Declaring War (1)

Although both Robespierre and Lafayette were trying to slow France's march toward war, France, driven by the Black Party and centrists, continued to move step by step toward war.

On this issue, the previously unorganized centrists began to unite. In fact, the person who united the centrists was not one of the original centrists, but a member of the Jacobin Club — Jacques - Pierre Brissot de Valville.

Brissot initially made a living as a merchant and had served the Duke of Orleans. After the Duke of Orleans went on a diplomatic mission to Britain, he followed Lafayette for a period. After Louis XVI's escape, he began to support the Republic and had direct disputes with Lafayette in the Jacobin Club. Therefore, in the Jacobin Club split, he sided with Robespierre.

In the new election, he became a member of the National Assembly as a representative of Paris. There, through someone, he became friends with Clavière again.

The National Assembly is a peculiar place where the more radical a member of parliament is, the more attention they receive and the more likely they are to become an "influential" member. This environment made Brissot's political views more radical in both respects.

The first aspect was the advocacy of the republican system. In the National Assembly, most of the centrists no longer trusted the king, and attacks on him easily garnered applause. Thus, Brissot first proposed the "Emigre Act," targeting the exiled nobles. He accused them of orchestrating the "kidnapping of the king," plotting a rebellion, and being enemies of France. He then proposed punishing these individuals, such as ordering them to return home for trial (of course, unless those exiled nobles were mentally unstable, they certainly wouldn't return). If they refused to return, the courts could try them in absentia, convict them, and impose various punishments targeting them personally (of course, such judgments are unenforceable) and their property (this is highly enforceable).

Brissot convinced everyone that the "Emigre Act" could largely alleviate or even solve the problems caused by excessive Assignat.

These Assignat were originally issued with church land as collateral. If the government could strictly adhere to the amount of church land issued, these Assignat could be gradually recovered through the sale of church land, thus eliminating the risk of inflation.

However, the instant availability of money by simply turning on the printing press was incredibly tempting, so much so that few governments, especially those struggling to survive, could resist recklessly printing money. As a result, even government officials themselves probably didn't know exactly how many Assignat they printed. Rumors circulated that the printed Assignat were enough to buy up the church's real estate several times over. Naturally, this caused the Assignat to depreciate drastically. While it didn't reach the point where some countries later needed to use "K" (10 to the power of 16) as their currency unit, the constantly depreciating Assignat still placed increasing pressure on the country.

If the land of those fleeing nobles could be confiscated and used as collateral for the Assignat, then the problem with the Assignat could probably be temporarily alleviated. (Of course, if they continue to print them, it will inevitably backfire sooner or later, but isn't that a matter for the future? Why worry about the future?)

The bill passed without a problem in Parliament. The Black Party naturally opposed it, and Lafayette, not wanting to put too much pressure on the nobility, also objected. However, the centrists, along with the Jacobin, already constituted a majority in Parliament. (Besides, some members of the Lafayette Club faction were not entirely firm either.)

Then, just as Brissot had hoped, the bill was vetoed by the king. According to the constitution, the king has the power to veto bills passed by parliament. The king certainly knew that vetoing such a bill would anger parliament, but now the Royalist Party were the only force he could rely on, and he had no other choice.

This rejected proposal, however, greatly enhanced Brissot's prestige. Since such a tactic worked, it was naturally used again. Brissot then proposed a bill to stop paying salaries to priests who refused to pledge allegiance. This bill, naturally, was also rejected by the king.

Through these maneuvers, Brissot successfully built his reputation in Parliament. With the support of Clavière and other gentlemen, he successfully united many centrists around him and incidentally earned Louis XVI the nickname "Mr. Veto," further solidifying his image as an "unrepentant feudal lord."

The second radical direction is war.

Now that he had the assistance of Monsieur Clavière and his friends, Brissot naturally wanted to speak up for their interests. Of course, Brissot wouldn't say this publicly. Brissot propaganda slogan for the war was "exporting revolution."

Lafayette consistently emphasized the numerous problems within the French Army and the difficulty in guaranteeing its combat effectiveness, using this to prolong the war; while Robespierre consistently directed his attacks at a potential "military dictator."

Brissot's response to Lafayette's claims is that while the France army has problems, other countries' armies have even more problems.

He believed that the France revolution inspired the whole of Europe, and the people of most Europe countries longed for revolution. Their anticipation of the France revolutionary army was like "a parched land yearning for rain." Once war broke out, the France army would be "using the support of the people to attack those who have turned against them," so how could they possibly lose?

He also satirized Robespierre's remarks, arguing that Robespierre actually believed in the goodwill of a foreign feudal monarch and underestimated the patriotism of the France people.

Under Brissot's leadership, the centrists quickly rallied. A large group of people, including Vergniaud and the Roland couple, rallied around Brissot. And once they were united, the war took a big step closer.

On November 29, Parliament passed a resolution demanding that the King immediately warn the Elector of Trier, ordering him to immediately disband the army of the France nobles in exile within his territory, or France would take all means, including force, to safeguard its security.

This time, "Mr. Veto" did not reject the resolution again, but immediately approved it and issued a warning to the Elector of Trier.

The Elector of Trier was a prince of the so-called "Holy Roman Empire." Theoretically, threatening to use force against him was tantamount to threatening to use force against Austria. Louis XVI and Queen Marie had been waiting for the boastful Austria emperor to launch an attack on France, but after his boastful display, the emperor fled and never mentioned war with France again. At this point, the France parliament's passage of such a resolution was, in the eyes of the King and Queen, a stroke of good luck.

After issuing the warning, the king and queen hoped that the emperor would be furious, and then the army of the Holy Roman Empire would come crashing down, so that they could hang those guys in the parliament one by one from the lampposts.

However, things took an unexpected turn for the king and queen.

The feudal monarchs across the Rhine River trembled with fear at the France warnings. Just as the France worried about the many chaotic factions within their own ranks and the possibility of collaborators if a war broke out, the "holy" "Rome"France were equally concerned that their own people might believe the France heresy and join them in some kind of revolution.

Moreover, this is not unfounded worry, because in these countries, some have even shamelessly infringed on France intellectual property rights, establishing their own "Friends of the Constitution Club." The Germany Electors may not know how many collaborators exist within France (although the exiled nobles boast about the number, everyone knows it's all boasting, because if the monarchist forces within France so strong, why would they have become exiles?), but they certainly know how many collaborators exist on their own side.

The electors immediately backed down. They sent envoys to Vienna to request the emperor's protection, and to France to explain that it was all a misunderstanding.

Of course, if the Holy Roman Empire Emperor had suddenly become bold and led the fight against France, they might have been able to use his power to their advantage. However, the Rome Emperor was actually restrained by the Eastern Roman Empire Empress. Although the Empress was the most hostile to France of all nations in the world, she was now effectively acting as France's protector.

It was the King of Spain who jumped out and made a couple of calls. After all, the King Spain also shared the Bourbon surname. However, the King's calls were exceptionally weak, merely hoping that France would respect the sovereignty of other countries and not resort to threats of force at the drop of a hat. Such cries served no purpose other than to demonstrate his cowardice.

The "Rome" was forced to hold urgent consultations with the King of Prussia to seek a solution. At the same time, he sent envoys to Britain to seek Britain assistance. However, Britain made it clear that Britain understood and respected the Emperor's position on the matter and was willing to remain neutral in good faith.

This is actually quite normal, because if Britain joined the chorus against France, it might actually intimidate France and prevent it from acting rashly. After all, the Britain aren't Catholicism. However, the Britain already understood that the Austria Emperor had no desire to go to war with France. If Britain joined in, he could confidently seize Poland from the Russia. Conversely, if Britain remained neutral, the France would be encouraged and might actually start a war.

In Europe, the France love good food and beautiful women, the Italy love beautiful women and art, but what about the Britain? The Britain have no other hobbies than to see the Europe continent ablaze.

Before reaching an agreement with Prussia, the Austria emperor could only exercise restraint, allowing the electors of the Rhine to disband the exiles' army. This weakness further encouraged the belligerent forces in France.

Recommending a book to my friend: <Disturbing the Southern Song> by Feng Miaozhi