Why do people think that the French Revolution was more influential than the American Revolution...

Why do people think that the French Revolution was more influential than the American Revolution? The American Revolution happened first, clearly laid out the specific rights that Americans were entitled to, and actually resulted in the creation of a stable government that has lasted for hundreds of years and has since become a major world superpower. The French Revolution wouldn't have happened if France didn't bankrupt itself funding the American Revolution, it led to a period of bloody civil war followed by the re-establishment of an autocratic dictatorship, and the end result was a meme empire that collapsed in on itself in less than 20 years and began a cycle in which France was continially cucked by the Germans for nearly a century afterwards.

The only actual arguments I've heard in favor of the French Revolution's pre-eminence is that the French Revolution took place in Europe, which is utterly irrelevant, and that the King of France was killed, which doesn't mean much when you consider that his death didn't actually stop France from eventually reverting to monarchical rule.

They don't.

In high school, I heard from every single one of my teachers that the French Revolution was more influential than the American Revolution. Then again, I went to high school in Australia, so they were probably just taking the Eternal Anglo's view on it.

The american revolution was war for independence like dozen happened. The french revolution was about destroying the regime who ruled you for a thousand year in one of the most powerful country.
The french revolution shaped the world for the better and worst, the american one did not.

Nobody does, least of all me.

In fact, in high school here in Norway we specifically learn that the American Revolution is what increased enmity between the aristocracy and the peasantry in France because of the massive amount of debt the war accrued.

Also the French conquered a good chunk of Europe, exporting the ideas of the Revolution, the metric system, nationalism and the Napoleon Code to name a few. So it had a bigger impact, since the most important powers of the time had to deal with it, while the American Revolution was interesting, but in a minor country on the other side of the ocean.

As a French, I disagree: the ideas of the Revolution were here already when Louis XVI got himself balls deep in dept to save US bros from the eternal anglos. This is why Lafayette was a hero in his living time and why the people supported the expedition. What you maybe meant is that this war cost France way to much in terms of money. Because we didn't send in just men. And then, with the fact that there was a beef plague running and bad harvests in France, this money could have been used to buy some food from abroad, but well there was no money left. So the people starved and started a first Revolution. Then things fucked up to the point where this initial little Revolution reshaped Europe. But there are many phases in the FR :)

But the French Revolution could not have happened without the American Revolution. Doesn't that make it just as important?

>a minor country on the other side of the ocean.
Think you got France and America mixed up there

>Why do people think that the French Revolution was more influential than the American Revolution?

Because it was
The French Revolution was one of the most powerful countries on the most relevat continent seeing a deep change.
Other powers feared it which lead to war and said war ended in Revolutionary victory with the Revolution ideas spreading to conquered lands

Now compare that to some irrelevant remote colony getting independence

Couldn't you argue that the American Revolution's enlightenment ideals spread to France, which then spread across the globe?

Also, I don't get this "America is irrelevant" meme. I mean, it's pretty fucking relevant now. You'd think that would make the American Revolution more relevant.

>the ideas of the Revolution were here already

I didn't they weren't. What I said was it increased enmity, which it did, because when the state had a people's assembly in 1789, and the aristocracy demanded that the peasantry pay the debt incurred by the war, shit literally hit the fan(Not surprising).

>American Revolution
>some colony no one knows a shred about breaks free from its colonial overlord, but which starting off more as something to ensure taxation with representation than with a will to secede
>elaborate a constitution to bolster their morale, and depict themselves as the "moral good guys"
>shoddy democracy at best, with low-tier federalism having everyone believe that the United States will fizzle into separate entities

>French Revolution
>rdvolution transpires in the European county most renowned for its absolutist monarchy
>in the heart of Europe
>every possible ideology from the French Enlightenment competing for power
>proceeds to buttfuck the remainder of Europe, with nationalism and civil law seeping everywhere the french army did

let me try to condense this.

To understand the french revolution you have to understand the peace of westphalia. Lets be very reductionist and say the peace established the idea that a nation has a right to sovereignty.

Lets jump to the French revolution.

If the revolution just stopped with the overthrow of the monarchy, it would have been a footnote in world history and fall into irrelevancy eventually. There were many reasons as to why the revolution is important, such as the creation of the jacobin club and the napoleonic wars.

However, the most important factor was french self-determinism in a world that now had access to nationstates with implied sovereignty which evolved into rudimentary radical nationalism.

The importance is the fusion of both elements of the peace of westphalia and the french revolution, which together has quite literally defined history from the revolution onward up to today, and will surely continue when we're gone.

>American Revolution's enlightenment ideals spread to France
The ideal was already in france.
>You'd think that would make the American Revolution more relevant.
This point of view would maake the fondation of the first colony in North America the most relevant moment in history.

That map would be significantly less impressive if it didn't color in huge swathes of colonial territory in the Americas and Siberia that was only nominally controlled or sparsely populated.

>French revolution could not have happened without American revolution.

How do you substantiate this claim?

One of the catalysts for the French Revolution was the massive amount of war debt that France accrued during the Revolutionary War.

Except you have to remember that a huge reason why the Spanish colonies were able to declare independence was because of how weakened Spain was after the war with France.

Because the American war of independence barely counted as a revolution, as it just resulted in the transfer of power from rich white men in Britain to rich white men in the Americas, whereas the French Revolution resulted in a huge loss of power for Europeon nobles.

That's how maps are
Ever seen the similar map for WW1?
Basically every country are colored when it was really just Germany+A-H+Ottomans vs France+Britain+Russia

The French Revolution founded the modern world.

The American "Revolution" wasn't even an actual revolution.

If you're going to attempt to have a discussion on history, try not using /pol/ buzzwords literally every second, dork.