Comment on Before the revolution
FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 1 day agoThe French Revolution advanced the idea that property could be owned by anybody and you didn’t have to be “nobility” to have power in society. Pretty frickin huge stuff.
As for Napoleon, his civil laws were extremely progressive for the time. There is a reason that he was beloved by basically everybody in France. In the context of chaos of the Republic, and the tyranny of the Kings before that, most people were relieved by the stability he brought, and ecstatic with the reforms enacted. He obviously wasn’t perfect (especially his abhorrent treatment of Haiti), but Napoleon was a hero of history. It’s all about context.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
eventually the french revolution advanced that idea. the first one (there were more than one) just killed a lot of people.
Herr_S_aus_H@lemmy.zip 15 hours ago
It also ended the church ownership of most of the farmland for good. It gave the people the idea and an example of how to overthrow their oppressors.
The revolutionary times were chaotic and bloody and paved the way for Napoleon, the real culprit if you are talking about bloodshed, but it was also a huge leap forward on the way to a more free, open and equal society.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
see my above comment. i’m not a fan of napoleon except in the bill and ted movie.