Why did the French revolution fall into chaos, while the American Revolution succeeded?
No doubt the American Revolution inspired the French to stage their own revolution- and some American founding fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson, were sympathetic to the French Revolution.
Yet whereas the American Revolution was success, the French revolution fell into chaos. What went wrong with the French Revolution?
In a way France of the 1780s was truly Orwellian. Like Orwell’s ’1984′, the people lived in a repressive society. And like Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, the revolutionaries were even worse than those they deposed.
The Us was not interested in revenge, just freedom. The french, in trying to rid itself of all thing from the monarcy, wre just as bad as what they replaced
The French are the only people who could lose to themselves.
the american revolution was against the british
the british didnt really care that much about the 13 colonies over there because india is the crown jewel to them… instead of making money, british is actually LOSING money from the colonies, so british didnt really put much affort into the war. PLUS – the french and spanish came in to help the US
ok… french revolution, it WAS success, they got their independence.
BUT maxillion ropespirrer screwed it up, you might laugh but this is the true reason… he chops too many heads off. citizens got tired of it and chop HIS head off. and who takes over? Napoleon. turned france into an empire…
The French Revolution was a revolt of the poor, against Aristocratic Monarchy. Basically, the serfs were tired of the rich getting richer exponentially. This outright, anarchy was further exacerbated by the use of the infamous Guillotine- as a form of renegade justice.
The main difference between the two revolutions is that the French one was immediately followed by the invasion of the French territory by all the major powers in Europe (England, Prussia, Austria).
Habsbourg’s Austria was the main ally of the French royal family (French queen Marie-Antoinette was Austrian). The imperial Austrian family planned indeed to restore monarchy in France to avoid a revolutionnary contagion in whole Europe and in its own empire.
So, in France after the Revolution, an authoritarian regime (Robespierre and his folks) was set up to manage efficiently the war and inside France this regime was known as the "Terror" : the revolutionnary army controlled the society where aristocrats and suspected traitors were persecuted and beheaded.
In this war to save the Revolution progres, general Napoleon Bonaparte’s victories became popular among the French people and you know what followed…
Because they were French. The French have lost every thing they have ever fought for. Yet they still maintain they are superior to Americans. The French must be jealous.