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On the 27th of January, 1848, Alexi De Tockville, French aristocrats, and probably best known

in the English-speaking world as the author of a groundbreaking study of democracy in America,

addressed the Chamber of Deputies in Paris, and I will quote,

what shall I say, as if a gale or a revolution were in the air. This gale, no one knows where it

springs from, wins it blows, nor believe me whom it will carry with it. Can you say today that you

are certain of tomorrow? Do you know what may happen in France a year from now, or even a month

or a day from now? You do not know. But what you must know is that the tempest is looming on the horizon,

that it is coming towards us. So, Dominic, momentous words, and as it turns out, prophetic,

because that year of 1848 is commemorated as the year of revolutions.

The voice of prophecy, Tom, is often all the more resonant when it's read out in the

voice of Chief Inspector Jacques Cluzot, as that was. I thought you were going to say,

in French, the language of diplomacy. No, I wasn't going to say it. But yes, so we welcome

Inspector Cluzot to the podcast for this episode by the 1848 Revolutions. So, yeah, 1848 is

remembered as the year of revolutions. And yet, of course, the question is, what was it all

formed? What was it achieved? Because a lot of people listen to this. We'll have a vague idea

that 1848 is a bit like 1789 or 1968. It's one of those dates that conjures up images of barricades

and people on the streets. But it's more like 1968, though, isn't it? Because actually,

the revolutions fizzle out. And there's lots of kind of young people rushing around,

...