[atlantic]

Let's not conflate the French and Russian revolutions - they have absolutely nothing in common. And yes, the French revolution did work out very well for the poor, eventually. It was at the root of the development of modern democracy in the Western world.

[nl]

Let's not conflate the French and Russian revolutions - they have absolutely nothing in common.

I have issues with the word "absolutely". They had quite a lot of common - both were about overthrowing a system of government based on birthright, and the participants in the Russian revolution certainly tried to learn from the French revolution.

(One could argue that the Russian revolution was actually better for the poor in the short term than the French. Serfdom was immediately abolished, and it got them out of WW1. War had the biggest impact on the poor)

[philwelch]

Well, there's the part where the monarchy collapses but no one really knows who's going to take over, and then there's the part where radicals take over, murder the entire royal family, and enforce a bloody reign of terror, and then there's the part where all the other countries in Europe get anxious about all the unrest and go to war with the revolting country, and then there's the part where the country ultimately ends up under an imperialist dictator who tries to conquer their neighbors. They were quite different affairs, yes, but it's an exaggeration to say they had absolutely nothing in common.