The French Revolution's reign of terror

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2005

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the reign of terror during the French Revolution. On Monday September 10th 1792 The Times of London carried a story covering events in revolutionary France: "The streets of Paris, strewed with the carcases of the mangled victims, are become so familiar to the sight, that they are passed by and trod on without any particular notice. The mob think no more of killing a fellow-creature, who is not even an object of suspicion, than wanton boys would of killing a cat or a dog". These were the infamous September Massacres when Parisian mobs killed thousands of suspected royalists and set the scene for the events to come, when Madame La Guillotine took centre stage and The Terror ruled in France. But how did the French Revolution descend into such extremes of violence? Who or what drove The Terror? And was it really an aberration of the revolutionary cause or the moment when it truly expressed itself? With Mike Broers, Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall; Rebecca Spang, Lecturer in Modern History at University College London; Tim Blanning, Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
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0:46.4	enjoy the program. Hello on Monday September the 10th 1792 the Times of London
0:52.2	carried a story covering events in revolutionary France.
0:55.4	Quote, the streets of Paris strewn with the carcasses of the mangled victims
1:00.3	are become so familiar to the site that they are passed by and trod on without any particular notice.
1:07.0	The mob think no more of killing a fellow creature who's not even an object of suspicion than wanton boys would of killing a cat or a dog.
1:15.9	These were the September massacres when Parisian mobs killed thousands of suspected
1:19.8	royalists.
1:21.0	They were a fortest for the terror and set the scene for the events to come soon
1:24.8	afterwards, when the guillotine took centre stage and the terror ruled in France.
1:30.0	But how did the French Revolution descend into such extremes of violence?
1:34.4	Who or what drove the terror?
1:36.3	And was it really an aberration of the revolutionary cause or the moment when it truly
1:40.3	expressed itself?
1:42.3	With me to discuss the French Revolutionary Terror is Mike Breuer's lecture in Modern History at the University
	...

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