Introduction
It has been long my intention, but I finally got around to writing about the most infamous of rebellions (arguably): the French Revolution. If you know your history of revolutions, then you know that they are almost never successful (at least not in the long-term). In fact, the only successful revolutions that I can think of right off the top of my head are the American, Haitian, Lutheran, Glorious, and Irish Revolutions. So, it goes without saying that the French revolution was not too successful. Why? Largely because of Napoleon.
That’s correct, I’ll also be covering Napoleon. This is one of my favorite parts of history to study because there is so much that comes together. This is not simply one section of history, but really many streams of historical events that finally come together into a few grand events.
First of all, I would like to acknowledge the work of Jacques-Louis David for painting the Tennis Court Oath (though it is biased toward the revolutionaries) that is the cover of this book. And also, I would like to thank all the many, many resources that made this book possible, and I would like to give a special thank you to all the history teachers I have ever had (I never let go of those notes from class).
So, as always, I want to keep you, the reader, as interested in the topic as much possible, so I will try to write a more or less informal discourse by making jokes and commentary along the way. And, of course, I shall try to cover this topic as objectively as possible, as a historian should, at least until the final chapter of this book, where I shall finally insert my own opinion from a historical perspective on what I think of the French Revolution and whether or not it truly was as significant as it has often been played up to be. Until then, however, I hope you enjoy reading the next few chapters as much as I enjoyed writing them.