Welcome to Revolutions.
In 1625 Charles Stuart became king of England, Scotland and Ireland. His relationship with Parliament immediately got off on the wrong foot.
In the 1630s, King Charles ruled without Parliament. His financial policies and religious innovations annoyed many of his subjects.
The Scots revolted after Charles tried to impose the Book of Common Prayer, forcing the King to recall Parliament.
The Long Parliament convened in November 1640. Tensions ran high as Parliamentary leaders tried to assert control over the State.
A brief description of the soldiers who fought in the English Civil Wars.
After negotiations with Parliament broke down, King Charles raised his standard in August, 1642. The opening campaigns of the First Civil War tilted in the Royalists favor.
In late 1643, Parliament sealed a military alliance with the Scots. Their combined force defeated the Royalists at Marston Moor.
After years of muddling along, Parliament created a more professional army. They finally defeated King Charles at Nasbay in June 1645.
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After the Battle of Naseby ended the King's chances for military victory, he became the frustrating center of post-war negotiations.
As the New Model Army debated the merits of constitutional democracy, King Charles was scheming to put himself back on the throne.
After Pride's Purge, Charles I was executed by the Rump Parliament on January 30, 1649. Then Cromwell invaded Ireland.
Charles II raised an army of Scots to help him claim the throne, but they were defeated by Oliver Cromwell at Dunbar and Worcester.
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For someone who was born free John Lilburne sure spent a lot of time in prison
God wanted me to tell you that property is theft.
In 1653 Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament and then Barebone's Parliament dissolved itself. The Commonwealth was not getting off to a great start.
The Instrument of Government was the first written constitution in English history.
The dissolution of the First Protectorate Parliament led to the brief and unpopular Rule of the Major Generals. When the Second Protectorate Parliament was finally called they tried to make Oliver Cromwell king.
After the Puritans came to power they tried to abolish Christmas. Seriously.
Oliver Cromwell died on September 3, 1658. His son and heir Richard was iunable to hold the Protectorate together.
After serving in Parliament and the courts of both Charles I and Charles II, Edward Hyde wrote a massively influential history of the English Civil Wars.
The English Monarchy was restored in 1660.
A brief tour of the Thirteen Colonies.
After the French and Indian War, the British Ministry started levying new taxes on the colonies. The colonists were not amused.
After the failure of the Stamp Act, Parliament passed a new series of taxes known as the Townshend Acts. The colonists were not amused.
The Boston Tea Party led Parliament to pass the Intolerable Acts in 1774. The colonists were really super not amused.
After the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, war between Britain and the colonies broke out. George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief and laid siege to Boston.
The American colonies declared independence in July 1776. Then their armies got chased around New York.
When in the course of human events...
With the revolution on the line, George Washginton led his army to victory at Trenton. Unfortunately he would be unable to stop the British from taking Philadelphia in 1777.
Gentleman Johnny's Party Train ran into some trouble in 1777.
After Saratoga the French joined the war, the British changed strategies and Washington's army spent a miserable winter at Valley Forge.
The Episode That Wouldn't Die.
Despite the thrashing he gave Horatio Gates at the Battle of Camden, Lord Cornwallis found the Carolinas slipping out of his grasp.
Lord Cornwallis was trapped in Yorktown in October 1781. His surrender ended the American War of Independence.
As the newly independent United States trasitioned from war to peace, it was tripped up by the ineffective Articles of Confederation.
Between the end of the War of Independence and the Constitutional Convention the new United States was plagued by problems. The Articles of Confederation were not up to solving them.
The ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights marks the end of the Revolutionary Era.
Hang them on the wall of every classroom.
Tours. Episode Numbering. Money. Parlez-vous français?
The population of pre-Revolutionary France was divided into Three Estates: the Church, the Nobility and Everyone Else.
The Ancien Regime was a mess in desperate need of reform.
As power passed from Louis XV to Louis XVI, royal ministers attempted to implement reforms, but were thewarted at every turn.
Just as the financial situation was about to explode the monarchy was hit by a public relations nightmare.
King Louis called the Assembly of Notables in early 1787 to approve a major fincancial reform package. But intead of rubber stamping the initiatives, the Notables scrutinized every detail.
Round and round and round it goes...
The Séance Royale
The king's attempt to break the Parments in the summer of 1788 was was met by widespread resistence.
The debate over the coming Estates General awakened the political consciousness of the Third Estate. Also the weather was rotten.
On Day 2 of the Estates General, the Third Estate went on strike. Sponsor link: Lynda.com/revolutions
English, French and American Revolutions Tours! Spring 2015!
On July 14, 1789 a mob of angry Parisians stormed the Bastille.
After a wave of chaos spread across France, the National Assembly abolished feudalism on the night of Aug. 4, 1789.
After the Night of August 4th, the National Assembly divided into new political factions.
Enjoy
In October 1789 some angry houswives changed the course of the French Revolution.
After the move to Paris, radical delegates from the National Assembly formed a new political club to help push their agenda.
In the leadup to the great Fête de la Fédération, the Marquis de Lafayette and a group of liberal nobles began to direct the course of the Revolution.
After the Feast of the Federation, Revolutionary France was outwardly calm, but internally divided.
In June 1791 the royal family tried to escape from Paris, but they were busted while passing through Verennes.
Would really like to get my hands on the salacious limericks the good Emperor composed while whacked on spice.
After the Flight to Varennes, populist agistators in Paris called for an end to the monarchy, leading to a bloody confrontation in July 1791.
As the National Assembly drew to a close, the Triumvirate rose to power.
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The new Legislative Assembly convened in October 1791 and quickly put France on the path to war.
Talleyrand!
In April 1792 France declared war on Austria.
On Aug 10, 1792 the radical sections of Paris overthrew the monarchy.
With the Allied armies approaching Paris, the sans-culottes broke into all the prisoners and slaughtered the inmates.
The National Convention voted unanimously to abolish the monarchy on Sept 21, 1792. Then they proceeded to go at each others throats.
King Louis XVI was put on trial by the National Convention and executed Jan 21, 1793.
After the Battle of Valmy the French armies advanced on all fronts.
In the spring of 1793 revolts against Paris started erupting all over France.
On May 31-June 2, 1793 Paris once again rose in armed insurrection against the national government.
Question Time!
In the summer of 1793 the Revolutionaries in Paris were besieged from all sides.
In the summer of 1793 a re-organized Committee of Public Safety began to consolidate power.
In the fall of 1793, the French Republic started to gain traction against its enemies. Setting up the stage for the Reign of Terror.
In October 1793 the Reign of Terror got started with the executions of Marie Antoinette and the Girondins.
In Oct 1793 the French Revolution took a stab at reforming time itself.
Marie Antoinette thought he was behind EVERYTHING.
Do not get into a popularity contest with George Washington.
At the end of 1793, the Committee of Public Safety completed it's consolidation of power.
In the spring of 1794. the Revolution devoured a few of her most beloved children.
If the mainspring of popular government in peacetime is virtue, amid revolution it is at once virtue and terror: virtue, without which terror is fatal; terror, without which virtue is impotent.
The events of 9 Thermidor II brought Act I of the French Revolution to a gruesome end.
After the events of 9 Thermidor, the Revolution began to swing back to the right.
The terrible winter of 1794-95 helped France push back all her enemies. Also...Poland!
That's the slogan that rallied the last remnents of the sans culottes to action...right before they got crushed by the Thermidorean Convention.
When the Thermidorean Convention introduced the Constitution of Year III, the political Right went a little nuts.
The adventures of everyone's favorite proto-communist.
Control the central position. Move on the rear. Live off the land.
Bonaparte almost gets beat! But then he doesn't. Also don't invade Ireland in December.
After taking a drubbing in the elections Year V, the Directory decided to just annul the results.
After Fructidor the Directory cracked down on the conservatives. They also created more sister republicans to systematically loot.
The Directory manipulated the elections of Year VI to block left-wing candidates. Meanwhile Talleyrand provoked the Americans into war and Bonaparte sailed for Egypt.
In July 1798 Bonaparte and his healthy, hopeful army arrived in Egypt. In August 1799 Bonaparte ditched his now demoralized, plague-ridden army and sailed for home.
While Bonaparte was off trying to conquer Egypt, the rest of Europe mobilized against France.
When the War of the Second Coalition got off to a terrible start for the French, the Triumvirate that had been running the Directory since 1797 was overthrown.
And his name is Napoleon Bonaparte.
After coming to power in 1799, First Consul Bonaparte achieved many of the Revolution's dreams and healed many of its open wounds. So he declared himself Emperor in 1804.
Napoleon conquered Europe. Then he got beat and the Bourbons came back.
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One last look back at the pile of severed heads.