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- Gale eBooks: History - Naugatuck Valley Campus This link opens in a new window A wide-ranging collection of historical documents, including primary source materials, covering topics including civil rights, the environment and conservation, immigration and immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ history, the Middle Ages, the Middle East, women's rights, Native Americans, and issues of nationalism and populism.
- History Reference Center This link opens in a new window Full text for more than 1,990 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books from leading history publishers. Covering both U.S. and world history topics, History Reference Center is a full-text database featuring historical reference books, magazines, journals and thousands of primary source documents.
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History of the Guillotine
The Guillotine was the preferred method of execution to eliminate perceived enemies of the state. Photo from an educational blog.
- History of the GuillotineExcellent piece from the University of Houston.
Beginning Stage 1789-1792
The Government wrote The Declaration of the Rights of Man. It gave the people some hope.
Radical Stage 1792-1794
Most atrocities took place during this period. Robespierre was mainly responsible for seeing to the executions of those loyal to King Louis XVI. All church lands were confiscated. Picture courtesy of George Mason University.
Moderate Stage 1794-1799
Middle Class takes over. They were ruled by a Directory of 6-12 members voted in every six months.
- Learn about the Third EstateWhat is the Third Estate?
Books on the French Revolution
Twelve Who Ruled by Call Number: DC 177 .P33 2005ISBN: 9780691121871Publication Date: 2005-07-25In its fifth year (1793-1794), the French Revolution faced a multifaceted crisis that threatened to overwhelm the Republic. In response the government instituted a revolutionary dictatorship and a "reign of terror," with a Committee of Public Safety at its head. R. R. Palmer's fascinating narrative follows the Committee's deputies individually and collectively, recounting and assessing their tumultuous struggles in Paris and their repressive missions in the provinces. A new foreword by Isser Woloch explains why this book has been, and deserves to remain, an enduring classic in French revolutionary studies.
The Long Affair by Call Number: E 332.45 .O27 1996ISBN: 0226616533Publication Date: 1996-11-15This is an examination of Thomas Jefferson through the critical lens of the French Revolution. Conor Cruise O'Brien argues that Jefferson, though enthralled with the ideological mystique of the French Revolution, nevertheless retained a shrewd political pragmatism, skillfully exploiting the Revolution's popularity with the American public. Ultimately, O'Brien suggests, Jefferson's egalitarian ideals came into conflict with his staunch political support for the slave-based southern economy. Following the French-inspired slave insurrection in Santo Domingo, his revolutionary zeal began to cool. The book concludes with an evaluation of Jefferson's current role in the system of American political beliefs.
Videos on the French Revolution
John Green examines the French Revolution, and gets into how and why it differed from the American Revolution. Was it the serial authoritarian regimes? The guillotine? The Reign of Terror? All of this and more contributed to the French Revolution not being quite as revolutionary as it could have been. France endured multiple constitutions, the heads of heads of state literally rolled, and then they ended up with a megalomaniacal little emperor by the name of Napoleon. But how did all of this change the world, and how did it lead to other, more successful revolutions around the world? Watch this video and find out. Spoiler alert: Marie Antoinette never said, "Let them eat cake." Sorry.
King Louis XVI
Louis XVI married to Marie Antoinette. Excuted via the guillotine Jan 21, 1793 in Paris.
Marie Antoinette
Portrait of Marie Antoinette (who never said "let them have cake").
Photo from Smith College Blog.
- Marie Antoinette (Motion picture : 2006)This DVD Tells the story of the 14-year-old ill-fated Archduchess of Austria and later Queen of France. Marie Antoinette has became one of the most misunderstood and abused woman in history, from her birth in Imperial Austria. And how the young woman must grow up in front of the entire country of France.