The Crescent of the Sultan

Chapter 58 Prison with raised hands

As the majestic Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, he owns the crown passed down by Charlemagne and is also the owner of the only crown in Europe after the fall of Byzantium.

Leopold II still spoke with great weight. He made a joint statement at Pillnitz Castle.

Roland, who was far away in Paris, caught up with him and declared that "the fate of France is determined by the French themselves."

Not only that, Roland was very rude and sent General Dumouriez to lead his troops to station at the French border. He just had to put up a flag saying "What the Sun King can do, France can do now."

(In September 1688, Louis XIV took advantage of the Habsburg dynasty's victory over the Ottoman Empire in the east and the weakness of its forces in the west to invade Germany and launch a quick war plan against the Habsburg dynasty. The "Grand Alliance War" was officially Turn on.

The Habsburg emperor had no choice but to use some of his forces in the east to contain the Ottoman Empire, and split his forces on the west to deal with France, causing the French army to ravage western Germany. )

As for why Dumouriez was sent instead of Napoleon.

Due to political considerations, Roland believed that the safety of Paris was more important, and he trusted the latter more than Dumouriez, who had just transferred from the former boss Brissot.

As for why Roland is so arrogant and dares to challenge the two strongest players in Europe.

This has to mention the current political environment and military strength of France.

For Roland, the threat from Leopold II was less important than the political threat to him.

Compared with Paris, other areas of France actually did not show a promising situation in the revolution.

After the initial chaos, royalists continued to attempt to restore the king's rule across France.

Faced with this situation, Roland or the entire Girondins' idea was to launch a war.

They hoped to use the war as a catalyst to transform the extremely turbulent French Revolution into a more solid and lasting form.

The news from Pillnitz further strengthened the determination of the Girondins to fight.

After all, only France had always taken advantage of the internal discord in the Holy Roman Empire to extort money, and now Leopold II actually dared to reverse roles.

From Roland's point of view, it's time to give you a slap in the face.

The reason for Roland's confidence is very simple. It is not an exaggeration to say that the French army during this period was "first in Europe". The influence of the Sun King on the reform of the French army was not that of King Frederick II of Prussia (also translated as Frederick II). II) comparable.

Since Louis XIV, the French army has been the strongest in Europe.

You may object by giving an example, saying that in the Seven Years' War, Frederick II gave the French army a good beating.

But this is more about the gap between the commanders of the two sides. Compared with the death of Frederick II, the Prussian army's combat effectiveness declined due to rigidity.

The French army, under the call of generals, carried out strategic and tactical innovations and equipment replacements, thus maintaining a relatively good level of combat effectiveness.

With both political threat considerations and military strength as support, Roland had only one sentence to say about Leopold II's statement, which was well received.

By the way, Roland once again gave Louis XVI a new home. Considering the king's bad behavior of running away, Roland specially moved the Louis XVI to the Temple Tower.

In fact, during the French Revolution, the Temple Tower built in the 13th century by the Knights Templar was still a grand fortress. It was said that it was moved to a different location, but it was actually a prison cell for Louis XVI.

The Temple Tower served as the headquarters of the Knights Templar in Europe. It contained a series of buildings: a church and a large fortress with turrets known as the "Grand Tower".

It is gorgeously decorated with elegant interiors and contains many artifacts, historical manuscripts and books from the medieval period. To a certain extent, it may be more like a tourist attraction.

But the Temple Tower at this time was, after all, a prison, and it was chosen purely because it could be guarded strictly.

Here, the king would get up at 6 a.m., pray for 5 minutes or more, and after a light breakfast, he would spend most of the rest of the morning giving lessons to the crown prince.

Before the main meal at 2 p.m., he and his family were allowed to take a walk in the courtyard of the Temple Tower.

Much of the rest of the day would then be spent reading, and he could read as many as twelve books a week, many of them by great Latin authors.

Louis XVI had some entertainment, but for Marie Antoinette, who had little education, every day was long and difficult.

Although she is only 35 years old, she looks like she is at least 50 years old.

She mainly fills her time with embroidery and knitting, and also tries to give lessons to her 12-year-old daughter Marie-Thérèse.

The little girl is well educated and probably knows a lot more than her mother.

No one knows how much the king and his family knew about what was going on in France and in the outside world while they were imprisoned in the Temple.

But God did not intend to let go of the imprisoned king.

It is said that Leopold II of Vienna was furious after learning about the situation of his sister and her family.

Or there is another possibility. The noble emperor was actually provoked by an unknown little person.

Leopold II immediately ordered Count Fersen and the Duke of Brunswick to prepare a declaration, which was almost equivalent to an ultimatum.

In the declaration, if the revolutionaries in Paris continued not to repent, the coalition forces would soon invade France and restore the royal power, and if the king continued to suffer atrocities, the coalition forces would "raze the city of Paris to the ground."

This angered the French people and revolutionaries. In their view, Louis XVI was not only trying to escape France but also colluding with foreign forces.

Imprisoning him in the Temple Tower was already the result of a lenient sentence given by the people out of respect for the centuries-old rule of the Bourbon family and pity for Louis XVI.

If Leopold II had already aroused the French people's war passion, then the Pope had sentenced Louis XVI to death.

As early as November 1789, the National Constituent Assembly declared that all church property was "to be placed at the disposal of the state."

Around the same time, the National Constituent Assembly further legislated to abolish the legality of monastic vows and all religious orders were dissolved. Monks and nuns were required to return to the secular life, marry and, if possible, have children.

Later, the National Constituent Assembly passed the first draft of the Bill on the Civil Organization of the Clergy, which effectively converted all remaining clergy into government employees.

The National Constituent Assembly also decreed that henceforth parish priests and bishops (whose numbers had by this time been greatly reduced) should be elected by their respective parishes and dioceses, and that they should no longer recognize the authority of the Roman Pope.

Finally, the National Constituent Assembly required that all clergy should swear an oath of loyalty to the new constitution. A few clergymen complied, but the vast majority refused. The result was the disastrous division of France.

The schism was initially confined to the church, but soon spread among the laity, appearing among local people and even in families throughout France.

Poor Louis XVI was as indecisive and troubled as ever.

He was a very pious man, so he sent a letter to the Pope specifically about this matter.

Please follow up and read it. Louis XVI is about to die. Why don’t you all read it up in time?

By the way, I want to ask if the picture I picked for Anna is beautiful, even though it was contributed by a certain book friend.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like