The French Revolution Was Not Just a Russian Revolution, It Was a French Revolution

The french revolution continued to hang over european affairs as the revolution that everybody focused their attention on, was scared of or wanted to emulate. And they broke into three camps. Those representing what we might call the spirit of 17 89. Yes, revolution against lingering feudal absolutism, but always guarding against the slip into mob driven chaos in the reign of terror. Then beyond them, radical democratic republicans who believed 17 89 was the unsatisfying precursor to the much more important and much more glorious revolution of 17 92. The last group first asked the social question, and as the nineteenth century progressed, their demands for an answer only grew louder. From that tiny seed, from the spirit