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Sans-culottes
(1,330 words)

1. Concept

Sans-culottes,” declared the Annales patriotiques et littéraires of August 25, 1793, “are not the ‘trouserless ones’ as generally asserted. It was the arrogant presumption of the aristocracy that invented this term [...], yet precisely because they were so called by the aristocrats, the friends of liberty took this epithet as a badge of honor. They call themselves sans-culottes in order to make clear [...] that they want nothing to do with the aristocrats and stand with the broad populace.”

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Reichardt, Rolf, “Sans-culottes”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 29 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_026951>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20210601



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