Why was late 18th century and 19th century Paris such a hotbed of revolution?

by ParallelPain
alcibiad

Er, not a QC but no one seems to be answering your question. One possible answer is given in Tocqueville's The Old Regime and the Revolution. Tocqueville's main idea about the French Revolution was that it did not actually fundamentally change the structure of France's government or the rights of individuals. It only really changed who was in power (this is kind of an oversimplification). You can see how this might lead to decades of conflict from all the people who were promised/guaranteed rights and privileges they were never really given, which helped lead to the political agitations of the 19th century. A great modern example of this same issue is the progression from the Civil Rights movement onto the present day with Black Lives Matter, where BLM supporters would say that a fundamental institutional problem is denying young black Americans the rights and privileges they were promised.