Egyptian and French Revolutions

~ 1.  One of the biggest similarities between King Louis XVI of France and Husni Mubarak is the fact that they were both absolute rulers of their respective countries.  A difference is that, during Louis's reign, the country was in an economic crisis and heading quickly towards famine.  Also, in the time leading up to the French Revolution, Louis was married to Marie Antoinette, whom the people did not like at all (1).  The reason the people of Egypt revolted had more to do with discontent in Mubarak's reign itself (2).
~ 2.  One of the reasons the French Revolution started was because the people who had less land -- the Third Estate -- wanted to own more land, especially because they had the most people, as is human nature.  Stemming from this, there was also much competition for money among people.  The people with the most pand made the most money, causing social classes to develop and causing discord between these social classes (3).  In Egypt, one of the things that made the protests in Egypt as big as they were was the internet restrictions.  By restricting the rights of his people, Mubarak made them want to revolt even more (4).
~ 3.  In the French Revolution, women had a very large roll.  Olympe de Gouge's "Declaration on the Rights of Women" (5) began the progression of women's rights, and women played the largest roll in the march on Versailles in October 1789.  France was one of the first countries to strive toward gender equality, all starting during the Revolution.  In the Egyptian Revolution, many groups of both women and young people are surfacing.  These groups were in the streets along with all the men, protesting the government as well as raising awareness about things like sexual harassment (6).
~ 4.  After Louis XVI stepped down, the people of the National Assembly thought they had gotten what they wanted.  Instead, they got a violent period called the Terror, in which thousands of French citizens of all social castes were murdered (7).  There is a concern that this same result could occur in Egypt.  Though there is celebration now, if there happens to be a battle of power there is a good chance violence could ensue.
~ 5.  During the French Revolution, the Third Estate protested by holding their own National Assembly and writing things like the Tennis Court Oath (8) and the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen (9) to try and change their country's constitution.  During this recent Egyptian Revolution, people protested in large crowds in Tahrir Square, for the most part more peaceful than the protests could have been (10).
~ 6.  Though the protest did get somewhat violent before Mubarak stepped down, they were not as violent as they could have been.  There were a few deaths, but there were no giant massacres of Egyptian citizens.  Now, there is hardly any violence at all, mostly just celebrating after Mubarak has stepped down (11).
~ 7.  Now that President Mubarak has stepped down from office, instead of protests going on in the street, there are celebrations.  Scores upon scores of people are celebrating their successful overthrowing of their leader.  According to reporters currently in Egypt, everyone has high spirits and happiness from their success (12).
~ 8.  It is very likely that the Egyptian Revolution can work out much better than the French Revolution.  Mubarak stepped down more eagerly than Louis XVI, so the people are very please about that.  As of yet, nothing as devastating as the Terror has occurred, so the outlook for Egypt is looking much better than that of France.  There does not seem to be any struggle for power occurring, and hopefully it will stay that way.  On the other hand, if things get too violent, the Egyptian Revolution could take a turn for the worse and end up like the Terror of the French Revolution.

Works Cited
(1) Campan, M. (1818). Memoirs of the private life of marie antoinette. Retrieved from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1818marieantoinette.html
(2) Hosni mubarak. (2011, February 11). The New York Times, Retrieved from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/hosni_mubarak/index.html?inline=nyt-per
(3) Turgot, ARJ. (1775). Reflections on the formation and distribution of wealth. Retrieved from http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/turgot/reflecti
(4) Mackey, R. (2011, January 26). Egyptian bloggers report on new unrest [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/egyptian-bloggers-report-on-new-unrest/
(5) de Gouge, O. (1791). Declaration on the rights of women. Retrieved from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1791degouge1.html
(6) Martin, Michel (Writer). (2011 February 4). Women play vital roll in egypt [Radio series episode]. (Executive producer), National Public Radio.
(7) Robespierre, M. (1790). Justification of the use of terror. Retrieved from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/robespierre-terror.html
(8) The oath of the tennis court. (1789, June 20). Retrieved from http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/tennis_oath.html
(9) Declaration of the rights of man. (1789, August 26). Retrieved from http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/rightsof.asp
(10) Anti-government Protesters Fill Cairo's Tahrir Square on Tuesday. 2011. Photograph. Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian Protests Leave 3 Dead. CBC News, 25 Jan. 2011. Web. <http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/01/25/cairo-egypt-protest-tunisia.html>.
(11) Goldman, P. (2011, February 11). A party for the ages in tahrir square [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/11/6034857-a-party-for-the-ages-in-tahrir-square
(12) Egypt's protests on twitter. (2011, January 27). Retrieved from http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112523026521335.html