The period known as “the reign of terror” now began in earnest. A faction of the extreme republican party got control of the government, and kept it by terrorizing the more peaceable citizens. The brutal wrongs which nobles had put upon the lower classes for so many hundred years were brutally avenged. The king was executed, as were most of the nobles who had not fled from the country. For three or four years, the gutters of the principal French cities ran blood. Then the better sense of the nation came to the front and the people settled down. A fairly good government was organized, and the executions ceased. Still the kings of Europe would not recognize the new republic. There was war against France for the next twenty years on the part of England, and generally two or three other countries as well.
The First Singing of ‘The Marseillaise’
Questions for Review
- Why was Poland an easy prey for her neighbors?
- Why did not Spain, France, or England interfere to prevent the partition of Poland?
- How did Lithuania come to be joined to Poland?
- What things could the king of France do which would not be tolerated in the United States today?
- Why did the people of France submit to the rule of the king?
- Why did the king call together the three “estates”?
- Why do the French celebrate the 14th of July?
- Why did the other kings take up the cause of the king of France?
- What was the cause of the reign of terror?
Chapter IX.
The Little Man from the Common People
The young Corsican.—The war in Italy.—Italy a battlefield for centuries.—The victories of Bonaparte.—The first consul.—The empire.—The French sweep over Europe.—Kings and emperors beaten and deposed.—The fatal Russian campaign.—The first abdication.—The return from Elba.—The battle of Waterloo.—The feudal lords once more triumphant.
And now there came to the front one of the most remarkable characters in all history. This was Napoleon Bonaparte, a little man from the island of Corsica, of Italian parentage, but a French citizen, for the island had been forcibly The annexed to France shortly before his birth. As a young lieutenant in the army, he had seen the storming of the Bastille. Later on, being in charge of the cannon which defended the House of Parliament, he had saved one of the numerous governments set up during this period. A Paris mob was trying to storm this building, as they had the castle of the king. As a reward, he had been put in charge of the French army in Italy, which was engaged in fighting the Austrians.
In order to understand the situation it is necessity at this point to devote some attention to the past history of the Italian peninsula.