Prior to the revolution that would change the system of governance in France, the people had suffered under the mismanagement of King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette, who, along with the aristocracy, refused to acknowledge the economic plight of the lower classes. 
Both political and socioeconomic factors contributed to the French Revolution as the ambitions of the rising bourgeoisie were allied with aggrieved peasants, wage-earners, and individuals of all classes. The influence of the ideas that rounded out the revolutionary movement, rooted in Enlightenment philosophies were also paramount to the desire for change in what was felt to be a stagnant system of government.
The King, his wife Marie Antoinette, and their children attempted to escape from Paris in 1791 after months of popular dissatisfaction and the increasing threat to the monarchy. The King and his family did not make it out of Paris and were instead captured and held in Paris and in 1792 the King was sent to the guillotine. For three years, between 1792 and 1795, a committee was established to rule the country headed by Georges-Jacques Denton, Jean-Paul Marat, and Maximilien Robespierre. They ruled in what became known as the Reign of Terror, sending thousands of Royalists to the guillotine including Marie Antoinette and other Royalists, dissidents of the Revolution, and even moderate thinkers who sought to mediate the excesses of the revolutionary movement. The Revolution succeeded in overturning generations of autocratic monarchic rule but became a symbol of excessive force and revolt without sufficient stabilizing elements to fundamentally change conditions for the French people. In 1799 a young General named Napoleon Bonaparte helped overthrow the government, called the Directory, and by 1804 had risen to such power that he etablished himself as “Napoleon I, Emperor of the French.”
By the end of the 18th century, the French Revolution had made representatives of the British Empire ill at ease. In 1798, English viceroy Marquess Cornwallis reported to the Duke of Portland of attempts “to revolutionize Ireland on the principles of France.” At the same time, Irish nationalist Theobald Wolfe Tone was making waves with his public proclamations of an oncoming rebellion against English rule – one that would be supported by French military forces.
According to Cornwallis, Tone and his ilk were turning “the passions and prejudices of the different sects to the advancement of their horrible plot for the introduction of that most dreadful of all evil, a Jacobin revolution.” In the view of the English overlords, the worst of those offenders was Lord Edward FitzGerald, the younger brother of Ireland’s only Duke. Oft described as a “mischief maker” with grand romantic ideals of bloodless revolution, he had spent time fighting for the British in the American War for Independence and, inspired by a reading of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions, set out for Paris at onset of the French Revolution.
Drunk on the notions becoming a populist renegade, he there married an illegitimate daughter of Phillipe Egalite, a former duc d’Orleans, and settled in to revolutionary circles - seemingly oblivious to the multitude of his fellow aristocrats being sacrificed to the guillotine daily. In 1792, FitzGerald was even said to have discussed the establishment of an independent Irish state with Common Sense pamphleteer and radical intellectual, Thomas Paine.
By 1798, he had returned to Ireland, the land of his birth, and, alongside Wolfe Tone, became one of the de facto heads of the Society of United Irishmen – a liberal political party that soon evolved into the guerilla-style revolutionary campaign that Cornallis had been anticipating. Standing 28,000 members strong, the United Irish, uprisings against the British soon spread from Dublin to far outlying counties – but FitzGerald was soon forced to the sidelines by a fever that left him bedridden and in hiding.
Despite his ambitions to go down in history as populist renegade – and a successful one at that – FitzGerald was discovered at his farmhouse hideout and transported to the prison at Newgate Gaol. There he would be fatally wounded after stabbing two of his captors – who had just offered him amnesty based on his aristocratic lineage. Fellow United Irishman Wolfe Tone would be less fortunate; following his capture month’s later, he cut his own his throat rather than meet the hangman’s noose.
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The latter’s prediction of French backup for the Irish insurgency came true – but far too late. Two months after the suppression of United Irish forces, 1,000 French solidiers landed on the beach at Kilcummin in the northwest of the island. Though joined by 5,000 supportive locals, the British soon laid waste to the French forces, with many choosing to surrender rather than continue the fight. The sole benefit of the failed Irish Rebellion of 1798? The French prisoners of wars were traded back to France for British prisoners of war. In the end, hundreds of supporters of the United Irish, mostly peasants, were hung for their involvement in the affair. | |||||||||||
Tags: 1792, 1798, Brown Bess Rifle with bayonet, Bunker Hill Sword, Common Sense, Confessions, Duke of Portland, French Revolution, French Revolution Sword, Irish Rebellion 1798, Jacobin revolution, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Marquess Cornwallis, Revolution in the British Empire, Society of United Irishmen, The French Revolution CD-ROM Lesson Plan Set with DVD, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Thomas Paine, United Irish Patriots
Jewelry in History, a Famous Diamond from the French Courts to a Contemporary Museum. The Hope Diamond has had an intriguing journey through history, augmented by legend and confirmed by the beauty of cut and color it retains. It is a gem that can be said to be among the most famous pieces of jewelry in the world and has a heritage traceable at least to the 1600’s. Its story begins with a goddess and progresses through generations of owners and thieves who suffered or celebrated under the Hope Diamond’s influence. 
It is told that the stone was taken from the eye of a Hindu Goddess and that its removal brought a curse upon anyone who became associated with it. The more factual history is that in 1669 a large blue triangular diamond of roughly 115 carats was included in the inventory of sale to King Louis XIV by a French merchant named Tavernier who had brought it from India. It was subsequently cut in size, to become the 67 carat stone in the King’s collection, later denominated the French Blue, and was worn by him on ceremonial occasions.
More than a hundred years later in 1792 the French Blue, still in possession of the French monarchy, was stolen. As France succumbed to the Revolution, the singular gem was lost and would resurface only in 1812, diminished in size again and bound for a new home. It is thought to have passed through the hands of the British monarchy but was then recorded in 1839 among the gem’s in the collection catalogue of the British Henry Philip Hope. By 1910 what had been the quiet prize of a 17th century expedition had passed through many hands, changing in size and setting, and emerged as a feature of intrigue and glamour in the high society circles of the new millenium. 
The legend of the curse of the Hope Diamond added to its mystique as a gem of royalty and a victim of fugue and clashes of fortune. Today its aura has been tempered by its new home, at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C., but it remains uniquely beautiful in its blue-hewed crystalline structure.
Dentures and false teeth are a common part of our world. We have all heard the myths about them such as George Washington having wooden dentures and many of us have relatives with false teeth. The Etruscans of northern Italy produced dentures using human and animal teeth as early as 700 BC. The teeth decayed rapidly but were easy to make and were used often until the middle of the 19th century.
Early European dentures from the 15th century were made of bone or ivory. Often human teeth were used either from recently deceased or poor people who sold their teeth for money. These dentures were not comfortable and were attached to any remaining teeth by threads of silk or metal. Wealthy persons had dentures made of silver, gold, or mother of pearl. Keeping the false teeth in the mouth became difficult as the number of real teeth decreased and those that had full dentures had to remove them to eat.
Claudius Ash manufactured top quality porcelain dentures and affixed them to 18-carat gold plates in 1820. Plaster was used to make molds of the mouth which made dentures a better fit and the use of Vulcanite (hardened rubber) became common in the 1850s. It was cheap and flexible which made it easy to work with and Ash’s company was a prime manufacturer of dental quality Vulcanized rubber.
