House of Fayette, Roi et Empereur

Part I: Society of 1789

  • May 12, 1790: Marquis de Lafayette joins with Jean-Sylvain Bailly, Mayor of Paris, to form the Society of 1789. The group's charter includes several articles seeking to oppose the influence of the Jacobin Club. A policy on Danton and Marat's Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen are slow to form. The next day, the Society's leadership ranks are grown with the induction of Donatien Alphonse François de Sade. By the end of the year, membership has already founded committees in almost every Departement of France.
  • June 19, 1790: All aristocratic, hereditary titles are abolished in France. While de Sade had already taken to calling himself Citizen Sade, Lafayette readily took to his new (lack of) position.
  • August 18, 1790: Royalists and emigres gathered at Jales in southern France form the first counter-revolutionary assembly.
  • September 3, 1790: Chief Minister Jacques Necker steps down as financial minister to the King. Offers by Lafayette to join the Society of 1789 are rebuffed.

OoC: This timeline is probably going to take me a long time to complete. Mostly because I'll be stitching the story together as I go. I will post a new part once a week for now, but if anyone has comments / criticisms / suggestions (which are very welcome) I can respond. Thank you for reading this ATL.
 
1791​

  • February 28: Following attempts both on his own life as well as that of King Louis XVI, de la Fayette leads the arrest of hundreds of aristocrats at the Tuileries Palace. While most view this as a break between the Marquis and royalists, the Day of the Poignards will come to be used by the Society as a way to keep agents among the Royalist movement.
  • March 2: Attempts to abolish trade guilds cause much debate in the Society, with some fearing that this is a power play by the Jacobins.
  • May 15: With the raising of afro-French (OoC: bad placeholder name, I ask others what the proper terminology would be) to equal status as citizens of France, de Sade begins planning to expand Society operations to the colonies.
  • June 14: Against de la Fayette's advice, a majority vote of the Society uses the succesfull abolition of trade guilds to infiltrate into the middle classes. A secret decree of the Society seeks to divert future union and artisan strikes, instead offering them representation in future governments.
  • July 17: In what would prove to be the first sectarian conflict between Jacobins and the Society, forces under Danton and de la Fayette clash at the Champs de Mars. Moderating political forces later obscure the true origins of the "Massacre".
  • August 14: With the beginning of a slave uprising in the colony of Saint Domingue, de la Fayette and de Sade argue over the former's plan to seek abolition directly.
  • September 27: Despite the rise of afro-French to the citizenship, the existence of slavery in the colonies continues and remains a major subject of debate.
  • September 28: Slavery is succesfully abolished within France, but not in the colonies. With or without support from the society, de la Fayette begins sending secret aid to slave rebels abroad.
  • October 1: Seeking to maintain Society influence in the French government, de Sade forms a party in the new Legislative Assembly. The Society preferred de la Fayette, but the Marquis is still suffering from the Champs de Mars Affair.
  • November 9: The Legislative Assembly orders all emigres to return home to France, offering severe punishments for those who refuse. The Society quietly advises King Louis XVI to veto.
 
May 15: With the raising of afro-French (OoC: bad placeholder name, I ask others what the proper terminology would be)​

back in those days, Africans were called "nègre" which while at the time had a neutral sense is nowadays considered pretty racist.​
Unless it's supposed to be a term used in-story, afro-French is as good as any.​
 
1792, or the (Guillotine) Slice of Life Episode​

  • April 20: As France declares war upon Austria, de la Fayette decides to take to the field for France.
  • June: General de la Fayette, writing from his army headquarters in Metz, suggests that the best way for the radical clubs in Paris to regain the initiative against Austria would be to find a compromise with moderate aristocrats not implicitly siding with the Bourbons. (OOoC: Though admittedly small, this PoD from reality, where Fayette calls for cracking down on the radical clubs, will pay dividends down the road)
  • June 28: General de la Fayette writes to Queen Marie Antoinette, suggesting that a compromise could be reached if the King agrees to distance himself from the royalist opponents of the Republic.
  • July 30: Upon news of the Austro-Prussian invasion of France, de Sade decides to reorganize the Society factions at the Departement level. Seventy (or as close as can be mustered) loyalists of the Society are gathered in each Department and called on to form a Committee of Correspondance (OoC: intentional choice of title :D). One member would be chosen by the National Committee to administer the local needs of the Society, empowered to select four senior officers. A Secretary would be tasked with keeping the important Society records, an Exchequer would be responsable for the Committees budget, a Chamberlain who would act as Chairman of six junior officers elected by the membership, and a Sergeant at Arms would hold votes of the members. The rank and file members, up to 59 of them, would be delegated the task of selecting six Junior Officers...a Senior and Junior Inspector to supervise the Committee's security against non-members, a Senior and Junior Steward to coordinate the correspondance and encryption duties, and a Senior and Junior Usher to select actual correspondance riders. The membership would sometimes be called upon to deliver information to fellow committees and the national leadership. (OoC: My biggest contribution to the PoD. Thought it might be fun to play this idea out)
  • August 1: When the Brunswick Manifesto reaches Paris, de Sade quickly and quietly moves to distance the Society from overt ties to the royalists.
  • August 10: King Louis XVI taken prisoner at the Tuileries Palace. Taking unilateral action as the chief political agent of the Society, and sensing the rise of the Jacobins, de Sade begins meeting with certain Jacobin leaders to coordinate actions.
  • August 22: When royalist revolts break out in the Vendee, Brittany, and elsewhere, local Committees of Correspondance are able to provide the National Committee with accurate information on the royalist cause.
  • September 20: General de la Fayette joined his army to that of General Kellermann in the Battle of Valmy.
  • September 21: With the establishment of the National Convention, General de la Fayette is called back to Paris by the new national government. In Paris, despite de Sade's advice, the Society votes to side with the bourgeois against the pro-Proletariat Jacobins. He wins a concession in that the Society will work closely with the Girondins.
  • December 3: King Louis XVI is called before the National Convention, where Robespierre argues for his death. As part of a secret agreement between de Sade and the Jacobins, the Society chooses not to interfere in exchange for no harm coming to de la Fayette.
  • December 11: Stripped of his army command, de la Fayette takes a seat in the new National Convention as a member of a Society front party.
 
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Probably not directly related, but considering the propensity of royalty and nobility to intermarry...then who knows? If nothing else, a well-paid scholar could whip up something sufficiently credable.

EDIT: But the Direct line of Capteians thing is not the direction I'm taking this timeline.
 
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1793, or Next Year in Paris​

  • January 21: Despite being advised to the contrary, de Sade makes sure to attend the execution of King Louis XVI incognito.
  • February 1: Mistrustful of the revolutionary government, Fayette once again leaves for the front to lead French troops for the Republic.
  • March 11: With the formation of the Revolutionary Tribunals, de Sade manuevers Society allies into as many juries as possible.
  • March 16: The Society responds with confusion to the news of uprisings in the Vendee. While the Fayette faction may sympathize with the Royalists, de Sade ultimately leads the vote that keeps aid from the Vendee.
  • April 6: Formation of the Committee of Public Safety is seen by the Society as a chance to directly influence the revolution. Marquis de Sade seeks to join the Committee, but will eventually be rejected by Robespierre.
  • May 24: The Girondins establishment of a Commission of Twelve, dedicated to rooting out extremists within the revolution, is welcomed by de Sade as a check on Jacobin power.
  • June 2: The Society's Girondist allies are expelled from the National Convention, leading de Sade to publicly denounce the Girond while privately offering members sanctuary in Society safehouses. With the chance of compromise gone along with the Girondin, the Society chooses to continue their policy of loyal opposition. Many Girondins escape the initial arrests, allowing for the possibility of continued coordination between the two groups...albeit on a different footing.
  • July 13: The first shot in a Society-Jacobin shadow conflict begins when Society agents begin aiding Girondin actions against the Jacobin. The first "shot" is fired by Charlotte Corday, using Society contacts to get close to Jacobin ally Jean-Paul Marat. While having given Society approval for the assassination, de Sade chooses to then offer a eulogy to the fallen revolutionary. Meanwhile, the Society provides intelligence to Girondists across France.
  • July 23: The French surrender at Mainz is used by the Jacobin Club as an attempt to discredit de la Fayette, who has been using his command of reolutionary troops to increase his support among the Garde Nationale. While failing in that, leading Jacobins succeed in placing Fayette's wife Adrienne under house arrest to ensure Fayette won't act against the National Convention. (OoC: while de la Fayette's wife is placed under house arrest in 1792 OTL, I felt it was just as likely for it to happen at any time during this ATL)
  • September 5: The Society celebrates a major success as le Terreur is implemented. While secretly supplying Girondist efforts, Society allies in the Revolutionary Tribunal present the veneer of communion with the revolution.
  • October 14: With a great number of Girondists falling the the Terror, de Sade decides to offer the remaining membership a part in the Society if they agree to flee to rural Departements. many grudgingly agree.
  • October 23: The new Republican Calendar is adopted across France. Also on this day, the Society votes to decentralize their Committees even further, using increased membership from absorbing the Girondin. Referred to as Canton Committees, these smaller groups are specifically formed to take much of the burden of less important communiques from the Departement Committes. Another major goal of the Canton Committees would to be the monitoring of the Committees of Surveillance established by the revolutionary government to account for supposed enemies of the nation.
  • December 4: With the passage of the Law of 14th Frimaire, the Society loses influence in the supressed revolutionary tribunals.
  • December 5: While nominally allied with the CPS, de Sade's penchant for being critical of Robespierre causes him to be arrested and jailed. Members of de Sade's faction would from now on have a much diminished influence in the Society, mainly using membership to fund and distribute the journal Le Vieux Cordelier in support of Desmoulins and Danton. This last manuever is meant to keep the Society relevant by hitching its wagon to the Dantonist star. The arrest of de Sade then leads the Society to fall back upon de la Fayette as a natural leader. Concerned about the continuance of the Reign of Terror, Fayette uses the Committee network to work with other leaders of the Society.
 
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