User:Mathglot/sandbox/Section structure of Révolution française

This is not an article.

This is not an article, or a draft of an article. This is a User space subpage created as an addendum to this discussion at Talk:French Revolution, and intended for the improvement of the French Revolution article by providing a comparative view on how French Wikipedia has approached this topic in their article: Révolution française. See Talk:French Revolution for discussion and details. Compare the Table of Contents of the English and French articles:


 * Jump to the Table of Contents below, to view the section structure of the French article, translated into English
 * Jump to the Sommaire (Table of Contents) of the article on French Wikipedia.
 * Compare with: French Revolution – the Table of Contents of our en-wiki article

This page preserves the original hierarchy and section titles (translated into English) of the French article, but without any body content. Only the lead has been translated. The intent is, for editors at the French Revolution article to be able to see how the French article organization compares with the structure of the en-wiki article. Specifically, this page contains three types of content: The first two types are translated content from the French article. The third type involves new content not in the original: since the sections below are empty, I added some Main/Further links to give a sense of some of the central points of the content of those sections in the original. But only the first two types faithfully represent content at the French article.
 * the lead of the French article, translated into English
 * all of the original section headers from the French article, translated into English (but no section content)
 * Main and Further links, added to most of the sections.

The translated lead and section structure of the French article Révolution française follows:

The French Revolution was a period of large-scale social and political upheaval in France, in its colonies and in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. The period usually included extends from the opening of the Estates General of 1789 on 5 May 1789, to, at the latest, the coup d'État of Napoleon I on 9 November 1799. This period in the history of France put an end to the Ancien Régime by replacing the absolute monarchy with a series of more or less defined regimes, including the French First Republic a little more than three years after the storming of the Bastille.

The French Revolution brought forth completely new political forms, notably via the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 which proclaimed the equality of citizens before the law, fundamental liberties, and the sovereignty of the Nation, and formed around a State. As a "national myth", French revolutionary values and institutions still dominate French political life. The Revolution led to the suppression of the society of orders (feudalism, and its attendant seigneurial privileges), a greater division of land ownership, limitations of the exercise of political power, the rebalancing of relations between Church and state, and the redefinition of family structures.

It was marked by periods of great violence, notably during the Reign of Terror, during the attempted counterrevolution of the Vendee uprising in which several hundred thousand people died, during the federalist revolts of 1793, or in the struggles between rival revolutionary factions, which resulted in the deaths of the main revolutionary figures one after another.

The French Revolutionary Wars, which affected a large part of continental Europe, propagated revolutionary ideas and contributed to the abolition of the society of orders in Western Europe, in the "sister republics" and then throughout Europe.

The French Revolution "differs from other revolutions in its universalist demands in that it is destined to benefit all humanity". From its inception, the French Republican universalism was proclaimed by its supporters and the extent of its consequences was emphasized by its detractors..

The Revolution remained an object of debate as well as a controversial point of reference throughout the two centuries that followed it, in France and in the world. It created immediate and lasting divisions between the supporters of revolutionary ideas and the defenders of the old order, as well as between anti-clericalism and the Catholic Church. It is considered by the majority of historians to be one of the major events in world history.

It marked the beginning of a period of great institutional instability in France and in Europe during which three constitutional monarchies, two short-lived republics, and two empires succeeded one another until the definitive birth of the French Republic in the 1870s. Contemporary history is marked by the legacy of the French Revolution, as the historical event which most revolutionary movements perceive as a precursor event. Its lofty words and cultural symbols became the banners of other major upheavals in modern history, including that of the Russian Revolution more than a century later.

Resistance to absolute monarchy and desire for reform
Further information: Precursors of the French Revolution and French Pre-Revolution

1789: end of the absolute monarchy and the Ancien Regime
Further information: Precursors of the French Revolution

July Crisis
Further information: Paris riots of 12 July 1789

The religious question
Further information: Decree against refractory clergy