French Revolution

Louis XVI was born on August 23rd, 1754, in the palace of Versailles.

The essay entitled 'How important was the press in the desacralisation of the French monarchy in 1789?', by Olivia Grant of St Paul's Girls' School, was awarded the Julia Wood Prize out of 136 entries. An edited version appears below; a second award was made to Richard Eschwege of City of London School for an essay on Pope Gregory VII.

John Spiller shows that, in constitution-making in the USA (1787-89), France (1789-92) and Great Britain (1830-32), some men were considered more equal than others.

William Doyle discusses traditional and revisionist interpretations of the downfall of the Kings of France, arguing that notions of a 'desacralised monarchy' are inadequate to explain what happened.

John Dunne signposts main landmarks and current directions in the historiographical debate.

John Hardman, a biographer of Louis XVI, argues that the king at the time of the French Revolution fails to live down to his abysmal reputation.

Beasts behind bars - Katharine MacDonogh tells the tale of the animals forced to share their owners' fall from grace after 1789.

Omer Bartov asks how the armies of lords and kings became the forces of peoples and nations.

For some in the years 1789-94, the people's drama in Paris was not fast enough at reflecting a world turned upside down. Michele Root-Bernstein looks at what was performed and how revolutionary it really was.

The French Revolution’s message of ‘liberté, égalité, fraternité’ was crucial to uprisings by enslaved peoples in Europe’s Caribbean colonies.