Wales, pivot of world history

Today in Contemporary History we got to the start of the French Revolution, and I was all agog waiting to hear what role the Welsh had played in the unfolding of events.

The answer is precious little, it seems - though we almost concluded that the Scots had been involved. It was about the role of the sans-culottes, the ordinary folk of Paris in those days. One South-East-Asian friend wondered if they were nicknamed the sans-culottes because they fought nude, and it reminded me of the Scots habit of wearing no trousers on ceremonial occasions, and of the man who informed us that when charging into battle the Highland warriors would even fling off their plaid and fight simply in their shirts.

That brings us to the Camisards.

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