WI Lafayette defeats Robiespierre and the Jacobites

My question is what if Laffayette beats Robielierre and the Jacobites and siezes control of the directory how would this affect France. Basically I am betting on no reign of terror, so under Lafayette and the moderates what does France become? Could we see a constitutional Monachy or how would this affect French History.
 
Constitutional monarchy seems like the most likely outcome, assuming Louis XVI and the sans-culottes can both be convinced to go along with it. The sans-culottes can probably be won over by the classic combination of bread and circuses, while the main thing Louis XVI will need is a reasonable reassurance that Constitutional Monarchy isn't the first step along the path to a Republic.

The biggest issue Lafayette is likely to face is that he has a fairly narrow window of time to work with. If there's going to be a functional Constitutional Monarchy, it needs to happen before the Flight to Varennes and ideally before the Day of Daggers. However, until around the time of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy there were not really organized factions within the pro-Revolution groups (including Lafayette's Society of 1789). That doesn't give him much time to take power and seriously shift most of the major players in the Revolution before things move past the breaking point.

Lafayette's best chance would probably be to work out an alliance with Mirabeau. They couldn't quite work out an agreement in OTL, but if they manage to come up with something then that would give Lafayette a political genius to help him out, and assuming his death isn't substantially butterflied Mirabeau should conveniently die right around the time he and Lafayette finish consolidating their power, which would leave Lafayette in sole command of the Revolution.
 
My question is what if Laffayette beats Robielierre and the Jacobites and siezes control of the directory how would this affect France.

I think you mean the Jacobins, no the Jacobites. Jacobites were the Scottish adherents of the House of Stuart in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Jacobins were the radical French republicans who organized the Reign of Terror.
 
I think you mean the Jacobins, no the Jacobites. Jacobites were the Scottish adherents of the House of Stuart in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Jacobins were the radical French republicans who organized the Reign of Terror.
I assumed that was case as well; however, now I am sorely tempted to post an AH Challenge for the Jacobites taking control of the French Revolution.
 
I think you mean the Jacobins, no the Jacobites. Jacobites were the Scottish adherents of the House of Stuart in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Jacobins were the radical French republicans who organized the Reign of Terror.



Whoops:eek:

Anyway could you explain what happens if Lafayette wins
In your opinion. I would like to hear everybody opinion
 
An idea I like is the flight to Varrenes succeeds and the Bourbons are manuvered into Austria; then, the Duke of Orleans is offered the crown, and a constitutional monarchy forms under him.

How's that?
 
An idea I like is the flight to Varrenes succeeds and the Bourbons are manuvered into Austria; then, the Duke of Orleans is offered the crown, and a constitutional monarchy forms under him.

How's that?


Ummm... Could you expand how Lafayette influences events. I always find him to be an interesting character who had so much potential to turn France into a constitutional Monarchy:)
 

archaeogeek

Banned
An idea I like is the flight to Varrenes succeeds and the Bourbons are manuvered into Austria; then, the Duke of Orleans is offered the crown, and a constitutional monarchy forms under him.

How's that?

The Flight to Varennes was doomed from the start; the army they were supposed to meet up with in Metz had basically defected before they left, the movements of the guards were rapidly spotted and seen with enormous suspicion, while the plan relied on escaping with these two problems but also with a man whose face is on every single damn coin in the kingdom. He had been spotted a few stops before, it was only slow communications that allowed him to get as far as Varennes and it was still a fraction of the way; you'd need a completely different plan or enormous luck (and likely both as the original plan led to a lot of unwanted attention thanks to guard companies being posted along the way).

As for Philippe Égalité the right would see him as an usurper, the republican left would see it as betrayal, so that's not quite good.
 
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