History of the French Republic (We)



This is the history of the République Française, of a nation born in blood and formed in the hope of a better, freer future for the people of France. Though it was short-lived, the Republic had a profound impact on human history as it was the spark for countless fires of revolution across Europe. The tyranny of King Louis XVI and his dynasty were finished and the rule of the people had begun. This new order was an idea that struck a cord with the non-nobility, a cord which quickly started to resonate.

The King is Dead!
Following the Battle of Versailles on 24 July, King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and the young Dauphin Louis-Charles, were brought to Paris under guard to await their judgement by the people, an idea proposed by Deputy Georges Danton as a poetically just fate for the royal family. When they arrived, a public National Assembly on the Champ de Mars was called by Danton to vote on the proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy, which would remove the title and powers of Louis XVI, and the declaration of the Republic. Both passed unanimously. On 29 July, the King was given a trial, though it became little more than an interrogation where accusations were thrown at him and, regardless of his response, accepted by the Parisian mob with a throng of cheers. A subsequent vote to sentence Louis to capital punishment passed by about 20 votes in the Assembly. It was decided; the King was to die.

In order to show their civility, the Deputies of the National Assembly decided that a humane method of killing the King had to be devised. Their concern was that the purpose of capital punishment was to end life, not inflict pain and so this new method had to be quick and painless. A committee of physicians and politicians, including Antoine Louis, the Secretary to the Academy of Surgery and former physician of the King; Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a professor of anatomy at the faculty of medicine in Paris; Laquiante, an officer of the Strasbourg criminal court and Tobias Schimdt, a German engineer. Immediately the committee worked to copy and improve on the Scottish Maiden device and on August 28 they were finally able to build the prototype of their device, a dropped blade that is slanted at a 45 degree angle. The Guillotine, as it was dubbed by the committee, already had its first test subject.

On 11 September 1789, King Louis XVI of France, now simply citizen Louis Capet, was marched alongside his wife and brother to the Place de la Concorde where the guillotine awaited its first victims. Composed with a dignified and calm air, he delivered a speech forgiving those who put him to death and wishing security to his former people, as he predicted a substantial response against France from its allies and enemies alike. Though he seemed prepared to issue another warning, general Antoine-Joseph Santerre cut him off by ordering the drum roll to begin. As Louis solemnly walked to his death, the monument to his grandfather King Louis XV was violently torn down by the Gardes Françaises. In an eary silence, moments after the echo of the statue's fall had subsided, the guillotine fell, swiftly beheading the last French king.

A young but vibrant speaker, Maximilien Robespierre, broke the silence, "The Tyrant is dead. Long live the Republic." The mob responded uproariously to his call. However, there remained something rotten in the state of France.

Nouvelles Réformes
In their revolutionary fervor, the representatives of the Republic wished to remove all traces of the monarchy they had abolished. Several mottoes were spread by the Assembly starting August 1 as propaganda in favor of the new regime. Some of the most popular ones were "Union, Force, Vertu"; "Force, Égalité, Justice" and the favorite "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, ou la mort." Propaganda pamphlets were spread throughout the French countryside, detailing the nobility of the Assembly's efforts and the benefit that it was providing the lower class. Meanwhile, le Marquis de La Fayette was named commander-in-chief of la Garde Nationale, the maintainer of order in Paris that consisted of soldiers from the ranks of the Gardes Françaises.