How did the french revolution change europe?
The long-term effects were quite startling, and have nothing to do with democracy. That progression was in place anyway - the Enlightenment made sure of that. The founding of the USA had placed it firmly on the real agenda. What the French Revolution did was: ...in one sentence, jerk European and American politics out of the rut of steady development and jerk the western world into a whole new mind-set. In detail what it did was: ...lead to the Napoleonic dictatorship, and give credibility to the idea that dictatorship was feasible. ...lead to the Revolutionary/Napoleonic war. This was the first true World War, and the war which reestablished total war - the war of annihilation - as the norm after the tradition of limited warfare normal in the 18thC. ...set back the cause of democracy for at least a generation. All over Europe, rulers became afraid not only of "the mob" but more importantly of the middle class. Germany, the home of the enlightenment, stepped back into conformism and political risk-avoidance. In Spain, liberal reforms already in place and supposedly guaranteed as part of the post-war settlement, were overturned. In Britain reform was partial and half-hearted. France herself staggered from one authoritarian ruler to another until 1870. In a word, trusting the people was well out of fashion. ...clear the road for the British world hegemony which lasted 100 years. This was of course a good thing (if you were British) but a bad one for Americans, French, Germans etc. all of whom wanted a slice of the cake. ...correspondingly, set the English language on the way to being the new Latin: the imperial language everyone needed to know to function on the world stage. The developing American hegemony post-1918 consolidated this. There is a lot more, but this is enough for now. Hope this helps.
Why was the French Revolution so important?
It's almost impossible to overstate the importance of the French Revolution. Other than the Protestant Reformation and World War One, the French Revolution is the most important period in modern European history.The Revolution birthed the modern nation state. It ended the last vestiges of feudalism in Western and Central Europe. It spread Enlightenment ideas across Europe. It reshaped the border of Europe. It led to the rise of nationalism, which would unify Germany and break apart the Austrian Empire. Almost everything politically we take for granted in the West today (liberal democracy, the rule of law, government based on consent, the nature of civil rights and liberties) would not exist without the French Revolution.
When was the last time the French won a war?
It's not just a joke. As any serious student of history is apt to find out once he/she decides to research it for him/herself, the last time the French won a non-civil war, without the help of an even greater number of allies, was some time before they were conquered by the Romans, if then. For a very entertaining analysis of the facts, all one needs do is go to google (yahoo doesn't allow this), type in "french military victories" and click the 'I Feel Lucky' button, which will lead you to the page I've listed below. In my own personal opinion, the reason France as a country hasn't been swollowed up time and time again like what happened from the Romans, is that France is the epitome of agricultural wealth, and that instead of spending all their time fighting, they spent most of their time garnering mass amounts of food and tremendous varieties of foods, and were mostly able to BUY their way out of warfare by bribing the enemy with some form of tribute, until that enemy wound up losing to, and buffering France from, some other enemy. So, even though it is true that France has failed to win any wars on its own since at least before their fall to the Roman Empire, France is NOT by any means a joke.