Examples Of William Doyle's Understanding Of Resistance
William Doyle writes in his book that the reason of the revolution being violent is resistance. The understanding of resistance could go two ways. There was the resistance of the king, Louis XVI, where he thought that he should be the absolute monarch and where he believes that he is the one to be ruling over France and no one else. On the other hand, there also was the resistance of the common people that had enough of the king’s and queen’s poor ruling over them. They wanted a change. The king was not a good monarch in the eyes of the common people. He was not looking over France and making sure it runs well. He was too isolated to notice the bad state of the country. The poverty of France was on such a bad level that the common people
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just could not take it anymore. They did not have anything to lose so they decided to overturn the regime. Due to the king being so isolated in Versailles and being too distracted with his parties, he was not informed enough to know how to counter the revolution except with violence. Him ordering his troops to circle Paris and push in, he basically made the crowd in France resist his actions and his title. After the events of the summer of 1789, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were taken hostage from Versailles and were held in the Tuileries palace. At first, they were not allowed to do much but as the time went on, the royalty fictionally showed interest in the revolution by coming to events dressed in the tricolore colors so they got more space. They could take a coach and ride around Paris. They were also allowed to take walks. But by giving the royalty the freedom of doing want they wanted. They started making a plan to fleet from Paris and go across the border to the Austrian empire. The king’s actions after he was taken hostage were, at first, protesting. He was not happy with the fact that he was kept hostage and that he was not the absolute monarch anymore. After a while his attitude and actions changed because him and Marie Antoinette realized that if they support the revolution, they will get more freedom and also more love from the common people. That is also why they wore the tricolore colors of the revolution and attended the celebrations of the revolution. In July 14, 1790, they attended the first anniversary of the Fall of the Bastille. They were celebrated and the crowd was yelling, “Long live the king! Long live the Queen!” While the royal family was trying to make themselves look good and be loved again, they were making a plan to leave France, get an army and then, come back to France to take over once again.
The royalty’s plan was to leave France and find safety.
Then, to take France back and restore the absolute monarchy with the help of Marie Antoinette’s brother, Leopold. However, Leopold did not want to have anything to do with them until in 1791, Leopold, the king of the Austrian Empire, finally agreed and promised the French royalty that he is going to give them a full support by money and troops so they can take France back. Axel von Fersen, Swedish ambassador, started meeting with royal family, especially with the queen, to plan their escape to Varennes. Fersen was thought to be the queen’s lover. Without Fersen the royal family would not be able to get anywhere; they would stay locked in as hostages until the king would sign the constitution. Axel von Fersen created the plan with the help of De Bouille who had a massive army right by the French border and that is where the king would be safe so he could figure out how to take France back. They moved the date of the escape many times until in June 21st, 1791, they finally left Paris. The flight to Varennes where Bouille’s the army was supposed to be waiting for the royal family to protect them, did not work out. Bouille’s army left the meeting point because they thought that the king probably changed the date of the flight again. However, the royal family was just late. They got caught in Varennes because they were recognized in a few cities right before they got to Varennes like Sainte-Menehould and Clemont. They were kept in Varennes before it was decided that they were going to be sent back to Paris. The king was trying to make the people of Varennes to do whatever he said but the two years of revolution changed their view of the absolute monarchy. They saw that the country could be ran better without the absolute monarchy so they obeyed the word of the National Assembly instead of the king’s word. The state of the country and the people’s mentality was absolutely changed. No one trusted the king anymore.
They believed in their delegates that represented them in the National Assembly.
The message of the royal family trying to escape France spread through France very fast. Also, when the royal family got caught the news spread through France really fast. Of course, farther the city was from Paris it took the news longer to get there. When the people heard about the king’s actions they absolutely changed their thinking about the king. They absolutely stopped following the king; they started to listen to the National Assembly more and totally disowned the king. The common people walked by the royalty’s coach all the way to Paris. They were throwing stones and were trying to hurt the king and the queen physically. They injured and even killed many of the National Guardsmen who were supposed to protect the royal family on their way back to Paris. The general population now called the king, “Louis the Traitor” and “Louis the Faithless”. More publications were aimed against the royal family. The common people started drawing the king with a pig’ body and also did the same to the whole royal family. Their anger and total resistance towards the king, made the common people to be more violent. They were destroying every sign that represented the monarchy like emblems and the fleur-de-lis. Writings and pictures were painted on the walls of the Tuileries place where the royal family was kept after they were brought back to Paris. Many social movements were happening across the whole France. The general population was very angry with the king’s ridiculous actions.
In September 13, 1791, after the king was brought back to Paris he decided to sign the constitution and work with the National Assembly. However, the people of Paris did not want the constitution anymore because the king was in it. They realized that the king cannot be trusted anymore so they did not want the constitutional monarchy in France. While France was thinking what to do with the king, the Austrian and Prussian armies invaded France and were marching towards Paris. The French army pulled themselves together and defeated the enemy. The common people of Paris were so angry with the king and the queen that they attacked the palace. The first time they attacked, the National Guardsmen killed most of the crowd, but the second time the crowd killed the National Guardsmen and got to the palace. Luckily, for the king and the queen they got evacuated before the mad crowd got to them. The reign that the common people had was enormous. They were destroying everything that reminded them of the monarchy.
In September 22, 1792, the French Revolution was established. It was called the nation of all. The king’s room was looked through and many letters, proving that the king wanted to leave the country so he can gain power and come back to regain his position, where found on his table. That insured that the trial of the king was going to happen, even though, he tried to say that he just wanted to get away from Paris for a little bit. His lies pushed him deep into his own problems. The last week of 1792, it was decided that the king is going to be judged by its actions like everyone else in front of the law. The trial in front of the Convention began. The trial did not end well for the monarch and in January 21, 1793, the king of France was guillotined in front of 10,000 Parisians and Marie Antoinette also was guillotined nine months later.
In conclusion, the resistance of the king to accept his defeat and allow the National Assembly to take over France, made the revolution much more violent than it could have been. The people wanted a change but the king was not going to give it to them. His changing attitude from supporting the revolution to escaping France so he can attack his own country, made the general population angry. The king’s actions also added to the anger of the common people. Of course, that any monarch was never going to give up his power over a whole country for nothing so from his point of view, his actions are understandable. On the other hand, the king should have noticed that he was almost defeated and give up but instead of that he did exactly what he should have not done and the people did not like it. Therefore, the common people’s responses were very violent because the reign in them was too big to be controlled. They accomplished what they wanted and that was to overthrow the old regime.
just could not take it anymore. They did not have anything to lose so they decided to overturn the regime. Due to the king being so isolated in Versailles and being too distracted with his parties, he was not informed enough to know how to counter the revolution except with violence. Him ordering his troops to circle Paris and push in, he basically made the crowd in France resist his actions and his title. After the events of the summer of 1789, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were taken hostage from Versailles and were held in the Tuileries palace. At first, they were not allowed to do much but as the time went on, the royalty fictionally showed interest in the revolution by coming to events dressed in the tricolore colors so they got more space. They could take a coach and ride around Paris. They were also allowed to take walks. But by giving the royalty the freedom of doing want they wanted. They started making a plan to fleet from Paris and go across the border to the Austrian empire. The king’s actions after he was taken hostage were, at first, protesting. He was not happy with the fact that he was kept hostage and that he was not the absolute monarch anymore. After a while his attitude and actions changed because him and Marie Antoinette realized that if they support the revolution, they will get more freedom and also more love from the common people. That is also why they wore the tricolore colors of the revolution and attended the celebrations of the revolution. In July 14, 1790, they attended the first anniversary of the Fall of the Bastille. They were celebrated and the crowd was yelling, “Long live the king! Long live the Queen!” While the royal family was trying to make themselves look good and be loved again, they were making a plan to leave France, get an army and then, come back to France to take over once again.
The royalty’s plan was to leave France and find safety.
Then, to take France back and restore the absolute monarchy with the help of Marie Antoinette’s brother, Leopold. However, Leopold did not want to have anything to do with them until in 1791, Leopold, the king of the Austrian Empire, finally agreed and promised the French royalty that he is going to give them a full support by money and troops so they can take France back. Axel von Fersen, Swedish ambassador, started meeting with royal family, especially with the queen, to plan their escape to Varennes. Fersen was thought to be the queen’s lover. Without Fersen the royal family would not be able to get anywhere; they would stay locked in as hostages until the king would sign the constitution. Axel von Fersen created the plan with the help of De Bouille who had a massive army right by the French border and that is where the king would be safe so he could figure out how to take France back. They moved the date of the escape many times until in June 21st, 1791, they finally left Paris. The flight to Varennes where Bouille’s the army was supposed to be waiting for the royal family to protect them, did not work out. Bouille’s army left the meeting point because they thought that the king probably changed the date of the flight again. However, the royal family was just late. They got caught in Varennes because they were recognized in a few cities right before they got to Varennes like Sainte-Menehould and Clemont. They were kept in Varennes before it was decided that they were going to be sent back to Paris. The king was trying to make the people of Varennes to do whatever he said but the two years of revolution changed their view of the absolute monarchy. They saw that the country could be ran better without the absolute monarchy so they obeyed the word of the National Assembly instead of the king’s word. The state of the country and the people’s mentality was absolutely changed. No one trusted the king anymore.
They believed in their delegates that represented them in the National Assembly.
The message of the royal family trying to escape France spread through France very fast. Also, when the royal family got caught the news spread through France really fast. Of course, farther the city was from Paris it took the news longer to get there. When the people heard about the king’s actions they absolutely changed their thinking about the king. They absolutely stopped following the king; they started to listen to the National Assembly more and totally disowned the king. The common people walked by the royalty’s coach all the way to Paris. They were throwing stones and were trying to hurt the king and the queen physically. They injured and even killed many of the National Guardsmen who were supposed to protect the royal family on their way back to Paris. The general population now called the king, “Louis the Traitor” and “Louis the Faithless”. More publications were aimed against the royal family. The common people started drawing the king with a pig’ body and also did the same to the whole royal family. Their anger and total resistance towards the king, made the common people to be more violent. They were destroying every sign that represented the monarchy like emblems and the fleur-de-lis. Writings and pictures were painted on the walls of the Tuileries place where the royal family was kept after they were brought back to Paris. Many social movements were happening across the whole France. The general population was very angry with the king’s ridiculous actions.
In September 13, 1791, after the king was brought back to Paris he decided to sign the constitution and work with the National Assembly. However, the people of Paris did not want the constitution anymore because the king was in it. They realized that the king cannot be trusted anymore so they did not want the constitutional monarchy in France. While France was thinking what to do with the king, the Austrian and Prussian armies invaded France and were marching towards Paris. The French army pulled themselves together and defeated the enemy. The common people of Paris were so angry with the king and the queen that they attacked the palace. The first time they attacked, the National Guardsmen killed most of the crowd, but the second time the crowd killed the National Guardsmen and got to the palace. Luckily, for the king and the queen they got evacuated before the mad crowd got to them. The reign that the common people had was enormous. They were destroying everything that reminded them of the monarchy.
In September 22, 1792, the French Revolution was established. It was called the nation of all. The king’s room was looked through and many letters, proving that the king wanted to leave the country so he can gain power and come back to regain his position, where found on his table. That insured that the trial of the king was going to happen, even though, he tried to say that he just wanted to get away from Paris for a little bit. His lies pushed him deep into his own problems. The last week of 1792, it was decided that the king is going to be judged by its actions like everyone else in front of the law. The trial in front of the Convention began. The trial did not end well for the monarch and in January 21, 1793, the king of France was guillotined in front of 10,000 Parisians and Marie Antoinette also was guillotined nine months later.
In conclusion, the resistance of the king to accept his defeat and allow the National Assembly to take over France, made the revolution much more violent than it could have been. The people wanted a change but the king was not going to give it to them. His changing attitude from supporting the revolution to escaping France so he can attack his own country, made the general population angry. The king’s actions also added to the anger of the common people. Of course, that any monarch was never going to give up his power over a whole country for nothing so from his point of view, his actions are understandable. On the other hand, the king should have noticed that he was almost defeated and give up but instead of that he did exactly what he should have not done and the people did not like it. Therefore, the common people’s responses were very violent because the reign in them was too big to be controlled. They accomplished what they wanted and that was to overthrow the old regime.