Flight to Varennes: The King's Desperate Escape

Flight to Varennes: The King's Desperate Escape

In June 1791, King Louis XVI of France, his wife Marie Antoinette, and their children attempted a desperate flight from Paris to the royalist stronghold of Montmédy. The plan, orchestrated by the Swedish count Axel von Fersen, involved a disguised family, a large berline carriage, and a network of loyal soldiers. But the flight unraveled when the king was recognized at Sainte-Menehould by postmaster Jean-Baptiste Drouet, leading to his capture at Varennes-en-Argonne. This episode explores the details of the escape, the political climate that drove the royal family to flee, and the devastating consequences for the monarchy. We discuss the role of the émigrés, the reactions of the National Assembly, and how this failed escape cemented the revolution's radical turn—paving the way for the Champ de Mars massacre and the eventual trial and execution of the king. Drawing on primary accounts, we examine the tense moments, the fateful delays, and the legacy of an event that transformed the French Revolution. #FlightToVarennes #LouisXVI #MarieAntoinette #AxelvonFersen #JeanBaptisteDrouet #SainteMenehould #Varennes #Berline #FrenchRevolution #History #FexingoHistory #18thCentury #Monarchy #Escape #Revolution #Emigres #NationalAssembly #ChampDeMars Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

August 10 1792 The Day the French Monarchy Fell

Lucas and Luna dive into the insurrection of August 10, 1792, the day when Parisian sans-culottes and federated National Guards stormed the Tuileries Palace, massacred the Swiss Guard, and forced Louis XVI to seek refuge with the Legislative Assembly. This episode follows the lead-up from the Brunswick Manifesto, the role of the revolutionary Commune and the Jacobins, and the king's final moments as a constitutional monarch. They examine how this uprising ended the Bourbon monarchy in practice, paved the way for the September Massacres, and radicalised the Revolution into its most violent phase. Along the way, they discuss the political clubs, the fall of the Feuillants, and the fate of the royal family after the attack. A crucial turning point that reshaped France forever. #FrenchRevolution #August10 #Tuileries #SwissGuard #SansCulottes #LouisXVI #BrunswickManifesto #CommuneInsurrectionnelle #Jacobins #Feuillants #LegislativeAssembly #1792 #RevolutionaryParis #Monarchy #History #FexingoHistory #Europe #Revolution Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The King's New Guard: How Lafayette Abandoned His King

In this episode of The French Revolution: The Collapse of Royal Power, Lucas and Luna explore the pivotal moment when the Marquis de Lafayette, hero of two worlds and commander of the National Guard, turned his back on Louis XVI. After the Women's March on Versailles in October 1789, Lafayette insisted the royal family move to Paris, effectively making the king a prisoner in his own capital. We dive into Lafayette's conflicted loyalties—his genuine belief in constitutional monarchy, his horror at mob violence, and his desperate attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable. Then we follow his flight to Austria after the Champs de Mars massacre in July 1791, where he ended up in an Austrian prison. This is the story of a man who wanted to be George Washington but ended up a ghost at the feast of revolution. Along the way, we touch on the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Tennis Court Oath, and the Festival of the Federation—all seen through Lafayette's increasingly tragic lens. #FrenchRevolution #MarquisDeLafayette #NationalGuard #WomenMarchOnVersailles #ChampsDeMarsMassacre #DeclarationOfTheRightsOfMan #TennisCourtOath #FestivalOfTheFederation #LouisXVI #ConstitutionalMonarchy #FlightToVarennes #History #FexingoHistory #Europe #18thCentury #GardeNationale #HeroOfTwoWorlds #OlmutzPrison Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Women of the Revolution: From Salons to the Scaffold

In 1789, women had no political rights in France. Yet by 1793, they were leading marches, running political clubs, writing constitutions, and being sent to the guillotine for their ideas. This episode follows the extraordinary arc of women's participation in the French Revolution — from the October Days when market women marched on Versailles to demand bread from the king, through the founding of the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women by Pauline Léon and Claire Lacombe, to the tragic fate of Olympe de Gouges, author of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, who was executed in 1793 for her political writings. Along the way, Lucas and Luna explore the contradictions of a revolution that proclaimed universal rights while excluding half the population, the role of women in the sans-culottes movement, and the eventual crackdown in 1793 that banned women's political clubs. How did the French Revolution both liberate and suppress women? And what does that tell us about its legacy? #FrenchRevolution #WomenInHistory #OlympeDeGouges #PaulineLéon #ClaireLacombe #OctoberDays #SocietyOfRevolutionaryRepublicanWomen #SansCulottes #DeclarationOfTheRightsOfWoman #CharlotteCorday #MarieAntoinette #Guillotine #RightsOfWomen #18thCentury #Paris #History #FexingoHistory #WomenAndRevolution Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Revolutionary Calendar: Time as a Weapon

In October 1793, the French Republic didn't just behead a king — it beheaded time itself. This episode walks through the creation of the French Republican Calendar, a radical attempt to erase Christian and royalist chronology and replace it with a decimal, nature-based system. We cover the calendar's architect Charles-Gilbert Romme, the poet Fabre d'Églantine who named the months, and the strange new rhythms of décades and sans-culottides. We talk about how the calendar worked — ten-day weeks, five extra holidays at year's end, months renamed for weather and harvest — and why it ultimately failed after a dozen years. We also discuss the calendar's political purpose: to remake daily life, break the Church's hold on time, and create a new secular citizen. Along the way we touch on the Thermidorian Reaction, the Concordat of 1801, and Napoleon's decision to scrap the calendar on 1 January 1806. It's a story of idealism, control, and the limits of social engineering. #FrenchRevolution #RevolutionaryCalendar #CharlesGilbertRomme #FabreDEglantine #Décade #SansCulottides #ThermidorianReaction #Concordat1801 #Napoleon #DecimalTime #SecularCalendar #FexingoHistory #History #Europe #18thCentury #CalendarReform #Timekeeping #RevolutionaryFrance Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]