Alexandria, VA – One wonderful thing about living in France is you always bump into something that you read about in school. Like walking through Alexandria, it’s hard to avoid running into something “revolutionary” in France, or at least that’s inspired other generations to action, which has been a byproduct of the French Revolution. Even something seemingly as silly as the color of park benches in Paris has its roots in the French Revolution.
We Americans like to think that we — our own Revolution — inspired the French to act and free themselves from the tyranny of the aristocracy. Our revolutionary excuse was being taxed to death without anything to say about it. “No taxation without representation” was the topic at every tavern in America, then after multiple tankards of beer and mead were consumed, voices reached a patriotic crescendo, and everyone dashed out to enlist.[i]
Patriotic fervor aside, “our” revolution didn’t get off to a brilliant start and we didn’t exactly inspire others until late in the game. Over the course of the war, the American Army and Navy were victorious in just 38% of engagements with the British.[ii] You’d think that percentage was a lot higher than that if you believe our high school history teachers and our roadside history signage.
And Europe pitched in. It seemed that a lot of the former great empires were not all that chipper about the British Empire stomping all over the place. They wanted someone to stand up and help bring about the “sunset” on their empire the Brits said would never happen. The French in particular were especially eager to partner with America and dug deep into their treasury to help supply Washington’s troops in the field. All those French Army jokes aside, when the going got tough for the original George W. in the field, it was those dandified Frenchmen who wrote lots of checks, bought gunpowder and muskets under the table, and even provided Lafayette, Rochambeau, and a bunch of other hard-core field commanders to help mold our Army and bolster our fledgling cause.
The problem was that France, shortly after our revolution, was suffering from centuries of robbing the poor to assuage the rich. France had this thing called the “Ancien Régime” (Ancient Regime) that ran the political, economic, and social system of the country. It was divided into three estates; the First Estate was the clergy, the Second Estate was the nobility, and the Third Estate were the commoners (peasants, farmers, laborers, merchants). Estates One and Two were 10% of the population, had all the power, and taxed the 90% when they needed money.
With slow job growth, sky-rocketing prices for food and goods, high unemployment, poor harvests, starvation, France’s debt ratio because of the 10% wild spending, and the Age of Enlightenment (democracy), it didn’t take too long for the people to “rise up” and kick off a revolution of their own.
Historians can dive into all the minutia, but suffice it to say, France was in an economic, political, and social drought, and the upper 10% couldn’t hold it all together. Their revolution lasted ten years, and then endured several follow-on aftershocks that happened until Napoleon Bonaparte appeared on the scene and set himself up as Emperor. It was crickets after that until he got too big for his britches and tried to conquer the world. Other countries frowned on that and the Duke of Wellington stepped in and shut him down at Waterloo.
Today many Americans are worried about another American Revolution. The middle-class tax burden, soaring prices, attacks on education, a rising distrust in government and other institutions, assaults on our judicial system — all seem like a similar economic, political, and social drought in America. But the good news is France survived its revolution. Today France is the most-visited country in the world, and Paris remains the #1 tourist destination.
Which brings me back to the color of Paris benches. Just like neon lights in Times Square, all benches in Paris, by law, must be painted that green color. It’s called “Carriage Green.” The name comes from the color of the carriages that took King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette to the guillotine.
What color should Alexandria’s benches be?
[i] The U.S. Army Recruiting Command early on knew where their market was. Recruiting was frequently done in taverns.
[ii] Not a bad batting average in baseball, but in warfare, it ain’t much to write home about. Wikipedia cites some 263 total “Battles” during the revolution, some with aid from France, Spain, and Prussia. Note – three battles were “inconclusive” or a “draw.”
