While the Russian Army commanders were discussing their grand plans to get rich, the situation in Paris was also heading straight for collapse. Faced with the endless influx of refugees, the Revolutionary Government proved utterly powerless.
The old order had been shattered, and the new order was still being built—this was precisely when people's hearts were at their most chaotic. If the Paris Revolutionary Government had been strong enough, it could still have used thunderous measures to cow the populace. Unfortunately, that was exactly what the Revolutionary Government lacked.
There was no helping it. Who told them their rule had not been won on the battlefield? It could not even be called a coup! It looked like an armed seizure of power, but in truth Napoleon IV had handed it to them of his own accord.
Even that revolutionary army, which did not even qualify as a rabble, had failed to survive. It was disbanded in the political struggles that followed.
In name, the government forces were under the central government's command, but in reality, that was not the case at all. Napoleon IV had fled willingly, and he had made arrangements before withdrawing. The army's key commanders had long since been replaced with his own trusted men.
The Bonaparte Dynasty had gone into exile. No one knew how loyal these officers were to the Emperor, but they certainly held no goodwill toward the Revolutionary Government.
Under normal circumstances, the new government should have slowly purged the Bonapartist elements from the army after taking power, then replaced them with its own people.
Very unfortunately, the Paris Revolutionary Government had no such time. The moment it took office, the Anti-French Alliance invaded.
By the time the main Allied forces withdrew one after another, the Revolutionary Government's reputation had already stunk to