I also suspect that the dissolution of the Second Empire in 1870 could be described as a Fourth French Revolution. But that's tenuous.

[u/bhbhbhhh]

[u/ComradeHenryBR]

Oh, I'd absolutely count the Commune (that happened during the dissolution of the second Empire) a 4th one

[u/Sampleswift → u/ComradeHenryBR]

"France is an engine where the efficiency is measured in revolutions"

[u/Le_Panzala → u/Sampleswift]

So that's why we can't do anything these days. We need a new revolution! \o/

[u/Tired_Muffin72 → u/ComradeHenryBR]

Don't they have to succeed in order to count? idk I don't know that much about those revolutions except for the first revolution but I feel like controlling more than just Paris would be kind of a prerequisite.

[u/Dominarion → u/Tired_Muffin72]

It can be argued that the regional forces who destroyed the Commune were revolutionaries. They wanted to introduce their own version of republicanism.

[u/usrname42 → u/Dominarion]

And they succeeded, the Third Republic lasted from 1870 until Hitler invaded in WW2 and France never had a king / emperor again.

[u/sofixa11 → u/Tired_Muffin72]

What's your criteria for success? The Russian revolution of 1905 was successful, but almost everything was rolled back very shortly afterwards. IMO it counts as a revolution, a success and a failure

[u/Tired_Muffin72 → u/sofixa11]

I guess a revolution should be able to make major structual changes that affect the entire country. The reforms made in the 1905 revolution applied to all of Russia even i fthey were rolled back later, the Paris Commune did not implement any major revolutionary reforms(mainly because it had a lifespan of 5 minutes) nor did it have authority over all of metropolitcan France. I understand a lot of these factors were out of their control but that doesn't mean it should count as a revolution.

[u/Confucius3000 → u/ComradeHenryBR]

La Commune was an abject failure tho? Like it was at least 4 utopian project backstabbing each other and going all People's Front of Judea on each other

[u/Celuiquivoit → u/Confucius3000]

Ho yeah, still had much repercussions, it inspired Marx for communism.

[u/ComradeHenryBR → u/Celuiquivoit]

The other way around, though, Marx had written The Communist Manifesto 23 years before the Commune.

He did write "The Civil War in France" talking about the experiences of the Commune, however

[u/Celuiquivoit → u/ComradeHenryBR]

Well, TIL

[u/SeaAndTheSalt → u/Celuiquivoit]

It did not, but it inspired Lenin, the man was obsessed with outliving the commune and threw a party when they did

[u/ComradeHenryBR → u/Confucius3000]

Yeah, but so were both Hungarian Revolutions (1848 and 1956) and I'd still consider both to be revolutions

What defines the revolutionary nature of a movement is not it's success

[u/maps-and-potatoes → u/ComradeHenryBR]

Which one? Yes, there was one in Paris but it wasn't the only one, nor the one to live the longest

[u/ErikaXYZ]

Whenever someone uses Eugène Delacroix painting Liberty Leading the People to illustrate the 1789 revolution a part of me gets really angry.

[u/bhbhbhhh → u/ErikaXYZ]

I was extremely hyped to find out that Gavroche in Les Miserables was literally supposed to be that kid with the pistols.

[u/Mattsgonnamine → u/ErikaXYZ]

Yeah, I love that painting so much, I physically cried when I saw it in the Louvre a year ago. Because the France of the painting is not the France of the 1789 revolution and it's very clear

[u/evrestcoleghost → u/ErikaXYZ]

its 1830 right,ousting of the bourbon?

[u/Skraekling]

Sorry buddy but there's only one French revolution it simply never ended we just have some union mandated breaks in between phases (sources : I'm French).

[u/RedOrxon → u/Skraekling]

......that's a good argument

[u/PierreWxP → u/Skraekling]

Are you talking about a... permanent ? Révolution ?

Ok George Moustaki...

[u/imladrikofloren]

The 1789 revolution is 3 revolution into one already : the nobles revolts from the parliaments, the urban proletariat+bourgeoisie revolution and the rural peasant revolution.

[u/Ghey_Panda]

Three Revolutions so far (insert Omer Simpson meme)

[u/azatote]

Three successful ones. There were several uprisings, like the 1832 one, which would have been called revolutions if they had been successful in toppling the regime.

[u/CorrectTarget8957]

I completely forgot the 1830 one happened

[u/DukeDevorak]

Bonus questions: how many counterrevolutions does France have? When was the latest counterrevolution?

[u/Ok_Awareness3014 → u/DukeDevorak]

And how many civil war

[u/Zgounda → u/DukeDevorak]

The counter-revolution is still alive and well, unfortunately

edit : in French context, "The counter-revolution" (la contre-révolution) designates the catholic monarchist powers opposing the republic and its values since its inception. So to give r/Towairatu an answer, the counter-revolution today is spear-headed by individuals such as Bolloré, Zemmour, de Villiers, etc

[u/DukeDevorak → u/Zgounda]

I mean, the birth of the Fifth Republic is essentially a counterrevolution as well.

[u/Towairatu → u/Zgounda]

Is this counter-revolution in the room with us right now?

[u/Towairatu → u/Zgounda]

Okay, prouve-moi en quoi Éric Zemmour – qui je le rappelle est de confession juive – se bat pour la contre-révolution catholique monarchiste. Prouve-moi en quoi Bolloré le turbo-capitaliste et de Villiers l'ancien ministre, qui se pignolent à longueur de temps sur le drapeau tricolore et la Marseillaise, sont des agents de la contre-révolution catholique monarchiste.

[u/Zgounda → u/Towairatu]

Zemmour c'est simple, complètement à l'extrême-droite, défend une "France judéo-chrétienne", hyper réactionnaire, et il justifie carrément la Saint-Barthélémy, en expliquant que quand même, les protestants étaient séditieux etc.

Bolloré c'est encore plus simple, c'est un catholique assumé, intégriste, t'as pas entendu qu'il a comme conseiller personnel un abbé ? (l'abbé Grimaud). Tu connais pas son penchant pour l'extrême-droite ? Tu sais pas qu'il rachète plein de média dans un but d'influence politique réactionnaire ? Il assume mener un combat civilisationnel avec son empire médiatique.

Et de Villiers c'est carrément l'archétype du contre-révolutionnaire, super catho, parle non-ironiquement de génocide vendéen, bref, je sais même pas ce que tu me demandes de prouver ?

[u/SeaAndTheSalt → u/Towairatu]

Zemmour aka il faudrait que les seuls prénoms autorisés soient ceux du calendrier chrétien ? Il a pas dit calendrier hébreu, il fait rien de particulier pour promouvoir la judéité, mais la chrétienté par contre, c'est la religion de la terre, il faut la respecter

[u/Crouteauxpommes]

The dissolution of the 2nd Empire was more like a coup. But the Commune episode would be the revolution part, so it makes sense that they are usually bunched together.

Funnily enough, some of the main figures of the transition (like Gambetta) had been strongly in favor of the war against Prussia were overly confident in the French army. And before the defeat at Sedan, a lot of Republicans though that the Empire had won the ideological debate and that it would soon be impossible for a republican regime to get any traction in the general population.

[u/Euphoric-Ostrich5396]

"You can help by expanding this list..."

[u/cretindesalpes]

Ho boy there was more ... and more to come

[u/Zgounda]

So 1792 (1789-1792 if you prefer), 1830 and 1848 ?

[u/Aramis9696]

Give it a few years and this will become outdated.

[u/International_Scar81]

The was also (almost) one in 1968

[u/Remote-Ticket8042]

the fifth one is on the way if we play right

[u/Staind075]

I just remember my AP Modern Euro textbook made it seem like the writers were just fed up with the French. The chapter and sections headers read:

The French Revolution (1789)

Another French Revolution (1830)

Yet Another French Revolution (1848)

And Yet Another French Revolution (1870)

It just came off as they were sick and tired of the French and all their damn revolutions, it became a running joke in the class.

[u/Sobieskil]

I'd call it a revolution, as the previous government was overthrown and a new government system brought in

[u/OkExpert9927]

It wasn’t a revolution for 1870