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Oct 2024
48m 1s

507. The French Revolution: The Marseill...

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About this episode

“Let us march! Let us march! May impure blood water our fields!”

Written after the declaration of war against Austria in 1792, “La Marseillaise” was born in the provinces of France, away from the Parisian metropole, and immediately became popular as a unifying rallying cry against foreign invaders, and the enemies of the Revolution. It was the “fédérés” from Marseille, instrumental in the storming of the Tuileries Palace, who had first brought the song to the streets of Paris. But how did this uncomprimising, gruesome tune come to resonate with all the various factions within revolutionary France?


Join Tom and Dominic in the final part of season two of The French Revolution, as they uncover the origins of the most famous war song of them all: La Marseillaise.


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Producer: Theo Young-Smith

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