# Who Was Right in the French Revolution? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 14, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378 "2011-06-14T00:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/1 "2011-06-14T00:45:32Z")
Who do you think in the long run was correct in their views during the French Revolution? Did the radicalism of the Jacobins discredit for decades (classical) liberalism and democracy throughout Europe? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/2 "2011-06-14T00:46:16Z")
The French. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/3 "2011-06-14T01:06:34Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > The French. I disagree. It was the _French_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/4 "2011-06-14T01:13:43Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Who do you think in the long run was correct in their views during the French Revolution? Did the radicalism of the Jacobins discredit for decades (classical) liberalism and democracy throughout Europe? Wait, what are our choices here? Who was right as between the _Ancien Regime_ and the revolutionaries in general, or the constitutional revolutionaries versus the Jacobins, or what? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/5 "2011-06-14T01:31:15Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Wait, what are our choices here? Who was right as between the _Ancien Regime_ and the revolutionaries in general, or the constitutional revolutionaries versus the Jacobins, or what? Well there were dozens of groups but I would say in general the Girondins were right.. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/6 "2011-06-14T01:34:38Z")
The Kiowa Tribe. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/7 "2011-06-14T01:36:23Z")
Guillotine them all and let God sort it out. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/8 "2011-06-14T01:39:31Z")
This better not be your homework assignment… 🙂 IIRC Napoleon too was aware of the levels the revolution was discrediting democracy, but in the end I think Napoleon made it worst, when he took control and began his conquests (There was a famous cartoon making fun of Napoleon “Here is the ‘democratic leader’, crowning himself Emperor”) it caused many intellectuals in Europe to spit not only on the Emperor, but I think that it also set democratic efforts in Europe back by decades. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/9 "2011-06-14T02:22:38Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Well there were dozens of groups but I would say in general the Girondins were right.. Didn’t you also say that you would have been a Roundhead during the English Civil War? You’re a conservative in 2011. Why do you assume you would have been a progressive in 1642 or 1789? By analogy, you would have been a conservative monarchist in both situations. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/10 "2011-06-14T02:28:59Z")
It is too soon to say. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/11 "2011-06-14T03:06:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Didn’t you also say that you would have been a Roundhead during the English Civil War? > > You’re a conservative in 2011. Why do you assume you would have been a progressive in 1642 or 1789? By analogy, you would have been a conservative monarchist in both situations. Because I’m not an absolute monarchist (which today would literally be off the political charts) but a moderate conservative (classical liberal pre-1940s or so) and a believer in constitutional governance where the people have at least some rights and say in government. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/12 "2011-06-14T03:38:27Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Because I’m not an absolute monarchist (which today would literally be off the political charts) but a moderate conservative (classical liberal pre-1940s or so) and a believer in constitutional governance where the people have at least some rights and say in government. That’s not my point. Sure, absolute monarchy is off the political charts in 2011. But it was the mainstream conservative position in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The people who were arguing against it were the left wing radicals of their day. So if you’re not a left wing radical today why do you assume you would have been one in the past? You would most likely have been part of the conservative manstream, like you are now. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/13 "2011-06-14T03:55:14Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Well there were dozens of groups but I would say in general the Girondins were right.. :mad: Fucking splitters! ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/14 "2011-06-14T04:10:01Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That’s not my point. > > Sure, absolute monarchy is off the political charts in 2011. But it was the mainstream conservative position in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The people who were arguing against it were the left wing radicals of their day. > > So if you’re not a left wing radical today why do you assume you would have been one in the past? You would most likely have been part of the conservative manstream, like you are now. Well depends. You mean if I had been conditioned in whatever society it was with something like my personality not me simply sent there with all my current ideas, right? But at any rate the middle-classes were radical in 1789 and the Roundheads after all were Puritans (including Presbyterians) so assuming I was anything like myself in temperament or background, the choice would be the same. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/15 "2011-06-14T04:16:50Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > The French. It is wrong to be French.– **Al Bundy** (the character on _MwC_, not the Doper). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/16 "2011-06-14T05:46:24Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Well depends. You mean if I had been conditioned in whatever society it was with something like my personality not me simply sent there with all my current ideas, right? But at any rate the middle-classes were radical in 1789 and the Roundheads after all were Puritans (including Presbyterians) so assuming I was anything like myself in temperament or background, the choice would be the same. Have you ever considered the possibility that you might support the positions of the left wing radicals of today if you were looking at them from a perspective of two hundreds years from now? ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/17 "2011-06-14T11:17:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Have you ever considered the possibility that you might support the positions of the left wing radicals of today if you were looking at them from a perspective of two hundreds years from now? **Qin Shi Huangdi** ’s head just exploded. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/18 "2011-06-14T11:28:57Z")
Don’t blame me - I voted for Anacharsis Cloots. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/19 "2011-06-14T13:35:37Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Well depends. You mean if I had been conditioned in whatever society it was with something like my personality not me simply sent there with all my current ideas, right? But at any rate the middle-classes were radical in 1789 and the Roundheads after all were Puritans (including Presbyterians) so assuming I was anything like myself in temperament or background, the choice would be the same. 😕 There were no Roundheads in 1789. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378/20 "2011-06-14T13:40:13Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 There were no Roundheads in 1789. Don’t blame Qin. I expanded the subject to include the English Civil War. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-right-in-the-french-revolution/585378.md?page=2)