<P> The changes in France were enormous; some were widely accepted and others were bitterly contested into the late 20th century . Before the Revolution, the people had little power or voice . The kings had so thoroughly centralized the system that most nobles spent their time at Versailles, and played only a small direct role in their home districts . Thompson says that the kings had: </P> <Dl> <Dd> ruled by virtue of their personal wealth, their patronage of the nobility, their disposal of ecclesiastical offices, their provincial governors (intendants), their control over the judges and magistrates, and their command of the Army . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> ruled by virtue of their personal wealth, their patronage of the nobility, their disposal of ecclesiastical offices, their provincial governors (intendants), their control over the judges and magistrates, and their command of the Army . </Dd> <P> After the first year of revolution, this power had been stripped away . The king was a figurehead, the nobility had lost all their titles and most of their land, the Church lost its monasteries and farmlands, bishops, judges and magistrates were elected by the people, the army was almost helpless, with military power in the hands of the new revolutionary National Guard . The central elements of 1789 were the slogan "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" and "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen", which Lefebvre calls "the incarnation of the Revolution as a whole ." </P>

What changes in society were brought about by the french revolution