
In Our Time: History
BBC Radio 4
Radio: BBC Radio Cymru 2
Categories: Education
Listen to the last episode:
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most consequential battles of recent centuries. On 20th September 1792 at Valmy, 120 miles to the east of Paris, the army of the French Revolution faced Prussians, Austrians and French royalists heading for Paris to free Louis XVI and restore his power and end the Revolution. The professional soldiers in the French army were joined by citizens singing the Marseillaise and their refusal to give ground prompted their opponents to retreat when they might have stayed and won. The French success was transformative. The next day, back in Paris, the National Convention abolished the monarchy and declared the new Republic. Goethe, who was at Valmy, was to write that from that day forth began a new era in the history of the world.
With
Michael Rowe Reader in European History at King’s College London
Heidi Mehrkens Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Aberdeen
And
Colin Jones Professor Emeritus of History at Queen Mary, University of London
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list
T. C. W. Blanning, The French Revolutionary Wars, 1787-1802 (Hodder Education, 1996)
Elizabeth Cross, ‘The Myth of the Foreign Enemy? The Brunswick Manifesto and the Radicalization of the French Revolution’ (French History 25/2, 2011)
Charles J. Esdaile, The Wars of the French Revolution, 1792-1801 (Routledge, 2018)
John A. Lynn, ‘Valmy’ (MHQ: Quarterly Journal of Military History, Fall 1992)
Munro Price, The Fall of the French Monarchy: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and the baron de Breteuil (Macmillan, 2002)
Simon Schama, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (Penguin Books, 1989)
Samuel F. Scott, From Yorktown to Valmy: The Transformation of the French Army in an Age of Revolution (University Press of Colorado, 1998)
Marie-Cécile Thoral, From Valmy to Waterloo: France at War, 1792–1815 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production
Previous episodes
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413 - The Battle of Valmy Thu, 13 Feb 2025
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412 - Plutarch's Parallel Lives Thu, 16 Jan 2025
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411 - The Hanoverian Succession Thu, 26 Dec 2024
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410 - The Antikythera Mechanism Thu, 12 Dec 2024
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409 - The Venetian Empire Thu, 28 Nov 2024
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408 - The Haymarket Affair Thu, 31 Oct 2024
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407 - Benjamin Disraeli Thu, 17 Oct 2024
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406 - The Orkneyinga Saga Thu, 04 Jul 2024
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405 - Marsilius of Padua Thu, 27 Jun 2024
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404 - Empress Dowager Cixi Thu, 20 Jun 2024
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403 - Napoleon's Hundred Days Thu, 16 May 2024
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402 - Julian the Apostate Thu, 18 Apr 2024
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401 - The Mokrani Revolt Thu, 04 Apr 2024
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400 - The Sack of Rome 1527 Thu, 21 Mar 2024
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399 - The Hanseatic League Thu, 29 Feb 2024
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398 - Nefertiti Thu, 15 Feb 2024
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397 - Tiberius Thu, 11 Jan 2024
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396 - Marguerite de Navarre Thu, 21 Dec 2023
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395 - Solon the Lawgiver Thu, 20 Apr 2023
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347 - The Theory of the Leisure Class Thu, 14 Dec 2023
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346 - The Barbary Corsairs Thu, 07 Dec 2023
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345 - The Federalist Papers Thu, 09 Nov 2023
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344 - The Economic Consequences of the Peace Thu, 26 Oct 2023
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343 - Louis XIV: The Sun King Thu, 22 Jun 2023
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342 - The Shimabara Rebellion Thu, 08 Jun 2023
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341 - The Battle of Crécy Thu, 11 May 2023
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340 - Cnut Thu, 04 May 2023
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339 - Mercantilism Thu, 13 Apr 2023
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338 - Megaliths Thu, 30 Mar 2023
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337 - Chartism Thu, 09 Mar 2023
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336 - Tycho Brahe Thu, 02 Mar 2023
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335 - The Great Stink Thu, 26 Jan 2023
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334 - The Irish Rebellion of 1798 Thu, 05 Jan 2023
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333 - Demosthenes' Philippics Thu, 15 Dec 2022
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332 - The Morant Bay Rebellion Thu, 01 Dec 2022
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331 - The Knights Templar Thu, 03 Nov 2022
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330 - Angkor Wat Thu, 21 Jul 2022
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329 - Comenius Thu, 16 Jun 2022
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328 - The Davidian Revolution Thu, 02 Jun 2022
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327 - Olympe de Gouges Thu, 19 May 2022
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326 - Homo erectus Thu, 12 May 2022
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325 - The Arthashastra Thu, 31 Mar 2022
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323 - Peter Kropotkin Thu, 24 Feb 2022
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322 - The Temperance Movement Thu, 03 Feb 2022
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321 - The Gold Standard Thu, 20 Jan 2022
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320 - The Hittites Thu, 23 Dec 2021
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319 - The May Fourth Movement Thu, 09 Dec 2021
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318 - The Battle of Trafalgar Thu, 02 Dec 2021
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317 - The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Thu, 14 Oct 2021
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316 - The Manhattan Project Thu, 07 Oct 2021