Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité: A French Revolution TL
So this is my first real, honest to God, cross my heart hope to die stick a needle in my eye attempt to create an honest to God, cross my heart hope to die stick a needle in my eye actual AH TL.
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Part Un: The French Civil War: Part 1
June 1789 was an exiting time to be a Frenchman, the King had called the Estates General for the first time in years and the Third Estate had declared itself the National Assembly. After being locked out of the convention hall by the King the National Assembly went to the nearby Tennis Court and swore to write a constitution for France. Soon the Rights of Man were declared and the new constitution was placed open the King's desk in 1791. Some people say that King Louis was ready to reluctantly accept the limitations on his power, but was persuaded otherwise by his wife. Others say he was opposed from the beginning. Either way he refused to accept the document, then he went even further to say that he would not accept anything less then absolute veto power over the National Assembly.
Louis XVI of France
This of course was unacceptable to the National Assembly who responded by declaring that the power if the monarchy would be subject to the will of the people. The National Assembly and the King traded jibes at one another for the next 6 months. Meanwhile life wasn't getting much better for the common man, and the governments inactivity caused it to be unable to respond to a growing slave revolt in Haiti. In Paris a growing number of revolutionaries began to join radical political clubs calling for the destruction of the monarchy. These clubs included the Jeffersonians, named after American founding father Thomas Jefferson who like them supported an agricultural based economy. The Amarians named after founder Jean-Pierre-André Amar, were republicans who favored a banking and industrial economy. Finally the most disturbing of the largest clubs, The Praetorians, radicals who idealized Rome and saw the revolution as the next Roman resurgence. What appealed to many about them was that they were a concrete unit. Leading members of the Praetorians, such as Jacques-Louis David had already written their own Constitution and often marched through Paris taking it up everywhere. The cornerstone of their plan was a Triumvirate made up of a directly elected President, a Prime Minister elected by the National Assembly and a Consul elected by the "Governors" of the Provinces. This leads to another major point of the Praetorians, that the people of the Provinces should elect their own Provincial Assemblies and Governors, who would govern local affairs. The Provinces-National Government relationship would be heavily based of of the US. These views of course mortified Royalists and Moderate Republicans. However the Praetorians still were unable to get into "legitimate" government.
Jacques-Louis David
As they had been steadily gaining power in Paris the National Assembly and the King began to slowly began to attempt to negotiate an acceptable compromise. They agreed to meet in the old convention hall where the Estates General had met before and attempt to write a new constitution for France. Initially it went well, with the King agreeing that his veto power could be overruled with a minimum of a 2/3 majority in the new constitution. In return the National Assembly agreed to give the King most of the power in foreign affairs. However the negations began to fall through when the National Assembly asked for higher taxes on the nobles and the Clergy. King Louis responded with a forceful no. The First Estate then demanded that the Church, have representation in the new government, with Church leaders electing some of their own into seats. Despite an attempt to form an upper house to house the nobles and the clergy the 1st & 2nd Estates refused to have even one house of the assembly that was dominated by the 3rd Estate. Things went downhill from there as each side made increasingly high demands. As the debates raged on a guard named Jaques noticed
"The Republicans and the Constitutional Monarchists sat in the highest seats of the Hall, reversing the old order of the rich above the commoners, whereas the Nobles and Clergy sat below closer to their King" this account led to the modern terms of "Down" and "Up". Soon the King and his supporters had had enough of the partisan deadlock. After one Republican insulted Louis by asking why he had married an Austrian and not a Frenchwomen the King ordered that the National Assembly leave Versailles. The National Assembly promptly took the kings carriages and fled to Paris. They took up residence in the Louvre and declared that the monarchy was suspended unto further notice. When King Louis heard this he was understandably outraged and formed his cabal of Royalists, Clergy and Nobles into the Royal Assembly, which he claimed was the real legislature of France. The National Assembly responded by issuing La Charte des Plaintes (The Charter of Conplaints) a scathing review of the monarchy's misdeeds. All across France clashes erupted between Royalists and Republicans. Louis began raising an Army to retake Paris from the assembly. Or rather he was convinced to by his wife and advisors, Louis would always be wary of attacking fellow Frenchmen. Only his advisors staunch position that the rebals had to be crushed before they spread convinced him to reluctanly make an army. Marquis de Lafayette, the famous head of the French forces in the American Revolution organized a militia of Parisians and defected Royal Soldiers to march to Versailles and convince or force the Kings Army to disband.
L'armée de la République Française
Lafayette was a supporter of a constitutional monarchy, but the King raising an army to disband an assembly he'd originally summoned and appeared to represent the people was going too far. He hoped that showing the King how much support the National Assembly had would convince the King to bend to the Assembly's will. However "L'armée de la République Française" failed to note that the "Armée Royale" was marching to Paris as they matched to Versailles. On April 16 1792 the two armies met on Avenue St. Cloud around half way between the heart of Paris and the palace of Versailles. The Republicans initially held the advantage due to their superior numbers but soon the Royals better training and weaponry turned the tide. After just a half hour of fighting the Armée Royale had routed the Republicans. Dispute Louis's orders to be as restrained as possible over 60 Republicans were killed. Lafayette was captured and would die in prison. The King prepared for a triumphal entry into Paris. After all the surviving soldiers of L'armée de la République had scattered. Who would oppose him?
Sound of Boots stomping. Men yelling
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What do you think?