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You are here: Home / History / Why did the French Revolutionary government used a ten-hour metric clock?

Why did the French Revolutionary government used a ten-hour metric clock?

May 19, 2020 by Karen Hill

Yes, the French Revolutionary government used a ten-hour metric clock.

After they won, the revolutionaries began a reign of terror in which they forced the population to convert to the horrors of metric measurement.

Most people don’t know that the post-revolutionary French invented the metric system most of the world now uses for measuring weight, volume, and distance.

But that wasn’t enough for those wild-eyed radicals.

They decided to replace the 60-minute/24-hour clock with a metric clock, and the seven-day week with a ten-day week, which they called a “decade.”

People worked for nine days and took the tenth day as a day of rest. Each day was divided into ten metric hours of 100 metric minutes, and each metric minute consisted of 100 metric seconds.

The whole system was confusing, and people quickly caught on that they were getting fewer rest days than in a seven-day week.

After trying it out and finding it too disconcerting for most people, the government abandoned metric time.

Related Facts

  • What was the American Revolutionary War and How long did the Revolutionary War last?
  • What Does the Word "Clock" Mean in French and Where Did the Word For a Large Timepiece Come From?
  • Why Hasn't the U.S. Switched To the Metric System of Measurement?
  • Who invented the metric model or Celsius scale for temperature?
  • How did the Minute Originate and Why are There Sixty Seconds in a Minute and Sixty Minutes in an Hour?
  • Where Did the Term "Noon Hour" Come From and What Did the Term For Midday Mean Originally?

Filed Under: History

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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