The French Revolution: Crash Course European History #21

Hi I’m John Green and this is Crash Course European History.

It’s 1789 and Europe has been through an endless number of wars.

Territory has changed hands, hundreds of thousands of people have died, and crop yields have

been bad lately.

War is bad for agriculture, for one thing, but also the weather hasn’t been too cooperative.

Reformers across the Dutch states and the Habsburg Netherlands want to be more like

the new United States, while Poles are demanding that the partition of their country be undone.

And one kingdom had emerged a hero from all the overseas revolutions because of its support

for the rebels in the thirteen North American colonies.

France has stood up for liberty and democracy and fraternity--in North America, anyway.

At home, it remained an absolute monarchy, and was virtually bankrupt from all the warring.

Its countryside was full of beggars--as was much of the European countryside even as aristocrats

grew ever wealthier.

And the poor and middle-class paid virtually all the tax collected to support these ceaseless

wars.

All of which is to say that in 1789, France--the strongest and most populous country on the

continent--was in crisis.

[Intro] In 1789 Louis XVI ruled France.

He loved to hunt and tinker with mechanical objects, especially locks.

His wife Marie Antoinette was the daughter of Maria Theresa of the Habsburg Empire and

the sister of Joseph II, its current ruler.

In a world where the marriage of two powerful royal families had long been seen as key to

stability and prosperity, what could go wrong?

Marie Antoinette was a big spender who had trouble relating to the poor of which France

had many.

As bad harvests made the price of bread soar, more families couldn’t afford to eat, or

else were eating bread that was cut with up to 50% sawdust.

In response to unaffordable bread, Marie-Antoinette reportedly said, “Qu'ils mangent de la brioche,”

which is a great opportunity to trot out my amazing French accent.

And also, to talk about brioche, which is in the center of the world today.

IIn English, the line is usually translated “let them eat cake,” but as you can see,

brioche isn’t cake exactly.

It’s just a different fancier more delicious kind of bread.

Mmm!

It’s delicious.

Fluffy, eggy, quite light.

I don’t understand why the peasants couldn’t just eat this stuff...

Stan says I’m hopelessly out of touch, to which I say, can I have some more of that

brioche?

At any rate, France as a whole was broke.

Now, its reform-minded ministers tried to revise the tax system so that the church and

the aristocracy would have to pay at least some taxes.

But you’ll recall, there was a group of appellate judges, the Parlement, who had to

register royal decrees, and they refused to register this one.

Bankers, meanwhile, refused to provide the Crown with additional loans.

Which led to a proper financial crisis.