Recently many scholars of modern history emphasize that the crucial point in the formation of the modern world lies in the fact that it was the transition from agricultural society to industrial society. In other words, they approach the problem from the economic aspect. From their point of view, the process of industrialization or the development of capitalism is laid stress on. Consequently, industrial revolution is regarded as the central element for modernization, while middle-class revolution was merely one factor in this process, and that not necessarily required to experience. The importance of the latter has been more and more ignored. True, various countries in the 19th century got the impetus from capitalism which was internationally developed and sometimes, avoiding middleclass revolution, succeeded in achieving industrial revolution even at a higher speed than in France or England.
However, when we consider the problem of democracy, there is a definite difference between countries which experienced middle-class revolution and those which did not. In the former, capitalism and democracy were implanted at the same time, while in the latter, democracy was suppressed and autocracy was strengthened in proportion as capitalism grew. There, the more industrialized a society was, the more serious was the problem of democracy.
Thus, from the standpoint of democracy, the French Revolution must be referred to as having the unique significance. It was not only the dividing point between feudalism and capitalism, but also the emancipation of people from autocracy and the process of their independence. Moreover, it gave rise to the growth of the “mass” and the movement for democratization in other European countries. The reason why the French Revolution played this role in the history of democracy is in the fact that this revolution was carried out through the Democratie sociale, the autonomous movement of the petite bourgeoisie who supported the Montagnards. Capitalism was the natural result of the splitting into “capital” and “labor” of the petite bourgeoisie who were combined for the common aim of the abolition of feudalism.

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