1789: Prominent Figures

The "Hot Potato"

In the duration of the French Revolution, many tried to unite the nation of enraged peasants under their authority. Of those who attempted this audacious deed, only few succeeded, only to discover that their victory could not be prolonged. Power, in the French Revolution, is a fleeting element; the throne is as volatile as a powder keg, for a single spark could blow them to smithereens. It is as if this French debacle is a game of 'hot potato', where its players chuck glowing hot orbs of authority to one another. Those who hold onto it for too long risks death. Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby present you the prominent players of this very game...

King Louis XVI

In times where the nation is in peril, this is the last man one would want to see on the throne. King Louis was left with a nation impoverished by war and famine. With the burden of debts passed on to him by his father and an extravagant lifestyle to maintain, Louis will be the catalyst of the revolution. Ignorant to the needs of the people, Louis dismissed the Estate General and resort the use of brute force, ironically, while he lacked even the support of the military. Of course, this led to the Tennis Court Oath and a widespread discontent of the people, to the level that they are willing to exert force in order to meet their demands. These actions spurred the commoners into action and thus, officially started the revolution. Soon, this tyrant succumbs to the horde of peasants and was imprisoned in his own palace, the Tuileries. Death came to him in a swift stroke of the guillotine, after he was caught escaping at Varennes to the allied Duchies of Austria.

Maximilien Robespierre

In times of desperation, mankind had witnessed numerous instances madmen filling up the void in positions of power. This particular figure, is one of them. After the execution of our previous 'player', the National Convention had to contend with the widespread peasant riots against the landowners and the former loyalist authorities. This state of anarchy is called the 'Great Fear'.  The National Convention had given the authority to quell these riots to the Committee of Public Safety, led by Maximilien Robespierre, a radical from the Jacobins club. With the 12 men committee, Robespierre led a series of executions to rid the country of the lingering population of loyalists that he believed, is the source of these unrests. Amidst the chaos, Robespierre proclaimed himself as the dictator of France and executed those who opposed him with laws such as the Law of Suspects, allowing him to imprison virtually anyone without a trial. This blood stained period of French history is called the Reign of Terror where Robespierre could easily lop the head of his opposition with the newly invented execution machine called the Guillotine. Intoxicated with power, Robespierre's insanity had brought him to create his own cult based on classical deities and his own illusion of a rational God. The result: the citizen's freedom of faith is taken away and all traces of Christianity is wiped out from France (eg. Christian months are replaced by Robespierre's classically inspired calendars and streets are renamed to praise himself and his efforts towards the revolution). After the riots died down, Robespierre's cover of chaos was lifted and he soon became a convict from the murder of over 14,000 people. Robespierre was arrested and executed with his own weapon, the Guillotine, ending the Reign of Terror. This madman's life proved Boris Yeltsin's saying that "one could make a throne out of bayonets, but he could not sit on it for long".

". . . Indulgence for the royalists, cry certain men, mercy for the villains! No! mercy for the innocent, mercy for the weak, mercy for the unfortunate, mercy for humanity."

- Maximilien Robespierre

Napoleon Bonaparte

Might makes right in all episodes of the French Revolution, and that does not exclude its grand finale. Napoleon is an ambitious French artillery officer from the Isle of Corsica. He proved his merits as a soldier in the Battle of Toulon, where he effective utilize artillery in defeating the British. Such glory was exemplified by Napoleon's campaign to Egypt, where he crushed the Mamelukes in the Battle of the Pyramids, which is romantically portrayed by the media. With his fame, Napoleon rallied his supporters to overthrow the ineffective French Directory. In 1799, Napoleon returned from his conquests and staged a coup on the Directory and removed them from power. Napoleon proclaimed himself as the emperor of France, and thus, ending the French Revolution for he had consolidated the nation and would soon turn her into a world power. Napoleon with France under his control, raised his Grand Armee and expanded the French Empire, which at its apex, stretches from Russia to Algeria. After the disastrous campaign in Russia, Napoleon was defeated by the coalition of European nations in the Battle of Waterloo, ending what we call the Napoleonic Wars.  Ultimately, Napoleon made the French Revolution a paradoxical phenomenon where many had shed their blood for a republic, yet, they have an empire, ruled by an emperor in return.

Napoleon's stringent character that had won him his battles and the title of Frances emperor is shown in the following document:  

"Bonaparte's reception by the troops was nothing short of rapturous. It was well worth seeing how he talked to the soldiers, ---how he questioned them one after the other respecting their campaigns or their wounds, taking particular interest in the men who had accompanied him to Egypt. I have heard Madame Bonaparte say that her husband was in the constant habit of poring over the list of what are called the cadres of the army at night before he slept. He would go to sleep repeating the names of the corps, and even those of some of the individuals who composed them; he kept these names in a corner of his memory, and this habit came to his aid when he wanted to recognize a soldier and to give him the pleasure of a cheering word from his general. He spoke to the subalterns in a tone of good-fellowship, which delighted them all, as he reminded them of their common feats of arms."

- Madame de Rémusat (A friend of Napoleon's wife, Josephine)