Explain the effects of the French Revolution.

I would
say that one of the effects of the French Revolution was to display the intense amount of
violence that can accompany revolutions.  Intellectually speaking, one of the strongest effects
f the Revolution was to show how the revolutionary spirit, one that Wordsworth would call
"pure bliss," can morph so very quickly into something awful and horrendous.  The
Reign of Terror that started a year or so after the Revolution was a reflection of this.  The
energy and spirit that led to the overthrow of the monarchy had a very unsightly facade to it
during Robespierre's time.  The use of the government to suppress individual factions and to do
so without any checks or limitations created a state where personal vendettas were carried out
through executive power.  The use of the guillotine in public executions on such a large scale
proved that the French Revolution had strayed far from its American counterpart.  Tribunals who
"determined" guilt started to kill those that the revolution had actually sought to
protect.  Over 70% of those killed were poor peasants who were sentenced for crimes such as
larceny and disturbing the public peace.  At this point, I would say that the effect of the
Revolution was two fold.  The first is that it showed that authority can represent corrupt ends
at any time, and all authority has to be questioned.  At the same time, this effect brought out
the idea that individuals in the position of power might not have the public interest at the
forefront of their concerns.  In the end, this abuse of power in my mind becomes one of the
significant effects of the French Revolution.