Elpidio Valdes

September 19, 2022

Regicide

Hello, and welcome to Revolutions, After the New Model Army crushed the Scots at Preston and brought the curtain down on the Second Civil War, the question still remained: what to do with the King? As I mentioned last week, a Parliament had put its uncertainty on display by simultaneously voting back in January 1648 […]

September 19, 2022

The Man of Blood

Hello, and welcome to Revolutions, Writing about the events that led to the First Civil War, political philosopher James Harrington, who lived through it all, famously observed that it was the dissolution of this government caused the war, not the war the dissolution of this government, by which he meant that King Charles was not […]

September 17, 2022

Checkmate

Hello, and welcome to Revolutions, When the New Model Army defeated King Charles at Naseby in mid June 1645, the First English Civil War basically came to an end. I say basically because the last Royalist strongholds didn’t surrender until early 1646. But after Naseby, the only question was how long these little pockets of […]

September 16, 2022

The Trial of Louis XVI

Hello, and welcome to Revolutions. When the National Convention convened in September 1792, it was ostensibly meeting for one single purpose: write a new constitution for France. But writing that constitution was absolutely not the first priority for the Convention delegates when they arrived. No, the first priority was deciding what to do about the […]

September 15, 2022

The National Convention

Hello, and welcome to Revolutions. So, last time we dealt with the bloody consequences of the power vacuum that was left after the Insurrection of August 10. The overthrow of the monarchy and the abandonment of the Constitution of 1791 meant that no one was really in charge and so no one was really in […]

September 13, 2022

The September Massacres

Hello, and welcome to Revolutions. So last week we witnessed a massive turning point in the French Revolution; a massive turning point in world history. The Insurrectionary Commune backed by an army of militant sans-culottes, an ultra patriotic national guardsmen, violently seized control of Paris on August 10, 1792. The King was now suspended, the […]

September 13, 2022

The Insurrection of August 10

Hello, and welcome to Revolutions. Last time, we saw the profound impact that France’s declaration of war had on domestic politics. So far, the revolution had played out against a backdrop of peace. Yes, fears about the intentions of the Austrians had long played a role in how the revolutionaries thought and acted, but until […]

September 13, 2022

War

Hello, and welcome to Revolutions. When we left off last time, Europe was hurtling towards war. The French believed the Austrians were a stagnant relic that could not possibly withstand the might of the fully mobilized French nation. The Austrians believe the French armies were in disarray, the French Treasury was empty, and the French […]

August 31, 2022

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Hello, and welcome to Revolutions. The representatives of the French people, constituted as a National Assembly, and considering that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public misfortunes and governmental corruption, have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of […]

August 31, 2022

Talleyrand

Hello, and welcome to Revolutions. So I was in fact able to carve out out some time to produce this little gift before I officially come back next week. And while I’m here, I’d also like to say that I’m glad to see everyone buying gifts for themselves at revolutionspodcastfundraiser.com. It closes up shop in […]