Revolution based on noble ideals of liberty, egalitarianism, and fraternity.

Ideals give way to guillotines, retribution on the old order for poverty and oppression endured.

Retribution gives way to a reign of terror, overuse of the guillotine to settle personal grudges, nobody is safe from suspicion... j'accuse.

Power vacuum left by weak monarchy and disoriented revolutionaries gives way to the rise of strong man, Napoleon, through wars and expansion. Everyone forgets the spent revolution and focuses on national glory.

French empire, colonialism, and the long road to WW1.