La Fayette, We Are Here!

Charlemagne is one of the most important figures of the Middle Ages. He ruled from 768 to 814 as king of the Franks, and became Roman Emperor in 800. He conquered peoples, built institutions and completely changed Europe's political trajectory.

One cannot stress enough the importance of his reign and his legacy. I think you will find him a complex and fascinating character...

In this special episode, we travel outside of France, to Prussia, guided by Alec Avdakov from the podcast "The Life and Times of Frederick the Great". Make sure to check out his podcast.

Voltaire was in Berlin, at the court of Prussia from 1750 to 1753, invited by the Prussian King Frederic II, known as Frederic the Great. This is a perfect example of the global effect of the French Enlightenment and how various monarchs reacted differently to the movement...

We live in an enlightened world. We owe a lot to the men and women of the XVIIIth century and what they gave us. During this period, all over Europe, but especially in France, sciences, politics, literature, art, philosophy and many other aspect of society were being dissected, studied and written on.

You know their names: Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Montesquieu, du Châtelet, Lavoisier, de Gouges and others...

Probably the most famous French monarch, Louis XIV left a deep mark on France and Europe. Over his 72-year  reign, from 1643 to 1715, he accomplished many things. He conquered new territory, expanded France's colonies, modernized the country, built monuments, created major institutions and became an absolute monarch. Even North America was touched by him. Louisiana was named after him, and many American cities come from French forts and counters established then...

The Franco-Prussian war of 1870 is an important but often neglected conflict. Most people don't even know about it. In America,  even history fans go straight from the Civil War to World War I, not really taking into account this major conflict that happened in between.

Let's fix this, shall we? We'll discuss the origins of the conflict, its course and its huge consequences. In the last section, we'll discuss some alternative history...

For our second episode, we are taking a grand Tour de France. This is a complete overview of France's 20 centuries long history. It is not exhaustive, of course, but it should help people refresh their memory or get a better grip on the whole of French history. Everyone should then be able to enjoy and appreciate future episodes even more...

On our first episode, we get to meet the man himself, La Fayette. His importance, his actions in America during the War of Independence, as well as in France during the Revolution, Napoléon era and after...

In this intro episode you get to meet your host and learn about my goals for this podcast. Why am I doing it? Who is it for? Hopefully, it’ll be for you!

The first complete episode is coming soon. Stay tuned! 

You can send feedback and requests at emmanuel@lafayettepodcast...