The French Revolution Showed the Power Of Viral Rumors

“For centuries, historians have debated whether the "Great Fear" panic in the early days of the French Revolution was driven by the mass hysteria of ignorant peasants or was a rational response to economic conditions and famine.

 

To figure it out, Italian researchers applied modern-day tools of epidemiology to trace how the rumors that provoked the upheaval spread across France.

 

The findings, published in the journal Nature, could offer insights into how unrest erupts today -- for example, the recent "Block Everything" protests in France in opposition to public-spending cuts.

 

In the summer of 1789, French peasants formed militias to combat gangs of bandits who were rumored to be destroying crops and attacking towns and villages with the support of the nobility.

 

When the brigands didn't materialize, the peasants turned against nearby castles instead, destroying land titles held by lords. The wave of unrest and the French Revolution led to the end of France's monarchy and its feudal landholding system.

 

The study's authors traced the spread of the bandit rumors from town to town using statistical models, historical maps and other documents. They then examined which communities were more susceptible to what the researchers called the "social virus."

 

The rumors, they found, were more likely to affect towns and cities with more-educated populations, rather than small villages with less-educated residents, according to Stefano Zapperi, a physics professor at the University of Milan and an author of the study. In addition, regions with high wheat prices -- and hence higher food prices -- were more likely to be "infected."

 

Although the rumors of bandit attacks were false, the Great Fear spread according to a logical pattern linked to the social and political conditions of the time, the study's authors said.

 

"Cities or areas that had suffered most had more incentive to revolt, in this sense, because the conditions were harsher," Zapperi said.

 

The Great Fear sprang up several days after Parisian commoners stormed the Bastille on July 14, 1789. It dissipated a few weeks later, after France's legislature dissolved the feudal system.

 

"People did not just act irrationally," said Caterina A.M. La Porta, professor of pathology at the University of Milan and an author of the paper. When the people got what they wanted, "The fear stopped," she said.

 

"The Great Fear can also be seen as a reaction to perceived threats, especially to grain and property, rather than to real brigandage," the authors wrote.

 

Geographical proximity was an important factor in the spread of the Great Fear, because rumors spread from town to town by horseback.

 

Today, you don't need a horse. Social unrest and panic can be accelerated through social media, according to Brian Uzzi, professor of leadership at Northwestern University. He has studied mob psychology and how social unrest spreads in the U.S.

 

"Social media is considered a facilitator or a catalyst," Uzzi said. "It spreads content, but it also spreads emotions, and emotions are contagious."” [1]

 

1. REVIEW --- Science Shorts: The French Revolution Showed the Power Of Viral Rumors

Niiler, Eric.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 27 Sep 2025: C5.