The
French Revolution didn't just change France. It went on to transform the entire world.
However, most history books don't do this event justice. Want to know what the revolution was REALLY like? Check out these wild facts!
1
During the French Revolution, Catholicism was briefly replaced by the Cult of Reason. Notre Dame’s altar was dismantled and replaced by an altar to Liberty and “To Philosophy” inscribed above its doors. The Festival of Reason had girls in Roman costumes, impersonating the Goddess of Reason. -u/AnAppariti0n
2
Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France during the French Revolution, never said "Let them eat cake." -u/ItzSnapter
3
One of the selling points for introducing the guillotine during the French Revolution was equality - commoners could now enjoy the comparatively quick and painless death of decapitation just like the nobility, and would no longer have to endure brutal deaths such as those caused by hanging. -u/I_notta_crazy
4
The French Revolution played a major role in the development of pornography. It was used as a political tool to mock political leaders and subsequently lead to the first pornographic film ever being made, titled "A L’Ecu d’Or ou la bonne auberge" in 1908. -u/operator139
5
“Right-wing" and "left-wing" labels originated from the French Revolution, in which anti-royalists sat on the left of the French National Assembly hall and pro-royalty sat on the right. -u/Indoh_
6
When French activist, feminist, and playwright Olympe de Gouges wrote "Declaration of the Rights of women and the Female Citizen" in 1791, in response to the "Declaration of the Rights of Men" of 1789 which came after the French Revolution; she was accused of treason and executed. -u/PoetryAnxietyTherapy
7
During the Reign of Terror in the French revolution (between June 1793 and July 1794), 17,000 people were guillotined -- an average of over 40 people per day. -u/JJvH91
8
The Dome De Invalides was used as a temple to Mars during the French Revolution. -u/Falcon_Gray
9
In 1783, an Icelandic volcano (Laki) erupted over 8-months spewing poisonous sulfur dioxide across the Northern Hemisphere. It lead to some of the worst winters on record with mass crop failures, famine, and disease, and is said to have been the trigger for the French Revolution. -u/asherfergusson
10
Charles-Henri Sanson was Master Executioner under King Louis XVI and was responsible for executing 2,918 people. In April of 1792, Sanson became the first executioner to use the guillotine: less than a year later, he would use it on King Louis XVI himself during the French Revolution. -u/WouldbeWanderer
11
American revolutionary Thomas Paine served as a Deputy on the French National Assembly during the French Revolution and was nearly executed during the Reign of Terror. -u/DragonOfTheNorth98
12
Thomas de Mahy was an aristocrat who was sentenced to be hanged during the French Revolution after a two-month trial. Upon the reading of his death warrant, he remarked, "I see that you have made three spelling mistakes." -u/Tokyono
13
French writer Alexandre Dumas ( The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers) was a black man. And his father was a black general during the French Revolution known as "Black Devil" or Diable Noir, standing as one of the highest-ranking men of African descent. -u/Kkaren1989
14
In the years preceding the French Revolution, the price of bread went from costing about 50% of a laborer's daily wages to about 88% of their income. -u/DigbyChickenZone
15
A Frenchman known as Richebourg, who measured 58 cm (1' 11") as an adult, was employed by the aristocracy to act as a secret agent during the French Revolution, dispatching messages into and out of Paris, whilst disguised as an infant and carried by his 'nurse.' -u/malalatargaryen
16
The man who invented the modern theory about oxygen and combustion, Antoine Lavoisier, was guillotined in 1794 during the French Revolution. -u/DannyABoi
17
The famous Madame Tussaud started out in Paris during the French Revolution. Marie Tussaud used to make 'death masks' of famous people whose heads had been chopped by the Guillotine. She went on tour to Britain for 30 years with her collection before setting up her waxworks in London. -deleted user
18
The French Revolution gave us the metric system and almost gave us metric clocks, too. They had 10 hours in the day, 10 days in the week, and even 30 days each month. -u/gedaliyah
19
The Titus cut, a female haircut that became popular during the French Revolution, was inspired by the way executioners would cut the hair of people going to the guillotine. A red ribbon could also be worn around the neck to further symbolize the guillotine victims. -u/dilettantedebrah
20
During the French Revolution, many medieval tapestries were destroyed, with some being melted down to extract gold or silver. The famous Apocalypse Tapestry was cut up and became floor mats, tree covers, patches, and insulation. Surviving fragments were rediscovered in 1848 and returned in 1870. -u/jamescookenotthatone
21
Statues of biblical kings, located on the west facade of the Notre-Dame de Paris, were decapitated during the French Revolution because they were mistaken for statues of French kings. -u/JetsLag
22
The "national bathtub" was a mass execution during the French Revolution when thousands of suspected royalists were drowned in the river Loire. At first, the perpetrators carried the drownings at night to avoid suspicion, but the dozen of floating bodies in the following days gave them away. -u/piponwa
23
Lafayette, from the American and French Revolution, was born Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Montier de La Fayette. He joked, "It's not my fault. I was baptized like a Spaniard, with the name of every conceivable saint who might offer me protection in battle." -u/Axette
24
During the French Revolution, Adrienne de La Fayette, the wife of Marquis de La Fayette, was imprisoned. However, before her planned execution, Elizabeth Monroe, the wife of Future President James Monroe, intervened. Not wanting to cut ties with James Monroe, France did not execute her. -u/Pres-John-F-Kennedy
25
In 1429, King Charles VII of France exempted the town of Domrémy from paying taxes "forever", after a promise to Joan of Arc. Taxes were imposed again during the French Revolution. -u/nunped
