BBC In Our Time With Melvyn Bragg

The Battle of Valmy

Loading player...
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 LondonHeidi Mehrkens
Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of AberdeenAndColin Jones
Professor Emeritus of History at Queen Mary, University of LondonProducer: Simon TillotsonReading listT. 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
13 Feb English United Kingdom Religion & Spirituality

Other recent episodes

Kali

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Hindu goddess Kali, often depicted as dark blue, fierce, defiant, revelling in her power, and holding in her four or more arms a curved sword and a severed head with a cup underneath to catch the blood. She may have her tongue out, to…
27 Mar 58 min

Oliver Goldsmith

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the renowned and versatile Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith (1728 - 1774). There is a memorial to him in Westminster Abbey’s Poet’s Corner written by Dr Johnson, celebrating Goldsmith's life as a poet, natural philosopher and historian. To this could be added ‘playwright’ and ‘novelist’ and…
20 Mar 57 min

Catherine of Aragon

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), the youngest child of the newly dominant Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella. When she was 3, her parents contracted her to marry Arthur, Prince of Wales, the heir to the Tudor king Henry VII in order to strengthen Spain's alliances, since…
13 Mar 54 min

Sir John Soane

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the architect Sir John Soane (1753 -1837), the son of a bricklayer. He rose up the ranks of his profession as an architect to see many of his designs realised to great acclaim, particularly the Bank of England and the Law Courts at Westminster Hall,…
6 Mar 53 min

Pope Joan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a story that circulated widely in the middle ages about a highly learned woman who lived in the ninth century, dressed as a man, travelled to Rome, and was elected Pope.Her papacy came to a dramatic end when it was revealed that she was a…
27 Feb 48 min
All episodes