So we continue the French Revolution today and uh last class we looked at Jeanjac Rouso and how he is the philosopher poet of the revolution. He provided the um dream okay for the revolution. He told the French that there was a promised land of reason where if you use your reason, which is God's gift to us, you could build a new society, a utopia, a kingdom, a kingdom on earth. In today's class, we will look at Robespier, Maximian Robepier, who is a prophet who will take his people into the promised land. All right?
So he is the main instigator uh the main leader of the French Revolution. And um I'm going to make a very strange argument today about Rose Pier that no one has made before. So it's going to be very controversial. It's going to be very strange. So um I will do this very slowly.
Okay. Basically, I'm gonna make the argument to you that Rose Pier saw himself as the second coming of Jesus. And because he did so, he sacrificed himself in order to save the French Revolution. Okay? So, that's my argument to you today.
Again, it's going to be a very controversial, provocative argument. So, I will work very slowly to explain it. All right. Okay. So, let's go over some um let's review some information we discussed last class that's very important.
Okay. So, as we discussed last class, traditionally in Europe, there have been two major groups of people. Okay. There there are the peasants and the poor and the slaves. Okay.
So, basically the lower class, the underclass. And then at the top are the nobility and clergy. Now there's always been towns people. There's always been merchants and artisans and crafts people, but they're in the minority. But because of the gunpowder revolution, as Europe begins to industrialize, um these people are growing in number and in influence and in power.
Okay? And we call these people today the middle class. And the middle class, it's an extremely diverse uh group of people. And you can simplify the middle class into three major categories. Okay?
There's the boujo. The bouro remember are the elite of the town. So these are bankers, lawyers, doctors, factory owners, um industrialists, merchants. Okay. So they are the elite of a town.
Then you have what what we call later the politariat. Okay. The polletariat um are the lower class of a town. They include artisans, uh, workers, okay? They're often the majority.
And then in between are what we call the petite boujo or the petty middle class. And these are just people who are just stuck in between these two major categories. and they include um school teachers, journalists, um small lawyers, okay, notaries, small business owners, okay? So this is extremely diverse group of people. Okay.
Now and as we discussed last class, what often happens in revolution is that is that the Portuguese will often be the become the counter elites. The counter elites are just those who lead the people to revolt against the elites. The proletariat will be the muscle or the army. Okay? And the borso Z are in a very unstable position because at first they they will often support revolutions because they want more political power but over time they will uh become reactionaries or they will try to control the revolution or even kill the revolution because the revolution is threatening threatening their economic interests.
Okay. So this is the pattern that we see in human history. Okay. So um let's let's go over some terms that we will need in order to understand the French Revolution. Okay.
Um so what happens is this. The middle class is growing in France throughout the 17th and 18th century. In fact, they become the main economic engine for France. At this time, France is the most populous, the wealthiest nation in all of Europe. But it is an absolute monarchy.
An absolute monarchy is one in which the king makes all the decisions. He decides whether or not to go to war. He decides who has the power. He decides who has to pay taxes. Okay, he has absolute power.
an absolute monarchy. The absolute monarchy leads France into a series of disastrous wars in this in the 18th century. The most prominent, the most important is something called the Seven Years War fought between France and England primarily. There are other participants as well. And this is a world war.
Okay, this is really the first world war. You you can actually call this world war zero. It's fought all all around the world in North America, in Europe, um in Asia. It's fought everywhere. And France loses this war.
Okay? When you lose the war, you incur a lot of debt. But not only that, right after seven years war, France sponsors the American Revolution. Okay? So, France becomes the main uh uh economic, political, and military sponsor of the Americans in the revolution against the British.
And of course, the Americans win this war when the Americans refuse to pay back the debt that they owe to the French. Okay, so these are two major wars that are now that have now left um France in very dire economic straits. In fact, their treasury, it's empty. Okay, the government has no more money. Food prices are um off the charts.
People don't have enough to eat. There's no bread. the economies in tatters. Okay. So what the king needs to do now is he needs to call an assembly of the people.
Okay. And this and this what's called the estate general. The estate general. This happens in the year 1789. And this marks the beginning of the French Revolution.
And the purpose for this estate general, it's very simple. All the king wants to do is get these people, the nobility, the clergy and the middle class B to agree to give them more money, okay? To pay more taxes, to replenish the treasury. Of course, the middle class, everyone in the middle class is like, "This is a bad deal for us. We are the main economic engine for France.
We pay the most taxes. We do the most work, but we have no political power. Therefore, we should have some political power. In fact, we should check the power of the king to uh declare war and to raise taxes. Okay?
So, they want a constitutional monarchy. No, at this time in history, no one is saying that they should depose a king and declare republic. No one is saying that. Okay? All they want is a more um def a greater diffusion of power.
All right? Less power for the king, more power for the people. That makes sense. Okay? But of course, the king and the elite don't really like this idea.
And the king um this is Louis the 16th and he's very indic indecisive. Okay? He wants to maintain the absolute monarchy but he lacks the cutthroat mentality mentality that that he would need to u achieve um his power. Okay. So he should have sent in the military to kill everyone but he didn't want to do that.
He he goes back and forth. Okay. And so what happens is now the estates general breaks off. In the estate general there are three estates. Okay.
Three major groups. There's the no the first estate is called the clergy, the Catholic Church. The second estate is the nobility. The third estate is everyone else, the commoners. Okay?
So what happens is the third estate breaks off and they form something called the national assembly. And they use national assembly as a mechanism to press for more rights. And the national assembly because it's made up of most of the members of the middle class. You have different groups. of the politariat the petite boujo the boujo um they argue amongst themselves as well.
So what what's happening now is that within the national assembly these political groups political clubs are forming in order to deise strategy and to consolidate um ideology amongst themselves. Okay. And the most famous of these clubs is are called the you guys remember the jackabins, right? Have you guys studied this history? Okay.
The jackabins. Oh, anyway, the jackabins. The jackabins. And this is just a meeting place for um revolutionaries to come together and discuss ideology. How do we best proceed?
Now, over time, as a revolution develops, the Jacobins will split off into other groups. Okay. Um and the the reason why they split off is because the economic interests the political economic social interests of these different groups do not align with each other. All right. So from the Jacobins you will emerge the fins.
The fins represent the boujoee. They don't want any economic change. They want political change. They don't want to um have a more equal society. They just want more power over the king.
Okay. So these are conservatives. But then you will also emerge the Girundins. Girundins. The Girundins are lower bouroi.
These are merchants. These are trades people. And what they want is war. They want France to declare war against their enemies Austria, Prussia basically. And and the reason why is if there's war, they can make money off war.
Okay? Because these are merchants, these are trades people. Um these are industrialists. So they see war as an opportunity to enrich themselves. They're speculators basically.
And these are called the dironians. And then you will also emerge the cordelers. And the cordelers represent a more extreme faction of the Jacobins who want universal suffrage. They want the polletariat to have more rights. Okay.
Um at this point the polletariat is called the san kulat. The s kulots. Okay. These are very important people because they provide the muscle for the revolution. Sulot is French meaning without breaches.
So the custom at that time is that if you are a middle class person you wear like silk socks. Okay. But they're expensive. So uh the middle the lower class and polletitariat they they don't they cannot afford these socks. Therefore they're called the s kolat okay the s kulat and the colers want to galvanize these people to create a full revolution where the complete social economic political and religious order is overthrown.
Okay. Then you have people call the herpertists and what they want to do is overthrow the Catholic Church. Okay? So throughout this revolution over time you have different groups emerging with different political interests within the middle class. Okay?
Does that make sense? But at the same time you have threats to the revolution. Okay. So the main threat is the king because a king he's a bourbon and his brother his brother is king of Spain. He has relatives all over Europe.
So he writes to Austria Prussia to ask for aid. Can you come in send your army and crush this revolution for me because my army is not listening to me. Okay. So the king is conspiring against the revolution. There are these invasions from Austria and Prussia.
Okay. And then England also sees the revolution as a threat as well because remember every nation has a middle class and they're afraid that the middle class in their nations will rise up against them as well. So you have these external threats coming in and then you also have internal threats. Okay, you have counterrevolutionaries, the nobility who try to raise their own armies to crush revolution. You also have economic collapse going on.
Okay. So, so the revolution at this point in the year 1990, 1991, it seems threatened. So, what happens is that someone emerges from this chaos to lead the revolution and his name is Maxmillian Robespierre. Okay, Maxmillian Robespier. and Ropes Pierre he is just a provincial lawyer okay he is not from Paris he is from Ara um a province in France he's a lawyer and he's part of the petite boujo and he's not imposing he's not huge he's he's not he's not powerful he doesn't have a faction behind him and he's not extremely charismatic he he he he's almost like a nerd but the thing about ropier is that he is completely convinced vinced that the revolution must win and it will win if he works hard enough.
He works 18 hours a day. The moment he gets up, he works. He gives speeches. He he gives over 500 speeches in the National Assembly over his career. Um he is extremely virtuous.
He's he he comes to Paris with no money and he leaves Paris with no money. his entire career as a lawyer back in his hometown he spent defending the poor and the weak against the powerful and he has very clear ideas about how to to proceed with the revolution based on Jeanjac Rouso. Okay, he sees himself as a disciple of Jeanjac Rouso. Okay, remember last class we looked at Rouso's ideas and and how to implement um a kingdom of reason. Okay, so um Roses Pier because he is the most virtuous, he is the most um he has the most conviction, he becomes the de facto leader of the revolution.
Okay. uh he becomes head of something called the committee for public safety and it's not a dictator it's not a dictatorship okay he's not a dictator but he's head of a comm committee that advises national assembly on how to proceed and because he he is the most forceful he has the most ideas his ideas usually win out okay and what and over time as he accumulates more and more power he makes more more radical proposals. His most radical propo proposal is called the reign of terror. The reign of terror is a time of mass mass execution. Okay.
The guillotine in Paris to in order to sol solidify the revolution in order to advance the the revolution says we must instill terror in our enemies. We must investigate our enemies and execute them if they are plotting with the king against us. If they are plotting with enemies against us. If they are conspiring against us. If they are engaged in economic speculation.
If they're hoarding food. These are all enemies. They're trying to sabotage the revolution. Therefore, we must kill them. Okay.
So over a few years, three or four years, the ring of terror will kill at least 40,000 people within terrorists alone. Okay, we don't know in the provinces uh how how many people are killed. The reign of terror will also execute the king and queen. So they will kill the king and queen as well. All right.
So, historians have been debating for a long time if the ring of terror uh was necessary because obvious obviously it's a terrible thing to kill tens of thousands of people for holding opposing political opinions. Okay. And a lot of these people were in fact just political enemies of ropes pier. Okay. So, how can we best understand the ring of terror?
Well, if you think about it in this class, we we've actually studied the reign of terror before, okay? It's the idea of human sacrifice. And we've discussed this before. Uh all societies engage in war preodern times practice human sacrifice. So, Romans did it, the Vik the Vikings did it, the Aztecs did it.
Okay? The Aztecs were famous for for doing it. So, why would you do human sacrifice if you're engaged in war? Okay. Well, there are different reasons and there are three main reasons.
The first reason is you want to unify and energize the people. Okay. When people observe or they watch human sacrifice, when they when they engage in a spectacle, they become much more excited. They be they have blood lust. Okay?
We call this blood lust, war lust. They want to kill now. Okay? They got they're excited to kill. Okay?
That's one purpose. Second purpose of course is to terrorize your enemy to put fear in your enemy. Okay, that's obvious. And then there's the third reason which is the most important. The third reason is to break taboo.
Okay, the break the taboo. When you break a taboo, you are signaling that you are crossing a boundary. You've crossed a line and you can never go back. You can no longer compromise. You can only move forward.
Okay. So the taboo they broke in the French revolution is they kill the king and queen of France. That meant that now all of Europe would unite against the French and they would come and exact a bloody vengeance on the people of France. the enemies of France, which include England, the Netherlands, Prussia, Austria, Russia, the five most powerful nations in all of Europe, they would they they will now come and they will not stop until they have avenged the the the dead king and queen. Okay, they've because the French people have broken this taboo and the monarchs cannot allow the French people to get to to get away with this.
Okay? Because if they did, then this would encourage their people to rise up against them as well. Okay? So by with the ring of terror, ropes breaks the taboo. And when you break the taboo, then you are now all in.
You are fully committed to the revolution. There's no more of compromise. There's no more surrender. There's no more uh going back into the past. You are now in the promised land.
You are now in a new world. you must fight to the death for this world. Okay, does that make sense? Okay, but what happens next? Um, and it's very strange is ropesier has accumulate all the power in France.
He's not dictator. He doesn't have the powers to be a dictator, but he's de facto dictator. And at this point in his life, he's only like in his mid-30s. He could choose to become king, right? He could be like, you know what?
For the revolution to fully succeed, I need to become the dictator. And the people, the S colot love him. The wins love him. He would win. Okay.
But at this particular stage in the revolution, he decides to just sit at home. He goes into seclusion. He kind of gives up and this allow this gives time for his enemies to conspire against him and he has a lot of enemies because this is this is the ring of terror. Rose Pierre is virtuous and no one can be as virtuous as Robes Pierre and his enemies think this guy is crazy. He's going to kill everyone who is not as virtuous as he is and therefore we're all going to be killed at some point.
Okay. So they try to they decide to act first. So the national assembly conspire to vote for his canon canonation. They vote for his death and he does not resist. The most he does is he goes to national assembly and he gives a speech cursing them all.
Okay. And then but then afterwards they send uh soldiers to arrest him and he doesn't really resist and then he's sent off to the guillotine and then he's killed and that's the end of Rosepier and this is a mystery a paradox to historians like why did Rosier fall? Why didn't he resist? Why did he just give up? Okay.
All right. So to answer this question, I'm going to provide you w with a new idea. Okay? And this is a hard idea. So please feel free to challenge me or ask questions.
Make sure you're clear. Okay? All right. So the thing you you need to understand is this. In a time of revolution, when people reject authority, when people say, "I no longer believe in God.
I refuse to listen to my priests." the nobility is evil. I refuse to submit to the king. The question then is what takes charge? What guides society now? And the answer is mythologies.
Mythologies are the subconscious operating system of society. Okay, does that make sense? So, what mythology does everyone in France know? Well, the story of Jesus, right? What's the story of Jesus?
Um, Jesus is persecuted for telling the truth, for trying to bring about a more equal, more just world. In fact, he is murdered. He's crucified. Okay? It's cru crucification.
Okay? And the moment he's crucified, people discover that he's truly the son of God. And then after he dies, he ascends to heaven where he wait he awaits a day when he has to return. Okay? And he does return in something called the second coming.
Second coming. And the second coming, Jesus will become the god of war. Okay? The Messiah. And he will lead his people into victory against the entire world.
And once he defeats the entire world, he will build a kingdom of heaven, a thousand years of peace. And then after a thousand years of peace, heaven will come onto earth. We will all become immortal. And those who have been good will live in heaven. those who have been bad will burn in hell.
Okay, the final judgment. Okay, so that's a story, a mythology that everyone understands, that everyone knows in France. And so even though the French Revolution was a revolution of reason when they're trying to reject the Christian faith, the mythology is still implanted in their brains. And this mythology becomes the operating system of the French Revolution. Okay.
So um using this mythology let's now ask ourselves what happened when Rosepier died. Okay three things happened when Rosepier died. The first one that happened is Rosepier became a scapegoat. Okay a scapegoat is someone who takes the blame for all the crimes of the community. So the ring of terror is when the Parisians killed 40,000 people and some of them were innocent.
And when Rose Pier died, he took the blame for the ring of terror, right? They killed him because they call him a tyrant. He's the one responsible for those 40,000 deaths. And he said, "Sure, I'll take the blame." Okay? He becomes a scape.
That's the first thing that happens. Second thing that happens is he becomes a martyr for the revolution. He died in order to save the revolution. Rose said to the people, "If you need me to die in order to cleanse you of your sins, then I will do so. And I will do so because what matters is not my life but the revolution." Okay?
He becomes a martyr. And when he became a martyr, what he did was he made people feel guilty for having persecuted and killed him. Okay? And so the third thing he becomes is a role model or a paragon, a hero. He's telling the French people, listen, I could have become king.
I had all the power in the world, but I chose to sacrifice myself because what mattered most was the revolution. If you feel guilty for having killed me, then you have an obligation to the revolution to sacrifice necessary in order to save the revolution. Okay? So this is what happened. The moment he killed himself, he became a scapegoat, a martyr and a paragon of virtue, a hero to the people.
People will feel guilty for having killed him. And now they will transfer this guilt into promoting and saving the revolution. And so in other words, the moment that he died, G Rosepier became Jesus. He became in the minds of the French people second coming of Jesus. Does that make sense?
Okay. So that's my argument to you today. And so over the the rest of the class we will look at the evidence and actually the best evidence is how Rose Pier died. Okay. So let's compare the death of Jesus and the death of Rose Pier and you will see they match up.
They line up perfectly. Okay. So let's look at the death of Jesus. And then we'll look at Ruth Pier, his death. Jesus spends his life preaching the truth to the people and trying to build a more just and equal world.
But he knows that eventually he must die in order to complete his mission. Okay. So at the in the last supper, he tells his followers, the disciples, one of you will betray me. Okay, betrayal. And of course, this person's name is Julius Escariat who betrays Jesus to the high priest of Jerusalem.
Okay, so the f so the first thing is betrayal. But after the dinner, everyone goes to sleep and Jesus goes to a quiet place. Okay. He isolates himself. Why?
Because he knows that the soldiers are coming to arrest him and to put him to death. Okay? The servants of the high priest are going to come and arrest him. The servants do come to arrest Jesus. And Jesus submits.
Okay? Submission. He does not resist. But one of his disciples, Peter, he he sees what's happening and he rushes to try to save Jesus. And uh Peter cuts off the ear of one of the servants of the high priest.
And Jesus tells him, "No, no, no, Peter, go home. This is what I must do by myself. I must go with the with the high to the high priest." Okay. He goes to the high priest who then presents him to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, right? And Pilate says, "Jesus, you've been accused of crimes against your people of defying the laws of your God.
What do you have to say in your defense?" And Jesus says, "Nothing." Jesus does not defense defend himself. Okay. Okay. So, submission. Okay.
And then Pon Pilot says, "Fine. If you refuse to defend yourself, then I can only condemn you to death." So Jesus um there's he has to bear a cross, okay? And he's bearing the cross. The Jews line up and see him and they jeer him. Okay?
They curse him. They spit at him. They throw stones at him. And all this while there's someone, a soldier, a centurion following him and whipping him. Okay?
This is called the passion. Okay? He is punished. And then he is of course crucified. And he's crucified.
It's the worst way to die, right? People, thousands of people come and watch him be get crucified and then die. Okay, that's the story of Jesus. Guess what guys, this story becomes the death of Rosepier too. So, Ropier is betrayed.
He is betrayed by his political allies and friends. He helped these people amass power and once they amass power and Rosar gets rid of all the the other enemies, they see Robier as the ultimate threat so they conspire against him. Okay, so it's a betrayal. Respir is asked to speak to the to the assembly. He does.
Okay. But he knows the assembly has already condemned him to to death. There's no point in him arguing. Okay. So what he does is after his speech, he goes to a building, a town hall, and he goes to the second floor and he be and he is isolated from everyone.
Okay? He knows his fate. He knows they're going to come and kill him. And he just stands there. His friends, his most loyal followers, okay?
Say to him, "Wop, they're coming to kill you. Let's rally the p people. Let's go to the sections, the sulot. We have thousands, tens of thousands of loyal followers. Let's rally them.
Let's inspire them to revolt. Let's let's raise an army and kill the entire national assembly. And Robes Pier refuses. Okay. Then you have the Paris Commune leaders from the Paris Commune.
They they they've heard what happened to Roespier. So they sent a delegation to the section and say, "Hey guys, we need to defend our hero." Okay? And so you have this huge crowd moving towards the National Assembly and they're waiting for Rose to appear before them and said, "Fight, fight, fight." Okay? Defend the revolution, save the revolution, save Robes Pierre. They're waiting for the hero to come out and lead them.
Robes Pier refuses to say a word. He just he just sits there and then begging begging Robes Pierre please Roses Pierre we have to do something and Robes Pierre just he stares off into space. Okay. He's like Jesus at this point. He knows his fate.
He knows his destiny. He refuses to fight his destiny. He submits. Okay. Submission.
The soldiers come and his followers they get into a fight. Some people die, but a soldier shoots a pistol into the jaw of Rose Pier. Okay. And now he's covered in blood and he's trying to wipe off the blood, but he's in pain. Okay.
And even though he's in pain, they still take him to the guillotine. So the passion of Rosepier and he's being driven on a horse with his followers and there's about 100 of them to the guillotine. They will be all massacred at once. Okay. and thousand people lining up on the streets to to shout down the tyrant.
Down the tyrant. Okay, they hate Whoops Pier. These are people who lost uh France family in the ring of terror. So they want to see this guy dead and ultimately then ropes pier then is guillotine and that's the end of ropes pier. Okay, do you see how these stories line up perfectly?
It is almost as if Robespier is trying to act out the story of Jesus for the French people. That is that is his intention. That is his legacy. He wants people to understand that it was Jesus who appeared before them. And Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice because he loved his people in order to rally his people to save the revolution and fight off the enemies of France.
Okay, these stories line up too well. Now, we know that this story is basically just mythology. Okay, but I keep on telling you guys in history for us humans, mythology ideas are real. Okay. So, Rose Pier remember this mythology or subconsciously knows this mythology and he acted out for the French people in order to inspire them in order to fully realize the revolution.
Okay. So in other words, the French Revolution was essentially a relig religious mythology in which ropes pier volunteered to play the part of Jesus, right? To be Jesus, you need to make the ultimate sacrifice. You need to sacrifice yourself in front of people. And that's what he did.
Okay? And after his death, people now see that he's Jesus. And now people are inspired to believe that there will be a second coming of Ropes Pier. Someone will come come who will be Ropes Pier and who will lead them to final victory against all their enemies. And this person's name is who?
Who who comes after ropes pier? Napoleon. Do you understand? So Napoleon takes advantage of all this mythology and he uses it in order to become the king of France. Okay, Rose refused to become king but Napoleon will become king and we'll discuss Napoleon next class and this will end our French revolution trilogy.
Okay. All right. So right so um this is the main argument. Okay. So I provide basically the basic story but what's important for us is now to look at the evidence.
Okay. So we're going to look at the speeches of ropes PR in a context of French revolutionary history. All right. To understand his mentality. Right now, what's really important is for us to understand his psych psychology and ask ourselves if if g if Wilspir really believed he was Jesus or a prophet, then do his speeches, do his words actually provide evidence for this.
Okay? And I will show you that in fact there is evidence that he does in fact see himself as a prophet. But before I start the evidence, are you guys clear about this argument? Are you clear about the story I'm telling you? All right.
Are you guys clear? All right. Good. So, let's look at the evidence. Sorry.
All right. Okay. That is a great question. Does Roar know that people will will know? He doesn't, right?
He can't know. And in fact, if you look at the Bible, the Bible is very clear. Jesus himself was full of doubt. He was not completely uh sure that he people will remember him. Okay.
But that's the problem of faith. If you truly believe in the people, you will have faith in the people. You understand? So it was an act of faith, right? Rose never at any point said, "Hey, I am the prophet.
I need to sacrifice myself in order to save the revolution. Okay, he hints at that, but he never really says it outright. And so he himself is extremely conflicted person, right? There's a part of him that is pulling him towards his destiny, but there's also another part of him that resists against against this. Okay, do you understand?
We humans are extremely complicated. Robes was a human being. Okay. Okay. Does that make sense?
He can never be confident that this will work out in the end. But because he took that that leap of faith, it radically changed human history. Okay? Because because because I believe, okay, and I will argue this, if he actually didn't do this, if he actually just became king, right? If he seized the crown like Napoleon did, the French Revolution would have failed and we really wouldn't remember the French Revolution and it really wouldn't change the course of human history.
What I will show you next class is because he did so because he sacrificed himself. It allowed Napoleon to defeat all of Europe. Okay? Without spirit sacrifice, Napoleon could not have become Napoleon. All right?
So, does that make sense? No prophet ever truly believes he's the prophet. There's always a part of him that is doubtful, that is skeptical. Okay? But he persists nonetheless.
And that what makes him heroic. Okay? And this is true for all prophets. Does that make sense? All right.
French revolution. Um, maximum ropes pier. Okay. So, some basic biographical details about ropes pier. Okay.
He was born in a town called Ara, which is a province of France. And his family there for um a few generations was Bour. They were all lawyers. His grandfather was a lawyer. His father was a lawyer.
But um his mother, Rob's mother died giving birth to a younger brother. They all they both both both died. Um and then Robier's father left the family and died a few years later in Belgium or somewhere. Okay. So Robepier went from Bour to Pat Boujo.
His family is still wealthy but not as wealthy as before. Uh Roses Pierre be becomes at a very early age. Okay, maybe seven or eight be he becomes the man of the family. Okay. He's responsible for taking care of of his younger brother and his younger sister.
His grandparents are still pretty wealthy. They send him to a Jesuit school where he excels academically. Okay. His ambition is really to be Jean Jac Rouso. He wants to be a philosopher.
He wants to be like a poet philosopher like Jeanjac Rouso. He writes a lot. He dreams of a better world. He's very idealistic. He becomes a lawyer.
And as a lawyer, as I mentioned, he spends all his time defending the poor and the weak. He's a champion of the oppressed. Um the estates general is um organized and he goes and becomes a representative and as I said over the next few years he rises to the very top. So the question we're looking at today is how did Robes Pier fall? Okay.
So um as I mentioned um before the states general is called France is in a is facing economic financial collapse and so king Louis the 16th appoints Jack Neker to become the finance minister. The thing about Neker is that he understands that listen if you people if you want people to pay more taxes you need to give them more political representation. Okay. So Neker becomes a champion of the middle class and he's worshiped by the middle class. Louis the 16th doesn't really like what he has to say and so they have this back and forth for many years where Louis 16 fires him, the people revolt, Louis the 16th hires him back then fires him again.
Okay, so this goes on for quite some time. Neker will also become um um okay around this time as the state general is being called in order to raise more taxes from the people the sea who's who's a clergman he writes a very influential pamphlet called what is the third estate right because the first second and third estates are being called the first and second estates have all the power the third estate has no power so he writes a very influential pamphlet um asking the question, what is the third estate? And he answer and his answer is everything. Okay, the third estate is everyone in France 99 99.99%. What has it been until now in the political order?
Nothing. What does it demand to be? Something. Okay. So during this time, pamphlets are like the internet of today.
It's how most people get their news. And the pamphlets become extremely um violent and ext and call for radical change. May 5th 1789 the three estates meet. King Louis the 16th refuses to acknowledge the third estate. He he refuses to meet with them.
He refuses to heed their demands. So what happens is the third estate form their own national assembly. Okay? And these people are radical. This is everyone in the middle class.
The boujo, the petite boros, the sulot. They want more political power. They want more political representation in government. Um while this is happening, people's mood is becoming more and more radical and violent. Okay?
So the people perish, they don't have any bread. They're hungry. They're unemployed. They feel hopeless. They feel the king is aloof.
So a group of people they storm the bastau. The storming of the bastau happens on July 14th 1789. This is important because the national day of France today is July 14th. Why? Because on July 14th the people rose up and stormed the fortress of the pastel in order to get gunpowder in order to have their own army.
Okay? But not only that, but they kill the governor of the pastel and parade his head in front of everyone. Okay? So people's mood is extremely violent and this violence is happening all around France. It's been decades of economic stagnation, poverty, military defeat.
People want a revolution. um August 27, 1789, the National Assembly declares the um a new constitution. Okay, this new constitution is something called the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the citizen and it becomes a basis for most constitutions in the world. Okay, this marks the beginning of a new age in human history. So let's look at a few passages from the declaration of rights of men.
For these reasons, the National Assembly do recognize and declare in the presence of the supreme being. The supreme being is a god of reason and with the hope of his blessing and favor the following sacred rights of man and of citizens. Okay? Do you understand? These rights were not given to you by the government.
They were given to you by God and these rights can never be taken away from you. Okay. First, men are born and always continue free and equal in respect of their rights. Civil distinctions therefore can be found only on public utility. Okay, this is a radical statement.
Everyone is equal in the eyes of God and therefore in the eyes of the law. If there's nobility, if there's a clergy, it's only because we agree to give them this this distinction based on their uh utility. Okay? Based on the fact that they do public good for us. Right?
So that's a radical statement. Second, the end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. And these rights are liberty, property, security and resistance of oppression. Okay, these are the fundamental human rights. All government, all laws, all society must be based on these fundamental principles.
Liberty, property, security and oppression uh resistance of of oppression. Okay. Third, the nation is essentially the source of all sovereignty. Nor can any individual or any body of man be entitled to any authority which is not expressly derived from it. So what this is saying is now is now we have a new god.
It's a nation state. France becomes a first nation state and all authority derives from the idea of the nation. Okay? And no power can supersede the power of the nation. Okay?
Does that make sense guys? Okay. Okay, this is the beginning of modernity, right? Four, political liberty consists on the power of doing whatever does not injure another. You can do whatever you want as long as you don't harm someone else.
The exercise of the natural rights of every man has no other limits than those which are necessary to secure to every other man the free exercise of the same rights. And these limits are determined only by the law. Five, the law ought to prohibit only actions hurtful society. What is not prohibited by the law should not be hindered nor should anyone be compelled to that which the law does not require. Okay, so this is a new idea of freedom, negative freedom.
Okay, before was positive freedom where you had to do certain things to become a citizen. Now it's like if you're a citizen, you can do you can do whatever you want as long as you are not hurting someone else and you're not breaking the law. Okay? And so this is the where the modern or our modern idea of freedom comes from. All right.
Six. The law is an expression of the will of the community. All citizens have a right to concur either personally or by the representatives in its formation. It should be the same to all whether it protects or punishes and all being equal in its sight are equally eligible to all honors, places and employments according to different abilities without any other distinction than not created by their virtues and talents. Not only is the government now responsive to the needs and demands of the people, the people can at any time become the government.
Okay, so the people are above the government. Okay. So the hierarchy now is at the very top is the nation and then below the nation now is the people, right? And then below the people now is the government. The government only exists in order to protect the rights of the people.
So the government only exists at the behest and um concurrence of the people. All right. Number 10. No man ought to be molested on account of his opinions, not even on account of his religious opinions, provided has a vow of them does not disturb the public order established by law. Okay, so this is now the separation of church and state.
You are free to believe whatever you want. 11. The unrestrained communication of thoughts and opinions being one of the most precious rights of man, every citizen may speak, write and publish freely provided he is responsible for the abuse of this liberty in case determined by law. You are free to say whatever you want. Okay.
This is the freedom of expression. Okay. So the declaration of rights of man basically defines the new liberal order. Okay. Last is 17.
The right to property being invaluable and sacred, no one ought to be deprived of it except in case of evident public necessity, legally ascertained and on condition of a previous just indemnity. Okay. So property is also a sacred right. If you have property, it is yours by the will of God. Obviously, Ropes Pier does not like this idea.
Okay. So Rosepier gives a speech arguing against this idea and he proposes an amendment to this idea. Now last session this is Rosepier speaking before the national assembly. Okay. Now last session I took the floor in order to make a few important additions to the declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen.
It was my intention to expand your declarations of the theory of property by the addition of a few articles. Let the word property threaten no one. Filthy souls who value only your money. I will not violate your treasures even though I know how unclean the source from which they are from which they come. Okay.
So most of you are saying to everyone, I know you guys are rich and you all want to protect your property. I won't take away your property. But please remember every one of you stole this from someone else. This is how you became rich. Through theft, through crimes.
Okay. So, Rosier has a contempt for the wealthy. Ask any one of these traders in human flesh, what is property. Okay. How do people people money for the slave trade?
Basically, he will show you the long coffin called a ship in which men are packed together and chained. Men who seem yet alive. And he will tell you, "Look at my property. I have bought it head forhead." It it's a known fact that at this time in history a lot of people are getting rich off the slave trade. Okay.
Question this noble man who has goods and subjects and who believes that the world will can come to an end now that he no longer possesses them and he will expound similar ideas on property to you. Okay. Rich people love their land. They love their wealth. Question the members of the Capatian dynasty and they will tell you that the most sacred property is the right of inheritance.
that they have the ancient right of oppression, the 25 million Persians now populating the territory of France, of destroying them, of treating them legally and monarchally according to their own world will. So what most are saying is that property cannot be a secret right because property requires the oppression of others, right? How do you make your money how do you make money off land? By getting people to farm them, right? You're oppressing people.
you're explaining people. Therefore, this is a contradiction. If you're saying that property is sacred right, then you're saying that God gave people this right. But God would never give you the power to oppress others. That makes no sense.
You have increased the number of articles in order to afford the largest possible latitude, the right to one's property. And yet you have not added a word in limitation of this right with the result that the declaration might make the impression of having been credit not for the poor but for the rich the speculators for the stock exchange strawber to remedies the effects I propose the following additions okay so he's saying at this point in the revolution the middle the entire middle class including the boujo z are participating in this revolution but he's also saying that you the boujo have written this constitution for your benefit and not for the benefit of everyone for the people. Okay. So, we need to make changes. First, property is that right held by each citizen to dispose freely of that portion of the general goods guaranteed him by the laws.
So, it's society that gives people property, not God who gives people property. Okay? There's a difference. Second, the right to property, like all other rights, is limited by the obligation to regard the rights of others. All right?
So when you speak you you can do whatever you want as long as you don't you don't harm others. Well he what ro is saying is like that should also apply to property. You can own property as long as you are doing so in a way that does not exploit others. And the third is property may not cause any detriment to our security or to our liberty or our existence or to the property of our neighbor. Okay.
Owning property should also not harm the national interest as well. So he's putting severe limitations on the idea of property because what world wants a society based on equality of all. Okay. Now um as this revolution is happening um there's a man named Joseph Ignets Guilloton who will create something called the guillotine. Okay, he's a doctor and he wants to create a more humane way of executing people.
The guillotine will become the main mechanism of terror during the French revolution. Right? So if you are an enemy of the state, they will guillotine you. Um, as all this is happening, the king is trying to work with the National Assembly, but the king is also conspiring against the National Assembly by trying to write to his family and friends overseas to raise armies against the revolution. And um on June 20 to 21, 1792, the king and queen actually try to flee France, but they're recognized and they're captured and sent back to uh Paris.
A month later, August 10th, the people actually storm the king's residence and um basically massacre his Swiss guard, the mercenaries who are paid to protect him. Okay, finally they decide to just kill this guy because he's been he's he's threatening the revolution. Okay, King Louise is always trying to conspire against revolution. So they break this taboo. Okay, because remember many people many people believe that the king is a son of God and they kill him.
Okay. And Rose Pier is explaining why and it's very simple. Okay. Louie may die in order that the revolution may live. It's that simple.
What matters first and foremost is a revolution. In order to advance a revolution, everyone is expandable including Rose Pier. Okay? Rose Pear is only the prophet of revolution. He is not the revolution it itself.
Um as is happening there is now counterrevolutionaries. So in the Vendai which is in West uh France peasants are rebelling against the French revolution. Why? because French French revolution is calling for a secular state. It's calling for a negation of religion and um the thing about peasants is they love their religion.
Okay, so the peasants are now rising up against the French Revolution and it is a brutal war of genocide. Okay, there are massacres and atrocities on both sides. Um on May uh 31st, Rose Pier takes command of the National Assembly. This is something called the Mont Tonaku because he's in charge of of a faction called the the mountain. Okay, this is French for mountain.
And of course, he then begins the ring of terror. Okay, and we discussed why he starts the ring of terror. He needs to unite the energies of people to commit them fully to the revolution. Okay, we can't go back. There's no coming back after this ring of terror.
We have too many enemies now. Um the thing about the um ring of terror is he doesn't he kills his enemies but more importantly he's also killing his political allies. Okay the people on the left he's also killing as well because they also threaten the revolution. So this is George uh Denton and he's one of the leaders of the Cordelers which as as I mentioned is a very leftwing political group calling for the uh for universal suffrage for property rights for the S colot and he he's seen as a threat to the revolution and like ropier he's also fanatical he's a fanatical prophet so the national assembly votes to condemn him to death and he says I have said and I have shall I'll repeat. My home will soon be in oblivion and my name in a pantheon.
Here is my head. It will I will it will answer for everything. My life is a burden to me. I shall be glad to be rid of it. Okay.
He's like screw you all. I don't care. I have done God's work. If I must rest, I shall rest. Okay.
And then he's guillotine. Um Jacques Herbert is leader of the herpetus. He's a journalist and he's calling for the complete abolishment of the Catholic Church. And of course the peasants don't like that. The the peasants would all unite against you.
So he's seen as a threat to the revolution even though he is a close ally of Rose Pier and Rosepier also has him killed. Okay. So Rosier is not just killing his enemies but he's also killing his friends as well. And it's all in order to advance the revolution. Um so now Rose Pier needs to explain why this is happening.
Okay. And he presents a vision of the revolution which tells us that he sees himself as a prophet. He's trying to build a new world. It's it it right now there's a war between good and evil and good must triumph no matter what the cost. All right.
So his speech before the national assembly to explain the ring of terror to judge by the power and the will of a republican soldiers it will be easy to defeat the English and the traitors but we have another task of no less importance but unfortunately of greater difficulty. This task is a task of frustrating but an uninterrupted access of energy. Okay. So the ring of terror is to energize the people, right? The eternal intrigues of all enemies of freedom within the country of paving the way for the victory of the principles on which the general well depends.
Okay? So our true enemies are not the English, the Austrians, the Prussians. Our true enemies are those traders within us. They're the ones who most threaten this the revolution. This is another speech.
Okay. What's the goal toward which we are heading? Why are we doing this? Why the ring of terror? The peaceful enjoyment of liberty and equality.
Kingdom of kingdom on earth. Utopia. Paradise. Okay. Justice and equality.
The ring of that eternal justice who laws have been inscribed not in marble and stone but in the hearts of all men. even in that of the slave who forgets them and in that of the tyrant who denies them. Okay, this law, this justice, this equality is what God promised us because it's implanted in our hearts. We all yearn for this world when we are all equal, when justice prevails. Okay?
We are fighting for the freedom and liberation of of all humanity from oppression. That's why we're fighting. We seek an order of things in which all the base and cruel passions are in chain. Okay. So last class we discussed John Rouso and remember John Rouso his most famous line is we are born free but we are all in chains.
Okay. So this is a rewriting of that idea. So what keeps us in in us in chains are emotions. So we want a world in which our reason prevails and we are control of our emotions. Then we'll be truly liberated.
All the beneficent and generous passions are awakened by the laws where ambition becomes the desire to merit glory and to serve our country. Okay. So your ambition is not to gain wealth at the expense of others. Your ambition is to help the community grow and and thrive. Where distinctions are born only of equality itself.
Where the citizen is subject to the magistrate, the magistrate to the people and the people to justice. Where our country assures the well-being of each individual and where each individual proudly enjoys our country's prosperity and glory. where every soul grows greater through the continual flow of republican sentiments and by the need of deserving the esteem of a great people where the arts are the adornance adornments of the liberty which enobles them and commerce the source of public wealth rather than solely the monstrous opulence of a few families guys he's talking about communism okay a world in which everyone is equal everyone is free to do what he or she wants and this will lead to the general prosper purity, wealth and happiness of the entire nation. Okay. So, Rose Pier is dreaming of a world in which everyone is equal.
The great purity of the French revolution's fundamental elements, the very solity of its objective is processing what creates our strength and our weakness. Our idealism is what gives us power. Okay? Our strength because it gives us the victory of truth over deception and the rights of public interest over private interests. Our weakness because it rallies against us all men who are vicious.
All those who in their hearts plan to desoil the people and all those who have desoiled them in what impunity and those who reject liberty as a personal calamity and those who have embraced the revolution as a livelihood and the republic as it were an object of prey. Okay. So we are fighting a war of good versus evil. Among us are men of good who want to build a better world who care for others. But there are also speculators among us who use the who use the revolution in order to advance his or her interest.
Okay? That's why we're fighting this war. We're trying to rid the world of those who seek to exploit others, who pray on others, okay? Who enjoy being bad. That's why we're fighting this war.
Hence the affection of so many ambitious or greedy men who since the beginning have abandoned us along the way because they had not begun the voyage in order to reach the same goal. Okay. One could say that the two contrary geniuses that have been depicted competing for control of the realm of nature are fighting in this great epoch of human history to shape irrefibly the destiny of the world and that France is a theater of this mighty struggle. Okay, this is the end of the world. This is the end of the world.
This is good versus evil. Good must triumph. It must. So every sacrifice must be made. Without all the tyrants encircle you within all the friends of ty conspire.
They will conspire until crime has been robbed of hope. We must smother the internal and external enemies of the republic or parish in this situation. The first maximum of your policy ought to be to lead the people by reason and the people's enemy by terror. Okay. This reign of terror.
It is about the ultimate victory against evil. We are killing our enemies because our enemies destroy want to destroy all good in the world. If the main spring of popular government in peace time is virtue amid revolution, it is at the same time virtue and terror. Virtue without which terror is fatal, terror without which virtue is impotent. Terror is nothing but prompt, severe, inflexible justice.
It is therefore an emanation of virtue. It is less a special principle than a consequence of a general principle of democracy applied to our country's most pressing needs. We have to be as brutal as our as enemies if we are truly to promote democracy. And there's no there's no other choice. All right.
So the ring of terror is just one policy that rotier adopts in order to save the revolution. But he also adopts a new religion called the festival the call of the supreme being. Okay. This is a new religion where god is the god of reason. All right.
So rophere is adopting a lot of different policies and again he is working selflessly in order to promote the revolution. But eventually he gets exhausted. Okay. He just breaks down. He has he has a nervous breakdown because it's too hard.
Like he wants people to be virtuous. He wants people to be reasonable. And everywhere he sees like he sees everyone in front of him and everyone's in everyone's plotting against him. Everyone's trying to exploit the revolution for his or her own benefit. Okay.
And eventually Rosepur is brought down and he is guillotine. Okay. But let us look at his last speech to fully understand how he sees the revolution and his own death. Okay, this is his last speech before the National Assembly. This is two days before he is to be executed.
Okay, this is July 26, 1794. The enemies of the republic called me tyrant. Okay, the the National Assembly is now calling for his execution because he's a tyrant. I were I such they would gravel at my feet. I would gorge them with gold.
I should grant them impunity for their crimes and they would be grateful. Right? If I'm a tyrant, then I would make political alliances. I would bribe people. I would benefit people.
But I don't do that. I incorruptible. I'm virtuous. Were such the kings we have vanquished far from denouncing ropier would lend me their guilty support. Okay.
So the kings of England, Netherlands, Austria, Prussia, Russia are all aligned against the French Revolution. Why? Because they're afraid of revolution at home. Right? So ropes are saying, "Listen, if I if I just become a king, they would marry their daughter to me and we all be one big happy family." Okay?
They would not they would not see me as a threat. There would be a covenant between them and me. Tyrony must have tools. But the enemies of tyranny, whether does their path tend to the tomb and to immortality, what tyrant is my protector? To what faction do I belong?
Yourselves. Everything I've done is for the people of France. And you know this since the beginning of the revolution has crushed and annied so many detected traders. You the people our principles are that faction a faction to which I am devoted and against which all the scoundrelism of the day is banded. Okay.
It is because I Wilia and the and the only virtuous person who has fought for the revolution. Now do you conspire against me? The confirmation of the republic has been my object and I know that the republic can be established only on the internal basis of morality. Okay. it.
Only if we are virtuous can we win out in the end against evil. Against me, against those who hold kindred principles, the league is formed. My life, oh my life, I abandon without a regret. I have seen the past. I foresee the future.
I am the prophet. I have seen the past and I foresee the future. You will kill me. I accept my fate. What friend of his country would wish to survive the moment when he could no longer serve it?
when he could no longer defend innocence against oppression. You have taken away my powers. Fine. Take away my life as well. Because I serve, I live only to serve.
Wherefore should I continue in an order of things? Where intrigue eternally triumphs over truth? Where justice is mocked, where passions the most object or fears the most absurd over the sacred interests of humanity. The pollution has so the revolution has been polluted. It is is now corrupt.
If it if you take my life, I I'll be glad to give it to you. Question history and learn how all the defenders of liberty in all times have been overwhelmed by calamity. Okay. All prophets in their time were prosecuted including Jesus and Socrates. But their producers died also.
The good and the bad disappear alike from the earth but in very different conditions. Oh Frenchmen, oh my countrymen, let not your enemies with their desolating doctrines degrade your souls and innovate your virtues. Now is the time to stand up and fight for the revolution. I may die, but the revolution must live. Death is not an internal sleep.
Citizens if face the tomb that motto graven byious hands which spreads over all nature a funeral crepe takes from oppressed innocence its support and affronts the beneficent disposition of death. Inscribe rather therefore these words. Death is the commencement of immortality. I leave to the oppressures of the people a terrible testament which I proclaim with the independence befetting one whose career is so nearly ended. It is the awful truth.
Thou shalt die. Yes, today I die but so will you. And when we all die, we must face our maker. We must all see God and we must account for our lives. I go to God in full conscious.
I'm happy to go directly to God and await my fate. Okay? And these are his last words. Why should I where should live under system where intrigue triumphs over truth where justice is a lie where the basis passions and the most ridiculous of terrors supersede in man's heart the most sacred duties. Why should I regret to escape from the eternal torture of seeing this horrible secession of traitors who by concealing the turpitude of their souls under the veil of virtue and even of friendship will leave prosperity in doubt which was the greater their cowardice or their crimes.
You members of the national assembly were elected to serve the people. You have only served yourself. You have only fought for your own economic interests. And because you see me as a threat, you see Rose Pierre as a man of purity, of virtue, of reason. You conspire against me.
And I am happy to be condemned to death because it will it will liberate me from this evil world that you have created. But upon my death, there shall come vengeance. Okay? So that's it guys. That's Rob's pier.
All right. So, does does this make sense? Okay. He sees himself as a prophet who must save the revolution. At first, he believes that he must kill his enemies, the enemies of the revolution in order to save the revolution.
But then he recognizes that no no no this ring of terror is not really about energizing the people. It's really about eliminating the enemies of his allies. Okay? It's really about political intrigue. And so he recognizes that if this revolution is to really triumph then he must make the ultimate sacrifice.
Rather than try to cease the crown, he must give his life for the revolution to set an example for everyone, especially the oppressed and the weak. And after he dies, this will energize France. It will unite France. It becomes a hurricane. Okay?
The French revolution now becomes a hurricane. All right? And Napoleon will come. He will take this hurricane and he will unleash it on the entire world and he will conquer the entire world. And that's what we'll do in the next class.
Okay? We'll look at Napoleon. But does this make sense to you guys? Any questions? Yeah.
Go. So how do you know about Okay. Okay. So um the question is are people conscious of what Rose is doing? And I I I know this is a hard argument.
Um and I I I know this is hard to understand, but this is all happening subconsciously. Okay, this is all happening without people being aware of it. Rosephere is not aware of it. The people are not aware of it. Okay, so the argument goes like this.
First of all, mythology is the collective subconscious. Okay, mythology is a collective subconscious. That that's the first idea. Okay, does that make sense to you? Okay, second idea is this.
When authority breaks down, the mythology takes over. Okay, do you understand? Okay, the arament is this. Usually someone in authority orders people around, right? Someone in authority, whether it's a general or a priest or a teacher, tells you what to do.
But when you deny this authority, when you reject this authority, what tells you what to do? Well, mythology. Okay, your collective subconscious. Okay, you are guided by your collective subconscious even though you don't know it. Right.
The third argument is that mythology is essentially a play. Okay. A mythology is a play. It's a story. And this play requires actors.
Okay. So the leaders become now the actors. this play must take place because that's what people want. Now you need actors. You need volunteers to come and be the actors in this play.
So whoever choose who whoever volunteers now must play that role and then people will follow that person. Okay? So Rose Pierre played the role role of Jesus. So people followed him even though people don't really know why they're following him. Okay?
Does that make sense? But they're following him because he's willing to play the role that's required of him in this play that's being acted out during the French Revolution. Okay? But, and this is really important, this play only works if people play the role they're supposed to play. When they speak the lines they're supposed to speak, right?
That's really important because what happens is if people break the role and instead of people listen I was just acting the entire play dies. Okay, the play dies. Why is this important? Because next class we will look at Napoleon. Okay, in the beginning the Napoleon is playing his role, right?
He's the Messiah come to earth to lead the French people to final victory against evil to unite the world in good. He's playing that role. But then he does something that he should not do and which breaks the play and which is what you guys do you guys know what does do that roast doesn't do? That's right. He declares himself emperor and you're not supposed to do that.
Okay. If you're roastier you would never declare yourself emperor. You can make yourself first citizen. You can make yourself counsel, dictator, whatever, but you cannot make yourself emperor because now you're like everyone else, right? And when he does that, this is very important, he destroys the French Revolution.
And after that, France is now destroyed by their enemies. Napoleon falls. Okay? Does that make sense guys? So only if you are playing your role can this play work out.
Once this play works out, people are energized to sacrifice their lives. Okay. The reason why Napoleon at first could defeat all his enemies is his soldiers were not afraid to die. Okay? They didn't care.
They're like, "Well, you know, if we die, we're going to heaven." That that's what World War did. Okay? But we'll discuss this next class. Okay. Does that make sense?
So, so it's a hard argument to make because like I'm I'm arguing like there is a subconscious operating system to society that we don't ever see, okay, that we don't we don't ever talk about. But once we see this, okay, then it helps us explain the world we live in. It explains a lot of history to us. But you need to be able to see it first. And most people don't see it.
Okay, if you look at the traditional accounts of the French Revolution, it's always these economic, political, structural forces. Okay, I'm presenting a different idea here. Okay, does that make sense? Great. Any any any other questions?
Terror is kind of human and it is a way to No, no. Um, the reign of terror was a form of human sacrifice, okay? They literally took their enemies and they killed them in front of everyone, right? And that's no different from the Aztecs, no different from the Vikings, no different from the Romans. Okay?
These are all societies that practice human sacrifice in order to unite the people, right? To galvanize the people, energize them, create blood lust, to terrorize their enemies, and to break taboo, to tell to send a message that we will never go back. We are going towards total victory. We won't surrender. We won't compromise.
Okay? It has nothing to do with Jesus. In fact, Jesus, the story of Jesus is to tell us we no longer need human sacrifice because Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice. Okay? Does that make sense?
Okay. But um but the ring of terror, what it did was unleash all this energy. Okay. Okay. And this energy, it's polluted energy because it's it's it's it's based on violence, on vengeance, on hatred.
Right. So what Voltfeir decides to do, and it's very clever of him, he needs to now to purify this energy. Right? And how do you purify this energy? By becoming a scapegoat.
By sacrificing yourself by telling the French people the ring of terror was not your fault, it was my fault. Blame me. Sacrifice me. Okay. For what happened?
I will take the guilt of the nation. I will cleanse cleanse you of your sins so that you may move on. Okay, does that does that make sense? Okay, good. Any more questions?
Great questions, guys. Okay. All right. So, this ends part two of the French Revolution. Next class on Tuesday is Napoleon and this will end the French Revolution trilogy.