HISTORY ESSAY
Nov 97 : How serious a threat to the French Revolution was presented by the enemies both external and internal during the period 1789-1793?
French Revolution started in 1789. Its main aim was to abolish the practice of Ancien Regime. Throughout this period of 1789-1793, the revolutionary had successfully dismantled the Ancien Regime and set up a constitutional monarchy. Later in 1792, it changed to republican form of government with the execution of Louis XVI.
As the revolution progressed, France began to be threaten by enemy consist of both internal enemies (enemies that lived in France and able to provide help for the émigrés forces) and external enemies (enemies which came from foreign countries such as Austria, Prussia, Britain, German, Italy, Spain and Holland).
In this case, the external enemies were a combination of the émigrés ( king’s brothers and privileged nobility that had fled to other countries to gain military help) and the foreign forces. Those foreign powers were willing to provide help to Louis XVI by declaring war on the French revolutionary as those countries still practiced the Ancien Regime and felt threaten when the revolutionary idea spread over the frontier to their countries with Edict of Fraternity- the French revolutionary would help those people who went against their ruler. Great threat to the motherland of France with the Declaration of Pillnitz (cause of Louis XVI was the cause of every monarch of France) and the Manifesto ( Duke of Brunswick declared that if the king was again humiliated similar to the incident of 20 June 1792 then he would carry out military execution and total subversion with the guilty rebels put to the death they deserved). All this might result in the defeat of the revolutionary army and brought France under the control of the Great Powers, Belgium and Holland.
