Should the French Revolution be viewed as the origin of democracy or the origin of totalitarianism?

Answered on Quora.

It is not the origin of democracy. That line in the West goes back as far as the Athenians, through the Romans, the Magna Carta and the English Quiet Revolution. All of which precedes the French Revolution. Nor does it signify the origin of totalitarianism whose earliest versions go back to the Kingdoms of the Ancient World. What it does represent (if you only look at its negative side)  is the earliest version of the Totalitarian Ideological State whose modern incarnations in the 20th century were responsible for a great deal of horror in contemporary times.