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First, a disclaimer: I am no expert on the French Revolution, but I'll give my cursory understanding here.
The French Revolution is probably the most influential event in the past 250 years. The old order was torn down and the modern age officially began, having monumental affects on the culture of the Western World. However, things could have very easily gone differently, and the Revolution could have been averted.
First, culture. While secularism had been developing amongst the intellectual class before the French Revolution, the Revolution was the first time that secularism became widespread. Today, a large proportion of the population in Europe and former European settler colonies (North America, Australia, parts of Latin America) professes no religion, and among those who do profess a faith, it is often times only nominally (not saying that all pre-1789 Christians were fervently devout). Now, other factors obviously affect how secular people are (wealth, for example, it's much easier to believe in a higher power when you're dirt poor and the grim reaper could drop by any day), but I do think that the French Revolution did have an affect.
Second, politics. It could be argued that both Fascism and Communism have at least some of their roots in the excesses of the revolution (as previously mentioned, I'm no expert, but that's my cursory understanding). The terms Left and Right also came from the revolution, so our understanding of the political spectrum would be incredibly different.
So, why am I asking this? Well, I am currently working on a timeline where the French Revolution is butterflied, and I plan on taking the TL up until the present day. The opinions of people who are more knowledgeable than myself will be quite useful for the social side of the TL.
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