The French Revolution was a bloody fight for liberty, equality and fraternity. But it was also a battle over money.

In part 1 of our series on the French Revolution, host Robin Wigglesworth explores the revolution’s economic origins with Rebecca Spang, historian and author of Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution. They look at the time of the ‘ancien régime’ and the reign of King Louis XVI, to the storming of the Bastille and the development of a controversial new currency called, at different times, both a “saviour of France” and a “poison".

Further reading:

Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution by Rebecca L. Spang

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To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Host: Robin Wigglesworth

Senior Producer: Michela Tindera

Executive producer: Kate Ford

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Video editor: Michael Saliba

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first world war was one of the deadliest conflicts the world has ever seen. And when the US entered the war in 1917, it faced a massive financial challenge: how to pay for its contribution? Enter Treasury Secretary William McAdoo who launches the groundbreaking Liberty Loan Programme and - alongside an unprecedented national propaganda campaign featuring silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin, Girl Scouts, even a captured German submarine in Central Park - encourages thousands of Americans to ‘buy a bond’ as part of their patriotic duty.

But did it work? And what was the longtime impact? Hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth discuss how this campaign raised over $21 billion - the equivalent of around $9 trillion today - and in doing so, birthed the modern US Treasury market and transformed America into a nation of investors.

Further reading: A Fabulous Debt: How Bonds Made the Modern World by Robin Wigglesworth

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Senior Producer: Michela Tindera

Executive producer: Kate Ford

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineer: Gregory Bobillot

Video editor: Michael Saliba

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The US Treasury market - the world's largest government bond market - is worth about $32tn today, making it the largest pile of debt accumulated in history. But its roots lie in medieval Venice, a bloody military disaster and a leader who was forced to raise a loan to fund a war against the Byzantine Empire.

What followed was a catastrophe involving pestilence, defeat and the brutal murder of the Doge, or leader, himself on the streets of Venice. But out of this crisis emerges a financial tool that transformed global capitalism: a tradable loan that offered transparency, accountability and formed the foundations of the modern bond market.

In a special live recording from New York, Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth dive into the origins of the world’s first tradable bond. Plus, why bonds remain the ultimate check on government power today and what 12th-century Venice can teach us about current market turmoil.

Further reading: A Fabulous Debt: How Bonds Made the Modern World by Robin Wigglesworth

To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Senior Producer: Michela Tindera

Executive Producer: Kate Ford

Video Producer: Michael Saliba

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis

Podcast development: Laura Clarke

FT Global Head of Audio: Flo Phillips

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.