Thread by @lafayettepod

Last time, we left Louis XVI in the hands of the revolutionaries. They still want to establish a constitutional monarchy. But events and decisions will change that over the next few years, as we will see. And it’ll cost the king his throne and life. #thread #history #revolution

For many people in France, one big problem still loomed over: hunger. People were starving and some revolutionaries took advantage of it, making sure that the king and the nobility were the target of the anger caused by the famine. On October 5th 1789, a riot of women arrives…

…at Versailles to demand bread for them and their families. They march on the palace and Louis XVI doesn't have a choice but to follow the mob back to the Tuileries palace in Paris. The king won't ever go back to Versailles. The last hope of saving absolutism just vanished.

The siege of government is now back in Paris and the king is under the control of the Assembly.
The next year will be spent making liberal reforms and abolishing old privileges. France had many laws and traditions, some established since the Merovingian period in the VIth…

…century, a really atrocious patchwork and a legal mayhem. Most of it went the way of the dodo with the Révolution, although it won't be replaced by a rational code of laws until the Code Civil of 1804. At the same time, there is a very strong anti-revolutionary movement all…

…over the country, led by nobles and clergymen, with the help of foreigners fearing what France is going through could happen to them too!
After the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, which is then the Fête de la Fédération nationale, as the country is…

…divided in federations to represent local communes and provinces, the movement itself is at a crossroad. As I said, privileges were a big no-no for them, and the Clergy had many. So, the Assembly decides to propose a "Civil Constitution of the Clergy", to suppress these…

…privileges. Louis XVI has no choice but to sanction it in December 1790, but he's not acting in good faith, he's trying to stall things.
Louis XVI is actually entertaining the idea of forming an anti-revolutionary coalition with foreign leaders and expatriated Frenchmen.

He pretends to work with the Assembly but it's all in bad faith. He's trying to save his position and his privileges. Again, Louis proves that he doesn't really understand the movement he's facing. There is no going back to absolutism, France is past that now.

To be fair, Louis received terrible advice from his advisors and from his wife Marie-Antoinette, regarding this whole issue. All pressing him to fight for his throne and power. He was just too weak to make up his own mind. It will eventually cost him and his wife's their lives.

On June 20th 1791, Louis decides to make a move. He wants to meet people loyal to him at the eastern border. He flees during the night, along with his family. But he's recognized on the road and arrested at Varennes. That's why the event is known as the "Flight to Varennes".

Though the king was not heading for Varennes, he was just passing trough. He's brought back to Paris on June 25th. The Parisian people, who cheered for the king a year prior when he came to meet Bailly, now booed him. This procession is called l"The monarchy's hearse".

The Parisians trusted the king to do the right thing, and instead he fled. They felt betrayed. The idea of a working Constitutional Monarchy seemed less and less realistic.
Factions have emerged in the Assembly during the past year or so, The most famous are the Jacobins.

These are the extremists, in favour of a Republic and against the king. Its most famous members are Mirabeau, Barnave, Brissot and Robespierre. These will eventually divide themselves between the Montagnards, more left-wing, and the Girondins, more conservative.

Eventually you'll also end up with groups like La Plaine, which held a more moderate view. Revolutionaries agree that the current power should go, but they don't agree as to what should replace it! Then, the Constituent Assembly adopts its 1st Constitution on September 3rd 1791.

The king swears his oath to uphold it on September 14th. He even has the right to veto propositions of laws he doesn't like. The Assembly becomes the Legislative Assembly. The basis of this constitution is the separation of powers, and census suffrage, which means that you'd…

…have to be a homeowner to be allowed to vote. I should also mention that this whole business of giving more power to the people was also heard in French colonies, especially in Haiti. The local population revolted against the French and eventually earned their independence…

…after years of struggle, in 1804. It is the only slave uprising that gave birth to an independent state.

Back in France, Louis XVI has to play the game and faces a growing opposition. His image is in tatters, and he knows it. The Legislative assembly wants to pass two laws:…

…one on the émigrés and one on the clergy. The first would force any Frenchmen who fled abroad to come back by 1792, or to see all their possession seized. The 2nd would force the members of the clergy to make a civic oath within eight days, or they would be considered suspect.

Louis vetoes both laws and provokes the ire of the assembly.
Louis is playing for time. The Revolutionary government entertains very bad relations with the foreign powers, the king knows this. On April 20th, France declares war on Austria. The latter is soon joined by its ally…

…Prussia, to fight their now common enemy. Many European powers will join this war, known as the War of the First Coalition, trying to undo the revolution. But the French revolutionary armies will eventually triumph, even though the first months are catastrophic for the French.

Louis was expecting the coalition to invade France and to restore the Old Régime. This didn't happen, at least not until 1814, but that's another regime and another story. It is during this war that Rouget de Lisle, a French officer and poet, wrote the Marseillaise…

…a patriotic hymn for the Rhine army. It will eventually become the French national anthem in 1795 and is still so today. It is a revolutionary song, and quite a violent one. Have a look at the lyrics in your spare time, they're quite something!
During the following months…

…of 1792, the power struggle between Louis XVI and the Assembly keeps going. The king actually wants his country to lose the war, while the government wants to win it and, at the same time, to eradicate inside anti-revolutionary agents. On June 20th, a manifestation transforms…

…into a riot and the mob storms the Tuileries palace, killing the royal guards. Louis XVI holds firm and is spared, but not for much longer.
He doesn't know it yet, but the upcoming events will lead to his trial and death. The Parisian people keep protesting and rioting…

against the king and his family, perceived as traitors and dictators. This is known as the Commune de Paris. The Assembly fears that this could spiral out of control so, to calm things down, they imprison the king and his family on August 10th. He's also suspended and cannot…

…interfere with the government anymore. The Commune has put the last nail in the monarchy's coffin, Louis XVI won't ever exercise any power. On September 21st, the National Convention abolishes the Monarchy and the next day, it proclaims the French Republic. It also adopts…

… a new calendar, based on the birth of the Republic. So this was year one in the new Republican calendars, with a 10-base month and week system. It had very beautiful names for the months, like Vendémiaire, Floréal or Thermidor, but just wasn't that practical. It will…

eventually be abolished by Napoléon in 1805. Other major changes, like the metric system for example, will endure to this day however. One question remains: what to do with the king? A trial is quickly organized. The king has a very bad start when a metal cabinet containing…

…many of his anti-revolutionary letters is discovered. The Convention will try the king itself, contradicting its own principle of powers separations. The trial starts in December and ends in January 1793. Louis XVI, now known as Louis Capet, is found guilty of high treason.

He's guillotined on January 21st 1793. His wife, Marie-Antoinette, will be tried in October 1793 and executed after only two days of trial. This frightens Europe. France, the oldest, strongest monarchy, just had its king deposed and executed!

It convinces many countries to join the war against France. Not so much to restore the monarchy, but because they feel the touch of steel on their own necks. If it happened to the Capetians, who had been in power for over 800 years, it could happen to any of them.

What are your thoughts on this phase of the Revolution? Establishing the Republic, executing the king. Necessary steps to move past the Old Regime, or revolutionary zealotry? Please share in the comments below! And please subscribe and listen! lafayettepodcast.com/1969630/119344…

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