Anatomy of A

Revolution
The French Revolution and Egyptian Revolution

Shakila Khan, Hafsa Aamir, Isabel Cruz, Nicole Cordero

Phase One: Ruled by an oppressive

government

Living in a society controlled by a corrupt government can often frustrate and trigger
aggression from citizens. Such was the case for the people of France from the Old Regime and
the Egyptians from the Mubarak Regime.
The French Revolution started because of the way France was organized under the Old
Regime. France had three estates; the 97% third estate which consisted of the commoners, the
3% first second estate which was the King and the nobility. Although being the largest, the third
estate had no political voice or say in any matters. All power lies in the voice of the King and
that was always the understanding if one lived in the Old Regime. The third estate was heavily
taxed and the prices of simple necessities such as bread were unreasonable. What was worse is
while they were starving and living in poverty, King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette
were living lavishly in their palace in Versaille. There were rumors that the Queen herself was

hoarding flour in the palace. Women hearing this were outraged and organized a march to
Versaille demanded them to leave.

Egypt at the time of the revolution was being ruled by the infamous Hosni Mubarak.
Mubarak was a dictator of Egypt for three decades; almost two generations of citizens. Within
those thirty years Egypts level of corruption infiltrating the government rose exponentially. Not
only were political problems arising so were the economical.1 They had an increase in
unemployment rates which had a huge impact on the people. The new generation were having an
exceptionally harder time finding a job, with 7000,000 graduates and only 200,000 positions.2
Egyptians were tired of this government and the self-indulgent leader that was ruling them. The
situation went from bad to worse which inevitably led them to take matters into their own hand
and revolt. They believed that the true power laid in the voice of the people. January 2011 was
followed by a series of protests in attempt to bringing Mubarak down. Secular liberals; Christian,
Muslim, Atheist, all unified for this one cause and came together to overthrow the Mubarak
Regime. They refused to leave Tahrir Square until a new constitution was made3. They protested
against the fact that majority of the country was jobless and many were living in poverty. The
central demand however was that Mubarak step down.

In the early days of both revolutions the people were angry because of economical issues
that were going on. Because of this they blamed it on the person who caused it, their leader. Both

Al Jazeera Agencies, Timeline: Egypts Revolution. Al Jazeera, February 14, 2011.

Duncan Green, What caused the revolution in Egypt. The Guardian. February 17, 2011.
3
Daily Mail Reporter, Military Rulers Dissolve Egyptian parliament and suspend constitution. Daily
Mail.February 13, 2011.
2

Louis XVI and Napoleon didnt have their priorities in order and laid the carpet for their people
to revolt. That social tension existed between the government and the people in both revolutions
which is why the citizens of both were determined to escape their harsh style of living.

Phase Two: Resign of the dictator

After the revolution becomes established into an actual movement with an abundant
amount of supporters and they get their main point across revolutionists experience The Liberal
Phase. For example in the French Revolution after the Womens March to Versaille when they
made their point across that they no longer will tolerate a corrupt government, they eventually
limited the government. This was a liberal gain.
To address all concerns and issues, France was going to have a meeting with
representatives from all three estates. When the third estate came they found the door to be
locked and out of frustration they left and did their own thing. They went to a nearby tennis court
and created a group called the National Assembly. Like they Egyptians in Tahrir Square, the
third estate French of the National Assembly promised not to disband until a new constitution
was written. This became known as the Tennis Court Oath. Enlightenment ideas were also
developing which had a massive influence on the French. The idea that people are free and have
natural rights as opposed to having one label, the kings subjects was enough to get many
involved.

After two and half weeks of protesting Mubarak finally resigns. He leaves a country
celebrating his departure. Mubarak left leaving the military in charge who said they would spend
the next six months carefully drafting a new constitution.4 When Mubarak was in power the
citizens were united because they had one common goal, to force him to step down. After
Mubarak left however they were once again divided. During a meeting that was held to draft a
constitution, the liberals simply walked out because Islamists were trying to take secular spots.5
The secular liberals wanted to wait and finish their first initial goal, writing down a constitution.
On the other hand the more religion oriented groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood wanted to
immediately jump into the elections. The liberals werent against elections; they felt that the
country wasnt yet prepared to have elections without a tangible constitution.6 With the major
parties running being part of either the Mubarak Regime of the Muslim Brotherhood, they feared
that Egypts government will once be what it was before.

The first democratic elections are held and the person that won was Muhammad Morsi, the first
democratically elected president outside of the military. The fact that Egypt has its first
democratic elections after Mubaraks thirty year reign is considered progress for the liberals.

Frontline, Whats happened since Egypts Revolution? PBS, September 17, 2013.
Unknown Author, Egypts liberals quit constitutional meeting. Al Jazeera, June 10, 2013
6
SARAH EL DEEB, On Eve of Egypts election, a revolution reboot CNS News, November 26,2011
5

Phase Three: Rise of the Radicals

After the liberal phase there is a period of time where the violence increases. Usually this
is because in phase two, after being united everyone is separated again. Whether this separation
is caused by political, spiritual, or just social difference, chaos is ensued.

In France with the start of the September Massacres, more fuel was added to fire thus
making people on both sides much angrier. They assumed that the prisoners would have their
own counter revolution against the current. In the midst of all this violence, Louis XVI and his
queen Marie Antoinette were beheaded by a guillotine. They were killed by their own people.
This regicide shocked other European countries. Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of
Public Safety developed and passed the Law of Suspects. The law stated that if anyone showed
through speech or writing that they did not support the revolution they were supporters of tranny.
This law made everyone to be an enemy of the French revolution. This law led to The Reign of
Terror where anyone suspected of being an enemy of the revolution were killed. During the
Reign of Terror 40,000 people were executed in a twelve month period. The French people were
happy with a limited monarchy and then all this bloodshed and violence comes along, clearly
making them a little off edge.

The liberals worked restlessly to get Mubarak down and to limit the power from anyone that
takes the leader position. However when Muhammad Morsi was sworn in as the first Islamist
president of Egypt, that all changed. The radical phase in Egypts Revolution was probably the
most feared. The Muslim Brotherhood made many nervous especially Coptic Christians that
made up 9 million of the population.7 Egyptian Christians and seculars feared that if a
Brotherhood member led Egypt, its government would be influenced by Islamic law, shariah
7

Unknown Author, Lives of fear for Egypt's Christians BBC NEWS. December 23, 2013

that did not apply to every citizen.8

Morsi was the candidate representing the Muslim

Brotherhood. At the time of his inauguration, a solid, concrete constitution was yet to be created.
When Morsi was campaigned he promised there will be a stable democracy in Egypt but after he
was sworn in there was nothing but corruption.9

As part of the Muslim Brother Morsi tailored his constitution draft to the Brotherhoods needs. It
was evident that Morsi was granting himself privileges that not even Mubarak, dictator for thirty
years had. This led to Coptic Christians protesting to get rid of Morsi. At one point the armys
tanks were running over the protesters. This angered them even more and Morsis support level
from the people was slowly deteriorating.

Richard Engel, Egyptians fear decades of Muslim Brotherhood rule, warn Morsi is no friend to US NBC
World News. December 1, 2012
9
Josh Levs Like Obameter, the Morsi Meter tracks EGyptian Presidents promises CNN June 26,
2012

Phase four: Return of Tyranny

After all the events that took place in the name of revolution ironically in the end both of
these revolutions went back to square one. They did achieve and accomplish things, like getting
down the former leader and establishing a constitution but despite all this they still went back to
having a tyrant like dictator lead. The same picture was being painted but by another painter.

Napoleon gives himself the title as the child of the revolution. Although he did lead France out
of an absolutist monarch, he was still a leader with unchecked powers. He may have done a few
revolutionary things but in the end he changed a limited monarch into an empire. He had the
same level of power as a King or Queen and crowned himself emperor. He claims to have spread
Enlightenment ideas. Napoleon wrote the Napoleonic Code which was everything but

enlightenment ideas. He discussed how women were treated too highly and the privileges one
has is based on their social class. Enlightenment ideas stood for natural rights and how everyone
is born equal. Many of the actions Napoleon did contradicted his claims about himself.

After only one year of being president, Morsi was overthrown in the same manner that
Mubarak was, through protesting. Despite his claims that he was a legitimate president and it
wasnt appropriate he leave until the end of his term, the people were still frustrated with him
and overthrew him.

The person in charge of this overthrow was Abdel Fatah Al Sisi. Sisi was very popular
among the people because of the role he played in removing Morsi from power. There was a
period of time where Egyptians had Sisi-mania10, a moment of nationalism and bursting pride
from Egyptians. Sisi won the elections with 96.1%, proving just how eager they were to have
him in office11 After he was sworn into office Sisi-mani seemed to die out and everyone didnt
seem so excited anymore. Spokesperson Khaled Dawoud, of the Constitution Party is upset
about Sisi being president and says , 'This is a government that does not want to listen to political
parties We see a totally opposite direction than what we hoped for 12 Sisi has the same
approval rates as Morsi did only one year ago. Although the people were elated when he won, he
is doing the same thing Napoleon did. Taking advantage of the peoples trusts and feeding them

10

Liam Stack, Its Sisi-Mania as Nationalist Fervor Sweeps Through Egypt The New York Times
October 25, 2013

11

Partrick Kingsley, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi won 96.1% of vote in Egypt presidential election, say
officials. The Guardian, June 3, 2013.
12

David Kirkpatrick, As Egyptians Grasp for Stability, Sisi Fortifies His Presidency The New York Times
October 8, 2014

false lies to gain for your own political agenda. Coming from a military background, Sisi is more
concerned about repairing the militarys tarnished reputation instead of focusing on what the
people want.

You all did a really sophisticated treatment of these 2 revolutions. The fact
that you had clear claims, analysis and there were hardly any grammatical
errors probably puts this ahead of many first year college essays. Very
nice work. Hang on to this. Im very proud of you all!