The latter half of the 18th century brought desperate times to the common people of France. Known as the Third Estate, the people were burdened by heavy taxes which were wholly inadequate to support their country's already bankrupt economy. They labored and suffered at the hands of an indifferent king and an uncaring nobility. Feeling like third-class citizens in their own country, they began to dream of equality with the First and Second Estates - respectively, the clergy and nobility.
The Third Estate carrying the First and Second Estates
It was also in the 18th century that Europe experienced the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason. The ideals of the Enlightenment - an entirely new way of thinking - swept across the continent. Citizens of most European nations began to question the traditions and customs under which they were living. They began to desire equality and fairness, as well as the freedoms to think, act, and choose for themselves.
The ideals of the Enlightenment greatly appealed to the Third Estate of France. The people were inspired by the thought they could assume a place of equality with the clergy and nobility. Knowing they could not count upon the king for support, they formed the National Assembly and demanded the rights and privileges that were inherently theirs. Denied these rights, the people slowly turned to the one course left available to them - rebellion.
What became known as the French Revolution began promisingly enough. Encouraged by the success of the American people in throwing off the tyranny imposed upon them by the monarchy of England, the Third Estate believed they could do the same within their own country. Striving for nothing less than liberty, they firmly believed in the righteousness of their cause. Even the ugliness of the storming of the Bastille, with its bloody outcome, or the eventual execution of the king himself - both unintended events in the beginning stages of the revolution - could not detract from the noble ideas of the Enlightenment that motivated them.
The Storming of the Bastille, July 14, 1789
But with the existing monarchy having been destroyed, the nation of France experienced a power vacuum the revolutionaries had not foreseen. Neither the National Assembly nor the newly-established Committee of Public Safety were strong enough to resist the rise of a dictator worse than the king. Maximilien Robespierre helped usher in the Reign of Terror which may have taken the lives of as many as 40,000 people, including over 25,000 who died under the blade of the guillotine. The enlightened ideals behind the revolution had brought the people consequences they had never anticipated.
Fast forward to the present day. History is repeating itself. The peoples of several nations in North Africa and the Middle East are rising against their governments. Filled with the Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality, they are attempting to overthrow those who have held them down for decades. The people want freedom. They want to vote. They want to choose their own destinies. And they want governments that will work with them for a better future.
Anti-government protestors make victory signs as they stand on an army tank in Benghazi, Libya.
The people of France had fought for freedom. But freedom can be easily hijacked. The establishment of a republic takes time, the structures of democracy cannot be developed overnight. Most revolutions don't have the patience to wait for the intended outcomes for which the people fought.
Revolutions are curious things. There's no guarantee of success. For the Americans of the 18th century, it worked. Not so with the French, who lost their revolution to the likes of Robespierre. We don't yet know the outcomes of today's modern revolutions. Will they succeed, or will people or processes beyond their control hijack the people's dreams? We know how things turned out in France; we await the future in the Middle East and North Africa.
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