George Jacques Danton gave a simple explanation why his generation of young professionals embarked on the French Revolution.
Quoted in “The Terror: The Shadow of the Guillotine: France 1792–1794” (Graeme Fife):
The old regime made a crucial error. I was educated by it as an exhibitioner at the College du Plessis. I studied there with great nobles who… lived with me on equal terms. My studies over, I was left high and dry… my former schoolfellows turned their backs on me. The Revolution came: I and all those like me threw ourselves into it. The old regime drove us to it by giving us a good education without opening opportunities for our talents.
