Western Civilization II / Unit 7 WC2 0610 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Lafayette, the National Guard, and the Great Fear
Captions available
The idea
Lafayette took command of a new National Guard, and the king reluctantly sided with the Assembly. In the countryside the Great Fear spread: peasants attacked manors and burned the ledgers of their debts, of which, the anchor notes, there were no copies.
In practice
Paris made the Assembly; the villages made its first law.
Where people slip
The witness: August's decree was triggered by the peasant revolts.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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