The French Revolution perfectly follows the Crane Brinton Anatomy of a Revolution, and because we based our recipes off the model proposed in 1938 The French Revolution also follows our analysis. In the preliminary stage characteristics class antagonism was displayed in that the First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) were unhappy because for the first time they had to pay taxes, while the Third Estate (90% of the population, the Peasantry) were upset about restrictions in society,religion,and the economy. Their inept ruler King Louis XVI exemplified the government's inefficiency at the time where peasants that were in poverty were taxed heavily,a bad harvest led to unemployment and starvation, the nobility struggled to claim more power, and the government did little to combat any of those issues. As the intellectual transfer of loyalties went, enlightenment philosophers like Jean Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, and Montesquieu all abandoned the idea of absolute monarchy which France had been governed by in favor of new ideas of what government should be including consent of the governed. Eventually leading to the lessening of the power vested in France's monarchs.

The first stage characteristics begin with the aforesaid bad harvest , the rise of unemployment, and starvation among lower class citizens, the taxes that were placed on the classes shoulders as a whole, costly wars, the fact the nobles were not taxed. All of these factors led to France’s economy being virtually bankrupt.Growing protests including the National Assembly(declared June 20, 1789) in tandem with dramatic events like the storming of Bastille (July 14,1789, a response to King Louis mobilizing Swiss troops), the publication of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and citizen ( August 1789), and the March of Women ( October 1789) all led to the acquisition of power by moderate forces. In this period the feudal system officially ends, the estates are abolished, a French Constitution much like the English Magna Carta is created, and new laws were passed allowing men who owned property to play a role in the French government which all can be summed up as the honeymoon period.

Following this period of “prosperity” foreign invasions from Prussia and Austria, the dethroning and beheading of King Louis XVI and a massive draft pushing young men into the army , and every other person into a supporting role, all began the Crisis period in which Jacobians took control of France in a period of time analogous to a reign of terror. During this Reign of Terror Maximilien Robespierre was a strong man that took control of the centralized power.

In the Recovery Stage Robespierre is executed, and the Directory takes over. Military successes found with Napoleon Bonaparte who amasses a new empire and establishes a new constitution with himself as the first consul. As the new leader of France he fought against radicals, maintained freedom of religion, the prevalence of schools, and universities, but entirely voided the prospect of Women’s rights.By this process French moderates have been able to gain amesty creating the nation we know today. Aggressive Nationalism and pride of the French national identity is shown by the continual celebration of their independence, utilization of their Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen as a global point of reference in the establishment of democracy alongside the American Declaration of independence and constitution, and the resiliency the nation is able to show even in recent event like the Paris bombings.

The true definition of revolution is constantly debated, yet the Crane Brinton model does a fair job of expressing whether movements are truly a revolution, and that’s why we chose to base our recipes off of it. By the criterion of the Anatomy of Revolution written in 1938, and our own adaption of that, The French Revolution is in fact a true Revolution.