Napoleons folly

[Flashman]

Could it have been possible for the royalist French to win the revolution? If so how would this effect history?

 

[Bartholome de Fonte]

That's an awfully vague statement, care to clarify as to what year(s) you are referring to? If it's before the Consulate, I don't think it would be that appropriate to call it "Napoleon's folly" as he was still just a military figure, albeit a popular one with the people.

 

[Enigmajones]

How would a Royalist French victory be "Napoleons Folly"? I thought this was about Napoleon keeping Louisiana and buying Alaska.

 

[Flashman]

Well that would have been ASB i think, but i just named it that cause it sounded catchy.
What i am saying is what is the earliest date that the revolution could have been been defeated, with the latest POD possible, and what effects would this have on politics, and future revolutions.

 

[Makemakean]

i just named it that cause it sounded catchy.

Well, granted it is catchy, but it is kind of misleading. Kind of like naming a thread "Hitler's Triumph" and then have the timeline concern a world were WWI ended favorably for the German side.

 

[Flashman]

But napoleon is a character commonly associated with the revolution.

 

[Inquisitor Tolkien]

But napoleon is a character commonly associated with the revolution.

No, that's Robespierre. Napoleon is commonly associated with the Imperial meritocratic pseudo-democratic militant system which emerged AFTER/as a result the Revolution.

 

[Makemakean]

But napoleon is a character commonly associated with the revolution.

On the Eve of the Storming of the Bastille, Napoleon had yet to reach his 20th birthday. Napoleon then spent most of the early years of the French revolution down in Corsica fighting for Corsican independence. He first really enters the scene of the French Revolution as it is commonly though of as when he is forced to flee Corsica in 1793 along with his family, and publishes a Republican pamphlet which is noticed by Augustin Robespierre. By this point, Louis XVI's corpse has already grown cold. There's not really any mistake or folly to be made by Napoleon that would result in the royalists winning. By the time he rises to become a significant character, they royalists have already lost the revolution.

Sure, you could argue that early on in his career, Napoleon can make a mistake that results in an earlier Bourbon Restoration, that I will concede, but it is impossible to establish a causal link between a folly of Napoleon and the victory of the Royalist side in the French Revolution.

 

[Flashman]

Touche. But i was not aware this was to discuss my idiocy on the chosen name. The name is not important. I will change it. But can we PLEASE discuss the actual ideas put forward?

 

[LSCatilina]

Touche. But i was not aware this was to discuss my idiocy on the chosen name. The name is not important. I will change it. But can we PLEASE discuss the actual ideas put forward?

Which ideas? You have just asked if royalists could win the war, without saying how it could happen.

 

[Makemakean]

Touche. But i was not aware this was to discuss my idiocy on the chosen name. The name is not important. I will change it. But can we PLEASE discuss the actual ideas put forward?

You're best shot is Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, and the influence on him by Thomas Jefferson. Lafayette must be able to persuade Louis XIV to reform his nation into a constitutional monarchy per the British model and be content with it, and you need to keep reactionaries and opportunists like von Fersen from encouraging the royal family to flee.

That will not be easy. But it's pretty much the only way I can think of.

I would further like to apologize if I offended you in any way. However, if you are going to have the French Revolution be your PoD, then I urge you to be humble enough to at least devote some time on learning who the major players were.