As French President Emmanuel Macron calls a snap election to address the political threat to his government posed by the Far Right, Jonathan Freedland and guests discuss Louis XVI's decision in 1789 to call an Estates General, a meeting of representatives of all sections of French society. Louis' gamble in 1789 started a chain of events known as the French Revolution. What are the stakes of President Macron's gamble today?
With
Clare Siviter, Associate Professor in French Theatre at the University of Bristol
Emile Chabal, Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Edinburgh
The reader is Ewan Bailey
Producer: Luke Mulhall