14,000 Images of the French Revolution Released Online (2014)

Even though I really don't agree with what the BnF is doing, I don't think you can call the National library some kind of "representative of the upper class".

It's the nation commercializing national property, which is far from ideal, but still hugely better than the pre-revolutionary situation.

Some countries like the UK have a "Sweat of the Brow" [0] doctrine which lets them claim copyright by virtue of the effort put in to compile the work. However it isn't recognized in the U.S because they doesn't see this as requiring creativity so it doesn't count as a derivative work. This has the benefit that companies can't circumvent the public domain without altering the work, but it also disincentives them from digitizing older works. I don't know if french law acknowledges the doctrine or not. Regardless it is pretty unbecoming of a project started by government archivists and headed by a national library, though I do understand that they might want to recoup some of their costs.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_of_the_brow

I don't think this would work in Germany (IANAL), because it only counts as a reproduction of the work and does not meet the Schöpfungshöhe.

The original image might be out of copyright, but someone's photograph of it is not. So, if you can take your own image you can do what you want with it, but you don't have any right to someone else's photograph of it.

Your comment shows a profound misunderstanding of History, as Stalin was born 90 years after the French Revolution (and Karl Marx 30 years). Even while Stalin was alive, few if any French scientists were Stalinists, as by the time he rose to power France was diplomatically closer to the US than they were to the USSR.

During the Revolution, and preceding it, it turns out that many scientists were involved or even instrumental in the social progress that occurred. The simple act of imposing the metric system was meant as a way to eradicate the imperial in "imperial system". The Enlightenment caused the rise of many ideas of equality that can be said to have triggered the Revolution.

Of course, the extremes of the Terror also caused some scientists that were not deemed invested enough to lose their head, such as Lavoisier, the man that proved the conservation of mass. It should be noted that the government apologised a year or so later.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

I think it is timeline.js

Please change 14,000 to 14 000 as per SI?