First and foremost, Shaw’s quote “Revolutions have never lightened the burden of
Tyranny, they have only shifted it to another shoulder” essentially means that tyrants who have in some way been removed from power will only be replaced by the next, possibly worse tyrant, negating all principles of a revolution to overthrow the previous. Therefore, no amount of revolutions will completely abolish the presence of tyranny in the world. This is very much so in the case of the French Revolution, as there was a constant change of leaders in its entirety, after the death of Louis XVI and later Maximilien Robespierre, but tyranny in the country never ceased to exist.
Firstly, according to Waller R. Newell (2016), ‘Tyranny is a constant in human history, but the character of tyranny is not constant.’ This proves that the Shaw quote is true, because even though tyranny is never completely omitted by the world through means of revolution, the leader that replaces the previous will only have a different character and tyranny will still remain constant. Considering this, the purpose of the French Revolution was to overthrow the leader, Louis XVI, who was known as a ‘reforming tyrant’ and for the state of France to become a democratic republic. However, when Louis XVI was overthrown, important revolutionary figures, such as the Jacobins, led the country to be a republic, and its leaders, such as Napoleon and Robespierre, were known as ‘millenarian tyrants’. This shows that even though the French Revolution aimed to get rid of an absolute monarchy that was only beneficial for the monarchs, the monarchy was only replaced by something of a similar calibre, but the only difference was that the French people actually elected their leader, leading to the conclusion that tyranny is in fact never removed, it has only changed to fit in with the current society, thus validating both Shaw’s quote and the statement made by Newell.
In addition, another example to back up Shaw’s quote would be the continuation of tyranny even after the revolution and the establishment of the republic in France in other countries around the world. As Waller R. Newell (2013) states; ‘tyranny is a permanent feature of the human landscape that no amount of Western-style economic prosperity or individual liberty will make fade away’. This demonstrates that tyranny has been never-ending all over the world throughout history, whether it is the Jacobin Terror of 1793, which was focused on returning to a Golden Age of pure collective equality to be achieved through the destruction of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy or the threat of terrorism and contemporary jihadists ‘bent on a utopian genocide’ in the present day. All of these movements share the same ideologies and beliefs that revolution is the way to put an end to outcasts in their idea of a perfect society. For example, as said before, the French Revolution wished to eradicate the upper-class, who threatened the transformation of France into a democracy. The reason why Shaw’s quote applies to this example is because even when the revolution in France ended, the burden of tyranny was later shifted to other countries, such as Nazi Germany under Hitler, who wanted to exterminate the Jews and contemporary jihadists today, who desire to annihilate ‘Big Satan’ (America) and ‘Little Satan’ (Israel). So therefore the ‘burden of tyranny’ will always be around as long as one collective of people wish to revolt against another.
In addition to what has been said, the burden of tyranny has been portrayed in numerous ways in popular culture. Such as the novel ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell, which has the basic connotation is that all revolutions fail, as the windmill in the novel is destroyed and is rebuilt later, and that all leaders are the same, such as the example of Napoleon the pig, who is a corrupt opportunist and never makes a contribution to the revolution, he just desires a great deal of power. The example of Animal Farm can be directly applied to any tyrant in world history, whether it be Napoleon Bonaparte or Adolf Hitler, as each of these leaders have a strong desire for power, and can be as ruthless a leader as the previous. For example, Napoleon betrayed the democratic principles he supported so strongly when he came into power, just to be as tyrannical as leaders such as Hitler, Stalin, Mao and even jihadists today. To conclude, as long as there is a belief that revolution is the way forward, tyranny will never be completely removed, and Shaw’s quote will always remain relevant to this.
Also, tyranny in the world is never removed due to the tendency of revolutions to be unsuccessful when their leaders fail to establish principles which were promised before embarking on a revolution. A notable aspect of the French Revolution that supports this point is the Jacobin Reign of Terror in the 1790s, led by Maximilien Robespierre. According to Miguel A. Faria (2003), Robespierre and the Jacobins ‘never came close to attaining the utopian goal of establishing a "Republic of Virtue”’. This makes it clear that the leaders who bring about revolutions fail most of the time because of a big ego and a huge hunger for power. Take Robespierre for example, who allegedly fought so hard for liberty and democracy during the Reign of Terror by executing as many aristocrats as possible, only embarked on a ‘bloody dictatorship’ at its conclusion. Considering the ‘mob rule’ and the dictatorship of Robespierre that was achieved by the French Revolution, Shaw’s quote again comes to mind after the execution of Louis XVI and the leadership of Robespierre. This is because conditions in France hadn’t changed at the introduction of a new leader and new politics, a new state of anarcho-tyranny had been created and the revolution principles of ‘Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité’ had been negated. Thus proving that tyranny never disappears, just shifted from one tyrant to another.
Another example of shifting tyranny to another shoulder is the Thermidorian Reaction of 1794. This example highlights the notion of one tyrant stepping down or being forced out of power and another one rising from the crowd.