It is a cliché that history repeats itself, but I only recently realised how remarkably true this can be.
Consider the following:
A King is executed, apparently to further the cause of greater liberty. However, emerging from this apparent liberation is a pseudo military dictatorship. After approximately a decade, this somewhat regal dictatorship comes to an end, encouraging a desire to turn back the clock (at least to an extent). And so, the monarchy is restored, installing a King (who ironically shares his name with the previously executed monarch).
Stability seems to be restored, although lingering suspicions of the restored monarchy remain. These concerns appear to be justified when the restored king dies, and is succeeded by his more conservative brother. This new reactionary King proves too much, apparently ignoring the social and political shifts in the country of recent years, leading to a revolution that deposes the King and brings a more liberal relative to the throne in his place.
The above could equally apply to England from 1649 to 1689 and France 1789-1830. Both chains of events also took approximately 40 years...
In England, King Charles I was executed following the English Civil War, and was replaced by Oliver Cromwell as head of state. A member of parliament who had fought ostensibly to curb royal power, Cromwell soon became Lord Protector, a King in all but name, with dictatorial powers. When he died, his son Richard briefly took his place, before the English monarchy was restored in 1660 under King Charles I's son, King Charles II. When King Charles II died, his brother became King James II. However, the threat of an autocratic and Catholic King seemed too much to the Protestant English parliament, which encouraged his remarkably bloodless deposition in the Glorious Revolution and brought his nephew (and son-in-law) to the throne as King William III, reigning as co-monarch with his wife and cousin Queen Mary II.
Then, 100 years later, France had her iconic French Revolution, which soon escalated and resulted in the execution of King Louis XVI and the installation of a republic. Despite having apparently noble foundations, of "liberty, equality and fraternity", the republic proved anarchic and provoked war with the Great Powers of Europe. Shifting power in France led to a brief peace while Napoleon Bonaparte, a Corsican general, rose through the political ranks and ultimately made himself Emperor of the French. Emperor Napoleon managed to bring much of Europe into his sphere of influence, through annexation to the First French Empire, indirectly through the installation of family members or other allies as new heads of state of numerous European states, or concluding alliances and peace treaties with existing leaders. However, over the following years, relentless British opposition, coupled with growing unrest and resentment towards French dominance in Continental Europe, led to Napoleon's deposition and defeat, and replacement with King Louis XVIII- brother of the late King Louis XVI. While King Louis XVIII had (albeit begrudgingly) been accommodating of liberal concessions, his more conservative brother and successor, King Charles X, was much less so, culminating in the 1830 revolution that led to his abdication in favour of his liberal cousin, the new King Louis Philippe of the French.
The difference is that, whilst constitutional monarchy would be strengthened over the decades in England, and ultimately Great Britain, in France King Louis Philippe was deposed by a further revolution, and soon replaced by the more authoritarian Emperor Napoleon III. When he was forced to abdicate due to a humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, it seemed likely Napoleon III would be succeeded by a King Henri V- grandson of King Charles X. However, Henri's relentless opposition to the Tricolour flag remaining the national flag (an indication of his unwillingness to embrace modernity in France) led to the temporary Third Republic which, aside from some amendments, endures in France to this day.
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