French Culture

The Romantic Period, which is placed between 1780 and 1850, came about in the midst of a great era of revolution. The first wave of romanticism, a school of thought that characterized the period,...

The French Revolution spanned 10 years, starting in 1789 and stopping just short of the beginning of a new century. Growing dissatisfaction with the way that King Louis XIV dealt with social...

The Marquis de Lafayette is well-known for his contribution to the Americans during the Revolution. What is less well-known is his fate when he returned to France and was swept up in the coming...

Georges Danton was a French Revolutionary and member of the radical Jacobin Club who enjoyed a poorly understood career. He was a man who stood with first the Girondists but then later the...

Georges Danton was a French Revolutionary who enjoyed a varied but contradictory and not well-understood career. He was a man who stood with first the Girondists but then later the Montagnards. He...

Maximilien Robespierre is an almost mythical character of the French Revolution. But where did this fiery orator come from? What took him to the barricades of Paris during the Reign of Terror? It...

Women may not have gained too much during the French Revolution in terms of their own freedom, but from the beginning of the conflict, they played a significant role in the fight. Since women were...

It has been said that man does not live by bread alone, yet this is exactly the situation the urban poor faced in the French cities during the harsh winter of 1788-89. Unwilling to adopt cheaper...

Maximilien Robespierre was an important figure in the Jacobin Club and the French Revolution, and eventually grew to be the central figure for a short while. He was among the leaders of the...

The history of the French Revolution is riddled with popular misconceptions, perhaps none more glaring than the contest between the Jacobins and the Girondins. The very phrasing betrays this, as...

Fashion during the French Revolution (1789 to about 1793) saw a complete switch in the direction of costume for men and women. The overt glamor of the aristocrats was pushed out in favor of dress...

Romanticism evolved in response to the French Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment that followed. Rather than focus on reason and rationality to explain nature and man, Romanticism focused more...