Irony about history

The French Revolution failed miserably. First of all, anarchy never works. But secondly, and most importantly, if you are trying to make aristocrats look bad, screaming gleefully when their heads get chopped off is not the way to go. The French had a good idea, but a bad plan; what they acheived was not democracy, but generations of people who look at aristocrats and say "Look how genteel and wonderful aristocrats were!" and who look at the masses and say "How crude!"

Now why did the Americans get freedom so neatly, and why did the French mess it up? True, the French were revolting against feudalism and excesses, but the main key in both revolutions was lack of representation. My theory for why the Americans won was this: they were British. I am the first to say that they were a different race by the time of the Revolution, but they were formerly British. And British, for some reason, are usually careful and diplomatic. They hate messes. That is, as stereotypes go. And the French, are not. They are passionate and emotional. I am not trying to be racist, but face it: the English in history did tend to be more calm about things. And in revolutions, pure emotion will not last long. The French had zeal, they had passion; what they needed was a cool head. Unfortunately, that cool head came in the form of Napoleon Bonaparte. But the lesson is:

So if you want to start a revolution, don't lose your head.