0:03 Finally! Finally, Pierre! The revolution succeeded, and we executed king Louis XVI. It's time to achieve the goals of the revolution. I signed your decree to execute all of the rich people who destroyed France. Congratulations to us Monsieur Maximilien. I'm really delighted that the revolution was a success. I just want to warn you that some of our fellow insurgents have some requests. -They believe that you ignored them a bit. -What!! No problem at all. -Execute them! -What!! Why? They're the people who continued the revolution to the end. My dear Pierre, if we focus on this nonsense, we won't be able to develop our country, France. Execute them immediately!! There's no time! This way they'll say we betrayed the revolution. Execute whoever says this as well. THis way we'll execute many people.
0:49 Do you pay for the execution out of your own money? There's been something wrong with you Pierre these days. No, nothing. As you wish Monsieur Maximilien. There's one little other thing. Go ahead. Women are saying that the revolution gave political rights to men only. Okay, no problem. -Execute all women. -As well?? I feel like we should hear what they have to say. If we kill them all, we won't have children. Surely we have to hear them, but we'll execute them afterwards. -Huh? -Any other problems? The church is very mad about what's happening. Should I say it? Demolish the church? Of course not. It's forbidden to demolish the church! Why would we? I'm just telling you to execute the people inside. I feel like what you're doing is against the revolution's principles. Really?
1:34 Really Pierre, you bastard? Get the hell out and execute yourself! -How can I do this? -You're not an honorable insurgent. You're vulgar! You're a vulgar insurgent. Okay, man. What the hell is happening! Guys! Someone execute the one at the buffet. What are you filming mister? Execute this man!! He's with El-Daheeh!! Hello my dear viewers. Welcome to a new episode of El-Daheeh. We talked previously about the start of the French Revolution. We stopped at a very crucial point. The people decided to execute the king and actually did execute him. European kingdoms started aligning against France.
2:21 "What the hell have you done!" The guillotine became the symbol. Let me take you by hand, my friend, and go to 1792, specifically September. On the outskirts of a small village called Valmy, found in north east of France, a French peasant who volunteered in the revolutionary army stood with his fellow soldiers. Rifles were shot everywhere around him. The ground was shaking beneath them. What was happening was that the Prussian army was firing cannons. The Prussian army was coming to invade France. The volunteered French peasant was surrounded by his fellow peasants. This peasant and the soldiers around him had left their homes to defend revolutionary France, the new republic. You might expect that such a war between Prussia and a bunch of French insurgents would easily end in Prussia's favor. At that time, the Prussian army was the strongest in all of Europe. It was the Bayrern not Borussia. The surprise was that these simple volunteers stood bravely
3:07 in a battle known as the Battle of Valmy. The French army managed to stop the Prussians and successfully block the attack. This victory had an enormous effect mentally. The revolution's spirits rose again. On the next day, the French parliament, or the National Convention, announced officially the end of monarchy, the annulment of such system, and the establishment of the first French republic. "I'm no longer monarchical, I'm madame republic." All of Europe was flabbergasted. "How can a bunch of amateur volunteers defeat such a skilled army?? Not just that! It's Europe's strongest army!!" The famous German literary man, Goethe, later said: "From that day, a new age will start in this world's history," because the revolution proved that it's a new force that can change all of Europe. Its power isn't only in France. This battle happened after threats from Prussia and Austria in a declaration that was known later as the Brunswick Manifesto. It's a declaration that threats the burning of Paris
3:54 if any harm was done to the royal family. The people were the "Thug life" posts. Just harm? The French did something a little bit more than harm. They didn't touch a single hair of the king. They took off his entire head. Instead of being afraid, the threat made the French more united. Europe quickly formed an alliance against the republican France. A group named "Haters of republican France and lovers of monarchy." Listen to this UEFA-like lineup, England, Austria, and Spain, as well as some Italian emirates. Normally, all of these hate each other, but all of them joined the fight against the revolution. Even though France was the one to declare war on Britain and the Netherlands because it believed that the war was inevitable either way, especially when France invaded Belgium, Britain wasn't ready for France to control these vital areas. France considered that its presence in Belgium was necessary for the revolution's safety, so it decided to declare war immediately. Since we're fighting either way, let me curse first. France was surrounded from every direction.
4:41 The European army surrounded on land, and the famous English fleet surrounded its ports in the sea. Fro the first time in history, France announced in August 1793 universal conscription and total mandatory drafting. Meaning that every citizen should forget about politics and elections and come fight immediately. Get up, get dressed, grab the nearest weapon, and go defend the country! This was a really novel decree because armies back then were full of professionals. Suddenly, armies were full of workers, simple peasants, and people who watch TV all day, where the most dangerous one had a hatchet or a fruit knife. Suddenly, they became soldiers in an army carrying rifles and revolution flags. They were fighting all of Europe. You might think that the battle that the French won encouraged them and made them win more battles. However, since the soldiers weren't professionals, the French performance started deteriorating. France lost a big battle.
5:26 Losing this battle made them retreat from Belgium. General Dumouriez, who claimed victory in Belgium before, was defeated. One month later, he escaped and joined the Austrians. As for the internal situation, it was a mess. The economy collapsed, and prices skyrocketed in Paris. The people of Paris, specially the poor class, were called the "Sans Culottes," or the people who wore long pants. This was a movement to identify themselves from the nobles who wore short pants. These people started pressing the government due to the economic crisis in the country. "Guys, I can't make a sandwich, I use jam without bread! There are no jam sandwiches!" In these conditions, the revolutionary parliament was divided into 2 teams, Girondins, the moderate people who feared extremism and violence, and the other team was the Jacobins. These people had extremist opinions and wanted to take decisive actions to save the revolution at any price.
6:11 On April 6 1793, the parliament established what's known as the Committee of Public Safety. This was a committee for emergencies that was established for war, composed of 12 members with really big authorities. This became France's government, in order to lead France in its toughest moments, during revolution and war. It was like an operations room. The most distinguished and crazy person in this revolution was the well known lawyer Maximilien Robespierre. He was a revolutionary young strict lawyer. This man had a clear simple easy belief, kill whoever you know value of, if you don't know, figure it out and also kill him. This man believed that the revolution needed a period of organized terrorism. It needs to protect itself. He said that they had to build the republic of virtue, even if using violence. This was what happened later extremely violently. Parallel to the external war with Europe,
6:58 the revolution was going through an internal cultural war. "Listen, we want to cut any connection to any past, monarchical or religious. No one mention monarchy or religion! No voice is raised higher than that of the French revolution!" They shouted that last sentence. It was much bigger than what you can imagine. In September 1792, there was no September in 1792, my friend. "What? How?" The revolution decided to destroy every identifiable thing, my friend. "Guys, do you really need the old Christ's calendar that much? Does anyone need years, days, months, hours, minutes, and that stuff? What's up with the hour containing 60 minutes? I don't like this, I can't calculate it. Why does a week contain 7 days? It's nonsense honestly. No, reset all of this! We killed the king, we can kill a week." What Robespierre did was one of the strangest things imaginable.
7:43 The revolution created a new revolutionary calendar. The first thing they did was change the months' names. They chose names that have to do with nature instead of names that have to with religion like août. After changing the name of the month, they divided it into three parts, and each part was 10 days. "Forget about weeks, guys. I don't like it, I want 10 days." The month that was 4 weeks was now composed of 3 tens in the French republic. Do you know when fitness influencers say they have 2 days in one by waking up at 3 am? Maximilien Robespierre is their role model. What was the reason behind everything I'm telling you? In order to break the church's routine that people were used to. When a week is not 7 days, of course people won't figure out which day is Sunday. They won't know on what days to fast and on what to break it. Everything was mixed. Also they won't know when their salary is due. However, probably the strangest thing the French revolution did was being extreme in mind worshipping.
8:29 They were literally trying to cancel Christianity. They were trying to replace religion with things we can conclude logically, and with worshipping concepts like mind and freedom. That's because they believed that the old religion was part of the oppressive system. It seems that the revolution went over the top with this to the point that Robespierre himself felt like things had gotten a bit bigger. "We went a little over the top with religions. Changing weeks is okay, not everyone care about it, but not religion." The man was generous and suggested a new symbol for religion called "Supreme Being." It's a religion that embraces the mind, nature, and freedom, but in a spiritual way. In 1794, he made a huge celebration in June called Festival of the Supreme Being. He dressed in clothes similar to artists' visualizations of prophets' clothes in the old testament. He made a huge festival in the streets of Paris and started to address people about virtue and believing in the revolution's new god. There no more church bells on Sunday.
9:16 There were republican celebrations and statues that represent freedom and the mind. Streets were filled with music and revolution flags, the three-colored flag that gives you a stomachache when playing against in FIFA. When you see blue, white, and red, you know that a herd will be running in a rebound against you. It didn't just stop there, my friend. They started trying to change the language. The revolution tried to change people's way of talking and their words. "Don't use monsieur and madame anymore, it's citizen." People were calling each other as citizens, to remind them of citizenship. The aim was to create a new revolutionary person. "We'll download you a new software!" From the new ideas that the revolution established was women and family rights. Maybe the revolution didn't reach a full equality between men and women, but it did really important changes like facilitating divorce for women, declaring equality in heritage between sons and daughters, and reduce the father's absolute power. This power allowed father to put his son in jail with a royal order
10:02 if he believed he was disobedient. One of the places that embodied the idea of revolution and freedom the most was a place very far from Paris. It was even very far Europe. Where was it? In the Caribbean islands. Remember the colony that I told you became Haiti now? The one who couldn't make a cup of coffee for coffee and sugar were taken from it. On this island, the African slaves did a rebellion in the biggest slave revolution in modern history. The revolution started with thousands of angry slaves. They entered the farms to burn them and kill their French masters. Their leader was a former slave who liberated himself and made a strong army. The revolution grew into a full liberation war. There was a dilemma here, my friend. Since you're a Parisian revolutionary who revolted against those who oppressed you, what would you do when the people you oppress revolt against you in something of your interest? Take care that some of the Parisian revolutionaries were rich as I told you.
10:50 Surely they benefited from slave trading. What happened is that the victories of the slaves which were a result of the revolution forced a new reality. In 1794, France did something really magnificent. It was something that wasn't usual to the French. France declared the abolishing of slavery officially in all of its colonies. Say goodbye to slavery, and hello to the UEFA. We need you on the team as French people. I'm just joking, my friend, it was a very important decision in Europe's history. The revolution that happened there was revolutionary by all means. Haiti earned its independence in 1804. It became the first black independent republic in modern history. It didn't just stop with Haiti. Haiti's revolution and independence became an inspiration to all oppressed people. Despite the naivety and violence of the French revolution,
11:36 it was actually trying to build a new world, a world that's based on freedom, justice, equality, and mind, even if the road was full of blood and contradicting ideas. I don't have to tell you that not all of the French agreed to the revolution. They weren't necessarily benefiting from the king. You're an adult and know that life and opinions are much more complicated than this. For example, there were religious peasants in the countryside. They were attached to their beliefs. What they were seeing happening to their religion was horrifying to them. The revolution was canceling churches, religious festivals, and the calendar. "We can't even go pray on Sunday, you bastards!!" Other people were against the idea of compulsory conscription. Some people believed that why would they go and die because some people executed the king in Paris without taking our opinion. That time, many peasants did an armed revolution, a counter revolution. People from the old system joined them, like nobles and priests who escaped from the revolution's oppression. Together they formed a big army, the Catholic royal army.
12:24 It contained 30 thousand people. They claimed really important victories. They actually took over many cities, but they were eventually defeated in the city of Nantes. Everything was confused, my friend. It turned into a civil war. It became a complete chaos. You're being targeted on the inside, the outside, and from colonies. The situation turned into a civil war, a revolutionary army from Paris fighting a catholic royal army of peasants. How did this happen? You don't even know. It's not a joke or a film hypothesis. In the end, the revolutionary force won, and they forced the catholic royal team of peasants to cross the river towards the north. Here, this army tried to escape and ask Britain for help. However, they were completely defeated in the end. This wasn't the only war or rebellion. The revolutionaries believed they were defending the revolution, and the rebels believed they were calling for their own freedom.
13:13 More wars started breaking out as well as revolutions on top of revolutions. All of this ended with a number of victims that reached 170 thousand. Approximately 5th of the population of these areas was killed. Not just that. During the same period, one of the revolutionary leaders did something horrific known as The Drownings at Nantes. From November 1793 to February 1794, this revolutionary leader was organizing collective drowning operations. As if he was shipping them to Hawaii. He gathered his enemies of rebels and priests and take them to the Loire river in boats as if it was a picnic. When they got to the middle of the river, he'd drown them. He called this method the national bathtub. The number of victims reached 4 thousand people. We started seeing the outbreak of revolutions and wars in other French cities, like Marseille, Lyon, and Toulon. For example, in the rebellion in Lyon,
13:58 the republican forces surrounded Lyon for 2 months. After they had entered and took over it, they destroyed parts of it and executed about 2000 of its residents. They changed its name to the Liberated City and wrote on the official decree "Lyon fought freedom. Lyon no longer exists." What's strange is that a movement that calls for freedom needs to oppress the freedom of others. The matter leads to be that anyone who sought freedom was seeking his own kind of freedom of freedom from his perspective. This is the paradox of tolerance. The situation in Toulon was more dangerous. Why? What did the royals do? They gave the city to the English. "Do you want the port key? Here you go, in case you're waiting for a seafood order. We don't have time to resist, we'll just betray." The handed Toulon to the most renowned rival to France in history. Britain got Toulon refurbished and ready to be taken over. The revolutionary forces couldn't do anything but to surround Toulon
14:46 for 5 months. This siege witnessed the first military emergence of a teenager that you know very well, I know very well, France knows very well, and the world knows very well. "You don't say, captain Paul Pogba?" Of course not, I'm talking about Napoleon Bonaparte. -"The Napoleon Bonaparte?" -Napoleon Bonaparte, who signs dishes. During that time, Napoleon managed to claim a big victory. He managed to build a great reputation for himself. Amid these bloody times, a very famous accident took place. A young girl named Charlotte decided to sacrifice herself to end this cycle of violence. She heard about someone called Jean Paul Marat, if you remember his name, the extremist journalist who encouraged the execution of anyone he didn't like. Charlotte held him responsible for all of this blood. She managed to get an appointment with him at his house, pretending to have gotten her hands on lists of names of all enemies of the revolution.
15:31 She got in and saw Marat sitting in a bathtub because he had a skin disease, so he had to sit in the bathtub for long periods. She gave him the list, and when he assured her that all people in the list would be executed, she dug the dagger in his chest, and he died amid his blood. This famous painting was made. What's strange is that when Charlotte did this, she didn't escape. She stood still until she was arrested. She was executed only 4 days after the murder. The extremist Jacobins considered the death of Marat to be some sort of martyrdom, he was a martyr. The painter Jacques Louis David made a famous painting of him. The Jacobins used this situation and said that enemies of the revolution are inside France and cooperate with enemies from the outside, all of them wanted to destroy France. In the fall of 1793, France was on the edge of blowing up. There was a war from the outside, internal rebellions, and the people were boiling with anger. "Where's the revolution you're talking about?"
16:16 On September 5, the Committee of Public Safety member, Bertrand Barere stood and said his famous phrase in the parliament: "Let terror be the order of the day." Meaning "Add terrorizing to today's agenda. A 2 hour nap, and 2 hour terror." The parliament agreed under pressure to the policy of terror. The policy said that anyone who could have been suspected, out of mere doubt and suspecting, should be considered a revolution enemy. He should be imprisoned and executed immediately. "We're not going to sit around and wait for him to rebel! He seems suspicious, get rid of him just to be safe." This period was named the Reign of Terror, my friend, from September 1793 to July 1794, 10 months of terror. Revolutionary trials weren't trials anymore, they were a production line of sentences a production line of death sentences. A ready accusation with quick investigation that was followed by freedom or the guillotine. "Starting today, all heads will be equal! Not necessarily in the body, but will be equal." In just that year, France witnessed more 16 thousand executions,
17:06 with 2600 in Paris alone. If we calculate the number of those who died in prisons or without being trialed, the number can reach 28000 executions. The Committee of Public Safety was led by Robespierre Saint Just, as well as Georges Danton, who was one of the most famous leaders of the revolution. They believed that terror was absolute quick justice, and that it was very necessary for that phase to ensure the continuity of their republic. The guillotine was a novel execution tool. What's strange is that the revolutionaries considered it a perfect humane execution tool because it equated the death method between people. Take care that before the revolution, people were executed according to their social class. For example, the nobles were executed with a sword, where they put his head on the platform and he's easily done with one blow. As for the commons, they were executed by hanging, wheel of torture, or crushing.
17:51 The speed of their death relied on luck. However, the guillotine promised you that you'd die an easy death, as well as the king. The thing is that it kept getting bigger to the point that the revolutionaries were executing other revolutionaries. For example, a group emerged that said: "Why aren't we executing more?? We need to execute more people! We're losing the revolution!" People like these were Jacques Hebert and his group. What did Maximilien Robespierre do? He considered the people who wanted to execute more a threat to the revolution. He arrested and executed them. "Right, we're revolutionaries, but you're extra revolutionary." "Were the normal revolutionaries safe?" Not at all. Robespierre killed Georges Danton and a group of moderate revolutionaries. They didn't call for violence or the return of the king, they believed that the French revolution had succeeded. What brave men who did it!! However, this execution must be stopped. Robespierre executed them as well. Both people who were with and against execution faced execution, my friend.
18:40 Who could get the other to the guillotine first. The revolution was literally killing its children back then. Terrorism reached its peak after a law that was issued in June 10 1794. The law annulled the defendant's right to hire a lawyer. You'll play the match without defence. Any small accusation directly led to execution, from high treason to driving past the speed limit, you were sent to the guillotine. In only six weeks, more than 1300 people were executed in Paris alone. The truth is that this terror achieved practical results. For example, the Law of the General Maximum emerged. This law set the prices of bread at a fixed price and mitigated the hunger crisis a bit. It probably messed with the population equation, so it succeeded. Everyone focuses on increasing the individual's fortune, this one worked on decreasing the number of individuals, so you can say it worked, that's a new economic solution. It's an economic school that we need to study in European colleges.
19:26 Compulsory conscription established a great army for France, a local army that managed to retrieve Belgium from the Austrians. It's needless to say that the price of all of this was horrifying. Many houses lost some of their people. The guillotine was named the National Razor. Fear spread to the point that even the deputies were scared to talk in front of Robespierre. "Then, what were we calling for?" Robespierre was a like king crowned with blood. "What were we revolting against then?? We weren't revolting against royalty for the sake of Barcelona, We want freedom. Remember the human rights video? Where is it?" In June 1794, Paris turned into a ghost city. People were whispering to each other, as they didn't who would be put on the next execution list. Bit by bit, with everything that was happening, with the continuous killing, wars on the outside, the state of fear an tension between the deputies, the people, and everyone,
20:14 and the calendar they couldn't open or know which day it was, people in Paris were completely fed up with Robespierre. Even though Robespierre wasn't corrupt, didn't have any scandals and followed concepts that seemed perfect, the daily executions made him seem like a real life embodiment of angel of death. Even his closest allies were scared of him. On July 26, Robespierre made some kind of a big mistake. He stood in the parliament and gave a mysterious speech. He said that there were tyrants in the council that he'd expose soon. He was doing this to make them nervous, so fear would be eminent on the tyrant's face. It's just like teachers when they say they know who made this sound, and he'd better come out or he'll punish the whole class, so the students would look at the one who did it. He doesn't even know, if he knew, he'd just hit him. He's just messing around. Anyways, the deputies didn't get scared like little kids in class,
21:00 each one of them thought he was talking about him. "This man thinks anyone is a traitor." They decided to unite against him before it was their turn. On the next day, July 27, while Robespierre was trying to give a speech in the parliament, the deputies played it publicly, they prevented him from going up and shouted "Down with Robespierre!" Even the police forces who were protecting him were hesitant to protect him. Robespierre understood what was happening, his friends and him quickly ran to the town hall hoping to have the time to make a counter coup. However, the parliament was quicker and announced him an outlaw immediately. Meaning that he could get killed without being tried. He wouldn't even be able to hire a lawyer anyway. The building was surrounded. In a moment of despair, Robespierre tried to commit suicide, however, he was unlucky and failed to do so. The bullet only destroyed a part of his jaw. Some sources say that an officer was who shot him. The soldiers found him swimming in his own blood, and his brother was injured,
21:49 but he managed to escape through the window. The leader of the national guard was stabbed in his eye. Robespierre's friend, Philippe Le Bas, managed to kill him self. Right on the next day, Robespierre and his friends were brought and executed without an actual trial. For the second time, the scene was very strange and unexpected. People who saw the execution of the king never expected to see such a strange scene. Your life is too short to witness 2 of such events. People saw the man who ruled France with terror after the revolution waiting for his turn at the guillotine, standing in the same place where he executed who opposed him. The carts that carried the accused stood in front of Robespierre's house and smeared it with blood. They reached the revolution area at 6:15 pm, when the untied the rope that they had tied around his injured jaw, they asked him to say one last word. Instead of saying something, he kept screaming out of pain
22:34 before the guillotine completely cut his head. The age of terror ended with the death of Robespierre. After the execution of Robespierre, 71 people of his allies were executed on the next day. Approximately 104 people of Robespierre's supporters were executed over 3 days. Most of them were from Paris' revolutionary government. Here, France started waking up from the nightmare of terror. People hated everything that reminded them of the age of terror. The extremist laws were annulled. Political prisoners were released. The guillotine was called madame guillotine. People named the age of terror the Cannibalism Era. People who were cheering Robespierre on turned against him. Paris completely changed, my friend. During the terror, people had to wear really simple clothes, so they wouldn't appear as nobles. Any small suspicion that you're an aristocrat could get you executed. Each mother had to check that her son looked like a hobo before leaving. "If Mr. Robespierre sees us, he'll execute us."
23:20 People were liberated after the downfall of Robespierre. Parisian women returned to wearing colorful dresses and have decorated beautiful hairdo. A new fashion style appeared known as the empire style. The look of people on the street and fashion changed completely. Speech started changing as well. They were speaking in a pretended way, where they intentionally removed letter R, so they'd avoid saying the word revolution. Instead of they'd say. Just bring back the king, Louis just with a XVI. A strange hair style appeared called a la Victime. A fashion style inspired by victims. Boys and girls cut their hair in a boy cut style like the people who were about to be executed. As they were executed by the guillotine, hair could have hindered it. Some people started wearing red ribbons on their necks, as if they were bleeding. The downfall of Robespierre wasn't just the execution of a leader. it was the end of a whole philosophy.
24:06 This philosophy said that violence can cleanse society and build a virtuous republic. The terror was indeed over, but France was entering an extremely conflicting phase, with social freedom and economic chaos and extravagant fashion and immense hunger. Still water was running deep. They were dancing on the ruins of the past with extreme fear of the future. Then, what happened? Maybe this period witnessed social freedom, with balls, theaters, free press, and discussions in lounges, but there was still corruption and big bribes. Until an uprising happened in Paris. This time it wasn't an uprising of the hungry, you can call it a royal uprising, my friend. Approximately 25 thousand demonstrators tried breaking into the Tuileries Palace. They wanted to bring back monarchy. The young general Napoleon Bonaparte appeared here, my friend. He attacked them mercilessly with canons and bullets,
24:54 and he became a national hero. At the same time, the US' relations with France were terrible, even though France helped the US in its independence from Britain as I told you. However, the US pulled a usual move of theirs, they betray whoever trusts them except for one country that we all know. As usual, the US didn't repay the favor and stayed neutral in the war between Britain and France. They didn't stop there, France went and signed a trading treaty with Britain. "We helped you revolt against them!!" "What's wrong? It's a matter of interest. It's a matter of international policies and the aim is the country's interest. I adopted the thing with fries between you and Belgium, as it'll help with combo meals 100s of years later." Let me tell you that between 1798 and 1800, an unofficial marine face-off happened between the US and France, when they met on the Caribbean sea in a war called Quasi-war. It's like the special operation that Putin did to Ukraine, it's not a war, but a special operation.
25:40 The crisis got worse when the French foreign minister, Talleyrand, sent diplomats to ask the US for a bribe of 250 thousand dollars and a loan of 10 million dollars, just so the US would agree to negotiate. The Americans got really mad at this move and named the French diplomats XYZ in their documents. This got famous under the title of the XYZ Scandal. Just like how France messed with the US, they decided to mess with Britain. You know the historical rule, a great power fights with another, what can you do? [France] "I won't have mercy on you." [Egypt] "I'm dying!" [England] [France] "How dare you oppress my revolution!" [Egypt] "I'm dying!!] In 1798, we saw Napoleon invade Egypt, in order to threaten Britain's interests. What did we have to do with anything? Forget about the invasion, at least you discovered Rosetta stone, but why all of this? Napoleon entered Egypt and defeated the Mamluks in it. He settled in it until Britain destroyed his fleet in the Battle of the Nile.
26:26 He failed in the Siege of Acre as we know, so he secretly returned to France and put Kleber in his place, you know the rest. The French invasion did succeed in terms of culture and monumental discoveries, but it didn't have a fleet in terms of military and failed. However, Napoleon talked about this invasion as an intelligent one. He used the PR, no one was with him in Egypt. Like your friend who works in Dubai, convincing you he's a CEO, and both of you know that he's lying. Napoleon became famous, my friend. Parallel to this in 1799, the government collapsed due to corruption and the economy that has been down since the last episode. Royal parties started flourishing a bit and won the parliament elections of 1797. By 1799, people got tired of the situation. People wanted someone strong, has a popularity, has a history, and the ability to rule a ruined country like France. Napoleon felt like this was his perfect chance,
27:12 so he used it and spurred a quick coup when he returned to France. He appointed himself as the First Consul. Aside from titles, with that, he was the actual ruler of the country. Here, France entered a new era, and enlightened central reign, but without the political freedom that the revolution promised. In 1800, Napoleon was a young man, how old do you think he was? How old do you think he was you pretty little thing? How old do you think you silly little thing with your little achievements? Napoleon was 30 years old. Only 30 years old, and he became the emperor of France. -"Are you trying to find a bride for him?" -No, my friend, well, I'm 31 years old,... I can't imagine someone my age becoming the emperor of France. He was 2 years younger than me when he invaded Egypt, defeated the Memluks, and tried to seize Acre. I shot 600 episodes and feel like I wrote history or something. He was only 30 and did all of this.
27:58 We're really naive, my friend. Napoleon decided to rule France with power under a revolutionary constitutional cover. He used a mix of both. He brought an emperor for those who wanted monarchy, and for those who wanted freedom, he brought someone who's not a king to talk about freedom. Everyone was satisfied. In 1802, Napoleon settled himself in his position using an accurately faked local questionnaire. This questionnaire made him an eternal ruler of France. It was as if he rented a studio apartment but it's a royal castle. Napoleon managed to force order and end chaos using his weapon of the secret police, which he deployed in all streets of France. Napoleon assured the peasants about the land they bought during the revolution, stabilized the rights of the bourgeois and traders, and assured them about their investments. In 1801, he went to make things up with the catholic church. He made an agreement with the pope of Rome. The rites of Christianity were freely practiced again in France.
28:44 This was for the religious ones, but the church was still under the country's control. He tried making a peaceful state, at one equal distance from everyone. In 1804, Napoleon issued new civil laws, called the Napoleonic Code. It's a system where he organized contracts and ownership rights and acknowledged equality between male citizens in front of law. However, law was socially conservative. For example, it retrieved the father's traditional authority over the family and messed around with women in their rights that they got from the revolution. It made divorce hard for women and easy for men again. Napoleon used his military shine and the propaganda he used to hide his military mistakes and expanded France's authority in Europe. After defeating Austria in 1800, the entire continent of Europe had to succumb and sign a peace treaty with him in 1802. For the first time in years, there was peace. Let me tell you that this was a temporary peace.
29:32 Starting from 1804, Napoleon started getting megalomania. He got a low taper fade and believed he was more than a revolutionary leader. He believed he was the descendant of fine conquerors. The dream of any ruler in the old ages started visiting his Brian again, ruling the world, the dream of Alexander the Great. He was more keen on living the life of kings. In December 1804, he announced himself the emperor of France in a famous coronation that was held in the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Instead of waiting for the pope to put the crown on his head like traditions, Napoleon snatched the crown and wore it himself. As if he was saying that his authority came from him, this authority came from the people and France, not from church or god. Here, Napoleon appointed himself as the emperor. He started going further and further from the concepts of the French revolution, which called for equality and freedom. Maybe he did preserve legal equality,
30:17 but let me tell you that he destroyed the political and journalistic freedom in France. Napoleon's ambition was limitless. He wanted to grow France bigger. We saw him in 1805 try to invade England and prepare a fleet, but he faced a major defeat. He decided to change his plan and try to defeat England's allies in Europe, to force England to surrender. This was what happened in the same year, when he claimed a major victory over Austria and Russia. After this victory, Napoleon had dismantled the sacred Roman empire. This empire was very old and included parts from Germany, Austria, and Italy. Napoleon formed a new confederation and called it the Confederation of the Rhine. It was under his direct control. He appointed his brothers and siblings as kings over the European countries he had invaded. All of Europe was full of Bonapartes. The EU's office was their dinner table. Napoleon created a huge empire that was ruled by the Bonaparte family.
31:03 This is worth thinking about. This country was full of internal cracks, torture, terror, people who revolted against other, rebellions rebelling over other rebellions, and wars from everywhere. Suddenly, this man appeared and put all of Europe to sleep. He took a weak divided country, being fought from everywhere and developed it and even invaded with it. The problem is that Napoleon exaggerated with his ambition. He got himself involved in long wars, like the Spanish Civil War. When he entered Russia in 1812, a military disaster happened. The army got cold. Napoleon lost approximately 500 thousand soldiers due to cold and hunger. He retreated from Europe completely defeated. Europe looked at the situation and felt like the prey was giving in. He left Russia shivering, searching for a bowl of hot soup. This was a perfect time to align against him and destroy him. In 1813, Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Leipzig,
31:51 which took place near the German city of Leipzig. This was a decisive battle, my friend, where the armies of Russia, Austria, Sweden, and Prussia cooperated against Napoleon. It was like John Cena vs the Nexus. After the expected defeat of Napoleon, the allied armies managed to invade France, in 1814. They forced Napoleon to give up the throne. They banished him to a small island called Elba near Italy. After that, European kings gathered in Congress of Vienna to say: "This revolution got us really tired, made empires emerge, and caused invasions. We're fed up! We're fed the hell up! We want kings. Bring back the nobles from the freezer please. We want slavery! We haven't seen a good day since we abolished it. We want the old system back! We just want some oppression to cover ourselves. We've had enough of wars!" Everyone wanted to bring back the Europe that was before this damn revolution.
32:38 As you know, Napoleon, as a last ditch effort, returned to France. That was in 1815. He managed to retrieve his reign. -"Really, Abo Hmeed?" -Yes, but he only stayed for 100 days. He entered the semester, failed imperialism, and returned to the exile. In this short period, he was defeated in the famous battle, the Battle of Waterloo, which was the battle that ended his whole reign. This time they banished him to an island in the Atlantic Ocean, Saint Helena. He stayed there in total isolation, until he died in 1821. The most important question you should ask me, but I'm tired of imitating you, what is the effect of Napoleon Bonaparte on the revolution. Napoleon represents something really strange. It's a state of spreading the revolution's ideas, like legal equality, he also canceled the system of feudal slavery in European countries like Germany, Poland, and Italy. He changed from a revolutionary leader who called for freedom and equality
33:25 to a person searching for control and personal glory even if it meant harm for France. Here, Napoleon causes a state of confusion. You don't know whether this revolution failed or succeeded. What we surely know is that the European continent didn't like what Napoleon did. After defeating Napoleon, the alliance decided to restore the old royal family, the Bourbon family, the ruling revolution way before the revolution. They were going to search for the number of Louis they had stopped at. The 16th was executed during the revolution, they couldn't find the 17th, they got the 18th. Louis XVIII discovered that the French society changed due to the revolution. They couldn't easily bring it back. Peasants owned the lands of terror.. A new middle class appeared that was strong economically and have a political voice. Here, the king had to agree on the constitutional pact, which turns France into a constitutional hayat. There was no way back to the old utter monarchy,
34:11 but the king kept or was given many powers. This didn't calm things down, there were revolutionaries, royalists, and Bonapartes. Some people wanted Bonaparte to return. As if the situation in France needed more division. Louis XVIII lived for a little bit and later died, and his brother Charles X took the throne after. This man tried to go back in time a little bit. He paid expensive damages for the nobles and increased the church's authority. He returned to narrowing the path of journalism. He tried to dissolve the parliament. Paris exploded with a huge local revolution. They called it the Three Glorious Days revolution. Students and workers demonstrated carrying the flags of the revolution. Charles X decided to take a shortcut, as he looked at his predecessor, and escaped. The parliament chose Louis Philippe, the duke of Orleans. There was no one in the country to rule. He was given the title of the citizen king. After some political events, he escaped as well,
34:59 this time to England. Right afterwards, the second republic was announced. This revolution didn't stop in France. It inspired all of Europe for a wave of revolutions. These revolutions were known as the springtime of nations. Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland, and all of them saw what was happening in France and the French people and said that they can also do this. This tells us that despite the blood, conflicts, and psychological and physical harm of the French revolution, its ideas didn't die. Even if the revolution had failed to establish a stable democracy, properties in Europe will never return back to its first state. From the gains of the revolution is that the declaration of human rights became a global reference and affected the declaration that happened in 1948. The revolution affected modern citizenship. The word nationalism and the idea of belonging to limits appeared.
35:46 The citizen belongs to the country not the king. Europe entered a new age after this one, the age of the middle class, the bourgeois. Forget about the old aristocracy. Of course there are questions. Philosophers, critical thinkers, and political scientists asked themselves in order to reach this stage, did we need that much blood? Did we need that much killing? Actually there is a disagreement. Some people say that this could've happened if there was a focus on economic politics and that this indeed happen in a country like England. Other people say that this could have never happened. England was affected by France, they saw what happened and learned from it. This might be the fate of any revolution that seeks perfectionism. Sometimes violence can swallow it and produce something from its core that's different from its aim. It's like what's said on Robespierre's days, "The revolution kills its children." There is no lesson to learn from the French revolution because in order to do so, you must choose where you'll end it.
36:34 Will it end with Robespierre's presence? Will it end with Napoleon's return? Will it end with the king's return? Will it end with France today? What's confirmed is that we can't necessarily relate everything to the French revolution, or relate any change we like or don't like to the French revolution. We can simply and comfortably relate indirect changes in the world to it. We can confirm that it's a very important revolution, not just in the history of France or Europe, but in the history of the world. Let me assure you that history is very complicated for us to judge it from our current contexts. We're like the referee of a tennis match, we're sitting on top of the ladder watching people beat each other. It's important for us to judge, watch, and, most importantly, realize the historical context of all these events. Last but not least, don't forget to watch the new episodes and the old ones. Check the sources below and subscribe if you're on YouTube. "Thank you so much for the episode. I really enjoyed it.
37:20 Forgive me for my few entries this episode, if you've noticed. I've always wanted to be one of the kings of Europe, but the roman numerals make me mad. I don't want to be Friend XXVI or Friend XXXV. I'm satisfied with Friend I. No need for more." That's just talking, you're a boaster. If someone gives you 20 pounds, you'll change your name to boogie woogie on the next day.
