Hello again.
At the start of the course I explained that
there were three questions that we were going to be investigating.
The origins of the French Revolution,
why it took the particular course or trajectory that it did,
and finally, what were it's outcomes or consequences.
What I'm going to do in this final, group of lectures this week
is, to discuss a range of perspectives on the third of those questions,
the significance or the outcomes of the French revolution.
I'm going to offer you six perspectives, beginning with one
on what happened next, which is a good place
to start, in terms of understanding the importance of
the French revolution, or the limitations to what it actually changed.
I explained that the regime of the Directory,
which is set up after the National Convention in 1795,
is a narrow regime in terms of where
it draws it's political power and legitimacy from.
It seemed to be a rather narrowly class based regime
and it suffers constantly from challenges from left and right.
For example, in October 1795,
there's an attempt by royalists in the streets of Paris to overthrow the regime.
One of the reasons why it's unsuccessful is that Napoleon
Bonaparte brings in his cannon to the streets of Paris.
But then at the same time, and into
1796 and 1797, there's a challenge from the left,
where Gracchus Babeuf, a militant revolutionary,
and someone who in some ways is articulating a communist ideology,
of the nationalization of the means of the production and distribution,
also attempts to win public support.
He, too fails,
and is executed in 1797.
But the regime does seem to be chronically unstable,
and it's one reason why the
great revolutionary painter, Jacques-Louis David, in 1799,
does this, allegorical painting, from classical antiquity
of the Sabine women, intervening in the streets of Rome,
to prevent warring factions