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. Its 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 Napoleons brother Joseph.
Napoleon is also seriously quarreling with the Vatican. Bonapartes 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», Napoleons 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.
Dynasties of England and Great Britain
After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes of the Angles and Saxons, under the leadership of the chiefs kings, landed in England. The base of the conquerors is the southwestern part of England, almost the Wessex Peninsula. Local Britons, who had forgotten how to fight during the Roman rule, moved to the north of France. Or, having received the derogatory name «Curls», they remain in order to faithfully serve the foreign lords the «bread lords».
The Wessex dynasty ruled the kingdoms of foggy Albion from the eighth to the middle of the tenth centuries. The ceremonial alternation of local kings is interrupted by William the Conqueror, a native of continental Normandy. He breathes new life into the Norman dynasty. It was founded in 911 by the Norwegian Viking Rollon.
After a century, the Saxons lose their original extensive liberties and turn into villans performing unlimited duties. However, thanks to military service, some of them become free people, «Freemen» and «freeholders» «free farmers».
In 1100, elected king with violations of the right of inheritance, to attract the sympathies of the feudal lords, the church and all how much influential free people, Henry the First presents the first edition of the Charter of Liberties. The obligations of the state and the individual, legal proceedings, taxes are streamlined. This proclamation is successful, overgrown with additions, up to the appearance on the throne of John Lackland (1199). The reforms of this monarch boil down to the establishment of royal tyranny, extortion for wars, sometimes not even begun, mind-boggling fines, and restricting the movement of the countrys inhabitants. In 1207, the monarch expelled the head of the Church of England, appointed by the Pope, and received personal excommunication. Unbaptized children, illegitimate marriages, have the right effect on the British. The top authorities are losing the fight against the Roman Church and the people. Thanks to this confrontation, by 1215, England becomes the first country of law and law on the planet.
The basis of English legislation to this day is the principle of the subordination of power to law under the threat of a legitimate armed rebuff from the people.
Plantagenets. They have ruled since 1154. The most famous representative of the dynasty is Richard the Lionheart. In the third crusade, King Richard approaches Jerusalem, already determined to surrender. But, concerned about the internal political problems of his country, the king misses his chance.
About the Crusades themselves, we can say that for many reasons, their meaning and significance are denigrated. Before Catholic Europe reacts, the Arabs take over the originally Christian, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Asia Minor and Spain fall into the shadow of the Islamic conquest. Units of knights and peoples militia stop this pressure.
Tombstone of Richard the Lionheart (11571119). «There are no knights. There is a trace of rust on the weapon. The souls of these warriors left the light»
The dynasties of England and France are mixed. To say: «In such and such a period England is ruled by the Plantagenet dynasty» is not entirely correct. Thus, the Hundred Years War, lasting one hundred and sixteen years, was started by the English king Edward III (13121377), due to its belonging to the more French Capetian.
The nodal battles of the war, the battles of Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt, are similar. French troops overtake the small English invading army. The weary knights, urged on by the orders of the impatient king, enter the battle from the march. They are shot from two-meter bows and finished off by British riflemen.
After ten years of this carnage, a plague epidemic breaks out (peak of the epidemic in 1348). Residents are cramped in the besieged cities. They dont care about hygiene in principle. The streets are full of filth. «Black Death» takes up to half of Europeans, undermining its social hierarchy and even religious foundations.
After such a terrible respite, hostilities are resumed.
Many people in northern France already consider themselves British. French nobles introduce additional taxes. This move leads to Jacquerie, the uprising of «Jacques-simpletons», much more powerless than the English farmers. In the first half of the fourteenth century, the fighting spirit of the French, their national identity was revived by Jeanne dArc. England is deprived of all possessions on the continent. The last of her hands is the port de Calais, at the narrowest part of the Channel.
But, the British, whose country, in contrast to the loss of two-thirds of the inhabitants of France, is in perfect order, want the continuation of the lists. A branch of the Plantagenet dynasty, the Yorkies, vie for the crown at the House of Lancaster. A thirty-year rivalry between the red (Lancaster) and white (Yorkie) emblematic roses begins.
In the middle of the fourteenth century, after the death in battle of the last king from the Lancaster, Richard III, and the announcement of the heir to the House of York illegitimate, the war-weary English society crowns Henry the Seventh Tudor.
Henry the Seventh Tudor, King of England and Sovereign of Ireland, founder of the dynasty (1457 1509).
Lancaster blood flows in his veins. He marries Elizabeth of York (of course, York), and thus unites the warring dynasties. The new Tudor emblem combines red and white in a single rose. The next twenty-four years of his reign are celebrated in the history of England as a general idyll. The peasants are becoming free en masse. Serf dependence is replaced by land dependence. The amount of government duties is strictly fixed. Estates find a common language on the basis of religion and financial success. However, the era of Good Old England ends with the ascension to the throne of Henry VIII. For the sake of marriage with Anne Boleyn and an easy divorce from the annoying former wife, the king issues a law to change the state religion. The principle begins to work: whose power, that is the faith.
Henry VIII, third child of Henry VIII, head of the Church of England (1491 1547). He divorces two wives out of six, and executes two on charges of treason. One dies by itself. The last of the halves of the monarch shows remarkable diplomatic talent, remains a widow and even gets married a second time. By the end of his life, due to obesity, the king is able to move only with the help of special mechanisms.