505. The French Revolution: The Shadow of the Guillotine (Part 3)

505. The French Revolution: The Shadow of the Guillotine (Part 3)

The Rest Is History · 2024-10-20

During the "Ancien Regime", royal executioners held an unholy status, and would strike up fear in the crowds as they walked the streets of Paris. But with the Revolution, the role of executioners in society was reformed, and whilst they lost some of their privileges, they were ushered into to a new, universalist France. And as the Revolution brought forward more and more enemies of the state, executioners were faced with more victims than the axe could handle. This, combined with an ever growing debate around the humanity and dignity of executions, would lead to the invention of a killing machine still used by the French state more than 150 years later…

Join Tom and Dominic in the third part of our second season of the French Revolution, as they look at gruesome methods of execution under the French monarchy, the changing role of executioners, how the Guillotine came to loom so large over the fate of so many…

_______
Looking for all of our episodes on the French Revolution? Check out The Rest Is History’s French Revolution playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX6W9e1zgsgaG
_______
LIVE SHOWS
*The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.
*The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
_______
Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis + Becki Hills
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Rest Is History

The world’s most popular history podcast, with Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook.

Join The Rest Is History Club (www.therestishistory.com) for ad-free listening to the full archive, weekly bonus episodes, live streamed shows and access to an exclusive chatroom community.

Here are some of our favourite episodes to get you started:

WATERGATE/NIXON apple.co/3JrVl5h


ALEXANDER THE GREAT apple.co/3Q4FaNk


HARDCORE HISTORY'S DAN CARLIN apple.co/3vqkGa3


PUTIN & RUSSIA apple.co/3zMtLfX

  • No. of episodes: 576
  • Latest episode: 2025-04-06
  • History

Where can you listen?

Apple Podcasts Logo Spotify Logo Podtail Logo Google Podcasts Logo RSS

Episodes