Rant about the French Revolution

During the Baroque era of European history, European monarchs, some aided by newfound wealth in the New World, consolidated the powers of their nation state into one central government. For example, King Louis XIV seized and collected the powers of the feudal aristocrats. The decentralized distribution of power in France (and in other European countries) during the feudal ages maintained balance and order. Louis XIV wooed the aristocrats with glitter and glitz at his palatial estate at Versailles in exchange for power.

Now power was centrally located in Versailles and the king could keep a close eye on his subjects. More power, of course, came with more responsibility to serve a larger population. Isolation from the public and the follies pursued at Versailles, coupled with an archaic financial system to deal with the debts incurred from wars, sparked bitterness and resentment from people when mass starvation took place. Louis XVI inherited a bad throne. He had good intentions and sought to relieve the public of their hardships but was a weak king and was overpowered by other forces taking place.

Along came such glittering individuals with fiery ardour and enchanting charisma such as Robespierre. The king did agree to return to Paris and was willing to accept a limit on his power. However, at some point in time, the people took an insane route and guillotined the monarch and his subjects. I think this bloody end (part I) of French monarchy made martyrs of the likes of Marie Antoinette, Princess de Lamballe, etc... Many important people were lost such as the Lavoisiers. (The French people will never ever ever be pardoned for murdering the Lavoisiers. The guilt is placed on them by the world.) Princess de Lamballe was raped, beaten, and after she was killed, her head was impaled on a stick to terrorize the former Queen Marie Antoinette in her cell. Cruelty and evil was king and chaos and terror reigned.

The guillotine that murdered the French aristocracy was eventually used on ordinary citizens, who were suspected of being against the Revolution. Robespierre made it a point to keep terror in the atmosphere to keep the revolution alive. The French had enough and killed him. Napoleon, the "hero," rode and swooped up the power vacuum. He made military crusades throughout Europe and changes the political face of Europe and even the Americas. The megalomaniac crowned himself emperor. The French people had enough of the instability and brought the monarchy back. Then Napoleon returned for one last shot at ruling France and was defeated at Waterloo. Monarchy gave way to a republic and the rest was history.

To continue from the first paragraph, the consolidation of power in Europe led to some fun times during World War I. Oh yea! Fun family feuds! I just love it when thousands or millions of lives are lost on account of a few ruling individuals or families.

French people, can they ever get it right? LOL The British equivalent of the story was much more peaceful and actually began the limitation of royal power in the 13th century. Britain had much debt like France but had a more modern financial system to better deal with it. Their route to modern politics seemed much more stoic. It's actually the difference between British and French personalities today. Ha!

Anyway, I just wanted to rant about the evils of the French Revolution. It was costly and unnecessary. Too much emotional charge took it out of control. This was a rant and all that was presented was from the knowledge off the top of my head so I encourage you to correct me if you find anything incorrect.

Dario Crux
(Constantino Reyes)