[sofixa]

The French revolution wasn't lead centrally, it was a higher classes which boiled over to grassroots explosion of public discontent that ran away from everyone, had a life of its own, and devoured its children.

Economically, little changed for the regular people. The church was ruined, and so were many high class families. Socially, a lot did (there was an expectation of humans having rights, the church was forever relegated to a secondary role and out of governance, etc).

Most social revolutions (changing the social order, so the US war of independence doesn't count) have a grassroots component that is often highjacked by educated professionals (lawyers are a bit overrepresented) for their own social and economic agenda (which, to be clear, is a net positive compared to the previous order)