Declaration of War (2)

Emperor Leopold's actions were seen by the France, or at least by most of France, as a sign of fear of France. This caused the French people's confidence to explode. Consequently, Robespierre, who opposed the war, and Lafayette, who advocated for a cautious approach to war, were both seen as cowards.

After withdrawing from the parliamentary elections, Robespierre's reputation was initially very good. For someone like Robespierre, who didn't have much power to begin with, the loss of reputation was quite severe. In fact, after this setback, Robespierre had no room for further change; he could only rely almost entirely on the support of the lowest levels of society.

Lafayette also suffered heavy losses. As a general, his power and prestige largely stemmed from his victories. Now, however, he was widely perceived as lacking courage, which was almost intolerable for a general. Consequently, Lafayette was significantly weakened. Meanwhile, the Paris Commune, now controlled by the Republicans, seized the opportunity to infiltrate the National Guard —theoretically, the National Guard was under the control of the Paris City Government. This wasn't an issue when the Commune was under the control of the Bailly, but the situation was different now.

With both opponents of the war weakened, the pace of the war naturally accelerated.

On the other hand, Emperor Leopold was not idle either. He held bilateral negotiations with Prussia, attempting to forge an alliance against France. The Prussia, knowing the emperor's predicament, were naturally happy to take the opportunity to make exorbitant demands, and the two sides continued to haggle. But at the same time, France's belligerent rhetoric grew increasingly stronger.

In an attempt to curb France's adventurous impulses, Emperor Leopold issued another declaration shortly after the New Year. He threatened France, declaring that if France did not behave, he would crush them. At the same time, he demanded that France the legitimacy of the France and expel the extreme republicans from parliament.

This statement, of course, had the opposite effect. In response, the France Parliament immediately proposed forming three legions for the war against Austria. The king and queen, eager for war, naturally would not veto such a decision. Moreover, this decision also meant that they could kick Lafayette, whom they had always hated, out of Paris.

Given Lafayette's status, he would naturally be appointed as the army's commander. A year ago, he would certainly have become the French Army's commander-in-chief, but now he has only been appointed as the commander of one of the three corps, leading his troops to the border between France and Belgium. The most important position of commander-in-chief has fallen to a newcomer, Dumouriez.

Dumouriez distinguished himself in the Seven Years' War and was promoted to colonel. He later entered the diplomatic service and engaged in diplomatic activities. In 1790, he joined the "Friends of the Constitution" club and was a good friend of Mirabeau. Mirabeau also recommended him to the king in his correspondence with the royal family, praising his loyalty and bravery and saying that he was a worthy replacement for Lafayette.

On the night of the split within the "Friends of the Constitution," he firmly stood against Lafayette. But he did not side with Robespierre; soon, he became a close friend of Brissot.

Therefore, at this time, apart from Lafayette, Dumouriez could get support from almost all sides. At this time, he almost suddenly became a pivotal figure in the entire France political arena.

Seeing that the France were serious, Emperor Leopold quickly made concessions to Prussia, and the two sides reached an alliance to jointly protect the Rhine Region. According to this alliance, each country would send 50,000 troops to resist possible France aggression.

However, Emperor Leopold still did not want to go to war with France, because the risks were too great. Therefore, he was still trying to resolve the issue diplomatically and did not immediately issue a mobilization order.

It is said that the emperor asked his close advisors, "Have the France suffered losses in their wars against Catholicism countries?"

However, the emperor's health had always been poor, and he suddenly fell ill from such overwork. He was soon summoned by God and became the new emperor. The new emperor Francis II, had long been very dissatisfied with the old emperor's timidity. Almost immediately after ascending the throne, he issued a mobilization order.

Although the mobilization order was issued, it would take time for the army to be truly mobilized. As soon as the France received news of Austria's mobilization, they immediately passed a resolution demanding a declaration of war against Austria.

The King and Queen had long awaited this resolution, and naturally, they signed it without hesitation. Then, on March 16, Louis XVI addressed Parliament, formally declaring war on Austria.

At this time, Prussia had not yet had time to mobilize, and Austria was the only country directly facing France. In order to protect itself, Austria transferred the 50,000 troops originally intended for attacking France, as per its agreement with Prussia, to Belgium to defend against a France attack, and then mobilized a new batch of troops to attack France.

Prussia immediately protested Austria's diversion of troops and declared that Prussia would not mobilize for war until the 50,000 Austria troops arrived. After consultations with Austria, Prussia lowered its demands and began military mobilization on May 4th. However, it was estimated that they would not be ready until at least July. After all, armies of this era did not have the capabilities for "cold starts," "camp attacks," or "rapid responses."

On the other hand, Austria also wanted to bring Sweden into the picture. However, this time, fate was on France's side again. The Sweden king was assassinated, and Sweden was thrown into chaos, no longer bothering to interfere in France affairs.

This series of events actually gave the France three months to perfect their military preparations. However, the France didn't accomplish anything significant during those three months.

The French Army field forces were severely understaffed and morale was low. The National Guard, on the other hand, did not have the two problems mentioned above, but it had another issue: the National Guard consisted of local militias who were formed to defend their homes, so they were unwilling to leave their hometowns to fight.

Now, France planned a preemptive strike, but the National Guard was rendered useless. The remaining France field army, totaling over 60,000 men, began its invasion of Belgium. Although the French Army outnumbered the Austria defenders, its French Army was chaotic, and everyone pinned their hopes for victory on a Belgium uprising against feudalism. Meanwhile, the Belgium revolutionaries hoped to defeat the Austria with the France army before launching their own uprising.

Everyone was counting on each other, and the result, naturally, was tragic. On April 29th, the French Army and Austrian armies met. Upon contact, the French Army discovered that the Belgium were supposed to come to their aid were nowhere to be found. Noticing the Austrian defenses were strong and deeming an attack hopeless, the French Army commander ordered a retreat. However, due to chaotic command, the retreat turned into a rout. The Austria were stunned, watching in disbelief as the numerically superior French Army suddenly collapsed. Large sections of the French Army were thrown into chaos, the battlefield littered with weapons and the white Fleur-de-lis flags of the Kingdom of France. Commander Dillon also died inexplicably in the rout.

Upon receiving the news, the nearby French Army Carl immediately led his troops in retreat. Carl's retreat exposed Lafayette's flank, forcing Lafayette to follow suit.

This defeat was a huge disgrace for France, and the reputations of the commanders at the front were completely ruined. If people used to think of Lafayette as a hero of the North America war, now they would mention him with disdain. "Oh, that coward who ran back like a rabbit shot with an arrow before he even saw the Austria!"

In fact, Carl arrived earlier Lafayette, but everyone focused their attacks on Lafayette. Why? Because he was more famous.

To salvage the situation, the France government began printing Assignat at an alarming rate, leading to rampant inflation. Inflation made life even more difficult for city dwellers. (Incidentally, Clavière seized this opportunity, repeating his previous trick exactly as before, and surprisingly succeeded again. This shows that human memory is essentially no different from that of fish. Of course, Joseph and Carnot took advantage of this opportunity to ride the train for free once more.) Robespierre knew his chance had arrived.

Robespierre, along with his friends Danton (Danton returned after the persecution of Brissot was lifted) and Marat, began a propaganda campaign, claiming that the French Army's defeat at the front was due to collusion between domestic saboteurs, Royalist Party, and the enemy. They directly accused the King of being the mastermind behind these activities, demanding his trial and the transformation of France into a republic.

Lafayette knew the situation had reached its most dangerous point, and he decided to fight to the death. He sent envoys to negotiate a ceasefire with the Austria general Mercy, so that he could take his army back to Paris to launch a military coup, rescue the king, and save the constitutional monarchy. However, one of Mercy's orders from the Austria emperor was to stall Lafayette. He knew that the France king trusted Lafayette the least. As a result, Lafayette's request for a ceasefire was naturally ignored.

Lafayette abandoned his troops and secretly returned to Paris alone, attempting to mobilize the National Guard in the wealthy western part of the city to launch a mutiny. However, the king opposed his approach, and without the cooperation of the court, he could not utilize the army. In the end, he could only leave disappointed.

Dumouriez left Paris around the same time as him. Knowing that revolution was imminent, he resigned his post Ministry of War, left Paris, and personally went to the northern front to assume command. However, before leaving, he made the following request:

"I want Joseph Bonaparte, the former commander-in-chief of the Red Army, and his brother Napoleon Bonaparte to come with me to the north and serve as my staff officers."