As with the American Revolution, it's easy to conclude that France's revolution wasn't all that revolutionary. I mean, Napoleon was basically an emperor and in some ways he was even more of an absolute monarch than Louis XVI had been. Gradually, the nobles came back to France, although they had mostly lost their special privileges. The Catholic Church returned too, although much weaker because it had lost land and the ability to collect tithes. And when Napoleon himself fell, France restored the monarchy. And except for a four-year period between 1815 and 1870, France had a king who was either a Bourbon or a Bonaparte. Now, these were no longer absolute monarchs who claimed that their right to rule came from God.