An early aim of the revolutionaries was to turn King Louis into a British-style constitutional monarch with powers which he was required to share with the parlements, the lawcourts.
A Royal Rescue Plan
On July 14, 1790, terrified at the extreme violence that had already marked the Revolution, Louis approved a new constitution which included moves to democratize the monarchy. However the chance that the monarchy was going to survive in any form was about to vanish. For, on August 27, 1791, a group of foreign monarchs, led by the Emperor Leopold II of Austria and King William II of Prussia, began preparing to restore Louis to full royal autocratic authority.
This was not an entirely altruistic move. Other European rulers were feeling very insecure at the possibility that the Revolution might give their own subjects inappropriate ideas about claiming their rights.
The rescue plan was, at first, seen as diplomatic maneuvering rather than a serious call to arms. It seemed more likely that It was designed to pressurize the Revolutionary Assembly in France and raise King Louis’ hopes of rescue.
The Political Clubs in Paris
This, though, was a dangerous game to play. In France during 1791, three political clubs were planning the future of the French government and two of them, the Jacobins and the Cordelliers, were in favour of a republic.
The third, the Feuillants, led by the Marquis de Lafayette, opted for the new limited monarchy, but when a new Legislative Assembly was formed on October 1, 1791, they were isolated and outnumbered by the republicans.
At this juncture, interference by Prussia and Austria on behalf of King Louis and his family began to look much more serious. The Legislative Assembly received a stern warning that any move against the French royal family would be regarded as the signal for war.
The Revolutionaries Declare War
The Assembly’s response to this threat was to declare war on Austria. On April 20, 1792. fighting began along the frontier with Flanders. The French were quickly outclassed by the Austrians, who brushed them aside during skirmishes around the town of Lille in northern France.
There was a pause in the hostilities as a large army, comprising more than 152,000 men, assembled at Coblenz under the leadership of Karl Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick. On August 19, 1792, Brunswick invaded France and headed for Paris through the Argonne Forest.
A Mob in the Royal Palace
The attempt to rescue the French royal family was now putting them in even greater danger than before. On August 10, 1792, a mob had broken into the Tuilleries palace in Paris and personally threatened the King. They forced him to don the red Phrygian cap, a symbol of the Revolution, and drink a toast to their health and that of the French nation. Thoroughly frightened, the royals looked to the Assembly to protect them, but they were asking in the wrong place.
The republican majority in the Assembly, which re-formed as the National Convention, and held its first meeting on September 21, 1792 had placed the abolition of the monarchy at the top of its agenda.
There were scenes of great excitement which drowned out doubts about the legality of this move: much more acclaimed was a rabble-rousing statement from one delegate who demanded the destruction of “this magic talisman ....Kings” he said “ are morally what monsters are physically.”
Louis Accused of Treason
The decree abolishing the monarchy in France was passed unanimously and next day, September 22, the establishment of the republic was announced. King Louis, now called plain Louis Capet, was put on trial, accused of treason.
The indictment began: “Louis, the French people accuses you of having committed a multitude of crimes in order to establish your tyranny by destroying its liberty.”
The Execution of Louis Capet
The guilty verdict was, of course, inevitable and four months later, on January 21, 1793, Louis was escorted by a guard of 1,200 horsemen to his place of execution. The ex-King behaved with exemplary dignity, undressing himself to prepare for the guillotine and refusing to have his hands bound.
“No!” Louis declared. “I shall never consent to that: do what you have been ordered, but you shall never bind me ...I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge” he continued on arriving at the scaffold, and concluded: “I pardon those who have occasioned my death.”
The former Queen, Marie-Antoinette, went to the guillotine nine months later, on October 16, 1793. Meanwhile, on the day of his father’s death, the eight-year old son of Louis and Marie-Antoinette became King Louis XVII. Some two years after that, on June 8, 1795, shut away in the Temple in Paris, the boy-king died, ostensibly of tuberculosis, but more likely, as rumour had it, of poison.
Author Sunil S.
A Royal Rescue Plan
On July 14, 1790, terrified at the extreme violence that had already marked the Revolution, Louis approved a new constitution which included moves to democratize the monarchy. However the chance that the monarchy was going to survive in any form was about to vanish. For, on August 27, 1791, a group of foreign monarchs, led by the Emperor Leopold II of Austria and King William II of Prussia, began preparing to restore Louis to full royal autocratic authority.
This was not an entirely altruistic move. Other European rulers were feeling very insecure at the possibility that the Revolution might give their own subjects inappropriate ideas about claiming their rights.
The rescue plan was, at first, seen as diplomatic maneuvering rather than a serious call to arms. It seemed more likely that It was designed to pressurize the Revolutionary Assembly in France and raise King Louis’ hopes of rescue.
The Political Clubs in Paris
This, though, was a dangerous game to play. In France during 1791, three political clubs were planning the future of the French government and two of them, the Jacobins and the Cordelliers, were in favour of a republic.
The third, the Feuillants, led by the Marquis de Lafayette, opted for the new limited monarchy, but when a new Legislative Assembly was formed on October 1, 1791, they were isolated and outnumbered by the republicans.
At this juncture, interference by Prussia and Austria on behalf of King Louis and his family began to look much more serious. The Legislative Assembly received a stern warning that any move against the French royal family would be regarded as the signal for war.
The Revolutionaries Declare War
The Assembly’s response to this threat was to declare war on Austria. On April 20, 1792. fighting began along the frontier with Flanders. The French were quickly outclassed by the Austrians, who brushed them aside during skirmishes around the town of Lille in northern France.
There was a pause in the hostilities as a large army, comprising more than 152,000 men, assembled at Coblenz under the leadership of Karl Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick. On August 19, 1792, Brunswick invaded France and headed for Paris through the Argonne Forest.
A Mob in the Royal Palace
The attempt to rescue the French royal family was now putting them in even greater danger than before. On August 10, 1792, a mob had broken into the Tuilleries palace in Paris and personally threatened the King. They forced him to don the red Phrygian cap, a symbol of the Revolution, and drink a toast to their health and that of the French nation. Thoroughly frightened, the royals looked to the Assembly to protect them, but they were asking in the wrong place.
The republican majority in the Assembly, which re-formed as the National Convention, and held its first meeting on September 21, 1792 had placed the abolition of the monarchy at the top of its agenda.
There were scenes of great excitement which drowned out doubts about the legality of this move: much more acclaimed was a rabble-rousing statement from one delegate who demanded the destruction of “this magic talisman ....Kings” he said “ are morally what monsters are physically.”
Louis Accused of Treason
The decree abolishing the monarchy in France was passed unanimously and next day, September 22, the establishment of the republic was announced. King Louis, now called plain Louis Capet, was put on trial, accused of treason.
The indictment began: “Louis, the French people accuses you of having committed a multitude of crimes in order to establish your tyranny by destroying its liberty.”
The Execution of Louis Capet
The guilty verdict was, of course, inevitable and four months later, on January 21, 1793, Louis was escorted by a guard of 1,200 horsemen to his place of execution. The ex-King behaved with exemplary dignity, undressing himself to prepare for the guillotine and refusing to have his hands bound.
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“No!” Louis declared. “I shall never consent to that: do what you have been ordered, but you shall never bind me ...I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge” he continued on arriving at the scaffold, and concluded: “I pardon those who have occasioned my death.”
The former Queen, Marie-Antoinette, went to the guillotine nine months later, on October 16, 1793. Meanwhile, on the day of his father’s death, the eight-year old son of Louis and Marie-Antoinette became King Louis XVII. Some two years after that, on June 8, 1795, shut away in the Temple in Paris, the boy-king died, ostensibly of tuberculosis, but more likely, as rumour had it, of poison.
Author Sunil S.
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