The Significance of the French Revolution

Prior to 1789, France was in a dire state of conditions. King Louis XVI's government was facing financial difficulties, and faced with few other options, the king imposed taxes on the people. What ensued was an explosion of rage in the French middle and working class that had been built up over the last hundred years--what we now call the French Revolution. While the French Revolution, like many other revolutions, occurred in response to the government's …

…more importantly, it set the tone for what a democratic government could potentially become, in terms of equality, liberty, and fraternity. France experienced bits and pieces of all three during the French Revolution, and although it the Napoleonic Era ultimately ended in a similar situation as compared to before the French Revolution, it was clearly the ideas and potential of democracy which gave hope to the rest of Europe for the next couple of centuries.