(Plants around Tokyo, nowadays...)Revolution Starts in Summer
It is truly revolutionary that Mr. Barack Obama, a son of a contemporary African, was elected as U.S. President after having been nominated for President in the U.S. Democratic Party conference in the summer of 2008.
In Japan, finally the LDP-led Cabinet has decided to dissolve the Lower House of the Diet, having power to elect Japan's prime minister, on 21 July and hold the general election on 30 August, 2009, though the political upheaval is expected to further continue till October as there are some ambitious parties, factions, and groups laying their own schemes for formation of a new Government.
Yet, we had better review the French Revolution:
-----
The French Revolution (1789–1799)
The storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789
Another cause was the fact that Louis XV fought many wars, bringing France to the verge of bankruptcy, and Louis XVI supported the colonists during the American Revolution, exacerbating the precarious financial condition of the government.
The national debt amounted to almost two billion livres. The social burdens caused by war included the huge war debt, made worse by the monarchy's military failures and ineptitude, and the lack of social services for war veterans. The inefficient and antiquated financial system was unable to manage the national debt, something which was both caused and exacerbated by the burden of a grossly inequitable system of taxation. Another cause was the continued conspicuous consumption of the noble class, especially the court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at Versailles, despite the financial burden on the populace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution
-----
Yet you must wonder what happened between the revolutionary power in Paris and the Vatican, since the Pope was the largest stakeholder in the economy of the French kingdom:
-----
The Revolution brought about a massive shifting of powers from the Roman Catholic Church to the state. Under the Ancien Régime, the Church had been the largest landowner in the country. Legislation enacted in 1790 abolished the Church's authority to levy a tax on crops, known as the dîme, cancelled special privileges for the clergy, and confiscated Church property. To no small extent, the Assembly addressed the financial crisis by having the nation take over the property of the Church (while taking on the Church's expenses), through the law of 2 December 1789. In order to rapidly monetize such an enormous amount of property, the government introduced a new paper currency, assignats, backed by the confiscated church lands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution
-----
The most significant part of the effect of the French Revolution is that the richest entity of the Vatican was deprived of its source of wealth in France, and thus France could avoid the national bankruptcy by confiscating Pope's lands and issuing a new paper currency backed by the newly nationalized estate in land.
However, "what happened to Judaists?" is the most pious question:
-----
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic period brought to the Jews of France, the Netherlands, Western Germany and Italy the first intimations of modernity. It brought equality before the law, an end to oppressive taxation and enforced residential restrictions, and the opportunity to participate as free men in public and political life. True to the ideals of the Enlightenment, the Revolution granted to the
Jew his rights as a citizen.
Article X of the Rights of Man and the Citizen declared: 'No person shall be molested for his opinions, even such as are religious provided that the manifestation of their opinions does not disturb the public order as established by the law.'
It is true of course that in the reaction that followed the downfall of Napoleon, in certain areas, notably in Italy, the Jew lost his new status. Even in France itself, the early achievements of the Revolution were in part nullified by Napoleon’s policy. Yet for all that, nothing can deprive the French Revolution of its rightful claim to have inaugurated a new and more hopeful era in the life of European Jewry.
http://www.biblemagazine.com/magazine/vol-19/v19i4mag.pdf
-----
The key figures of the French Revolution, either as an enemy or a friend of poor Parisians, were the Vatican and Judaists. Without this notion, you would have simply a too romantic image on the French Revolution.
But, the truth is that the Vatican had neglected poor French people for so long while tying up with successive French kings, while Judaists had been neglected of their human right for so long in their poor and peaceful living in the Christian world.
It was truly so to the extent that most of French poor people came to pay no respect to the Vatican while finding themselves in the same miserable state as that of poor Judaists who eventually looked like their friends in poverty.
Yet, the revolution cost too much.
-----
The Committee of Public Safety came under the control of Maximilien Robespierre, a lawyer, and the Jacobins unleashed the Reign of Terror (1793-1794). According to archival records, at least 16,594 people died under the guillotine or otherwise after accusations of counter-revolutionary activities.[35] A number of historians note that as many as 40,000 accused prisoners may have been summarily executed without trial or died awaiting trial...
-----
And in this trend, another important direction of the incident became clearer, paving the way for young military officer Napoleon eventually:
-----
The Reign of Terror enabled the revolutionary government to avoid military defeat. The Jacobins expanded the size of the army, and Carnot replaced many aristocratic officers with younger soldiers who had demonstrated their ability and patriotism. The Republican army was able to throw back the Austrians, Prussians, British, and Spanish. At the end of 1793, the army began to prevail and revolts were defeated with ease. The Ventôse Decrees (February–March 1794) proposed the confiscation of the goods of exiles and opponents of the Revolution, and their redistribution to the needy...
----
It is just like young politicians being given many chances and higher appreciation in Japan and America today. However, being young alone never promises true virtue, wisdom, and power. For example, J.F.K. was simply assassinated in 1963 and Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968.
(To be continued...)
Dan 7:13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
Dan 7:14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.