Why the French Revolution was a financial revolution - Part 1

为什么法国大革命是一场金融革命 - 第一部分

Behind the Money

2026-10-14

48 分钟
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The French Revolution was a bloody fight for liberty, equality and fraternity. But it was also a battle over money. In part 1 of our series on the French Revolution, host Robin Wigglesworth explores the revolution’s economic origins with Rebecca Spang, historian and author of Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution. They look at the time of the ‘ancien régime’ and the reign of King Louis XVI, to the storming of the Bastille and the development of a controversial new currency called, at different times, both a “saviour of France” and a “poison". Further reading: Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution by Rebecca L. Spang Vote for us! The Story of Money has been nominated for a Signal Award in the Money & Finance category. It’s a Listener Choice award, which means we need your help. Vote for us to win here. We appreciate your support! To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney Host: Robin Wigglesworth Senior Producer: Michela Tindera Executive producer: Kate Ford Original music and sound design: Breen Turner Video editor: Michael Saliba Podcast development: Laura Clarke FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  • Today on the story of money.

  • How the French Revolution's fight for liberty was also a fight over money.

  • Nobody at the time knew or expected that this was the French Revolution.

  • So it's really a scene of bloody violence and horror.

  • And very shortly after that, they say all of the existing taxes are illegal because we didn't vote on them.

  • And then the next thing they say is you should keep paying them anyway until we get some new taxes.

  • Well, you can imagine which part of that message got heard and which part got ignored.

  • It ruins everybody's finances because suddenly people can no longer expect

  • that tomorrow is going to be just like yesterday.

  • In fact, it's pretty obvious that tomorrow is going to be nothing like yesterday.