What the Conservatives Get Wrong about the French Revolution

07/15/2026 Ryan McMaken

If avoiding a repeat of the excesses of the French revolution is an important goal, we need a thorough understanding of its causes. Edmund Burke and his conservative followers don’t offer this.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/what-conservatives-get-wrong-about-french-revolution

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Get Your July Rothbard Giveaway Book! The Origins of the Federal Reserve

What the Conservatives Get Wrong about the French Revolution