Читать книгу Bible of the Time. …from the Big Bang to the present day… - Rem Word - Страница 17

Marie Antoinette of Habsburg-Lorraine (1755 – 1793), the youngest daughter of Emperor Franz I and Marie Theresa. The raison d’être of this lady is gambling and balls. She was decapitated by the decision of the Convention, buried in the same place where 139 people who died at her stormy wedding were buried.

Liberty, Igality, Fraternity – Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood. The French Revolution. The guillotine, a humane instrument of justice approved by the king himself, later tested on himself. The convention, the taking of the Bastille and the cult of the Supreme Being instead of Christianity. Jacobin Club with branches throughout France. Suspicious Law, Marat, Robespierre and Danton. Friends of the people become enemies and vice versa with kaleidoscopic speed. An abyss suddenly opens up between the village and the city. Recruiting in the province of Vendee sparks a powder keg. Twelve «infernal columns» of a predominantly urban Republic are deploying a large-scale «French-French genocide» in the peasant and Catholic provinces. It seems that the goal of the revolutionary French is now the complete destruction of the peasants, the creation of agricultural settlements, ready to participate in all the adventures of the Convention, and not hindering the withdrawal of grain from citizens. Killed 30 thousand republican soldiers and 180 thousand peasants, every sixth or seventh inhabitant of the department.

Thermidor is a counter-revolutionary coup, unexpected as snow on the head. The leaders of the French Republic are dragged from the rostrum right during their performance and taken to a date with the scaffold. Directory – five elected directors. Council of Five Hundred. And only a chant from the audience, in response to another proposal to intensify the terror: «Justice for all!» stops the work of the guillotine.

Maximilian Robespierre (1758 – 1794), aka «Incorruptible» and «Mad Hyena», the founder of the «Great Terror». Guillotined by Robespierre by his own Convention without trial or investigation. There is not a single street in France bearing the name of Robespierre.

….Officer Napoleon, referring to the illness, avoids the dubious honor of a participant in the suppression of the Vendée uprising. However, it manages to stand out. The big players’ field has been cleared. The countries of the monarchical coalition are striving to impose peace on France by war, and every initiative active person is in demand. Captain Napoleon shows himself well in the capture of the rebellious Toulon. He becomes a brigadier general after the use of artillery against the «golden youth» on the streets of Paris, with arms in hand, seeking the restoration of the monarchy. After the Italian and Egyptian companies, the last of which was designed to create a staging area for the invasion of the Indian possessions of England, the general gains popular popularity. The Council of Five Hundred, which once dispatched an ambitious officer on foreign campaigns, is also dispersed by it. The Napoleonic Code (Civil Code) is adopted, combining Roman law and revolutionary conquests.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821)

In 1803, Napoleon made an unexpected proposal to the Jefferson government. It’s like, «Would you like to acquire Louisiana, a vast area of North America, officially transferred to me, France, by Spain three weeks earlier?» The point, if there is one here at all, is that in the event of war, England can easily seize these lands. Bonaparte himself is very eager to fight Britain in Europe. For just $ 15 million, on May 2, 1803, the government of President Jefferson acquires land equal to a quarter of the area of the current United States. Further, for about the same amount (7 cents per hectare) step by step; beads, knives, canvas for tents, fire water, white Americans ransom tasty territories from the leaders of the Indians. Redskins: Iroquois, Sioux, Cherokee and others, pale-faced citizens of their country do not want to see under any sauce.

In 1804, the Pope covers the head of Napoleon Bonaparte with a crown. The First French Republic imperceptibly betrays itself and becomes an Empire.

Bonaparte defeats the troops of the Third Monarchist Coalition at Austerlitz and distributes the kingdoms of Europe to his close and distant relatives. The battle of Preussisch-Eylau (near Konigsberg) with the combined German and Russian troops of the Fourth Coalition terrifies even seasoned military personnel. Losses of twenty-five thousand killed, a fighting draw and a temporary lull.

Portugal flatly refuses to take part in the blockade of England. Napoleon discusses with the Spanish king the transfer of his troops to the rebellious country. During the negotiation process, he unexpectedly declares the monarch and his son prisoners. An attempt to send young Spanish princes to France leads to a large-scale uprising and guerrilla war. The throne of the King of Spain is occupied by Napoleon’s brother Joseph.

Napoleon is also seriously quarreling with the Vatican. Bonaparte’s troops annex the papal possessions. The Pope, ousted from power, in turn excommunicates Bonaparte from the church (1809), which in no way contributes to the popularity of the emperor among Catholics.

The Russian campaign of Napoleon, in addition to the desire for fame, booty and new territories, is a reaction to the participation of Alexander the First in all monarchist coalitions against France. The exodus from Moscow along the already devastated path was marked by cases of cannibalism.

Battle of Borodino («Battle of Moscow»), 1812

Of the six hundred thousandth army, twenty-three thousand survive (excluding the prisoners, many of whom preferred the position of tutor). They take refuge in the allied Poland. The Emperor is gathering a new army. He manages to win a series of victories over the troops, which includes ex-allies from the German principalities of the Sixth Coalition. But, French soldiers, officers, even marshals get tired of fighting. After the unexpected surrender of Paris to the Russian troops, in the face of a full-fledged opposition, Napoleon signed an act of abdication. A moment later, he is again called «General Bonaparte.»

All the surviving royal men, led by Louis the Eighteenth, return to France. The place of the revolutionary officers is taken by the nobles who have come from nowhere. And, the coat of arms of the Bourbons – a red lion surrounded by blue shells, flaunts on official documents for a short time. Against the background of general discontent, Napoleon returned from the island of Elba, where he had an artillery battery, a battalion of guardsmen and ships for walks at his disposal. The emperor gathers an army from the royal military units sent to capture him.

After the disaster at Waterloo (it is wrong to sleep during a general battle and send the infantry to march on the cannons) there is still hope for the continuation of this whole story. With the remnants of the army and young recruits numbering one hundred thousand fighters, Bonaparte wins a series of minor victories and arrives in Paris. The workers support Napoleon, the bourgeoisie no longer. The Emperor never sought to rely on the French working class or the Russian peasantry in order to consolidate the gains, revolutionary in a good sense at first. In addition, having lost 1.2 million of its soldiers, 28 million France is simply bled out of blood. More and more allied troops are striving for Paris. Their number reaches one million. With two frigates, the emperor is trying to leave for America, towards new adventures. At sea, his ship is blocked by an English squadron. Napoleon surrenders to the British at the Bellerophon and, according to official history, ends his days on the island of St. Helena in 1821

…Napoleon François (1811 – 1832), aka «Eaglet», Napoleon’s son, the unloved child of Mary of Austria de jure rules 14 days, therefore it is officially considered Napoleon II. Presumably, the boy was poisoned by those monarchical circles to whom he caused a lot of trouble just by his existence.

Napoleon III, Charles-Louis (1808 – 1873) ends a short dynasty on a fairly high note. Son of the brother of Napoleon the First and stepdaughter of Bonaparte. The first president of the Second French Republic, then like his uncle – again, the Emperor of France. The nominal idea is «one rules at the will of the people.» In 1859, in a bloc with Sardinia and the Garibaldians, Charles-Louis took away the territorial Italian provinces of Nice and Savoy from Austria. With allied England, he made two unsuccessful attempts to capture Mexico. The monarch provokes a war with a united Germany in 1870, which entails the creation of the Paris Commune and the occupation of the country by foreign troops. Napoleon III dies in England, after a long stay in German captivity.