1968: Radical Protest and Its Enemies

A history of 1968, a pivotal year in the postwar period marked by widespread rebellion and disaffection across much of the western world. The year saw an extraordinary range of protests. Some were genuinely revolutionary—around ten million French workers went on strike and the state approached collapse. Others were more contained but had significant long-term consequences—terrorist groups, feminist collectives, and gay rights activists all traced important roots to 1968. This account examines how these events, which can seem contemporary, actually stemmed from historical contexts and societies now quite distant from the present day. The narrative extends into the 1970s to trace both the increasingly violent forms of radicalization that emerged from 1968 and the harsh reaction that ended the era.