Episode 495: The Fall of the King

years in French history. On February the first, seventeen ninety two, the Legislative Assembly, which again remembers replaced the National Assembly, decreed that all French citizens must carry passports to travel within the country. Now this was not mere bureaucracy. It was a decision that was born out of fear. Fear of emmigres, those zornobles fleeing abroad to rally the enemies

of the revolution, fear of royalists plotting insurrection. In fact, one deputy quickly explained the traders who leave France do so not as travelers, but as conspirators, and indeed the fear was to a large extent justified. Just days later, on February the seventh, Austria and Prussia signed a military convention in Berlin. They pledged to defend the monarchy against the French Revolution, although with the proviso that the other

crowned heads of Europe join as well. Knowing this, on February ninth, the Assembly struck back, decreeing that the property of Emigre's nobles and clergy who had fled abroad were now to be confiscated quote for the benefit of the nation end quote. The battle lions were now clearly being drawn, and these laws so division at home. On February the twenty third and bit Dune soldiers clashed with angry crowds demanding grain. The revolution was not just political, but also

just a battle for daily bread. On March seventh, the Prussians named the Duke of Brunswick to command their forces. Charles William Ferdinhand, the Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbolten, was one of the most celebrated German generals of the eighteenth century.

Born into the noble House of Brunswick, he was educated at the University of Geneva before embarking on a military career that quickly earned him distinction in the armies of Frederick the Great of Prussia during the Seven Years War, gained fame for his courage and tactical skill, particularly at the Battle of Krefold in seventeen fifty eight, where he

distinguished himself as a rising commander. Though he later served both Prussia and his own duchy, he cultivated a reputation as an intellectual soldier, admired for his knowledge of classical literature, mathematics, and the art of war. By seventeen eighties, he was recognized across Europe as a model of an Enlightenment prince and professional general. Although, as we're about to see, his

behavior in the war against France would alter that significantly. Still, his reputation was formidable, and Europe trembled at the thought of his armies marching into France. Now. Meanwhile, as the Prussians were assembling their forces, the National Assembly struck a blow against privilege. On April fourth, they granted equal rights to the free people of color back in San Daman.

The decree proclaimed, quote, they are French citizens and entitled to all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution end quote. As we talked about last time, for many planters this was absolutely intolerable. But for many men of color. It was a vindication, though, as we also talked about last time, it did absolutely nothing to staunch the flow of blood

in the Haitian Revolution. The very next day, on April fifth, the Sarbonne Long, a bastion of conservative theology, was permanently closed, another indication that France was trying to move on from the ancien regime, that it was trying to cast off the weight of an old what it saw as medieval

order to move into the modern age. Now, the break truly came on April the twentieth, when the Legislative Assembly declared war on the King of Bohemia Hungary and the Holy Roman Emperor Brisseau, leader of the Vanger, cried out, quach war against kings is the only way to end war with them. Essentially, the crown heads of Europe were clearly throwing in their lot with the hope of saving Louis the sixteenth. Those in the Legislative Assembly were not

willing to tolerate that. And remember, the Legislative Assembly is a lot more radical than the National Assembly had been, because all of those who had been part of the National Assembly during the early moderate days of the revolution had sworn that they could not run for the legislative Assembly. So the new body that was running France, which is both executive and legislative to a large extent, is much more radical, much more inclined to throw in with the

egalitarian elements of the French Revolution. And we'll see exactly what the consequences of that are now. Days later, in Strasburg, Captain Claude Joseph r Go composed to a hymn for the Army of the Rhine, first sung on the twenty fifth of April. It would later become La Marseille. When eyewitness would recall quote, the whole hall trembled with the power of the song, a hymn that seemed to announce a new world. On April the twenty eighth, French armies

marched into the Austrian Netherlands. But the French armies were unprepared. They were badly led and often unwilling to proceed. Rochambeau's campaign quickly faltered and desertion spread. To finance the war, the French government issued three hundred million ausignants on April the thirtieth, which was paper money backed by confiscated church lands. Inflation only crept higher at this announcement, and discontent within

the capitol deepened. The spring brought more humiliation. On May the sixth, the Royal alemand Cavalry regiment deserted over to the Austrians. On May the twelfth, the Saxon and Berchini hussars followed. Suddenly, the revolutions soldiers were simply fleeing directly over to its enemies. In response, on May the twenty seventh, the Legislative Assembly ordered the deportation of priests who had refused the oath to the civil constitution of the clergy.

These refractory priests to remain influential in rural France and were symbols of resistance to revolutionary change, as we often see in revolutions around the world. As the revolutionary armies of France met difficulty, suddenly the impulse was to crack down on dissent at home, but the clash with the king was the bigger issue and kind of inevitable at

this point. On June the eighth, the Assembly decreed a camp of twenty thousand volunteers outside Paris to be mobilized, and on June the eleventh, still operating under the Constitution. Louis the sixteenth vetoed this proposal, along with the deportation of priests from the month earlier. Jean Marie Laurand, Minister of the Interior, protested in a famous letter, calling the king's veto quote a betrayal of the people's will, and he was consequently dismissed from office on June the thirteenth.

But by the twentieth of June, Paris was re literally boiling with anger. Crowds invaded the tou Lories Palace, forcing Louis the sixteenth to don the red liberty cap and drink to the nation's health. Sire. One observer noted the king was compelled to show himself in citizen, if only in costume end quote. The Assembly tried to restore order, banning armed gatherings altogether on June the twenty first, but

the genie was kind of out of the bottle now. Meanwhile, Lafayette, who was now General again of the People's Guard and still a hero of seventeen eighty nine, was doing his best to call order. He denounced the Jacobins, who were becoming increasingly radical in the Assembly. On June the twenty eighth, he called for discipline, order and the defensive constitutional monarchy,

but unfortunately Paris had moved on. Robespierre, who I introduced several episodes ago, denounced him him being Lafayette as it would be dictator, and his effigy was now burned in the streets, which is quite the come uppance for a man who styled himself as the hero of both worlds. By June the thirtieth, Lafayette had fled Paris to rejoin his army, his influence forever broken. And then came a

major thunderclap. On July the eleventh, as enemies on the board advanced, the Assembly declared la patrier and danjerre, the fatherland is in danger. The calls for volunteers rang out, and a new radical patriotism began to spread throughout France. By July, the twenty fifth of the sections of Paris neighborhood assemblies, increasingly dominated by two groups, the Jacobins and courtliers,

were authorized to sit permanently in the Assembly. Now. Meanwhile, it was the news of a foreign announcement that really caused the final division between the king and his people. Some period before the Duke of Brunswick, one of the Austrian generals had declared that if the royal family and so Louis the sixteenth, Marie Antoinette and the rest Paris

would face quote an exemplary and externally memorable revenge. On July the twenty fifth, news spread of that announcement throughout Paris, to the people of the capital of France, a red lake proof that their king was now conspiring with foreign enemies, even though every historical source seems to indicate that Louis the sixteenth had absolutely nothing to do with that pronouncement. On July the thirty of working class citizens, those who

paid no taxes, were admitted to the National Guard. All this was going to do was make the armed forces as radical as Paris was quickly becoming. And again the momentum continued to shift. On August third, forty seven of Paris's forty eight sections demanded that the king be removed from his constitutional position. By August the ninth, dan Ton and his allies had seized the Hotel de Ville, establishing it now as the Revolutionary Paris Commune, which it would

continue to be throughout much of the rest of the revolution. Suddenly, on dawn on August tenth, the National Guard marched on the Tularis Palace. The Swiss guards, who were still protecting the royal family, fought valiantly, but the numbers were overwhelming. By mid afternoon, the palace was stormed. Hundreds of Swiss slaughtered, their bodies strewn across the courtyards. The king and his family quickly fled to the Assembly for protection. The monarchy

was then suspended. Elections were called for a new body, the National Convention. As all this was going on, foreign armies continued to press into France along the borders. On September the second ver Dunn surrendered without resistance. Panic swept throughout Paris. That same day, mob invaded the city's prisons. For nearly a week, between fourteen hundred and two thousand

prisoners were massacred. A witness would later recall quote the gutters ran with blood, the shouted that they were cleansing the city of traders. But then fate turned. In the

summer of seventeen ninety two, the revolution seemed imperiled. In fact, abroad, Austria and Prussia had joined forces to invade France, hoping to crush the revolution and restore Louis the sixteenth full authority, and though the monarchy had fallen, it seemed the Duke of Brunswick, commanding the Prussian led coalition, was going to march steadily into France. His troops were well drilled, professional

and confident. They crossed the frontier in the path to Paris seemed open, but the French armies, once in chaos, began to recover. Now under the leadership of Generals Charles Dumrans and Francois Christophe Kellerman du Morns, an ambitious but skillful commander, lured the Prussians into a deep trap in Champag, stretching their supply lines and mud slowed the invaders, and

dysentery began to plague their camp. Meanwhile, Kellermann concentrated about thirty six thousand French troops near the village of bal Maay, positioned on gently rolling hills dotted with windmills, and there on the morning of September the twentieth, they awaited the advancing Prussians. This was the battle that would change the course of the French Revolution, and the battle itself didn't begin with a furious cavalry charge, as we might have expected,

but with a cannonade. Around nine o'clock, Brunswick's Prussians deployed opposite the French lines. For hours, the two sides traded artillery fire across the misty fields. Gotha, the German writer serving as a volunteer in Brunswick's army, later recalled the uncanny atmosphere as follows. From this place and from this day forth commences a new era in the history of the world. And you can say all were present. The French army, largely composed of raw volunteers mixed with veterans,

held firm under the barrage. When the Prussian infantry began to advance. Kellerman is said to have ridden forward, wounded in the leg, but unshaken. He called out to his men, long live the nation. His soldiers took up the cry, their shouts echoing across the fields, banners of liberty waving in defiance. This display of determination unsettled the Prussians. Their assault faltered, and Brunswick, cautious and aware of his worsening

supply situation, declined to press the attack. By late afternoon, the cannonatees spluttered out. The French had stood their ground, and the Prussians withdrew. Casualties were light Braybe one hundred on both sides, but the psychological impact of the victory for France was enormous. Valmay was no decisive military triumph in the conventional sense of the term, but it was a moral and political victory. For the first time, the revolutionary armies had faced the old monarchies of Europe and

they had not crumbled. And most critically, a volunteer national army had stood up against a disciplined and drilled, professional paid force and held their ground. This was a major change in the history of Europe, and one that was going to portend a lot of innovations in military planning that going to culminate in World War One. Now, news of Elmey race to Paris, where on the same day the National Convention convened and ultimately then declared the abolition

forever of the monarchy. France had now become a republic in Valmat seemed like a divine sign that this new order could survive. Back on the frontier, Brunswick's army, weakened by disease and poor supplies, soon retreated out of France altogether. The revolution was saved, and a new chapter of European warfare was now about to begin, and it didn't take long for France to recognize the advantage they now held. French armies positively surged outward. On September the twenty ninth.

They occupied Nice on October the third, Basel, on October the twenty third, Frankfurt. By November the fourteenth, Brussels was in French hands. The revolution suddenly became militant. On November the nineteenth, the convention to clarity it would aid all people seeking liberty, the decree reading quote wherever people desire to recover freedom, our armies shall carry for ti tnity

and assistance. Then, on November the twentieth, came a devastating discovery, the Armois de Faire, the iron chest hidden in the Tuileries, containing Louis the sixteenth's secret correspondence with emigres and foreign monarchs. It confirmed, as it was open and read, every single Frenchman's suspicion that their king was treasonous. On December the third, Robespierre demanded the king's death, writing Louis must die because

the nation must live. Finally, on December the sixth, Jean Paul Moraut proposed, and the Convention agreed that each deputy must publicly declare his vote on the king's fate. There would be no secrecy, there would be no refuge. As we will see next time. The stage was now set for the final trial of Louis the sixteenth