208 Declaration of War (Reward plus 4th Update)
This moment of national revolt in France gave hope to those who resisted the revolutionary government, first of all, the rebel clergy, who took advantage of the mass riots of the French people to carry out religious agitation, causing a part of the Catholic masses to throw themselves on the side of the Fan revolution. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info
The rebel clergy, in collusion with the local aristocracy, began an assassination campaign against democratic politicians and government officials, while the democratic-controlled city government retaliated by mobilizing the National Guard to massacre the peasants who supported the rebel clergy!
At the same time, the provocations of the exiles increased greatly, and the aristocratic forces, led by the exiled Count of Provence, supported by the army of the Prince of Condé, violently attacked the Legislative Assembly, declaring that they would invade France and restore the autocracy.
The inaction of the Legislative Assembly and its insistence on suppressing the peasant uprising brought about a new split in the bourgeois parliament, with the middle bourgeoisie almost completely leaving the Girondists and joining other political factions in opposition to the policy of compromise with the king and the nobility.
On the contrary, the big bourgeoisie and the remaining Girondists were more closely connected with the aristocracy, and the wealthy bourgeoisie, perished by the social unrest, feared that the people would come to power and join the aristocratic class, and completely suppress all popular riots!
At this moment, the petty bourgeoisie began to realize that if they wanted to defeat the alliance of the aristocracy and the big capitalists, they had to unite with the people in order to preserve the gains of this revolution.
Robespierre declared in Parliament: "Just laws should be enacted to unite the people with the revolution, and it should be firmly believed that the spiritual strength of the people is greater than the strength of the army!" “
In this chaotic situation, the king, who had lost his power, began to provoke war on both sides out of hatred, and the king's family pinned all their hopes on foreign wars, hoping that foreign intervention armies would enter the political center of France and help him restore his old autocratic power.
King Louis XVI, on the one hand, secretly appealed to the faction in the Legislative Assembly that advocated the use of war to ease the mood of the people, and on the other hand, he constantly appealed to foreign countries for help, and of course, these letters for help were successfully delivered to the parties concerned.
The king's line naturally discovered the ambiguous attitude of Lin Haoda's side, but they couldn't care so much, Louis XVI and Maria. Queen Antoinette was convinced: as long as the Kingdom of France was defeated and foreign intervention armies came in, the era of the king's autocracy would return!
He no longer thought about what a catastrophe the war would bring to the Kingdom of France, and that if France was defeated, the French nation would be divided in a possible way!
On 29 December 1791, Jacques-Pierre Brissot, the Girondist political leader, was undoubtedly the bellwether of the main militant faction in the National Assembly: "The time has come for France to present its free national character before Europe, to defend and uphold it." At present, war is a good deed for the people, and the only terrible catastrophe is the absence of war...... Only the interests of the people are the force that promotes the war! ”
The idea of the Girondin pro-militant faction was simple: foreign war could alleviate the panic of the French nation about the invasion of the monarchical intervention army, and it could also lead domestic contradictions to foreign enemies, and foreign wars that preached the banner of freedom and liberation could undoubtedly transfer high nationalist fervor to foreign enemies.
Moreover, this situation of foreign war can also reunite the entire French nation and all strata around the French government, as for the aristocratic class and the rebel clergy who are interested in foreign enemies, they are nothing more than a group of clowns, and it is the French people who really have great power, not a small group of aristocratic conspirators!
Jacques-Pierre Brissot, the Girondists, also had full confidence in the prospect of war, and he did not need to completely defeat the Holy Roman Empire, which was unrealistic, he only needed to use the superior strength of the National Guard to crush the tens of thousands of troops displayed in Austria on the border.
With this glorious victory, the main battle Gironde political forces will regain full control of the National Assembly and squeeze out those other factions who oppose the war!
Jacques-Pierre Brissot only needs a military victory to turn the current Girondist predicament into an advantage, otherwise, if it continues like this, the social problems of the riots will inevitably collapse under the leadership of the democrats and the wanton incitement of the aristocratic class rebel clergy, once the French civil war is triggered, the ruling Girondists are the culprits of all the black pots, and he Jacques Pierre Brissot, as the political leader of the Girondists, It will also become a notorious historical sinner of the French nation.
Therefore, the only way Jacques Pierre Brissot could think of was a foreign war, and he had to let the Kingdom of France take the initiative to fight and achieve a brilliant military victory to put an end to the chaos!
Jacques Pierre Brissot's confidence that the war could be won, also means that the king's line and Lin Haoda privately support, in the eyes of Jacques Pierre Brissot, hundreds of thousands of elite National Guardsmen plus the Paris legions, how should they not be defeated by tens of thousands of Austrian troops on the Belgian border......
Because of the serious economic worries, the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie and politicians also supported the outbreak of the war, for whom huge profits could be made from the supply of munitions after the war!
Therefore, the war was not hated by the big bourgeoisie, after all, it was a continental war against Austria, and not a naval war against England, because a naval war would have harmed the prosperity of France's trade and ports with the overseas islands.
Diplomatically, Jacques-Pierre Brissot's main target was Austria, the symbol of the Ancien Régime, and the Girondists were in frequent contact with political refugees from various countries, intending to launch a war of liberation with their support.
On December 31, 1791, Jacques-Pierre Brissot declared: "The time has come for a new crusade, one for the sake of freedom under heaven!" ”
The Girondists put forward the idea of a universal political war - a war in which peoples are engaged against the monarch.
The Girondins, who exalted the righteousness of freedom and liberation, really won the support of the lower classes of the people in the Kingdom of France, where the national sentiment was high, and they were afraid of the invasion of foreign intervention forces, so they expected the army of the motherland to fight out!
Naturally, both the Jacobins and the Montagnards were in a state of extreme political disadvantage as soon as the people's hearts began to turn toward the war, and even if they repeatedly stated the dangers of war, it would be of no avail.
Even most of the Monthill politicians were caught in a dilemma, and many of the Girondists' slogan of spreading the faith in freedom in foreign wars was tempting and beneficial to the bourgeoisie, and many of them were reluctant to reject this proposal.
The only one who remained steadfast in his opposition to the war was Robespierre of the Jacobins, who was extremely resolute when the main war faction had an all-round advantage, and Robespierre almost single-handedly resisted the irresistible tide!
Robespierre soberly and sharply pointed out the key point in the National Assembly: "You should first turn your attention to your position at home, and you should first put the domestic order in order before exporting it to the outside world!" ”
Robespierre's remarks made Lin Haoda deeply touched, the truth that the outside must first be at home is the most suitable for the current domestic situation in the French Kingdom, and there are still sober people among the French.
The sober Robespierre also pointed out the specific approach, he declared that the internal nobility should be eliminated first, the court should be subdued, the army should be cleansed, and the situation of the war could turn bad, because the exile of the noble officers disintegrated the army, the troops lacked weapons and equipment, the fortresses had no food and ammunition, and once the war was inflicted on the people, it was impossible not to compensate the people, and it was necessary to arm the negative citizens, to lift the spirits of the people, and that, even if the victory was achieved, freedom could be buried in the hands of some ambitious general...... However, Robespierre's sober analysis and courageous opposition to the war were not enough to stem the tide.
On the contrary, it attracted Lin Haoda's murderous intention, and Robespierre's words almost told the Girondists and his purpose of starting a war!
The Girondists wanted to put the free democratic will under the control of the bourgeoisie through the victory of the war, while Lin Haoda was deeply aware of the contradiction between the noble officers and the new officers in the French army, and knew that the French army would inevitably collapse in foreign wars.
If Robespierre were really replaced in power and the army was purged from launching foreign wars, the Kingdom of France would undoubtedly be reborn, and all Lin Haoda's plans and conspiracies would be bankrupt!
Fortunately, Robespierre was only the political leader of the Jacobins, not the National Assembly, and both Jacques-Pierre Brissot and Lin Haoda had their own interests in the intention of starting war.
The Jacobins' obstruction, though powerless, delayed the declaration of war by the Kingdom of France, and the decision to declare war was always blocked in the National Assembly under Robespierre's harsh rhetoric.
It was not until the King and the Girondists conspired to replace the Ministers of the Interior and the War of the entire French government, as well as the military-political functionaries of the central government, with the pro-militant faction, that the declaration of war was formally adopted.
On April 20, 1792, after a few compromises and rivalries among the upper echelons of the Kingdom of France, King Louis XVI made a rare visit to Parliament and proposed a declaration of war on the kings of Hungary and Bohemia, that is, against Austria and not on the Holy Roman Empire, and this proposal was immediately approved by the National Assembly by an absolute majority!
The French government, controlled by the Girondins, immediately ordered the elite 150,000 National Guardsmen, who had already gathered, to march to the Belgian border after the official declaration of war was handed over to the National Assembly!