What Was the Conclusion of the French Revolution?

The French Revolution concluded in 1799 with the fall and abolition of the French monarchy and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte’s dictatorship. In place of the monarchy, France established a democratic republic devoted to the ideas of liberalism, secularism and other philosophies that became popular during the Enlightenment. Despite the national devotion to republicanism, the empire grew increasingly authoritarian and militaristic under the leadership of Napoleon.
As the French Revolution concluded, the country adopted its slogan, “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity,” as a guiding principle for at least the next century. The new government developed a constitutional system that shifted power away from the nobility and its supporters. The devotion of the new republic to secularism led to the decimation of the Catholic Church in France, and its power, influence and assets declined precipitously from its pre-Revolutionary height. After the revolution, the agricultural economy broke apart from large, nobility-owned farms to smaller homesteads. In urban centers, entrepreneurship grew after the absence of barriers created by the monarchy and the nobility. Outside of France, many European countries, including Britain, Germany and Belgium, grew wary of France’s increasing militaristic streak. The United States’ hostility towards France also grew, with the two nations engaging in the Quasi-War from 1798 to 1799.