The ninety-third year

In this novel, Hugo relies on important historical events that occurred in the year 1793. However, it was placed under the author's impression of what happened in France in the second half of the nineteenth century, namely the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Carillon... Thus, after concluding a peace treaty with Prussia, Unrest began, which resulted in a revolution and led to the establishment of self-government. It lasted seventy-seven days. The idea of ​​the novel arose in the writer's mind ten years before these events. Perhaps this was due to the difficult situation that the country was experiencing. The idea of ​​the novel, which was not clearly defined in its early stages, was formed after the social and political turmoil that France witnessed during the period from 1870 to 1872.
The events take place at the end of May 1793, when the Paris battalion, which was conducting a reconnaissance operation in the Sodre Forest, was ready for any surprises. After all, these places gained tragic glory. The author called the Sodre Forest the worst place in the world, because here exactly six months before the events described in the novel, the first atrocities of the civil war occurred. Regarding the political events in Paris, everything changed. This is what the novel depicts, and it shows Hugo's position towards the revolutionary movement. He sympathized with the defeated group, but at the same time he criticized their methods of struggle. This contradictory position of the revolutionary movement shaped the attitude towards the events reflected in the novel, and yet it celebrates their sacrifices.