How could one glorify the French Revolution when its other face was the Reign of Terror?
I think that the French Revolution was so bloody because it was poorly planned. The French wanted rid of their oppressive monarchy (Louis XVI and friends) but they didn’t have a good plan for establishing a new order once he was removed. As a result, they ended up with even more oppressive leaders such as Robespierre. Obviously, it is important to have leaders who are both humanistic (respect the value of all human life) and socialistic (believe that all people including the working classes should share in society’s wealth). A healthy, mature democratic process is usually the best means of selecting these kinds of leaders.
I personally think it would be difficult to argue that the Reign of Terror was the logical and inevitable out come of the French Revolution. I mean the French Revolution had many of the same ideals as the American Revolution and to the best of my knowledge (unless you were a Native American), there was no real Reign of Terror after that. I think it’s more likely that the people in power at the end of the Revolution were responding in a very reactionary way to public dislike of those who were previously in power.
