ABSTRACT
The culture of the Revolutionary period was the fruition of the changes of the entire Early Modern centuries that had fostered creativity, individuality, and confidence among commoners. The old order collapsed with surprising ease in France, fading in the face of popular discontent and the advance of new concepts of rule and law. Creative people within all European society divided over the issues revolutionaries raised, for many had contributed to the grandeur of the past and disliked the imposition of new forms and attitudes. The Revolution in France created new dangers by insisting on conformity to revolutionary ideals that changed with disheartening frequency. Theater changed with the times and demonstrated the progress of the Revolution and its reception in other lands. The stern rule of Napoleon policed cultural life but allowed it to flourish to an extraordinary degree. The most important result of the time was the creation of a new order in France that affirmed commoners as participants in all life and made the features of cultural life that had been a hope in 1480 into a fact in 1820.
