Season 12 premiered October 20, 2024 – a nonfictional account of The Martian Revolution of 2247.
Mike Duncan is taking everything he's learned from 12 seasons of historical revolutions - the repeating arcs, characters, ideas, events, and patterns which all revolutions seem to follow - and created a fictional history of the Martian Revolution of 2247. The series is written from the point of view of a historian working hundreds of years after the Martian Revolution and will be presented in the style and format of previous seasons of Revolutions. It will look, sound, and feel like a Mike Duncan history podcast…but will instead be a fictional narrative of a gripping science-fiction epic.
Revolutions is a podcast that covers the great political revolutions that have defined the modern world. Each season is a long-form narrative covering a different defining revolutionary epoch across three hundred years of history. It explores in great detail the people, ideas, and events that challenged and toppled outdated regimes and replaced them with new governments. After more than 350 episodes over ten seasons of narrative nonfiction, the 12th season is a fictional account of the Martian Revolution of 2247.
*BREAKING NEWS*
In the fall of 2025, the Revolutions podcast will return to its roots by diving into the great revolutions of the 20th century. The new run of episodes begins with the story of Irish Independence, a dramatic upheaval in the wake of WWI that saw Ireland free itself from centuries of English rule. Full of inspiring personalities, tragic events, and thrilling triumphs, Irish Independence is one of the most gripping events in revolutionary history. Future seasons will plunge ahead through the turbulent 20th century, and include the Spanish Civil War, the Cuban Revolution, and the Algerian War of Independence.
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Following electoral defeat, King Charles X attempts a royal coup via the Four Ordinances to suppress liberals and the press. Parisian journalists and citizens immediately resist, leading to the government's unpreparedness being exposed. The episode details the first two days of unrest, from Monday's initial protests and vandalism to Tuesday's defiant newspaper publications, police clashes, barricade construction, and the emergence of two distinct revolutionary movements in Paris.
In early 1830, King Charles X faced mounting liberal opposition, leading to the appointment of the unpopular Polignac ministry. The ministry, hoping to consolidate power and boost morale, planned new elections and a military expedition to Algiers. Despite liberal organization through groups like "Help Yourself and Heaven Will Help You" and strong press opposition, the ministry attempted to manipulate the election timing. Ultimately, the liberals secured a decisive victory, prompting the enraged King and his ministers to draft four ordinances aimed at nullifying the results and restricting liberties.
Following Louis XVIII's death, his ultra-royalist brother Charles X sought to fully restore the pre-revolution order. This episode details his attempts to elevate the church and aristocracy through laws like the sacrilege law and emigre indemnity, facing resistance from the Chamber of Peers and growing public discontent. Key events like disbanding the National Guard and failed electoral schemes highlight increasing tensions, culminating in the appointment of the hardline Polignac ministry, deliberately provoking a constitutional crisis and setting the stage for the July Revolution of 1830.
Following Napoleon's abdication in 1814, France saw the return of the Bourbon monarchy under Louis XVIII. This episode examines the complex early years of the Restoration, marked by Talleyrand's political maneuvering, the granting of the Charter, the brief interruption of Napoleon's Hundred Days, and the subsequent Second Restoration under harsher Allied terms. It details the political battles between moderates, liberals, and ultra-royalists, economic hardships, and Louis XVIII's efforts to balance old and new France, culminating in his death and the accession of his more reactionary brother, Charles X, setting the stage for future revolution.
