Les Courageux - A Les Miserables story

“By sealing our work with our blood, we may see at least the bright dawn of universal happiness”

- Maximilien Robespierre



Hindsight is 20/20 as the saying goes, but in this modern day and age it is easy to assume those things that did take place, were always destined to. So is the case with the Revolution of the Glorious June, otherwise known as The Rise of the Barricades. This event which is the very foundation of our modern world is often overlooked now. However we can never forget the great sacrifice, and the great strength of will that those young men gave to secure our future.

The year is 1832, just two years previously the July Revolution had deposed the Bourbon monarchy for a second time, and filled the throne with Louis-Philippe d'Orléans. Yet it had already proven a mistake. Under his rule, France was yet again in the grip of hardship and despair. Discontent was growing across the nation, yet it seemed as if all were content to let France flounder in these tumultuous seas. All that is, except for the friends of the ABC. Then considered little more than a ragtag rabble of students and revolutionaries no different to the hundred others that formed in the previous years, this group of young men would go on to become the bedrock of the greatest revolution in the history of mankind.

Their moment of greatest fame came on June 5th of that fateful year. At the funeral procession of General Lamarque, they had gathered. As the generals hearse passed through the crowd, a song began to echo among the people. For any citizen of France this song is immediately recognizable as our very own national anthem of “A la Volonte du peuple”, yet in those heady days it was a rallying call, a song of dissent and revolt against a corrupt system, it rang loud among the masses, and it would be the spark to the powder keg. As the volume of the singing rose to fever pitch, a shot rang out as one of the generals Dragoon escorts fired into the air to break up the gathering crowd. In an instant the assembled crowd, both revolutionary and common man alike, set upon the hearse and its escort. Wrestling the dragoon’s guns away from them the ABC revolutionaries rallied at the Rue de Rambuteau, and with furniture and crates taken from nearby stores and residences, they erected their barricade. Yet though this was just one of the dozens scattered around Paris, it would be here that history would be made.
 
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"This is a bad time to pronounce the word 'love.' No matter, I pronounce it, and I glorify it. Love, yours is the future. Death, I use you, but I hate you. Citizens, in the future there shall be neither darkness nor thunderbolts, neither ferocious ignorance nor blood for blood. As Satan shall be no more, so Michael shall be no more. In the future no man will slay his fellow, the earth will be radiant, the human race will love. It will come, citizens, that day when all shall be concord, harmony, light, joy, and life; it will come, and it is so that it may come that we must fight!"

- Enjolras Robiquet


As word reached the barracks of the national guard and the halls of the Tuileries Palace, the word that revolution was come to their doorstep, the whole of the old regime trembled. Within an hour of the barricades rise, thousands of troops had marshaled across the city. Yet they underestimated the wrath of Paris. As the King's men marched through those streets not blocked by barricades, they were constantly assaulted. Stones, bricks, pans, and refuse, even the occasional rifle shot came from the windows above them. Already they were unnerved when they reached the barricades, and as they marched towards each of the barricades there was silence. Then, as if all had been given word by god in a single moment, Paris erupted in the flame and thunder of musketry. Each of the barricades was now alive with those revolutionaries that had taken to the streets that morning, and each of the barricades was like the mouth of a dragon, consuming all the souls that were thrown against them. For two ours the first fighting lasted, when it was done hundreds of guardsmen and dozens of revolutionaries lay dead.


Sadly, among the fallen was Godefroi Cavignac, one of the great champions of the republican cause. Yet the day was not over, at roughly 3:30 that afternoon, guardsmen brought cannons up and obliterated the barricade on the Rue du Jardinet, yet as soon as they advanced they were massacred by men and women firing down from the buildings above. This scene was repeated across Paris. The guard would destroy a barricade, then be repulsed, and each time the guard retreated, they ceded more ground to the revolutionaries. Yet this was all according to the plan of the commander of the Guards, General Georges Mouton.

Mouton had let the revolutionaries extend their line of control and spread their lines thin, intending to break through a single barricade with overwhelming force. From here he intended to strike the revolutionaries from the rear and destroy them. The single barricade he had left standing was that manned by The Friends of the ABC, and Mouton would have it fall.

By 6:00 on the morning of the 6th, the Friends, led by Enjolras Robiquet, were in poor spirits. Having received piecemeal information, they knew that most of the barricades had fallen, but not of the advance. So when Moutons forces assembled in front of the barricade, most of its defenders were despondent. Yet their stalwart leader Enjolras refused to go quietly. With his mighty voice (the very thing that would propel him to greatness in the years to come) he stirred his people to a great rancor, and they prepared to die well.

However, the barricade built by the ABC was of such size and strength, that the guards cannons could not overwhelm it. This forced the guard forward in an attempt to take the barricade. Woe to they that enter the dragons cave. When the Guard offered surrender to those on the barricade, Enjolras is said to have answered, "We will not abandon our cause, the Republic lives in all the citizens of France, and they shall rise up to defend it! So do your worst oh servants of a Tyrant, we will not yield!" And so the guard marched forth.

As the guard advanced they came under withering fire. Dozens fell before the first troops reached the barricade, and dozens more fell to the swords, knives, and bayonets of the barricades teeth. Yet the odds were too great, those stalewart defenders of the barricade began to fall, but before they could be overwhelmed, it seemed as if Enjolras had spoken prophecy. Out of every building and house around the barricade, those who had not yet taken up arms sprung forth with great fury and set themselves upon the guardsmen. Within half an hour of fighting, the soldiers where destroyed, with the commotion over, a messenger from other revolutionaries made his way to Enjolras with news of the victories across the city. That great patriot is said to have turned to all those assembled and said, "Brothers and Sisters, the Republic is not finished with your service yet, We march on the Tuileries!" With that, the ABC marched to join with the rest of the revolution and liberate France.
 
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