12 Things In 'Les Misérables' That Happened In Real Life

Victor Hugo saw an event in 1846 that changed his life.This event had a big impact on the writer and started his epic story.A freezing February day, Hugo saw police lead a ragged man away. Onlookers told Hugo the gaunt, starving man was arrested for stealing bread.

Hugo said about the incident, “It made me think... the man was no longer a man in my eyes but the specter of misery, of poverty.”

Witnessing this planted the idea for Jean Valjean, the main character in Hugo's novel. His story starts with him stealing bread for his starving sister and her seven children.

People usually think thatLes MisérablesThe story starts in 1815, during the Bourbon Restoration. This happens sixteen years after the French Revolution ended.

The French Revolution gives the cultural and setting forLes MisBy 1807, the richest 1% of the French population owned overhalfof the wealth and assets. This caused a crisis, worsened by the cholera pandemic in France, which hit the poor hardest. The barricade fights in the movie also happened when General Lamarque died of cholera in 1832, known as the June Rebellion.

By that time, themajorityof French citizens were poor and starving. The top 1% hid in their country homes to avoid cholera. The poor died in the streets. The movie's intense poverty scenes match the reality. Many book events—Cosette's bad living, Eponine and Gavroche's lives, and Fantine's death—came from real things Victor Hugo saw.

In a 1848 speech, Hugo stated:

Here are the facts... In Paris... whole families had no other clothes or bedding than piles of rotting rags, picked up in the city streets; an urban compost heap where people buried themselves alive to escape the winter cold.

Victor Hugo was known as a patron of prostitution and fought for sex workers' rights, not just as a patron.In anarticle titled "The Sacred Heart of Victor Hugo," Mario Vargas Llosa says that on the day Victor Hugo died,

a police source told Edmond Goncourt that the brothels closed and the city's prostitutes covered their crotches with black crepe in honor of the great man’s passing.

Hugo spent much time with escorts, acting as both a customer and a friend, which let him see many of theThe horrors of poor women forced into prostitution come from the stark reality of 19th-century France.women faced. Women abandoned by husbands and left with young children—like Fantine—often went into prostitution to survive.

19th-century France treated prostitution as one of the most severely punished crimes. This harsh double standard affected many women.

The second half of Les Misérables...Les Misérables is about the Young Rebels Who Organized The June Rebellion, which is based on a real French Republican Association.The story centers on young students in Les Amis de l'ABC who organize the June Rebellion.

This group...existed in real life. They called themselves the Société des droits de l’homme, meaning "The Society of the Rights of Man." This group also consisted of young rebels planning a fight.This group existed in real life and was named the Société des droits de l’homme, which translates to "The Society of the Rights of Man." This group featured young rebels planning a battle.

People question the extreme depiction of criminal punishment in Les Misérables.The portrayal of criminal punishment in Les Misérables has doubts.These sentences...were realistic for the time.The author himself recorded these sentences.

Imprisonment conditions were also realistic—tragically so. After seeing a 19th-century French prison, Victor Hugo wrote about it in his personal journal.Victor Hugo wrote about the prison in his personal journal.He later published this in (later published as Things Seen):Things Seen:

The workshops showed the almost innocent and the nearly condemned; blue-eyed and grey-bearded. They featured hideous, foul workshops where people sewed and worked in dimness, amidst filth and stench, without air, light, talk; without looking at each other; without interest; horrible, sad ghosts, some frightening by age, others by youth.

Fantine’s character clearly came from Victor Hugo’s real experience. In his personal journals, which were eventually published...Fantine took some inspiration from a woman Hugo freed from the police.Fantine took some inspiration from a woman Hugo freed from the police.Things Seen, he gave an entire chapter to Fantine called "Origin of Fantine." In it, he states:

I saw a young man, well dressed, pick up a large handful of snow and drop it on the back of a street woman in a low-necked dress standing on the boulevard corner. The woman let out a sharp shriek, fell on the man, and struck him. The young man hit back, the woman reacted, and the fight built up to a peak, so intense that the police rushed to the scene. They grabbed the woman and did not touch the man.

Hugo followed the police and demanded they free the woman because she did no crime. Initially, the police ignored both his and the woman's pleas until Hugo told them who he was.

Victor Hugo became a celebrity and a known face in France by this time. They reluctantly let the woman go free. For the woman's thankful reaction, Hugo writes:

These unhappy women are surprised and thankful not just when they get sympathy, but when they get justice.

Jean Maximilien Lamarque was a hero of the Napoleonic Wars and quickly became a hero of the revolutionaries after Napoleon's brief rule.During the restoration, General Lamarque spoke for the Bourbons and became a hero for the left-wing Republicans.General Lamarque was a real person. He became a hero of the revolutionaries after Napoleon's short reign. During the restoration, General Lamarque spoke up about the Bourbons and became a hero of the left-wing Republicans.

During the 1820s and 1830s, a massive cholera outbreak hit Paris. This event showed the huge gap between rich and poor in France. Poor people died much faster than the rich. The rich thought the poor spread cholera, so they left the city for their country homes. Rumors spread among the poor that the government poisoned the well water to kill them, which increased class tension.Rumors spread.Rumors spread among the poor that the government poisoned the well water to wipe them out, causing more class tension.

The last straw happened.The last straw happened.General Lamarque died of cholera in 1832 during this pandemic. King Louis Philippe immediately called him a hero of the monarchy and gave him a royal funeral—a lie that angered the revolutionaries.

Both in Les MisérablesLes MisérablesIn real life, revolutionaries used Lamarque's funeral to start their rebellion. They saw his death from the disease intensifying the class war as a sign they needed to begin their cause.

Victor Hugo was friends with Eugène-François Vidocq, a criminal who became a criminologist.Victor Hugo recognized Vidocq as the "Father of Modern Criminology."Vidocq became recognized as the "Father of Modern Criminology."

Vidocq's criminal career started with him stealing from his own family. After his release, he joined the French army. He deserted the army and had a friend help him forge papers to avoid arrest. Vidocq committed many thefts, burglaries, and identity forgeries. He spent years in and out of prison, escaping twice.

Vidocq escaped his life of crime.Vidocq escaped crime by becoming a spy and informant for the French military police. This led him to found la Brigade de sûreté ("The Security Brigade"), one of the first crime detection and private detective agencies, inspiring Inspector Javert.Becoming a spy and informant for the French military police led Vidocq to found la Brigade de sûreté ("The Security Brigade"), one of the first crime detection and private detective agencies, inspiring the character of Inspector Javert.

Eugène-François Vidocq showed the duality found in the chase between Inspector Javert and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables.Eugène-François Vidocq showed the duality found in the chase between Inspector Javert and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables.

In his bookIn his book Barricades symbolized French riots since the 17th century.Mark Traugott outlines France's history of barricades that fueled French revolutionary battles. Before the 1850s, Paris lacked wide streets for cars because the city predated cars. New visitors still get lost in Paris's winding alleys and streets.

The complex, tiny streets made barricades the only hope for victory in revolutionary battles. The government sent many more French soldiers to defeat revolutionaries in unfair rebellions. The French government built wider streets in cities just to stop revolutionaries from making barricades.

The army did not blow down the barricades with cannons. They used cannons only as a last resort to avoid hurting innocent people in nearby buildings. Also, the revolutionaries lacked uniforms, so they were not easily identified. As soon as a military cannon attack started, they vanished into the winding streets of Paris. This let rebel fighters attack from inside buildings or around corners.windingstreets of Paris

Gavroche is the spirited street urchin who plays a big part in the second half of the novel during the June Rebellion barricade battle. He is the son of the Thénardiers and the younger brother of Eponine.

Gavroche's character might stem from several sources. Victor Hugo saw a young boy rifling through trash and wrote about this in his journal.journal.

Gavroche was also likely inspired by something.inspiredEugène Delacroix paintedLiberty Leading the PeopleDelacroix painted Liberty Leading the People in 1830. That painting showed Liberty leading French citizens to freedom during the 1830 Revolution against Charles X, which led to the 1832 June Rebellion.Les Misérablescenters around

To the right of Liberty, a young boy, probably a French street urchin, brandishes two guns and leads people to freedom and justice. He embodies the working class and what they fought for in the revolutionary battles and bloodshed.

Eugène-François Vidocq, acriminalVidocq served time in the harsh 19th-century French prison system. He was a lifelong friend of Victor Hugo. Vidocq's first crime involved stealing a silver dish from his own family and selling it. His wealthy family let him out after two weeks, hoping prison would change him, but he immediately stole more money, silver, and valuable items.

InLes Misérables, after Jean Valjean got out of prison after serving 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread, he stole silver dishes and flatware from a priest who let him stay. When Valjean was caught, the priest claimed he gave him the silver as a gift and gave him his candlesticks, saying the thief forgot them.

This allowed Valjean to narrowly avoid a lifetime in prison and set him on a path to becoming a better person. From then on, he lived a life of charity and kindness, following the mercy the priest showed him.

The second half ofLes Misérablesthe June Rebellion of 1832 forms the focus. Both history and the story show young schoolboys leading the event, meeting and planning in a Paris cafe. The event started at General Lamarque's funeral when a red flag reading "La Liberté ou la Mort" was raised, meaning "Liberty or Death."red"La Liberté ou la Mort," meaning "Liberty or Death."

The musical and film show few rebels, but over 3,000 Republican rebels fought that night. The French government sent 20,000 soldiers to stop the battle. They doubled that force to 40,000 by the night's end. The Republicans lost the fight.

Around 801 people were killed by the end of the battle. One estimate counts 73 soldiers slain and 344 wounded. On the rebel side, 93 men died and 291 were wounded.