The difference is, when we revolted, we separated from the Mother Country but when they revolted, they murdered all the old order and any suspected of being against the revolution.
Per Wikipedia; the death toll ranged in the tens of thousands, with 16,594 executed by guillotine (2,639 in Paris), and another 25,000 in summary executions across France. They especially murdered Catholic priests and nuns. The revolution drowned multiple Thousands in the Nantes river. All this in the name of Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood.
Their legacy of the "Reign of Terror" was the rise of Emperor Napoleon, the French Revolution of 1848 and the bloody Paris Commune of 1871, feeding a national ennui that lasts to this day.
Les Misérables is set at the end of the long period of the French Revolution and the subsequent rise and fall of Napoleon. I will never understand why any American wants to view a movie that glorifies this period of Satanic Barbarianism.
Thank you. You are exactly correct. Hugo’s book at least deals with this. The movie/musical does not. And your term Satanic Barbarism is spot on