By nineteenth-century standards, why was the French Revolution seen as a failure?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The Revolution was seen as a failure partly because of a shift in political and cultural ideology that saw a backlash against the Enlightenment principles of reason and logic. Culturally, the response to the sterility of the Enlightenment was the development of Romanticism, which embraced the emotional and sentimental abilities of mankind. The French Revolution was seen as emblematic of cold rationalism gone terribly awry, and a return to a more balanced perspective became the predominant characteristic of the nineteenth century. Politically, it was expressed by a return to a conservative approach, but in a new way: by the use of diplomacy and a measured balance of power, the authoritative governments of western Europe (now including Russia after its participation in the defeat of Napoleon) sought to control change within society rather than allow revolutions to break out and implement change from below. This meant tighter regulation of society and the problems brought by technological, economic, and cultural changes on the part of the government. The return to the conservative and authoritarian forms of government, and the rejection of the cold rationalism of the cultural implications were a direct response to the Revolution.