The French Revolution - Full History Documentary

There are so many events in history, which have their own importance, and each event or series of events have been part of the history with some positives or negatives. The French Revolution is also one of those events in the history of humans, which is deemed important and critical in so many ways. To get a full perspective of the French Revolution, here is a documentary containing a series of events as well as information, how things happened and how events unfolded with the passage of time. It is important to mention here that a documentary film can have different footage, which may be real regarding the subject, but in this documentary, the video footages are not real in terms of events being shown, but it is quite amazing the way things have been represented. One may feel that he/she is actually experiencing the real events of the French Revolution.

               The Start of the documentary is so dramatic and action-packed with great intro to the French Revolution as it is said that “in the height 18th century, the most glorious kingdom of Europe was going to fall with the power of its own people, where one man would inspire the nation to cast aside the hated King & Queen, so a new republic would be born in blood, the blood of the French Revolution”. These intro lines are so powerful and interesting to catch the attention of the reader. Different experts and historians have been part of the documentary to talk about the French Revolution. One of the experts David Bell from the Johns Hopkins University said that the French Revolution was such a great event in history, which actually helped people to believe that they can recreate almost everything in their society. It was believed by the people that they cannot only change the politics and institutions, but they can also change the human nature, so the French Revolution was one of the great events in history, which laid the foundation for real modern world, where everything was changed from the past.

               The French land was a feudal land, where dictatorship and monarchy were enjoying its rules for decades without any issues. The documentary highlighted very important point regarding the French Revolution that it was not only going to happen to change the overall fate of Europe, but it was going to make a huge impact across the seas. That’s why, when it comes to Western history, it is considered one of the most critical events. There has been the history of capitalism as well as the industrial revolution, but one expert said in the documentary that if we think about the eventful revolution, then the French Revolution is the most important one as compared to many other past events. The great part of the French Revolution is that it brought so much to the European society like it brought bread for the poor and it introduced the essence of democracy in Europe, whereas earlier the Kings were ruling with absolute powers. But all of this came with a price like it was not a peaceful revolution, rather it was a revolution written with the blood.

               It was quite interesting to know about King Robespierre, who was one of the icons of Europe, a symbol of power and monarchy, but he was executed in 1794. The documentary had filmed footage to show Robespierre in the prison, being executed. These kinds of footage can be hard to see, but they also add so much drama and action to the documentary as well. It was important to know through this documentary that the monarchy of the French was mismanaging the people and system that people were deprived of having enough food to feed their families and children. The people were hungry and this number was increasing with the passage of time because the population was also increasing. It was also observed that people were also dying due to various diseases, but the number of hungry people was more than anything else. So, it was a worrying sign for the rulers, but they were busy in other things.

               It is important for the audience to understand why anger and feeling of anxiety were increasing in the people living in French, so documentary showed and talked about so many things, which can be evident to see the negligence of rulers. It was a time when the country was dealing with economic issues and chaos, but rulers were busy enjoying their lives as if nothing was happening. One good example is given at the 16th minute of the documentary when it was talked about a Queen Marie, who was given the name of “Madame Deficit”, because she was spending so much on dresses, jewel, and shoes, etc. The documentary also shared an interesting story about the Louis and Marie, the King and Queen, who married but could not conceive for seven years, because Louis had some medical issue, which was treated with surgery, and then they had a child.

               France was being ruled by a collective dictatorship when the Committee of Public Safety was formed, but this Committee was not productive at all for the people as it was just the continuation of the dictatorship and nothing else. The terror was the main idea followed by Robespierre, who killed so many enemies, but eventually became the victim of this terror too. It was revealed at the end of the documentary that historians have different views regarding the end of the Revolution, as some believe that it ended with the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, whereas some believe that it continued after that until the 19th century. The French Revolution can be easily understood by watching this wonderful documentary covering all aspects of the French Revolution.

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3AbMUQXft4