Chapter 51 Struggle

Liberty, how many crimes are committed in your name.

— Madame Roland on the scaffold

Maximilien Robespierre was originally named De Robespierre, but he shortened it in 1789.

He was a very different man from Mirabeau or Danton. They were ugly, but Robespierre was well-dressed.

He always wore neat, perfectly tailored clothes, usually dark green, which seemed to reflect in his eyes and even in his sallow pockmarked face.

His hair was powdered and combed meticulously. Because he was short and thin, he would wear high heels to make himself look taller, and he walked with small, quick steps and at a fast speed.

His nickname was "The Incorruptible in a Sea-Green Coat".

He lived up to the name, and he was incorruptible.

He spent very little money except for clothes. He had no close friends, and women meant nothing to him, and the same was true of food.

He lived mainly on bread, fruit and coffee.

No one has ever heard him laugh, and few people have ever seen him smile. He is a man who is always tense.

"This man can accomplish something," Mirabeau said shortly before his death, "he believes in what he says."

Robespierre appeared on the top of the city tonight because he received a letter reporting that the king would escape on Christmas Day.

Although he doubted the authenticity of the other party, the "incorruptible man" was even more annoyed with today's party, and he decided to go to the top of the city to see.

And the fact is that the king did escape as the letter of accusation said.

Robespierre is a rational man, and he does not intend to send people to hunt down the king.

The Jacobins are not having a good time now, and the Girondists are in the lead.

This is not what Robespierre wants. Since the women's petition last year, the Jacobin Club has fallen into a serious split, and some moderate elements who oppose the dethronement of the king have threatened to form another club.

This is indeed the case, and the Feuillant Club will soon appear.

Faced with two propositions, after thinking about it, Robespierre chose to abolish the monarchy. The first thing he had to do was to get the position of chairman of the Jacobin Club and overthrow the rule of the Girondists.

The question is, what exactly are the Girondists?

This has to start from the previous. The victory of the American War of Independence certainly made the European countries once again see the power of France.

But the French royal family's control over the local areas and the ruling power over the country are also declining.

The monarchy left by Louis XIV (the Sun King of France, the peak of autocratic rule) to his descendants has almost been ruined by the two prodigal sons Louis XV and Louis XVI.

In this situation, starting from the 1780s, political clubs all over France have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

In these places, people have endless discussions about the choice of the country's future system and the pros and cons of different choices.

The most influential club in the early days was the left-wing Friends of the Constitution Association, whose members met at the Jacobin Monastery on Saint-Honoré Road, so they were often called "Jacobins".

The Friends of the Constitution was originally founded by anti-royalist representatives from Brittany and soon developed into a national republican movement organization.

Its members include various bourgeois activists.

Among them are liberal aristocrats (such as Count Mirabeau, Lafayette, Sieyès, etc.).

Constitutionalist bourgeoisie (such as the big bankers and farmers Theodore Lamet brothers).

Industrial and commercial bourgeoisie (such as Brissot, Vergneau, etc.).

Democratic bourgeoisie (such as Robespierre, etc.).

In February 1790 in the original time and space, the Jacobin Club passed a charter, stipulating that its purpose is to "promote the success of the revolution", "let the voice of truth spread everywhere", and "let the light of truth illuminate the people".

It is stipulated that members must "love equality, cherish human rights, instinctively protect the weak and oppressed, and be willing to respect others". Members must apply, have an introducer to recommend, and pay membership fees. In this way, the Jacobin Club has the prototype of a modern political party.

But the Society of Friends of the Constitution was not the Jacobins, and this must be made clear.

It also included the Girondists, a faction named after the faction of the Gironde province in southwestern France, where most of its important members were representatives of the Legislative Assembly.

But the name actually came from the later French best-selling author Lamartine's History of the Girondins.

Generally speaking, during the revolution, people often named the faction after its leader, Jacques-Pierre Brissot, and called it the Brissot Party.

The Girondists also supported the abolition of the monarchy, but they were not an organized political group like the Jacobins.

It was just a party formed by a loose connection of individuals, including the influential Jean-Marie Rolland and his wife Marie-Jeanne, whose salon would become the main gathering place for the Girondists.

By the way, the Girondists first split from the Society of Friends of the Constitution.

Looking at the dark night, Robespierre turned and returned home.

Louis XVI can't escape. Tomorrow, people will naturally find out that the king has fled.

Brissot's faction will be in a passive position, and people like Mirabeau and Lafayette are just weak royalists. As for other opponents, they are just clowns.

And I, Robespierre, will reshape this country. The monarchy is the dregs of the times. The republic is the future.

A vortex, which has been gathering momentum for several months, is about to spread.

The fleeing king, the ignorant Brissot faction, and Robespierre hiding in the dark constitute the first layer of the vortex of the French Revolution.

Britain, which is watching from the sidelines, Prussia, Austria and Spain, which are uneasy, and Tsarist Russia far away in Eastern Europe are the second layer of this vortex.

Napoleon, who is still in Constantiniere and waiting to join the game, will be the third layer of this vortex.

As the French Revolution intensified, Selim was also preparing to complete the Great Purge. The Gantacuchino family, the chief culprit among the Fanar people, would definitely not want to live.

Whether you were coerced or something, you could have explained to the Sultan but still chose to participate. Why did Selim keep him?

As for the Ducas family, they can stay. After all, without the help of Simon Ducas, Cardosi Gantacuchino would not be so honest.

However, the main branch must not be left. Only a remote branch of the Ducas family can survive.

In Greece, the Angelos family must be eliminated. For the other families, those who knew about it but did not report it or indirectly helped, all the main branches will be executed and replaced by the side branches.

As for the Armenians, Selim can't touch them now. He can only let Abraham increase the financial suppression of the Armenians, which is also one of the few punishments that the Sultan can do.

Finally, the Guards, Hussein Pasha was very efficient, and the Guards were basically slaughtered.

Under Selim's order, their heads were cut off by Hussein and piled up in the northwest suburbs outside Constantinie.

The article roughly explains the political factions in France. With limited ability, it can only be like this.

Finally, please read and collect