France, Sept. 27 -- When France founded a new republic, 233 years ago this week, it opened a new era - literally. For a brief period the country ran on a unique calendar, designed to liberate the people from religious customs - until it became clear that time and date would not be overthrown.

Republican time began on 22 September, 1792. Gone were the eras BC and AD - the new France needed a new calendar, one that no longer counted years from the birth of Jesus or was paced by Christian holidays.

It was the first day of the "era of liberty".

One of the most ambitious reforms of the Revolution, it would also prove to be one of the shortest lived. Symbolic beginnings

People had been talking about an epochal shift since the storming of th...