Paris became an internationally important city during the French Revolution. This was actually a lengthy process, beginning in 1789 and ending in 1799. Rebellion exploded in the city on July 14, 1789, when a population which had been tormented by imprisonment at the king’s whim stormed his private, symbolic prison, the Bastille. This event spurred the Revolution, which had three stages.

Initially, the movement was controlled by the Upper Class, who wanted to reform the kingdom. The king was forced to accept a constitution. Utopian ideals led to a transfer of power from the monarchy to the people. Their representatives, the members of the Assembly, adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and voted for suppressing the influence of the clergy and abolishing feudalism.

At this time, the armies of many European monarchies intervened, invading France to suppress the revolt. After the massacre of suspected monarchists in 1795, a group of rebels rose to power. They ruled the country with an iron hand until 1796, when the monarchy was abolished. King Louis XVI, who had made an unsuccessful attempt to flee the country, was executed in 1793. Under false allegations of treason, the most obdurate of the revolutionaries ordered the moderates to be executed. All in all, the foreign armies were defeated. Eventually, the most radical of the revolutionaries were executed, as well.

It’s often claimed that Parisians make decisions based on local interests, disenfranchising much of the rest of France and gradually moving the entire country back towards authoritarian rule. That’s why the last period of the Revolution was that of the directories. The energy of the movement was depleted, and the new leaders wanted to avoid pressure from Paris over the Assembly. Moreover, paper money began to devaluate, and corruption in political circles was immense.

The end of the Revolution came in 1799, when General Napoleon Bonaparte gained power through a coup d’etat. Despite this turn of events, the question of whether the Revolution was successful can hardly be raised. It was a very important event in world history, inspiring other movements such as the establishment of the American Constitution and the adaptation of Habeas Corpus in Britain. There’s no doubt that the French Revolution opened a new chapter in the human quest for freedom and liberty, being one of the first instances of democracy in the world.