Page "French Revolution" Paragraph 150

Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, and the end of the early modern period, which started around 1500, is traditionally attributed to the onset of the French Revolution in 1789.

The Revolution is, in fact, often seen as marking the " dawn of the modern era ".

Within France itself, the Revolution permanently crippled the power of the aristocracy and drained the wealth of the Church, although the two institutions survived despite the damage they sustained.

After the collapse of the First Empire in 1815, the French public lost the rights and privileges earned since the Revolution, but they remembered the participatory politics that characterized the period, with one historian commenting: " Thousands of men and even many women gained firsthand experience in the political arena: they talked, read, and listened in new ways ; they voted ; they joined new organizations ; and they marched for their political goals.

Revolution became a tradition, and republicanism an enduring option.