I’m embarrassed by how little I know about the French Revolution. I mean, I thought I knew more than I did. I suppose one can never really know enough about an event as epochal as the French ...

The Women’s March on Versailles was one of the most dramatic moments of the French Revolution. It was a bold and desperate act driven by hunger, anger, and a burning desire for justice. The pivotal ...

Mathematician and author, the Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794) was an aristocrat who nevertheless embraced the early stage of the French Revolution. Even as the Jacobins hunted him down during the ...

When angry commoners stormed the Bastille in Paris on July 14, 1789, they struck a blow against one of the monarchy’s most forbidding symbols. The infamous prison no longer exists—it was destroyed in ...

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

Seeking a mandate from the French people for his policies, Louis XVI convened the Estates General. Events soon outran the ...

Throughout the 18th century, France faced a mounting economic crisis. A rapidly growing population had outpaced the food supply. A severe winter in 1788 resulted in famine and widespread starvation in ...