Explain the significance of French revolution in the history of France

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The most significant outcome of the French Revolution was Napolean Bonaparte which lead France as well as most of Europe to adopt a new "englightened" civil code known as the Code Napolean. Napoleon's rise to power was relatively easy given he was a popular general who had no political identity  at a time when the people grew more and more weary of politicians during the previous decade of political and administrative failures.

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 The most concrete results of the French Revolution were probably achieved in 1789-91, when land was freed from customary burdens and the old corporate society was destroyed. This "abolition of feudalism" promoted individualism and egalitarianism but probably retarded the growth of a capitalist economy. Although only prosperous peasants were able to purchase land confiscated from the church and the emigrant nobility, France became increasingly a land of peasant proprietors. The bourgeoisie that acquired social predominance during the Directory and the Consulate was primarily composed of officials and landed proprietors, and although the war enabled some speculators and contractors to make fortunes, it delayed economic development. The great reforms of 1789-91 nevertheless established an enduring administrative and legal system, and much of the revolutionaries' work in humanizing the law itself was subsequently incorporated in the Napoleonic Code.

Politically, the revolution was more significant than successful. Since 1789 the French government has been either parliamentary and constitutional or based on the plebiscitary system that Napoleon inherited and developed. Between 1789 and 1799, however, democracy failed. Frequent elections bred apathy, and filling offices by nomination became commonplace even before Napoleon made it systematic. The Jacobins' fraternal--and Jacobin-controlled--community expired in 1794, the direct democracy of the sansculottes was crushed in 1795, and the republic perished in 1804; but as ideals they continued to inspire and embitter French politics and keep right and left, church and state, far apart.

The Revolution nevertheless freed the state from the trammels of its medieval past, releasing such unprecedented power that the revolutionaries could defy, and Napoleon conquer, the rest of Europe. Moreover, that power acknowledged no restraint: in 1793 unity was imposed on the nation by the Terror. Europe and the world have ever since been learning what infringements of liberty can issue from the concepts of national sovereignty and the will of the people.

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Secular Effects of the French Revolution

Civil disorder became a common scene after the storming of the Bastille in 1789. After a few years the French intellectuals who rode the banner of liberalism as the forerunners of the revolution issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Through this document they aimed at shifting the authority of issuing basic human rights from the Church, or God so to say, to the state government. The King’s crown that was a symbol of Catholic Christianity was replaced with a red liberty cap that represented the state as authority. 

 

Government Effects of the French Revolution

In the same year the National assembly of the new parliament seized all the Church lands to further suppress religion and enrich itself. Further more, an end was put to all kinds of religious orders and monastic vows. Through the Civil Constitution of the Clergy the government took direct control over all religious proceedings and took the authority of selecting Pastors and Bishops who were to take oath under the new government. All those priests who refused to take oath under the new government were arrested and banned from operating underground chapels.

 

Effects after the French Revolution

The effects of the revolution took full swing when the revolutionaries managed to overthrow the monarchy in total as an addition to the suppression of the church. In the years to come the world and particularly France was to realize the far reaching consequences that this bloody revolution had. The middle men known as the bourgeois and the land owning class were now in the most dominant social class in France. With the death of feudalism and the implementation of ‘Code Napoleon’ the country had consolidated its contracts and managed to attain some social order. Although under an ungodly regime France now stood as a unified nation which gave it more power and authority to influence world affairs. In the years of the Napoleonic wars the idea of nationalism was further progressed as France began total warfare. Although the historians have major differences in the benefits that the French revolution has flowered no one can argue the effects that it had on shaping the future course of the world.

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The most important thing was that Robespiere was a cruel man.

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1. It led to the abolition of monarchy and paved ways for democratic government. 
2. The National Assembly was constituted and a new constitution was made. 
3. It ended the privilege based on birth. 
4. The Declaration of Rights Of Man and citizens upheld the right of life, freedom of speech and opinion.

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