Revolutionary Tradition and Les Mis

 

Revolution 1789

 

People

--The Monarchy

--Desmoulins

--Robespierre

--Danton

--Marat

--Jacobins

--Sans-culottes

--Napoleon

 

Events

--Tennis Court Oath

--Fall of the Bastille

--October Days

--Varennes

--Declaration of War

--Palace Invaded

--Louis XVI

--Reign of Terror

-- Fall of Robespierre

--At war

--Napoleon

 

 

Timeline

 

1789 in Les Miserables

--The Terror

--The People

--The Students

--Revolutionary

--The Monarchy

--Philosophy

 

Monuments

--Elephant

--Bastille

• Kings

--L'arc

--Place de Concord

--Pantheon

• People of

--Tuileries

--Notre Dame

--Elysées

 

Daily Sites

--Restraunts

--Cafes

--Street Names

--Guillotine

• # dead

--Children's Names and Games

 

Works Consulted

French forces are victorious at Valmy, image in Decaux.

By 1792, European Monarchs were eyeing France with suspicion. They had seen the overthrow of Louis XVI, by the French people, and worried that revolutionary fervor would spread to their countries. However, the monarchs were too suspecting of each other to unite against France.

While elsewhere in Europe caution was being displayed, in France the public opinion was for war. Reactionaries and the monarchy wanted war because they thought that the new government would be easily defeated by foreign powers. This would pave the way for a return to the old regime, with Louis at the head of government. Revolutionaries wanted war because they thought war would unify the country, and had a genuine desire to spread the ideas of the Revolution to all of Europe.

On April 20, 1792, the Legislative Assembly (France's governing body, formed in 1791) declared war on Austria. Although the French fared poorly at first, the armies became more successful as the war progressed.

This painting commemorates The Battle of Valmy, which was a turning point for French forces. It took place in September of 1792, and was one of the Republic's first victories (Schwartz).