesbian and being unfaithful. She was killed by the mysoginia of the time, nothing else.
Oversimplified is really good just remember it is OVERSIMPLIFIED.
Obviously...the clue is in the name of the channel 🤦♂️
W-what's your point?
@@AnalyticalMenace the point is most oversimplified haters state that he misses things and is biased when it's oversimplified he's not gonna go into detail with every little thing
The question is just if it's a good thing to oversimplify history to produce easily consumable snippets representing incredibly complex events. People watch these videos and think they've actually learned something. But there's so much misinformation and simplification that it probably does more harm than good.
I don't have anything against pop history, it's a great way to get people into the subject. But there's good pop history and bad pop history. Hardcore History for example is not produced by a historian and it does contain errors and outdated interpretations but Dan Carlin at least goes into some detail, using decent sources and eyewitness accounts. People can actually learn something by listening to his podcasts. Most of the pop-historical stuff on TH-cam however is extremely shallow and often completely wrong. There are exceptions of course, Historia Civilis for example, but they're in the minority.
For example, the motivations of nearly every person and side in this video are heavily misrepresented to help explain the French Revolution as a meme rather than a historical event. If anyone wants a summary that isn’t deliberately misinformative listen to the Revolutions podcast, the third series is on the French Revolution
And the moral of the story is, don't give financial help to the Americans. 😄
True haha
But China did it in the last decade, and.... OHHH shit.
Especially if you're already in debt.
The moral of the story is don't live high off the backs of poor people and oppress them
Facts
Btw I appreciate that you are willing to learn . Education is a life long process , my dad went to college again in his 60s
"The French had a revolution, where they invented being French!" -- The Pub Landlord.
@@valentinelupin8595
That's a very leading question :)
@@kevinshort3943 are you schizophrenic?
@@alt1f4
Wibble!!
I'm guessing Valentine Lupin, has been a very naughty boy though.
Just a quick note:
It was less rich vs. poor and more of an powerful vs. normal people. The 3rd estate was made up of everybody that wasn't a priestor a noble, which included even the most wealthy of traders. So while the first 2 estates were rich that came more as a side effect of being part of the institutional powers rather than being exclusive to them.
They seek him here, they seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That demned elusive Pimpernel.
I hated school but I loved science and history
"From now on, every man has two homelands, his own and France", Thomas Jefferson would have declared after the two joint battles of Yortown and Chesapeake Bay in 1781.
Suddenly, no wonder he contributed a little to the French Revolution.
When you consider that people literally study this subject for decades, videos like this are a good start for a general outline.
Everyone looked to France for fashion, literature, and culture, and the ability to speak French was considered the epitome of civilisation (for centuries, the language of the Imperial Russian Court was (very bad) French).
5:23 Yes, france was at that time the center of culture, music and science
France has always been the cultural centre of France's universe.
Go to the Hell, Wilhem II of German Empire, you should go to the Hell bacause fund the Comunist.
@@angelr.5123 Is this a joke?
@@kingjongedorian6088 No, Wilhem IIKaiser of the Kaiserreich found the Lennin party.
@@angelr.5123 Communism existed before Lenin
Another great video yet again! Keep up the great content!
SogGal,its nice to see your ambitions here...I applaude you...I hope you can do many reactions in history subjects..
21:20 "So why was it just women?" Well, of course it wasn't JUST women, but you'll find that in a lot of revolutions, especially those that were sparked by famine, women were often at the forefront of the enciting riots. Because women were responsible for running the household, including cooking and grocery shopping, they were the ones going to the marketplace and finding bakeries empty. If you do decide to research revolutionary history, you may come across the phrase/image of "women whispering in breadlines".
The women of Paris marched to Versailles to ask the king for bread to support their families, and Louis did indeed open the granaries. The crowd returned to Paris, singing joyfully about how their sorrows were over because they'd "fetched the royal baker". The problem here was, obviously, that Louis was a king, not a baker. He had a lot of power, but even he couldn't make food appear out of thin air. So things continued to escalate.
I'm trying really hard not to just dump a full essay in the comments here, but the role of women in the French Revolution was both fascinating and unfortunately typical. At first, they were very involved in the hands-on work, and images of patriotic women with rifles abounded. Some wealthy women even formed proto-feminist clubs where they discussed womens' rights. But once the Republic was established and the government started having to put down dissent (both political and food-related), whispering women in breadlines and bourgeois suffragettes were suddenly quite a problem. So as the National Convention tried to consolidate its power and prove its legitimacy, women's clubs were disbanded and their voice in politics forcibly reduced, both because of the unrest they inspired and to create the image that "everything is fine, we're creating a peaceful society here where all is as Nature intended (meaning men are free and politically active, and women stay at home to raise good Republicans)". As such, images of revolutionary women shifted to be more gentle and symbolic, like the picture of the young woman in the white dress, which became the official symbol of the First French Republic and remained heavily associated with France until well into the 20th century.
This pattern pops up a lot: (poor!) women incite protests against the established order, wealthy women form organisations and work alongside male revolutionaries to bring about change, a new order is established, and the male leaders push women out of their political movements so they can stabilise their new regime.
It is very easy to learn history in europe because the monuments and buildings all tell a story so we can re live parts of history on a stroll around old cities!
True in my city we have statues of Great leaders and characters of my country there is a lot of leftover stuff from the past in Europe.
Interesting thought. We have that somewhat regarding American history, but yeah...nothing like Europe.
If you're interested in history and like the narration style from 'Oversimplified', I absolutely recommend the TH-cam channel 'extra credits'. It's highly detailed, well researched, the narration is great and they ALWAYS make follow up videos to clear up any mistakes they made. Subjects range from early human civilization to the modern era, from places to events to people. Just overall great. Absolutely worth checking out.
Coming to history as an adult is no bad thing as you get to understand things with more context.
France was the most populous and rich country in Europe from the Middle Ages right through to the 19th century. It was also seen as the centre of European culture. French was the language of diplomacy until the 20th century and the second language of the European elite. Paris was widely seen as the most cultured, sophisticated and sexually free city in Europe. So the video was not exaggerating at all.
Yes the bread March to Versaille was mainly women as the were trying to feed their families and due to the poor harvest there was a shortage.
Just an interesting fact lingua franca means a language used for trade due to its popularity. This comes to us because French was the first lingua franca
I'm fairly sure Ancient Greek would like a few words with you about that.
“Lingua franca” literally translates to “language of the Franks”, where “Franks” refers to any Western Europeans during the time of the Byzantine Empire. French was not the first lingua franca, look up pidgin, sabir or creole for more information.
In France, we're not taught a lot about american history.
Even back when I was in school when the colonization was not seen as bad as it is today ( it's history, history is not bad or wrong, it is facts and facts don't care about our emotions, we have to deal with it ), we did not learn a lot about america history.
We mostly learn what is still having big impact today for France, the french revolution, napoleon, first world war but once you go to highschool, it world war 2 and cold war until you graduate 3 years down the line.
So yeah, USA history ? Not seen realy important by French elite that make our school programs.
And I'm sure that's about the same for USA.
Don't worry, only an idiot will tell you "what you don't know that from that country history ???". Sadly there's a ton of them...
Oh I do love OverSimplified!
most of the UK watched the" carry on" comedy films for their history before that they read a tale of two cities
Just out of curiosity, where did you find these clips of stereotypical France that you put before your reaction?
Yay! I look forward to seeing you do this and more of these. You’re so open minded and curious and that’s awesome. Greetings from Scotland!
France power in Europe actually was quite recent, dating from Francois 1st in the Renaissance and later from Louis 14th, when he could win a war, Louis made a point in soft power and diplomacy, thus making the French language to be spoken by every court in Europe, including Russia. French stayed the official diplomatic language in the world until quite recently when the United Nations had their headquarters in New York.
The 7 years War can be regarded as the actual first Worldwide war, it impacted every continent as much as WW1 did 150 years later.
Louis 16th wasn't stupid contrary to what the video says, he was UNDECISVE, a crucial difference and to be fair, he wasn't supposed to reign, his elder brothers were, but Louis 15th lived to long that they died before him, leaving L16th the Throne.
And manipulation from rising bourgeoisie began much earlier in L14th times.
Tax terrorrism was always a thing even much earlier in History, pretty since sedentarization society and administration was invented, so approx 10 thousand years ago...
As for the bad harvesting, it was mainly because of bad luck with weather and that pesky Iceland or whereever volcanos, one of those which paralyed air traffic a few years ago !!!
The bourgeoisie very implanted into banks and industry was taking advantage of the situation to manipulate the hungry crowd against Monarchy, kinda like what happened in Russia early 20th Century.And it still is the same kind of people who are in charge now. Power and money hungry thugs.
Irony is the Third Estate was also representing the raising bourgeoisie and the poor and peasants who didn't know how to write and count never were really taken into account in the Estates General meeting...
The other irony is that L16th could have made a constitutional monarchy work had he really wanted to seize the opportunity, but fearing to lose face in front of other monarchies, he bailed out and tried to escape, losing the trust of the revolutionaries definitively. The irony was also that he himself wrote such a constitution during his intellectual training as a young man... He just didn't have the guts not charisma for the job, he was simply the wrong man for the job at the wrong time. Someone like St Louis or De Gaulle would have taken up the challenge, that is according to their character and personality (not the historical facts of course), someone with a grand idea of the country, greater than their own ego. L16th was mostly interested in science and his favorite hobby was repairing locks and keys ! He was one of the only French kings who didn't have countless lovers and cheating on his wife, he prefer to be at the workshop making locks and organizing science expeditions throughout the world, he would have made an awesome Science Minister today... Sadly History decided otherwise.
Jefferson was with Benjamin Franklin (at the time the Ambassador of the US in France) in France and remained in France during the Revolution while Franklin returned to the US. Franklin was the guy who convinced France to join the party against the British Empire during the US War of Independance.
The Napoleon fell in 1814 and for the second time in 1815, the Restauration Monarchy was in fact a puppet State puppeteered by the British Empire, at least at first. Than the Second Republic was founded after Louis Philippe, the Bourgeois King was thrown out of the throne and Napoleon's nephew, Prince Louis Napoleon was elected through many shenanigans Prince President and made a coup to become Emperor himself in 1850 founding the Second Empire until his fall in 1870 against Bismarck's army at Sedan. Prussians, newly becoming the unified Germany occupied Paris and its region for several months and left when the government paid their due as war reparations also leaving the Easter regions of Alsace and Lorraine to the newly formed German Reich. And they sowre to retake those regions one day, leading to an anti German propaganda during 40 years leading to WW1. (wasn't the reason of the war, but it was certainly an opportunity)
US tax is very low compared to other western countries. You pay about 30% of income, UK 44%, Denmark about 60% but they get excellent services.
But compared to canadas tax rate it is nearly identical.
This was one of the bloodiest and most brutal revolutions in human history, and it also gave birth to Napoleon who crowned himself an emperor and dictator.
Why dictator ? British propaganda worked well with you... he crowned himself because he was pushed by many to do so, I'm not saying he didn't like that but the fact is that he never intended in the first place to be emperor.
@@Comissar_Carolus So you don't actually dispute that he was a dictator, just the way he became one?
@@CleastIntwood He was an emperor not a Dictator.
@@Comissar_Carolus A dictator can be a king, an emperor, a theocrat of some sort, a president etc. Still a dictator.
@@Comissar_Carolus He made laws entirely on his own and his power was unchecked.
When one state collapses dictators always use that to grab power.
Same happened in Soviet Union with Stalin, and in post WW1 Germany with Hitler.
Awesome!
Well said, my dear. I too was not a focused student and I too wished to haved LEARNED more at school 💖💯
Read ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by Charles Dickens, it starts: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.’ If not, watch the 1958 film based on the book.
Missed you, i hope to see videos from you more frequently.
It seems like you should stick to more serious channels. I could recommend The People Profiles, Biographics, Kings and Generals, UsefulCharts, Knowledgia, Odd Compass and again History of China)
Not very fair to say that Marie Antoinette was "spending all of France's money". Her political enemies sure said as much, and to be sure, she was spending a LOT. But she was also hated from the very start because she was Austrian, and the French-Austrian alliance was one of necessity, not a genuine desire to be allied together. Austria was France's traditional enemy, and she became a symbol of that hated alliance. Court was a stuffy place, full of ridiculous protocol, so what was a young girl to do to keep herself occupied? Parties, of course. Endless diversions to keep from going insane at how lonely she was in a court riddled with protocol. The most famous example is probably the Hameau, the model village she had made so she and her friends could act out a simpler life.
Of course, it's also true that as the Queen, she was meant to spend money. She was the patron of the fashion industries after all, and she was expected to be a trendsetter in this way. She also had charities which she gave to generously - on one occasion, she had her children give away their Christmas toys to poor peasant children because she thought they already had too much. But she was distrusted and disliked from the start, so she never had much of a chance of gaining any kind of positive press. Centuries on, the libellistes work survives in the image of Marie Antoinette as a spendthrift who knowingly spent all around her while France fell further into financial ruin. Though she had no power to do so, when her husband fell into depression over the state of things, she tried to exert political will on the running of the country in order to attempt to fix things, and she was hated for this, too, because the Queen traditionally never held any real power or had any business being in government.
And no, she never said, "Let them eat cake".
THANK YOUUUUU FINALLY SOMEONE SAYING IT, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.
Hi! I'm a new subscriber. I watched some of your earlier history reactions. I would like to recommend Extra Credits' Genghis Khan. Its a 6 part biography but it does a decent job explaining the the Mongol warlord from both a personal and historical perspective. Also,research the Gokturks if you can. They played a prominent role in the Eurasian Steppe.
French was for a long time the world (Europe and Russia) diplomatic language
It *still* is. That's decided at the Vienna Congress in 1815. In Vienna, they declared the Concert of Europe, and a standardised convention for the European diplomacy, and an officially acclaimed language for that, which was French.
Then came the Berlin Conference in 1884 where Otto von Bismarck proposed that English should be accepted a secondary language for diplomacy as it is widely spoken in the world. He did so to challenge France. (For he knew that the French would not accept, and the British would not be eager to support his decision if he proposed German.)
Then the United States declared in 1945, the languages the UN would function by: English, French, Russian, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic.
Historically speaking, French is the foremost lingua franca in legal sense, and at any part of the world, you may rightfully demand a document to be written in French.
(Bear in mind, just to annoy Anglos. ^_^)
There is a mistake in the video, Marie Antoinette never said "let them eat cake" that's a myth it was actually said 100 years before her by Marie-Thérèse, the wife of Louis XIV. And it was let them eat brioche
All he says in the video about Marie Antoinette is pretty much false.
If there's *any* part of world history that Americans should learn it is the French Revolution. Well done for doing so. The American Revolution and French Revolution are so closely related in the foundational philosophies and even some of the characters (*ahem* Lafayette).
Napoleonic Wars are out from Oversimplified
My personal favourite series of videos from him
Maybe this has been adressed in a previous comment but anyway:
One factor playing in the start of the Revolution (in French when we put the big R we know it's THAT one) that is largely overshadowed is the bourgeoisie's role. Legally, society was divided in three classes: the "privilegied" Nobility and Clergy (literraly, that special, i.e private laws applying to them), and the Third Estate.
BUT the Third Estate was not only poor, starving, flee infested peasants. A special class had emerged, enriched by trade and the precursors of industrialization: the bourgeoisie. By this point, they had often more money than the nobility, but still had to face a glass ceiling when it came to the political power they felt should come with it (also, the prestige in a culture where it meant a great deal). Some of them turned to enlightened philosophers ideas and began to ask for a change in government and society's order. So when the Estate Generals where called, they were given the platform they needed, and became one of if not the group fueling the beginings of the Revolution (until things got of of hands, upsi).
Anyway, for whoever reads this, hope it is of interest. Love the concept of this channel!
Thanks
A very thoughtful and thought provoking post ....E
Fun fact about Jean-Paul Maurat:
when I was about 11, I learned about him (I’m French) and my teacher told the class he was killed by his servant Charlotte, stabbed while bathing. She was somewhat of a double agent and was executed for that 4 days later if I remember correctly. He became a martyr of the French Revolution afterwards.
Windows were taxed here in UK too - you can still see some bricked up.
daylight robbery
Jefferson was the United states ambassador at the time . There is a movie Jefferson in Paris with nick nolte and Gwyneth Paltrow
Marie Antoinette is rather maligned in the cartoon. She wasn't popular in France at the time BECAUSE she was Austrian. She was viewed with suspicion and maligned in the contemporary writings, mainly due to her foreign origins. Recently a more sympathetic view has been taken and a lot of the scurrilous accusations have been revised.
I don't think Marat was quite as nihilistic as is portrayed here either, though he did treat his condition by bathing and met his end there at the hands of a female assassin.
You should have a look at oversimplified battle of hastings if you want to know a bit about the Vikings.
Louis XVI was not that weak, just indecisive and badly advised.
For example, he supported the expedition around the world undertaken by Jean-François de La Pérouse in 1785 (to such an extent that when he got on the scaffold, he was still hoping to hear from them).
And its naval and military policy allowed the French Navy to compete with the Royal British Navy during the Anglo-French War (1778-1783), even surpass them at certain times (when this had been the main problem of the Seven Years War). Then his decision to aid the American insurgents was one of the major decisions he was able to make in his foreign policy. Unless he was influenced by Enlightenment thinkers, he was not inert as the video tells it.
What we learnt from history of French rev
Don't be persuaded by someone named guillotine and Napolean , and make your own self govt .
Don't go on war if your people aren't interested
Never , i mean never help America financially , because they never pay you back.
It is said that one of the reasons the US drives on the right is you copied the French after the revolution. The French aristocrats drove on the left, which was the usual practice everywhere, so after the revolution everyone drove on the right. We never had a revolution so the UK still drives on the left, as do most countries that were part of the British Empire.
09:39 Also known as a poll tax. You may have heard about Margaret Thatcher's poll tax, euphemistically referred to as the Community Charge, but did you know a poll tax was first tried in 14th century England, provoking the Peasant's Revolt?
09:41 And the window tax was also used in Britain, albeit more on the middle class.
19:47 I was surprised to find he was the US ambassador to France a the time, too. I thought he was president by then.
23:16 I can never remember if the existing republic in France is the fourth or fifth.
5:30 It was considered a role model by many people (probably because of Charlemagne). To give you a quick example: King Friedrich the Great of Prussia had ordered his official court language to be French.
Most european courts actually
Yay !
Yet another aside When a queen gave birth there were a lot of people in the room not just the medics. This was to ensure the child was truly from the queen's body.
France assisted the American Revolution as a way of making Britain fight a two front war. The cost of aiding the American Revolution caused the French Revolution where all the aristocracy that helped America had the heads chopped off.
did mr squeaky, keep his own diary of events?
Looking at the news today, what a day to release this video lol
I know, right?
Yes,France was the model for many other european countries in cases like fashion,etiquete,style,arts,also for long periods economically and military powerful,on of the most powerful countries in Europe and the world for many centuries. Many courts around Europe spoke french as that was the highest fashion.Its language was considered like the english is today,world wide and something every educated person should know.
Fun fact: 7 year war, was basically the first world war, because people were fighting around the world, but it isn't named as such (for some reason)
Also Louis 16th wasn't supposed to be a king, but after his grandfather, father and older brother dies around the same time, he was the only choice.
Also also, The cake thing never happened. Cakes didn't even exist back then.
You need to watch the British version of that film "Carry on Don't loose your head"... Although ours was created in 1967...
I'll be honest, I've never seen what happened in America as a 'revolution' - the term 'independence war' more accurately describes what it was.
Missing a VERY important part about that march on Versailles.
When the women came to Versailles they asked to see the Queen, and she did through a balcony and even bowed before the people, in a symbolic gesture. Secondly three women were invited to meet the King and he did, and all of those three women were very respectful when they met the King showing that the people weren't angry towards the King himself. That's why I don't like the Oversimplified on the French Revolution because it's very misleading even for casual history...
To be fair to the British they taxes the 13 colonies at a lower rate than the Isles, unlike other European powers.
You should do epic history's first crusade
French and British rulers had been spending their countries into debt for centuries with stupid wars with each other. France tried to make their home population pay it off, the UK tried to shift some of it to the American colonists. Both approaches inspired revolution.
Tennis did not exist at those times.
It was palm game.
This moment is called "traité du jeu de paume"
"Palm game's treaty"
Oversimplified isn't a way to describe what happened in our country thoses days. But...yeah....
If you want to get a more detailed explanation, you should try to find the tv movie "la révolution française"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_R%C3%A9volution_fran%C3%A7aise_(film)
there are certainly dubbed version or at least with subtitles.
Fascinating.
1784: Adam Weishaupt issues his order for the French Revolution to be started by by Maximilien Robespierre in book form. This book was written by one of Weishaupt's associates, Xavier Zwack, and sent by courier from Frankfurt to Paris. However en route there, the courier is struck by lightning, the book detailing this plan discovered by the police, and handed over to the Bavarian authorities. 1786: The Bavarian government publish the details of the Illuminati plot in a document entitled, "The Original Writings of The Order and Sect of The Illuminati." They then send this document to all the heads of church and state throughout Europe, but sadly their warning is ignored.
In England we guess yeah because I said Messing around because there is a cabin on the satnav and it was that yeah tap somewhere
Some people don't quite get how out of touch summoning the Estates General was. Imagine if Congress hadn't been summoned since the Civil War. Imagine how much of a struggle it would be to do the very basics (figure out how many people were supposed to be there, who was supposed to be there, the basic mechanics of how to run Congress etc). Then imagine taking these representatives that have been pretty hastily chosen and who are largely unqualified, and telling them, "I want you to rebuild our economy." It's a nice enough theoretical idea to get the people to advise you, but the way King Louie XVI went about it was so flawed that it made the whole situation worse.
What the French Revolution brought in a long time was the standardization of weights and measures, the introduction of the metric system in Europe, money with 100 cents.
they tried a ten day week
I think you should react to “ Cold War ” by Oversimplified. Thanks
there is a good documentary on the french revolution by lucy worsley.
It's oversimplified, but the most important is here. It's not that much a class revolt, since the bourgeoisie (sorry, I don't know the word for it in english) was rich but was also in the thirt estate. It's more the privileges for the clergy and the nobility who was an issue.
But if there wasn't the financial crisis and the harvest disaster, people wouldn't have probably revolted (I mean not as much as they did).
Welcome to the Oversimplified family 👪
I have just been watching your videos about Britain (Empire, Isles, Culture, ect.) and saw something you called "Smarties" that didn't look like they smarties we have (they looked more like lovehearts), I also know MilkyWay in UK is different from US. Can you do a vid on the differences in sweets/candies and other shared food?
Might be fun to do, although I’d have to get my hands on some British candy. I mean...sweets 😏
Honestly, there’s only one really important aspect of the 7 year war, which is the resulting fallout of Britain’s economy. Leading right into the American Revolution.
There was some flexing of the power dynamics of the European powers, but most of it was of little international consequence.
Key Point. The French Revolution is complex with many stages and many twists. By all means, get an overview first. If you do want to learn more, though, you should probably focus on one stage at a time. Otherwise your head might explode.
There was a window tax in England, we have a bedroom tax now
Well the seven years war is also known as the French and Indian war and yes at the time George washing and actually almost every American soldier and officer who fought in the American revolution did either serve in the British army or if not in the British army, alongside the British at least. As Americans we forget that we use to have a king.
Louis XVI wasn't a bad King, he tried to reform france but he had bad ministers... he was ready to accept some changes. It's the republic propaganda to make him a very indecisive and stupid King but he was someone that wasn't really fit to be King but he did his best nevertheless.
Also I want to point out that at the begining of the Revolution the French weren't against the monarchy, if Louis hadn't try to escape we could have nowaday a government like in Britain. And many noble wanted to get rid of the King. The Revoltion wouldn't have been succesful if they didn't get the support of some people among the richest, they wanted position and a better place but instead were mostly killed by the extremist...
You might like to read A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel.
It's fictional but very well-researched and gives a fascinating account of the lives of some of the key figures of the revolution and how the violence and paranoia escalated.
You should react to the 7 years war, by the armchair historian
Someone once told me French Revolution is a mix between Russian bloody revolution and American Revolutionaries ideas
There was a lot of cross pollination among the thinkers behind the American and French revolutions.
Brand new America was paying off debt to broke Britain. Britain was in financial difficulty when they decided to cause trouble for the colonies. In fact it was not a popular war among the British people and parliament. Every nation was in financial straits.
The Brits,French and Spanish spent years warring with eachother
Napoleon was between revolutions. Every now and then when things aren’t going well for France they declare a new republic (they’re in their 5th now). Because Napoleon was the emperor the republics ceased. So the french ended up having 3 revolutions
The King's grandfather - that is the 15th Louis of the name - was want to see two certain wretched peasants when he rode out hunting (or to the ladies 🚺 which is another hunting). One day as he rode by majesty saw only one poor hind. This one painfully dragged a pine wood coffin ⚰ 😳 💀. The king asked him - yes the son of Saint Louis deined to talk to the wretch - what he did there? The reply "Majesty my brother to his grave...." . The king asked him what he died of? "If it please his majesty - hunger."
The king spurred his horse away.
Yes it was its was also a superpower. But art science architecture was big . But Louis 14th was the pinnacle of France power and culture mush of the debt comes from Louis 14 and 15 th reign and the American revolution multiple wars
The Irish potatoe famine is a good watch
France was still regarded as the centre of fashion and culture by most of the world well into the 20th century, and many French people will be upset if it's not still the case! As for the Revolution, it's infamously one of the most complicated topics in history so it'll be hard to get across in a video. The issue was not just that the French peasantry were overtaxed but that the whole government infrastructure was archaic, mediaeval and ineffectual (not reformed since France was made of of several feudal units) so, as the video touched on, people could be paying totally different taxes just down the road for arbitrary reasons - and the privileges of the nobles and clergy (who controlled the provincial Parlements, which still sat even when the Estates-General did not) meant that reforms never touched them. A century before the Revolution, Louis XIV had tried to get the nobility in line via a centralised absolute monarchy, but this was only ever as good as the king leading it, and with a weak king like Louis XVI the system failed. An important point is that the Revolution was not simply a revolt of peasants over food - that had happened before in French history but always fizzled out - but when the nobles tried to push back against the King's belated reforms, that opened the way for the bourgeoisie (the educated urban middle class in the Third Estate) to take advantage of the public anger in an organised way. A common mistake people make is to mix up the mostly Paris-based bourgeoisie who led the Revolution with the ordinary poor people whose anger was behind it - the latter weren't necessarily keen on an idealistic, Enlightened republic and happily fell in line with Napoleon's Empire later.
That’s Donald Sutherland next to Gene Wilder
Well the "class" view of the revolution is a very misleading one, the revolution was essentially made by the "bourgeoisie", rich people who weren't nobles, but often richer than most nobles. There were actually more like three sides in the revolution : The counter-revolution, the "liberals" bourgeoisie, the "statists" (Robespierre, Napoléon). :)
Yeah, my gut was telling me that he wasn't quite presenting the whole picture. Guess that's why it's called "oversimplified."
@@SoGal_YT Yup but you'll see in the second part that he covers it all quite good actually. :) Thanks for your content. ;)
Robespierre and Napoleon didn't have much in common. Robespierre's basis of support was largely the urban poor, whereas Napoleon was supported by the richer sections of the population who thought the revolution had become too radical. Robespierre and the Jacobins abolished slavery, Napoleon reintroduced slavery, etc.
It's not really misleading - the French Revolution was more radical than you think. When the monarchy was overthrown in 1792 (at the behest of the sans-coulottes and Paris Sections), universal (male) suffrage was created, and later in 1793-94 many deputies, notably those sent in the provinces, engaged in proto-socialist policies, like redistribution of the lands confiscated to those convicted of treason, free and non religious public education, abolition of slavery, price fixing... Not everything worked well and not everything was applied perfectly or for long, but still, the French Revolution, especially in its 92-94 period was very radical and certainly not friendly towards purely bourgeois interests. Later in 1796, a revolutionary named Babeuf wrote a authentically proto-communist manifesto.
It's a bit different from "Rich vs poor".
The first two estates had privileges by law that the rest of the people didn't have. The Third Estate actually includes some richer people, like merchants or workshop owners, as well as doctors, lawyers, and so on. There were also poorer people from the first two estates.
The main problem was, again, the fact the first two estates had a lot of privileges that that Third Estate didn't have, just because they were born into it. It's not exactly like today where the children of rich people are better off because of the money their parents have; it was a thing that was written in the very laws that governed the country. The only two ways you could become a member of the nobility was either being born into it or receiving a title from the government. That's it.
There are a lot of debates to be had about our current system too, but the problem at the time was a bit different.
The 7 Years war is sometimes called the first world war since it was fought around the world. The fighting in the American theater is called the French & Indian Wars. The war left the UK in bad shape financially and it's why they raised taxes on their American Colonies. The French were in even worse shape and helping fund the American Revolution did not help. Once they chop off the first head things spiral out of control pretty quickly. One of the key differences between the American and French revolutions was how the American revolution stayed organized and controlled while the French revolution degenerated into almost total chaos.
20:15 Thomas Paine was in France at the beginning of the French Revolution, and would be eventually jailed an marked for execution. The fall of Robespierre saved him.
If you want, watch on TH-cam la révolution française partie 1 les années lumières and partie 2 les années terribles, it's a movie really good and historically accurate, but unfortunately it was in french
It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known .. - A Tale of Two Cities.
A woman that loves history. A unicorn indeed
dont forget epic history tv
I’ll be getting back to them and Napoleon right after this.