"Aux armes citoyennes!"

"Aux armes citoyennes!",  a new documentary by Émilie Valentin and Mathieu Schwartz on the place of women in the French Revolution, was broadcast on Arte on 5th July. 

The video is available until 5th September on the Arte website orYoutube [In French only]

"The men took the Bastille, the women took the king," says historian Jules Michelet in his History of the French Revolution.

The importance of women in the revolutionary struggle has long been ignored, even erased. Combining recent historiography, archives, and animation, this remarkable documentary places them at the heart of events, retracing the journeys of several of them, such as Pauline Léon, Olympe de Gouges, and Théroigne de Méricourt.

Danton, Robespierre, Marat, Mirabeau… The Revolution had its heroes, and all were men. Yet women from all walks of life took part in the events, on the front lines of both the insurrections and the political debates that marked this period of change. The highly popular merchant of the Halle Reine Audu, the humanist playwright Olympe de Gouges, the Belgian Amazon Théroigne de Méricourt, the republican journalist Louise-Félicité de Keralio, the distinguished soldier Catherine Pochetat, and the militant chocolatier Pauline Léon, founder of a women's club with her fellow actress Claire Lacombe, each distinguished themselves in their own way during these turbulent times, before being mercilessly erased from history.

Invisibility

Today, these long-forgotten figures are gradually regaining their place in the great national narrative thanks to the work of a new generation of historians. Drawing on their discoveries and precious archives (iconography, official documents, press clippings, etc.), this epic documentary brings their lives to life through animation and places them within the tumultuous chronology of the early years of the Revolution. From the Assembly to the battlefield, from markets to clubs and salons, this epic fresco highlights the essential role of women in this founding moment, but also the process of erasure to which they were subjected. For while the Revolution granted them new rights—including the right to divorce—women who occupied the political arena were subjected to misogynistic attacks of unprecedented violence, before being relentlessly silenced from 1793 onward. A few years later, the Napoleonic Code (1804) would enshrine in legal stone the civic subjugation of their gender, stifling the feminist demands of pioneers for more than a century and a half. Told by Romane Bohringer, this is a vibrant page of women's history, woven with ideals, feats of arms, and tragedies.

Among the long-forgotten figures, the documentary traces the fate of these women who worked at the heart of the French Revolution:

Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793): A playwright whose plays addressed the themes of divorce, the abolition of slavery, and the status of women, she wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen.

Louise de Keralio (1756-1822): The first woman to be editor-in-chief of a newspaper, she is credited with eliminating the formal titles "Monsieur and Madame" in favor of "Citoyen and Citoyenne."

Louise-Renée Leduc, or Reine Audu (died in 1793): A fruit seller at Les Halles and an icon of the Revolution, she was one of the leaders of the procession of women who went to Versailles to have the King ratify the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Théroigne de Méricourt (1762-1817): The embodiment of revolutionary "fury" for the royalists, this woman of action dressed in men's clothing and carried a saber and pistols at her belt. She demanded the right of women to bear arms and called for the formation of exclusively female "battalions of Amazons."

Claire Lacombe (1765-1826): An actress and activist within the "Society of Revolutionary Republican Citizens" club, she participated in the debates of May 31 and June 2, 1793, and urged insurrection.

Catherine Pochetat (c. 1767-1828): A laundress by profession, she enlisted in the revolutionary army and distinguished herself on the battlefield. Pauline Léon (born in 1768): founder of the women's club "The Society of Revolutionary Republican Citizens," she ardently campaigned for strong economic measures during the period of great hardship that was the Revolution.

To Arms, Citizens - Women in the French Revolution! | Documentary by Émilie Valentin and Mathieu Schwartz (2024, 1h33mn)

Available until 05/09/2025

Featuring the voice of Romane Bohringer