Edward Peregrine (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} empty_chairs) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} doors, |
The Revolution of 1789 meant to depose the king and remedy the abuses of the crown against the people. The Republic meant to impose a society in which all Frenchmen were brothers, citizens, with equal access to justice and liberty. The Empire meant to bring the ideals of the Revolution to the whole of Europe, and to restore order to the chaos of the Republic. The Restoration sought to put a rightful Bourbon king on the throne. The Revolution of 1830 sought to end hereditary right and bring about popular sovereignty. Whether any of these things achieved justice and change, it's hard to say. People died, many people died. The king and queen and many aristocrats were executed after the Revolution of 1789. The Church lost power and regained it again. The ideas of brotherhood and justice and equality evaporated. The poor are still poor. The rich are still rich. And the law is still absolute. I do not know if any of them really succeeded in doing anything other than changing who was in power and who they promised benefits to.