Lucy Moore

Why the revolution went off the rails

Ian Davidson blames the notorious assignats, and makes the mismanagement of these National Assembly bonds — the bane of all history students — actually quite interesting

issue 10 September 2016

Assignats are the bane of every student of the French revolution without an economics background. They were the bonds issued by the National Assembly from 1789, underwritten by the sale of newly nationalised church property, and all I ever really grasped about them was that they contributed to rampant inflation.

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