The French Revolution violently overthrew France's rule by kings, and its aftermath set the stage for dramatic change in France and around the globe establishing the expectation that societies should and could be ruled by democratic, representative government free from hereditary rulers and the exercise of arbitrary power. In their firm pursuit of human liberty, the French revolutionaries also paved the way for the rise of the middle class, the diminishing political power of the Catholic Church, the end of feudalism, the establishment of an organized national army, and the emergence of a new and modern sense of national identity. Follow the dramatic story from the guillotine executions of the revolutionary years through the ups and downs of revolutionary aftermath that led to the emergence of the modern democratic French Republic. - from Amzon