History is littered with tales of revolution and people striking back against the rich and the powerful. Many revolutions are just; others are less so. One revolution that is frequently referred to in history, though, is the French Revolution. From 1789 until 1794, this 5-year revolution took its toll on the country. King Louis XVI decided he wanted more money and decided to raise taxes without giving something back to the people.
Naturally, that did not go down too well, and the people of France began to protest heavily against the decision. A mob in Paris rose and, starving from poor harvests and unhappy with the poor conditions of life, stormed the Bastille fortress.
In October of 1789, then, King Louis and his family were moved from Versailles to Paris. In 1791, they tried to escape the crowds but she was instead stopped and forced into forming a new government. A new legislative body was brought in that would overrule the King and by the early 1790s, the Republic of France was formed as a country.
King Louis was forced to go on trial, and the revolution soon became violent. He was brought to face public execution on January 21st, 1793, and many other of those in league with the King faced the same execution fate.
The French Revolution might have been vicious, but it was a revolution that sparked a series of revolutions across the globe. Indeed, various parts of North America and Europe began to take their republican ideals further, and it was not long until monarchies across the world began to fall.
While to this day some still exist, monarchies – at least to the quantity found pre-French Revolution – have become a thing of the past. While this had some negative consequences such as fuelling the creation of a class system across Europe, and also the rise of nationalism, it is fair to say that while bloody the French Revolution might have changed the world for the better.