The French Revolution: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

Arrival in Paris. We will gather at the Place de la Concorde, where the guillotine claimed thousands of lives, including that of King Louis XVI. An introductory dinner will explore the causes of the Revolution: the financial crisis, inequality, and the ideas of the Enlightenment.

↳ Beginning where the monarchy ended plunges us straight into the brutality and radicalism of the Revolution. This place symbolizes the total break with the Ancien Régime.

We will visit the Place de la Bastille, the symbol of royal despotism. A historian will recount the events of July 14, 1789. In the afternoon, in the Les Halles district, we will discuss the role of the common people of Paris (the "sans-culottes") as the driving force of the Revolution.

↳ The Bastille was no ordinary prison; its fall was a symbolic earthquake that proved the king's power was no longer absolute and that the people had become a formidable political actor.

Excursion to the Palace of Versailles. We will tour the lavish royal apartments and the Hall of Mirrors, contrasting the opulence of the court with the misery of the people. We will relive the "March on Versailles", when the women of Paris forced the royal family to return to the capital.

↳ Versailles is the embodiment of the Ancien Régime. Seeing its extravagance helps us understand the rage and resentment that fueled the Revolution. It was the golden bubble that the people set out to burst.

Visit to the former Jacobin Convent, where the most influential political club met. Through a simulated debate, we will explore the factions of the Revolution (Jacobins, Girondins) and the radical ideas that led to the proclamation of the Republic.

↳ The political clubs were the intellectual engines of the Revolution. Understanding their inner workings means grasping how the ideology that transformed France and the world was forged.

We will follow the final steps of Louis XVI, from his imprisonment in the Temple Tower to his trial before the National Convention and his execution. An ethical debate will confront us with the question of regicide and the legitimacy of revolutionary justice.

↳ The execution of the king was the point of no return, an act that broke with a thousand years of monarchy. Examining it lets us discuss the limits of justice and popular sovereignty.

We will explore the Conciergerie, the "antechamber of the guillotine" where Marie Antoinette and many others spent their final hours. A guided debate will confront us with the paradoxes of the Terror: was it a betrayal of the ideals of 1789 or a necessary evil to save the Republic?

↳ The Conciergerie is the dark heart of the Revolution. It forces us to confront the hardest questions about political violence and how ideals of liberty can lead to tyranny in the name of "virtue".

We will visit the Louvre Museum, transformed by the Revolution from a royal palace into a public museum. We will analyze how works by artists such as Jacques-Louis David ("The Death of Marat") became powerful propaganda tools for the new regime.

↳ The Revolution understood the power of the image. The Louvre became an instrument to educate the citizen and glorify the new martyrs and heroes of the Republic.

We will follow the events that led to the fall of Robespierre. We will visit the Hôtel de Ville, where he took refuge before being arrested, and discuss the causes of the reaction that ended the Terror and ushered in a more conservative phase of the Revolution.

↳ The fall of Robespierre shows how revolutions often devour their own children. It is a lesson on the exhaustion of radicalism and the yearning for stability after a period of chaos.

A seminar will examine the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte as a direct product of the Revolution. Was he the one who consolidated its achievements or the one who betrayed its ideals of liberty by establishing a new empire? We will visit the church of Saint-Sulpice, the setting of one of his coups.

↳ Napoleon is the most complex and controversial figure to emerge from the Revolution. Discussing his legacy is essential to understanding the long-term consequences of the revolutionary events.

Our journey ends at the Panthéon, where the heroes of the Republic rest. We will reflect on the lasting legacy of the Revolution: the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the end of feudalism, and the birth of modern nationalism. Farewell lunch and transfer to the airport.

↳ The Panthéon celebrates the glory of the Republic born from the Revolution. Concluding here allows us to weigh the final balance of this cataclysmic event that, despite its blood and chaos, laid the foundations of modern liberal democracy.