The French Revolution had no territory of its own; in-
deed, its effect was to efface, in a way, all older frontiers.
It brought men together, or divided them, in spite of laws,
traditions, character and language, turning enemies some-
times into compatriots, and kinsmen into strangers; or
rather, it formed, above all particular nationalities, an
intellectual common country of which men of all nations
might become citizens....

When we look away from those accidental features which
modified its appearance at different times and in various
countries, and consider the Revolution only in itself, we see
clearly that its effect was simply to abolish those political
institutions which had prevailed for centuries among most
European peoples...that it entirely destroyed, or is still
destroying (for it still goes on) everything which in the
old society arose from feudal and aristocratic institutions.

-- ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

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