The generation that made 1968 sought to change the world and to change themselves, shaped by three political conflicts—the Second World War, the Cold War and the Third World Revolution—and the youth cultural revolution of the 1960s. Paris is generally seen to be the epicentre of protest in 1968, but it was just one site of a global revolt that stretched from Mexico to Prague and from Belfast to Cape Town.

Professor of Modern History Robert Gildea (University of Oxford) examines the May 1968 protests in France and the impact that continues to be felt 50 years on.