The French Revolution unleashed a long conflict over how the society should be governed. On the one side was the traditional monarchy, in which a single individual ruled the country. On the other side was the idea of a republic, in which the population of the country elected people to represent them in government decisions. The French Revolution created a period of chaos in which France struggled over these two types of government. Over the course of this conflict, the French people developed the ability to govern themselves and the country became a stable republic.
The violence of the Reign of Terror resulted in for formation of unpopular government called the Directory. There were many revolts against the Directory, and the Directory became dependent on a Napoleon Bonaparte, a military leader, who used the French army to violently put down the rebellions. Napoleon was a good military leader and under his leadership, the French were able to defeat many of the countries they were fighting against. These victories made Napoleon more popular than the Directory. Napoleon realized this and turned his army against the Directory, overthrew it and made himself dictator of France. As dictator, Napoleon enacted many changes that improved the lives of average French people such as reforming the system of laws, introducing a national bank and a new currency and establishing public schools. These changes improved the lives of French people and made him more popular. He became so popular that in 1804 Napoleon became Emperor of France, with absolute powers. This was only fifteen years after the French Revolution had begun.
While Napoleon was popular within France, he was very unpopular outside of France because of the wars he fought against the other countries of Europe. Napoleon spent most of his time fighting wars, which he generally won. Napoleon was successful in war because he was a military genius and he was able to draw on the full strength of the French nation. The French Revolutionary government had organized the whole country for war against the combined strength of the other European countries by requiring all young men to be in the army and having everyone else work to support the military. As a result, Napoleon was able to use the strength of the entire French nation to build a large powerful army to use in his wars. Napoleon fought wars to conquer other countries and bring them under the control of France. At one point, Napoleon dominated most of Europe – the only country able to oppose him was England. Napoleon’s control of Europe spread many of the French Revolutionary ideas to other countries. However, it also angered many people across Europe who did not like living under French rule. As time when one, the cost of fighting wars across Europe weakened France and made it harder for Napoleon to dominate Europe. In 1812, after a disastrous invasion of Russia in which Napoleon lost most of his army, Europe turned against Napoleon. The combined armies of Europe finally defeated Napoleon in 1814. After Napoleon’s defeat, the other countries of Europe removed Napoleon as emperor and a put a new French king, in charge of France with absolute powers.
While this might seem like the end of the revolution, the ideas of the French Revolution had taken root in France and, over the next sixty years, France alternated between monarchs and republican governments until it became a stable democracy. Louis XVIII ruled France as a traditional absolute monarch until he died. The next king, Charles X angered the people with his harsh rule and was overthrown in 1830. With the support of the French people and approval of the other countries of Europe, Louis Philippe became the king of the French. Louis Philippe was a member of the royal family who had fought in the French Army during the wars of the revolution and fled France during the Reign of Terror. Louis Philippe introduced some democracy back into France by allowing wealthy people the right to vote and was called “the Citizen King”. However, over time he became less popular because he did little to help the average French people. The condition of the poor and working classes became worse as the result of several years of poor harvests. In 1848, the French people rebelled against Louis Philippe and he fled the country. The people formed a new democratic government called the Second Republic and all male citizens were given the right to vote. Louis Napoleon (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte) was elected president of the Second Republic. Louis Napoleon had been a liberal in his youth and he had large plans his powers as president to redesign France. However, conservative groups blocked many of his reforms. In December 1851, Louis Napoleon, with support from the army, carried out a coup d’etat and over threw the Second Republic. Later in the month, though a popular election, Louis Napoleon got the support for a new constitution that made him president for 10 years. The constitution also allowed for universal male suffrage, but that did not matter since Napoleon held all the real power. Later, in November 1852, he made himself Emperor of France with the popular support of the French people. He took the title Napoleon III, ruler of the Second French Empire.
As Emperor, Napoleon III focused his energies on building up the French economy and make the government more democratic. One of his long lasting actions was to demolish and rebuilt central Paris as a city of wide boulevards and parks with grand government buildings. In addition, he ordered building of the railroad network across France which helped develop the modern capitalist economy in France because it funded the mining of coal and steel, building steel mills and a financial system to fund the program. In order to keep the support of both the business interests in France and the French population, Napoleon began a series of reforms that gave the people the right to assemble and form political groups and allowing for the freedom of the press. Finally, in 1869, he allowed some leaders in Parliament to form a government, which lead to the development of a monarchy limited by a constitution.
This constitutional monarchy was short lived because in 1870, Napoleon III was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War and was removed from power. After the war, France became democratic again with the creation of the Third Republic. Since then, except for the period of World War Two, France has had a democratic government. So, over the long term, the French revolution did result in France becoming a stable prosperous democracy. The ideas of the French Revolution also spread to other parts of the world, encouraging people to develop democracy and form new countries based on the idea of nationalism.