Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, a northern area in modern day Austria, which was formerly a part of the vast but fragile Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1889. His father, Alois Hitler, was abusive to the young boy, often exacting punishments via physical abuse, whilst his mother, Klara Polz, who was also his Father’s cousin, was very doting and the young Hitler grew very fond of his mother.
Hitler as a baby
Whilst he was often described as a confident young man in his early youth, his personality changed when his younger brother, Edmund, passed away from the measles when Hitler was 11, turning him into a more detached and depressed young teen, who’d often argue with his father and teachers. Only three years later, his father would pass away from a lung hemorrhage. Not long afterwards, his grades started to decline, with him barely passing his final exams.
At the age of 18, he had a sad goodbye to his mother, before moving to Vienna to take an entrance exam to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. After being rejected not once but twice, he had to return home to Linz, after learning that his mother was dying of breast cancer. She passed away at the age of 47, when Hitler was 18. The family doctor, Eduard Bloch, said that he had never seen someone so distraught as Hitler was at his mother’s death.
One of Hitler’s paintings
Aimless, Hitler slept on the streets of Vienna, selling paintings of Vienna’s sights in order to pay for food and alike. Whilst his former roommate in Vienna, August Kubisek, often described Hitler as rather outgoing, despite a general disinterest in pursuing women romantically, passionate in politics and the arts, a fan of the opera and somewhat Catholic in his beliefs, Hitler abruptly left the apartment they lived in shortly after his mother died and left no note indicating where he was going to. Likely because he was going nowhere.
Whilst he was often friendly towards Jewish individuals who expressed their religion in a more subtle way, that attitude began to slowly change over his time on the streets. Whilst the soup kitchen he spent most of his time in was largely a Jewish community, the middle class of the city found antisemitism to be fashionable. Karl Lueger, mayor of Vienna from 1897 till his death in 1910, ran on a populist platform and largely campaigned in favour of antisemitism, a politician who Hitler openly admired. It is also around this time that Hitler noticed a different attitude he had towards Jewish people.
Once, when passing through the inner City, I suddenly encountered a phenomenon in a long caftan and wearing black side-locks. My first thought was: Is this a Jew? They certainly did not have this appearance in Linz. I watched the man stealthily and cautiously; but the longer I gazed at the strange countenance and examined it feature by feature, the more the question shaped itself in my brain: Is this a German?
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
Antisemitic pamphlets were also commonplace around Vienna. Having developed these racist sentiments, he came to despise the multicultural Austro-Hungarian Empire, so moved to Germany by late 1913. Accused of draft dodging, Hitler wrote a letter to the Austro-Hungarian police, fearing arrest if he didn’t. Admiring his tone, the police let him go and the matter was largely dropped altogether. Only a few months later, war broke out.
In 1888, London was the largest city on the planet. At the height of the industrial revolution, this was the peak of capitalism, with many factory owners making lots of money very quickly.
A photo of London in the late 19th Century
However, just down the road from where all these rich men lived in Kensington were their workers, who lived in the infamous Victorian London Slums, which were rife with cholera outbreaks, rats and typhoid. Many of the men laboured in the highly dangerous factories to make a living for their family whilst the children were hired as chimney sweeps, where some would get trapped and die. The women sometimes turned to prostitution in order to make a living. One of the most famous of these slums was the expansive district of Whitechapel.
An East End Slum in Whitechapel
On the 31st August 1888 at around 3:40 am, Charles Cross was walking down Buck’s Row in Whitechapel when he saw a woman lying on her back on the ground. He rushed over, to find her hands cold to the touch. Robert Paul came to his side and the two analysed the body. However, not wanting to be late for work, the two men left the scene, hoping to find a police officer on their way. This effort was, thankfully, for naught as 5 minutes later PC John Neil happened upon the same body himself.
Neil, who had a lantern so could see much better, found a large cut across the woman’s throat. It was deemed to be relatively fresh, as the wound was still bleeding and different parts of the body were still warm. Another constable arrived who grabbed a doctor who determined that she had been dead for half an hour, which meant that Cross and Paul found the body only 10 minutes after the murder.
She was quickly rushed to the morgue not long after, where she was identified as Mary Ann Nichols, a 43 year old woman with 6 children who had turned to prostitution in order to get into a lodging house she had been denied from earlier that night. She was last seen, by a close friend, walking down Whitechapel Road, around 800 metres from her murder site, whilst visibly drunk. This was around 2:30, only one hour before her death.
A drawing of Nichols
The doctors determined that there were two slits to the throat as well as a slice across the abdomen and that she had been disembowelled. Whilst no organs had been removed, the doctors still determined that the killer had a decent anatomical knowledge. Many police officers compared it to another murder earlier that month, that being Martha Tabram. Both women were prostitutes, killed incredibly violently and ferociously, had no discernible motive for their respective murders and were around the same age. However, the difference was in the wounds. Whilst Tabram had been repeatedly stabbed, Nichols wounds were more consistent with slashes and slices. Despite this, the police still suspected the two murders of being linked.
On September 8th, a little over a week after the first murder, at 4:45 am, John Richardson was walking along Hanbury Street before making a stop at No. 29. He walked through the house to check the security of the basement door in the back yard before sitting on the back doorstep, where he trimmed a piece of leather from his boot. He then left the premises back through the front door and closed it behind himself, continuing on his walk to work. An hour later, a tenant on the third floor by the name of John Davis walked down stairs. The front door was now wide open but the back door was closed. Davis walked outside only to find the body of a woman lying on her back by the fence in the yard.
A photo of the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street
A doctor and a police officer soon arrived on the scene. The doctor said that she had been “terribly mutilated”. The specifics include a deep cut in her throat and her intestines had been lifted from her body and wrapped around her neck. By the woman’s feet they found a cloth and two combs, which were suspected to be belonging to the victim but had been arranged by the murderer.
At the mortuary she was identified as Annie Chapman, a 47 year old woman, who occupied herself with crochet work, flower selling and casual prostitution on the side. The last official sighting of Chapman was when she was denied lodging at 35 Dorset Street due to insufficient funds. However, at 5:30, a woman named Elizabeth Long saw Chapman conversing with a man just metres away from 29 Hanbury Street. Many suspect that this man, who Long could not see as his back was facing her, was the killer.
A photo of Chapman
However, this creates a conflict, as the doctor determined the time of death was at 4:30. Richardson claimed that when he entered the backyard at 4:45 there was no body, and that it was impossible for him to not have seen it if it was there. The doctor did concede saying that he mainly judged the time of death based off the temperature of the body, which could’ve been effected by the cold night. This would place Chapman’s death between 5:30 and 5:45 in the morning. However, this creates a chilling reality, where, with the dim light of dawn slowly creeping through the streets, the residents of 29 Hanbury Street would have had an unobstructed view of the murder. However, no-one was reported as having observed the murder.
At the mortuary, marks were discovered on her fingers, consistent with someone aggressively taking off a ring. Other parts of the abdomen were removed and not found, including Chapman’s womb. Doctor’s determined that, because of this, the killer must have some kind of anatomical knowledge, whether that be a surgeon, a medical student or a butcher.
Many in Whitechapel began to question the competence of the police, despite the overwhelming odds stacked against them. In an attempt to stop the attacks, a man named George Lusk established the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, a vigilante task force set on hunting down the killer. Due to a leather apron being found at the scene of Chapman’s murder, newspapers began to suspect that a Jewish man was behind the attacks, due to a Polish Jewish boot maker in Whitechapel named John Pizer often being characterised by his leather apron. The Vigilance Committee began to severely harass Jewish Businesses.
A cartoon depicting a police man playing Blind Man’s Bluff, attempting to demonstrate their incompetance
The newspapers whipped the people up into a frenzy, which encouraged many people to write into the police offices and newspapers claiming to be the murderer. Many of these were dismissed as pranks or false allegations. However, one sent to the Central News Agency in London caught their eye. The letter, which arrived on the 27th of September, read as follows in bright red ink.
Dear Boss,
I keep on hearing the Police have caught me, but they won’t fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores and I shan’t quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now? I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with, but it went thick like glue and I can’t use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope ha. ha. The next job I do I shall clip the lady’s ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldn’t you. Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work, then give it out straight. My knife’s so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good Luck. Yours truly Jack the Ripper
Don’t mind me giving the trade name
PS Wasn’t good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands curse it. No luck yet. They say I’m a doctor now. ha ha
The letter sent to the Central News Agency
The name at the bottom of the letter would ring throughout history as one of if not the most famous serial killer of all time. The Agency forwarded this to the police, who were more skeptical. However, their opinion would soon change.
On September 29th, just two days after the “Dear Boss” Letter, 40 Berner Street was holding a meeting for the Socialist Club. The meeting came to a close and some chose to stay and drink. At half past midnight, Joseph Lave used the side entrance, which led into Dutfields Yard, to grab some fresh air. He lingered for 10 minutes, facing into Berner Street before retreating into the building. Moments later a man named Morris Eagle, who was a member of the club and had come back after escorting a woman home, turned right off Berner Street into Dutfields Yard and used the same entrance into No. 40.
A map of the street
Barely 20 minutes went by before a horse and carriage, driven by Louis Diemschutz, made the same turn that Eagle did, turning right into Dutfields Yard off Burner Street. However, once he entered the yard, the horse veered to the left. He looked down and saw the body of a woman lying by the wall. He went inside to check on his wife before a small crowd gathered outside. They determined that the woman was dead and then dispersed to find a police officer.
The name of the victim was Elizabeth Stride, a 44 year old cleaner and prostitute. She had been spotted 3 times through out the night with a man described as having a “respectable appearance” the last one of these being at around 12:35, about 25 minutes before the body was found.
A photo of Stride
The most notable sighting was by Israel Schwartz, who spotted a man violently shoving a woman at the entrance of Dutfields Yard. Schwartz crossed the street, deciding to not intervene, before the man yelled “Lipski”, a Jewish slur, which encouraged another man to follow Schwartz for quite some distance. Whether this was a co-conspirator or the man was simply frightened too and happened to walk down the same way as Schwartz is up to interpretation. This occurred only 5 minutes before the body was discovered and it is believed that the woman was Stride and the man shoving her was the killer.
She did not have as many brutal wounds as the other victims, with just a slit of her throat, which lead many to believe that she was not actually a victim of the Ripper. However, what many believe is that when Diemschutz rolled his cart down Dutfields Yard, he had inadvertently interrupted the murder, and the murderer had hidden at the end of the alleyway. Once Diemschutz went inside to check on his wife, it is believed that the murder slipped out of the yard and went on the hunt for another victim.
Later that night, at around 1:45, PC Edward Watkins discovered another body on his patrol route around the area of Mitre Square, only 15 minutes away from Dutfields Yard. She was taken to the mortuary and identified as Catherine Eddowes, a 46 year old street vendor and prostitute. Eddowes had been jailed earlier that night, for being so drunk she collapsed on the pavement, and was not released until 1 in the morning. 35 minutes later, she was spotted in the company of a man near an entrance to Mitre Square.
A drawing of Eddowes
The post mortem found that she too had been disembowelled, with some of her organs being removed, most notably her womb and her left kidney, reinforcing their theory that the killer had decent anatomical knowledge. What was also notable was that there had been a small incision made on her left earlobe. This indicated that the murderer was attempting to cut Eddowes’ ear off, as detailed in the letter, before he was, once again, interrupted. This was somewhat confirmed by a postcard sent 2 days later. Whilst it was much shorter than the letter sent on the 27th, many detectives still believed this to be from the actual killer, as it was written before any information about the two murders had been released to the public or the press.
I was not codding dear old boss when I gave you the tip, you’ll hear about Saucy Jacky’s work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldn’t finish straight off. Had not got time to get ears off for police thanks for keeping last letter back till I got to work again.
The postcard sent to the Central News Agency
In addition, two blocks away from Mitre Square, a piece of blood stained cloth was found on the pavement, which was found to be a part of Eddowes’ apron that she was wearing. Above it, in large sprawling text on the wall, was written:
The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing
The graffito found on Goulston Street.
A cartoon depicting the discovery of the writing
The meaning of this is heavily debated. Was it written by the killer in an attempt to divert attention away or towards the Jewish Community of London? Was it just discarded there by chance under to some anti-semitic graffito by someone who wasn’t the killer? To this day, no-one knows the answer to any of these questions. No matter what the case was, Commissioner Charles Warren ordered it to be removed for fear of civil unrest.
A final confirmed letter was sent to George Lusk on the 16th of October and was redirected to the police force after its arrival. It appeared as though the handwriting was much worse than the previous two, as well as the spelling. However, some suspect that this was done on purpose to throw the police off to make the killer seem uneducated.
From hell.
Mr Lusk, Sir I send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nice. I may send you the bloody knife that took it out if you only wate a while longer signed
Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk
A photo of the “From Hell” letter
With the letter there was a parcel which, as the letter described, contained half a human kidney. There was no way of confirming, however, if this was actually Eddowes’ kidney or something that a medical student had done as a prank. Whatever the case may be, this is what many believe to be the final letter from Jack the Ripper, and there was relative peace in London for quite some time. For over a month, not a single murder was reported and many believed that the Ripper had simply stopped.
[I]t daily becomes evident that the Whitechapel murderer has gone out of business [and i]t is pretty certain that, despite […] the bravado exhibited by Jack the Ripper in his recent letter, the monster has become frightened at the magnitude of the police arrangements for his detection and has suspended his horrible work for the present, if not for good.
The Dunkirk Observer Journal, October 29th, 1888
In the property of Millers Court on November 9th, 1888, landlord John McCarthy had noticed that the tenant of number 13, one Mary Jane Kelly, had fallen behind on her rent. At around 10:45 am, he instructed his assistant, Thomas Bowyer, to collect the money. Bowyer knocked on the door twice and, after receiving no response, decided to peer through the window to see if Kelly was home. After seeing what was inside he quickly ran to his boss and summoned him to look upon the horror in 13 Miller’s Court.
The sight we saw I cannot drive away from my mind. It looked more like the work of a devil than of a man. [Kelly]’s body was lying on the bed undressed. She had been completely disembowelled, and her entrails had been taken out and placed on the table. It was those that I had seen when I looked through the window, and took to be lumps of flesh. The woman’s nose had been cut off, and her face gashed and mutilated so that she was quite beyond recognition. Both her breasts, too, had been cut clean away, and placed by the side of her liver, and other entrails on the table. I had heard a great deal about the Whitechapel murders, but I declare to God I had never expected to see such a sight as this. The body was, of course, covered with blood, and so was the bed. The whole scene is more than I can describe, I hope I may never see such a sight again.
John McCarthy’s testimony he gave to the press
Kelly was the youngest victim. She was somewhere in her mid twenties and was, up until the start of the month, cohabitating with a man named Joseph Barnett, who had split with Kelly on the 30th of October, due his disapproval of her life as a prostitute as well as the circles she hung around with.
A drawing of Mary Jane Kelly
Kelly was seen by Barnett in 13 Millers Court on the evening of November 8th, the former of which was in the company of a woman who was on her way out the door. Whilst many accounts conflict on this, Barnett claims he arrived anywhere between 7:00 and 7:45 and left before 9:00. At 11:45, Kelly’s neighbour spotted her entering her home with a man, whilst she was in a drunken state. She was heard singing by this same neighbour and was still singing by the time the neighbour left Miller’s Court at 1am.
It is then alleged that she left Miller’s Court and met up with George Hutchinson, asking for some spare coins as the two were well acquainted. When Hutchinson told Kelly he had no spare money, she walked down the street and was spotted in the company of a well dressed man by Hutchinson. Believing the presence of a well dressed man in the accompaniment of a woman like Kelly to be strange, he scrutinised the appearance of the man.
The central figure aligns with Hutchinson’s description of the man
Hutchinson then shadowed the couple up to Miller’s Court, whereupon the man gave Kelly a red handkerchief before being invited inside. The detail about the red handkerchief matches up with the testimony of the last person to see Eddowes alive, who described the man he sighted as having a “reddish handkerchief” tied around his neck. Hutchinson then stuck around for around an hour before leaving.
Once Kelly’s neighbour returned, at around 3:00, there was now no sound or light coming from Kelly’s room. At 4:00, the residents above and across from Kelly heard “cries of murder” from nearby, whilst other residents heard absolutely nothing at all. Doctors were unsure where to place the time of death as, despite Hutchinson’s testimony, some believe that he embellished the truth or simply lied in order to gain more public attention. The certainty was not helped by the fact that some witnesses described seeing and even speaking to her as late as 8 or 10 o’clock on the morning of November 9th.
These 5 murders described above are the suspected “Canonical Five” Victims. Whilst there were some murders in the area before and some since, these are usually the ones collectively agreed upon as the murders that were committed by Jack the Ripper. To this day, the case still remains unsolved. With hundreds upon hundreds of suspects, ranging from Charles Cross, who discovered the body of Nichols, to Lewis Carroll, the writer of Alice in Wonderland, the case will likely never be solved. Even with all these advances in modern science, with some DNA tests being conducted on cloth samples, this one simple question can not be answered nearly 200 years later.
Who was Jack the Ripper?
A cartoon depicting the nearly impossible manhunt for Jack the Ripper
Nyx was night, but what was night without its cover? Not long after Nyx had pulled herself into existence, Erebus followed. He was darkness. While Nyx was the divine embodiment of night and all that it entailed, Erebus was action. He was primordial, an enforcer, the executioner. The final knell of sleep and death and the champion of the night.
Molly Tullis in her book “Consort of Darkness”
By the mid 19th century, much of the world’s waters had been explored. The primary route, by sea, to Eastern Asia from Europe was to go underneath South America or Africa, as the Panama and Suez Canals were yet to be built. However, some believed that there was another, faster way, through the fabled North West Passage.
A map of trade routes before 1845
Just north of Canada is the icy and unforgiving waters of the Arctic Ocean. In the winter months, the Sun would not rise, and winds would bring temperatures as low as -40°C and sometimes even lower. Whilst easily passable with modern technology, this was not the case in 1845. But, the British were still determined to find the North West Passage to Asia.
The man assigned to command the expedition was Captain Sir John Franklin. Franklin was an experienced explorer, and had led 3 different expeditions to the Arctic previously and was very popular with his crew, who saw him as a compassionate commander who had an admiration for expedition. However, the Admiralty was hesitant. In 1819, Franklin had led a disastrous expedition in the same territory. His men eventually began to starve and got so hungry they began eating the leather from their boots, to which he gained a nickname “The man who ate his own boot”. However, Franklin was confident that he could find the Northwest passage, securing a more efficient way to trade with Asia, before he would humbly retire once the passage was explored.
A photo of John Franklin
Two ships were chosen for the expedition, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror, commanded by Captain James Fitzjames and Captain Francis Crozier respectively. At the time, they were seen as the height of naval technology. Formerly war ships in the Royal Navy, the ships had been specially modified for Polar Expeditions, with extra planking and metal plating at the bow and water line, believing this may help them break through the ice. The ship was equipped with central heating technology as well as a steam engine connected to a propellor at the rudder, which was theorised to give the ship extra strength to power through the ice.
A drawing of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror
The British also wanted to use the expedition to test many of their newest inventions. If the propellors needed fixing they would use the new invention of the diving suit to go down and break the ice with a stick. They also brought canned food onto ships, in order to cut down on contractions of scurvy, a disease brought about by lack of Vitamin C in a diet, a very common plight for sailors. In order to preserve the crew’s mental health, books, sports equipment and even costumes for theatre productions were brought aboard.
Everything seemed well enough and the mission set sail from Greenhithe in Kent on May 19th, 1845 with 134 men between the two ships. Around a month into the expedition, they stopped in Greenland, to gather more supplies, send letters home from the crew and send 5 men back who had contracted illnesses. In late July of 1845, two whaling ships spotted the Erebus and Terror entering Baffin Bay. This was the last time the crew was officially seen alive.
Two Christmases came and went and there was no sign of the ships and no word from them either. People began to get concerned, none more so that Franklin’s wife, Jane, who called upon the admiralty to launch a search party for the expedition immediately, knowing they would run out of food by September of 1848. When they refused, she appealed to the British public, with the help of her close friend, Charles Dickens, who by now had written The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. The surmounting pressure from the public eventually lead to a search being launched in 1848. The ships sailed off into the Arctic Circle, and only in August of 1850 did they begin to uncover the horrible truth.
On a beach on Beechey Island, they found 3 gravestones for 3 of the crew of the Franklin Expedition, dated throughout the winter of 1845, near the remains of a camp. It appears as though, as the winter of 1845 approached, Franklin ordered his men to take shelter in the cove of Beechey Island. There, the water froze over for the winter and would not thaw until the next year. It is assumed that during this time the three crew men died. When the ice thawed, it was believed that Franklin told the crew to leave quickly in order to make decent ground before the water froze over again.
The graves on Beechey Island. The fourth one, furthest left, is for a member of the search party
In the 1980s, it was revealed that the bodies had been nearly perfectly preserved in the ice, which I shall not be showing here for the more queasy among you. However, it is believed that, due to the high amounts of lead found in the bodies, that the cans containing the food were sealed using lead, leading to lead poisoning which would weaken the immune system as well as causing confusion and hallucinations. Not only that but many postulate that the cans were also sealed improperly, leading to cases of botulism and scurvy, due to the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables.
In 1859, they found a large pile of stones, called a cairn, on the Northern coast of King William Island, around 418 miles south from Beechey Island. Inside was a note from the expedition, which is currently the only form of contact found from the crew post 1845.
A drawing of the search party finding the cairn
H.M.S.hips Erebus and Terror Wintered in the Ice in Lat. 70°5’N Long. 98°23’W Having wintered in 1846-7 [sic] at Beechey Island in Lat 74°43’28’’N Long 91°39’15’’W
After having ascended Wellington Channel to Lat 77° and returned by the West side of Cornwallis Island. Sir John Franklin commanding the Expedition. All well. Party consisting of 2 Officers and 6 Men left the ships on Monday 24th May 1847.
Charles Frederick Des Voeux and Graham Gore (officers on the ships) May 28th, 1847
However, they found in the margins a very different message than the one claiming everything was fine a year prior.
HMShips Terror and Erebus were deserted on the 22nd April 5 leagues NNW of this having been beset since 12th Sept 1846.
The officers and crews consisting of 105 souls under the command of Captain F. R. M. Crozier landed here — in Lat. 69°37’42’’ Long. 98°41’
This paper was found by Lt. Irving under the cairn supposed to have been built by Sir James Ross in 1831 — 4 miles to the Northward — where it had been deposited by the late Commander Gore in May June 1847.
Sir James Ross’ pillar has not however been found and the paper has been transferred to this position which is that in which Sir J. Ross’ pillar was erected.
Sir John Franklin died on the 11th of June 1847 and the total loss by deaths in the Expedition has been to this date 9 officers and 15 men.
Francis Cozier, April 25th 1848
And start on tomorrow 26th for Backs Fish River
James Fitzjames, April 25th 1848
Due to this, it is believed that the crew had gotten trapped once more in the ice in the winter of 1847 around the Northwest Coast of King William Island, as at the time it was still speculated that it could be connected to mainland Canada.
A postulated map from the time, showing King William Island connected to the mainland (The Terror, HBO)
However, due to freak weather as determined by modern scientists, the ice did not thaw for years on end, even in summer. In 1847, Franklin had died alongside 24 other men and the remaining crew decided to abandon the ships and walk down 130 miles south to Backs Fish River, now called Back River, in Northern Canada, in an attempt to find civilisation. It is believed they put dinghies on large skis and put supplies in them. The ships were left abandoned and eventually sunk, not being found until the 2010s. However, in 1854, a shocking discover had been made.
Sir John Rae, an English explorer had spoken with the local Inuit population. They showed trinkets that could’ve only been found with the Franklin expedition to prove their story. They claimed that they found a camp site with 30 dead bodies, with some inside tents whilst others were scattered outside. Not only that but in the fire pit they found human remains, implying that the survivors had resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. Shocked by this revelation, many vehemently denied these claims, claiming that civilised people would not do such things.
We submit that the memory of the lost Arctic voyagers is placed, by reason and experience, high above the taint of this so easily-allowed connection; and that the noble conduct and example of such men, and of their own great leader himself, under similar endurances, belies it, and outweighs by the weight of the whole universe the chatter of a gross handful of uncivilised people, with domesticity of blood and blubber.
Charles Dickens writing in his public journal, 1854
The story was only confirmed in 1993, when archaeologists found that the remains had slices in them from knives or other sharp objects, especially around the hands, neck and feet. It appeared as through the crew had intentionally cut off the most human parts of their comrades, in order to not feel so guilty about eating them.
Ultimately, not a single member of the Franklin expedition was ever seen alive again. Whilst archaeologists are still making discoveries, even as recently as 2024 with them discovering the bones of James Fitzjames, comfort can be found in the fact that it is highly likely that the crew did find the Northwest Passage, as they would’ve seen it in their southern march. Due the search party’s efforts, the passage was truly discovered, even if the Franklin Expedition never actually did. In 1866, a unanimous vote was passed through Parliament to erect a statue in honour of the Franklin Expedition.
They Forged the Last Link with Their Lives
The words on the base of the statue
The statue of Franklin on Waterloo Place in London
By 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte had established himself as First Consul of the French Republic, making himself functionally the autocratic head of state of a centralised republican government. Wielding his newfound and profound executive power, he pacified royalist rebels, established a new national bank to stabilise the economy, cracked down on banditry in the French countryside, reforms that were only exemplified by state owned newspapers. In what many describe as a benevolent dictatorship, Napoleon transformed France from the chaos of the early Republic into the stability of the Consulate. However, France’s foreign affairs position was nowhere near as good as its domestic one.
A portrait of Napoleon as First Consul
After Napoleon’s initial triumph in Northern Italy, the Second Coalition declared war on France. The powers of the Second Coalition sought to reverse French expansion across Europe, dismantle the satellite republics established during the Revolutionary Wars, and weaken France’s new republican regime. Specifically, Russian Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov had recaptured the Northern Italian territories that Napoleon had conquered in 1797, leaving French forces under the command of General André Masséna starving and in desperate need of supplies on the Mediterranean coast. When Tsar Paul I withdrew Russia from the coalition, it still left almost 100,000 Austrians in Northern Italy, under the Command of Field Marshal Michael von Melas.
Napoleon eventually rallied 60,000 reserve troops in order to liberate the French Forces at Genoa, reclaim Northern Italy and defeat the Austrians. A much more cautious man than Napoleon might have reinforced Masséna from the west, taking advantage of pre-existing friendly supply roots and would avoid a treacherous trek over the Alps. However, he believed that driving back enemy forces on his own supply depots could leave to a stalemate. So he took an incredibly bold plan. Though armies had crossed the Alps many times since antiquity, few had attempted to move a large force with artillery through such difficult terrain at speed and in secrecy. What it did require, however, was Masséna holding the line. By April, this was a very real fear that eventually materialised.
A map of French Positions by 1800 (Epic History, YouTube)
On April 6th, Melas launched a massive offensive against Masséna’s forces, which split his army in two and forced him to retreat into the city of Genoa, beginning a siege from both the land and sea. Fearing that the fall of Genoa would force him to be trapped between the mountains and the Austrian forces, Napoleon rallies his forces on May 6th to advance from Geneva across the Alps.
An army can pass always, and at any season, wherever two men can set their feet.
Napoleon, May 1800
The Alps are a great land to cross. At around 100 miles in width and peaks reaching over 14,000 feet, the Army of the Reserve, numbering roughly 40,000 men, crossed through several Alpine passes, with the main body using the Great St Bernard Pass, which has a peak of around 8,600 feet, a march that was led by General Jean Lannes on May 8th. Despite the spring season, the mountains were blanketed in thick snow and. To reduce the likelihood of an avalanche decimating the troops, they travelled at night and early morning. Despite the men considering mutiny due to the rough conditions, they eventually reached St Bernard Hospice, where food and rest was prepared.
An illustration of the hospice on the pass
Despite the brutal conditions, losses during the crossing were surprisingly light. Contrary to the propaganda of the era, Napoleon himself made the crossing on a sure-footed mule as opposed to a charger. Lannes’ advanced guard swept aside Austrian outposts and surprised an outpost at Châtillon. However, they encountered fierce opposition by Captain Josef Stockard von Bernkopf at Fort Bard.
Conditions in besieged Genoa became desperate, with food shortages reducing troops and civilians to eating horses and other animals as famine intensified. Not only that, but General Jean-de-Dieu Soult was badly wounded and captured by Austrian Forces. At Fort Bard, a small Austrian garrison temporarily blocked the French advance. Unable to quickly storm the fort, Napoleon ordered artillery dragged past the position at night with wheels wrapped to reduce noise. Lannes attacked the enemy at Ivrea before advancing on Romana. Napoleon rapidly entered Lombardy, seized Milan, and threatened Austrian communications, forcing Melas to abandon his wider strategic position and confront the French army. Napoleon had seized the strategic initiative, but Austria’s army remained intact. The campaign’s outcome would be decided weeks later on the plains near Marengo.
We have struck here like lightning […] the enemy can hardly believe it
Napoleon to Joseph Bonaparte, 24th May, 1800
An idealised portrait of Napoleon crossing the Alps in 1800
By October of 1799, Napoleon had returned from Egypt. Despite his humiliating defeat at the siege of Acre, his popularity could not be higher, thanks to his self published propaganda. However, France was still in crisis. With prices soaring, taxes on the rise and banditry rife, people called for Napoleon to save the country.
However, not everyone was happy with this. The French Directory, a group of 5 individuals who had executive power in France, believed that Napoleon should be court-martialled for abandoning his men in Egypt under the command of Jean-Baptiste Kléber. However, moving against such a hugely popular general would cause mass upheaval, and make the Directory’s position weaker than it already was. Napoleon was a notable critic of the Directory, stating to General Paul Thiélbault that:
These men are bringing France down to the level of their own blundering. They are degrading her. Well, what can generals expect from this government of lawyers.
Napoleon speaking to Thiélbault, October 26th, 1799
A painting of the formation of the French Directory
The members of the Directory consisted of Paul Barras, permanent member of the Directory since its formation in 1795 and a close ally of Napoleon but was seen as corrupt, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, one of the leading political thinkers in France and author of “What is the Third Estate?” which was a widely influential political pamphlet in the Revolution, Louis-Jérôme Gohier, a staunch Jacobin and former Minister of Justice, Jean-François Moulin, another staunch Jacobin and General, and Roger Ducos, a more moderate ally of Sieyès. This executive branch was not without a legislative one, that being the Council of 500, who proposed laws, and the Council of Elders, who passed them. The two councils all dressed in clothes reminiscent of robes worn in the Roman Republic. However, all three of these institutions were seen as corrupt and unfit to govern France. And one of the people who say it was Sieyès himself.
Sieyès, who believed that the current system was corrupt and in need of desperate change with a constitution that he would pen, began webbing a mass conspiracy to overthrow the French Government as it stood. It began with Maurice de Talleyrand, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and an influential political figure. He also recruited a fellow Director, the ever loyal Roger Ducos, as well as roping in the Presidents of both the Council of 500 and the Council of Elders. Joseph Fouché, Minister of Police, became aware of the conspiracy. Whilst he did not join, he stated that he would not intervene. However, there was one man that Sieyès needed in order to secure the army. He called this man “The Sword”, a populary military figurehead to be used at the decisive moment before being “sheathed” afterwards. After considering multiple options, Sieyès eventually approached General Jean Victor Marie Moreau, who declined, but personally recommended a different man.
There’s your man. [Napoleon Bonaparte] will make a better job of your coup d’état than I could.
Moreau on Napoleon Bonaparte
A portrait of Emmanuel Sieyès
Despite the President of the Council of 500 being Napoleon’s own brother, Lucien Bonaparte, Sieyès disliked Napoleon’s clear ambition. However, Talleyrand managed to convince Sieyès to let Napoleon into the plot. Eventually, a conspiracy came together within a week of Napoleon and Sieyès’ first encounter. The date was set for November 7th, or the 16th of Brumaire on the Revolutionary Calendar (RC), and would take two days. In case anything went awry, the conspirators had safety measures. Sieyès had a briefcase full of money and good to go. Fouché had an arrest warrant drafted for Napoleon in case he needed to switch sides. Napoleon himself slept with a pair of loaded pistols at his bedside.
However, the plot had to be delayed by 48 hours, during which time, Napoleon visited the house of General Jean Bernadotte, where he had dinner with Bernadotte, Moreau and General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, in order to get more allies in the army for the coup. Whilst Moreau agreed to assist and Jourdan agreed to stay neutral, Bernadotte was outraged, crying that Napoleon would be guillotined. Napoleon responded with two simple words.
We’ll see.
Napoleon to Bernadotte
November 9th (17 Brumaire RC) finally rolled around. Having rallied 60 officers to his house, Napoleon initiated the call to arms. Meanwhile, an unscheduled meeting of the Council of Elders was held in the Tuileries Palace, the seat of the French Government. Here, the Moderates quickly passed two measures, that Napoleon would take charge of the Paris Military District and that the next days Council Meetings shall take place at the Château de Saint-Cloud, a palace approximately 5 miles outside the city, both of which were under the pretence that a Jacobin Revolution was underway in Paris. Across town at Luxembourg Palace, Ducos and Sieyès both resigned their positions as Directors and attempted to convince Barras, Gohier and Moulin to do the same. Whilst Barras complied with the help of a hefty bribe, Gohier and Moulin refused. As a result they were placed under house arrest under the observation of General Moreau. With the executive branch now gone, the conspirators could make their move.
On November 10th (18 Brumaire RC), Napoleon woke up early to travel to the Château de Saint-Cloud. Joachim Murat, a newly promoted General of Division, had rallied 6,000 troops at the Château. As deputies of the Councils arrived, the vast military presence could not go unnoticed. At this meeting, the Jacobin deputies were permitted, who were furious at not having been included in the meeting of the previous day. When the sessions began at 1pm, chaos quickly descends upon the two chambers. Napoleon, having lost patience, barged into the meeting of the Council of Elders. Whilst he was trying to speak, he was heckled. When one deputy asked him “What about the constitution?” Napoleon responded by saying:
The Constitution! You yourselves have destroyed it. You violated it on 18 Fructidor [September 14th]; you violated it on 22 Floreal [May 11th]; you violated it on 30 Prairial [June 18th]. It no longer has the respect of anyone.
Napoleon to the Council of Elders
At this remark, there was an uproar in the council. Napoleon went on, demanding action and implying that the Elders were paid off with British money. Eventually, he was dragged out of the room by 4 soldiers. It did not take him long before he walked into the Council of 500. It was even more raucous in there. Napoleon could hardly get a word in, as he was shoved, grabbed and even punched, amid cries comparing him to Julius Caesar and Oliver Cromwell.
A painting of Napoleon (central) in the chaotic Council of 500
Eventually, a group of grenadiers retrieved Napoleon an took him out to the courtyard. Despite it not being a desirable option, military action had to be taken. A bruised and bloody Napoleon ordered grenadiers to go inside and dispel the chaos, but were stopped by the Council Guard at the doorstep. However, Lucien finally took initiative on the matter. On horseback, Lucien cried:
Citizen soldiers! The great majority of the Council is at this moment being terrorised by a handful of deputies armed with daggers. These brigands are doubt in English pay… I declare to you that these madmen have made themselves outlaws by their assaults on the liberty of this Council!
Lucien speaking to the crowd of soldiers in the courtyard
He then drew a sword and pointed it directly at Napoleon’s chest.
I swear that I will stab my own brother to the heart if he ever makes an assault on the liberty of Frenchmen.
Lucien speaking to the crowd of soldiers in the courtyard
Eventually, the grenadiers were let inside and the Councils were dispersed quickly. Some accounts suggest that robes and hats were left behind as deputies leapt out of windows. Soon, a new measure was passed by the remaining moderate deputies. It detailed that the Councils shall not meet for 4 months, that the Directory be abolished and replaced with a consulate. The third consul would be Ducos, the second would be Sieyès and the first consul would be Napoleon Bonaparte.
Just six years earlier, Napoleon was a young Corsican leading his first major victory at 24 at Toulon. Now, he was 30 and leading one of the most powerful nations in the world. And yet, somehow, his ambitions still lead higher and higher. An ambition that would conquer Europe in years to come.
Napoleon returned to Paris from his campaign in Italy and was lauded as a hero. His campaign was so successful that the French Government believed that Napoleon was capable of an invasion of mainland Britain. However, as the War of the Second Coalition broke out, Napoleon soon realised that the French Navy was nowhere near powerful enough to take on the powerful Royal Navy. Instead, he decided to take out Britain’s supply line to India by taking control of Ottoman Controlled Egypt, whilst also securing the Sultan of the Indian Mysore Kingdom as a potential ally.
By 1798, Napoleon was elected to the French Academy of Sciences, after which he went to Egypt with 40,000 soldiers, and a collection of 167 scientists, mathematicians, naturalists, chemists and geodesists. However, on the way there, he managed to capture Malta, then under the control of The Order of St John of Jerusalem. They put up little fight and Napoleon only lost 3 men. On July 1st of 1798, Napoleon’s forces landed in Alexandria. They combatted the Ottomans on multiple occasions, most notably at the Battle of the Pyramids, which was located approximately 24km (15 miles) from the Great Pyramids of Giza. In the battle, there was less than 30 French casualties compared to the nearly 2,000 they inflicted.
A painting of the Battle of the Pyramids (July 21st, 1798)
Despite this increase to French morale, disaster struck when Admiral Horatio Nelson destroyed or captured all but 2 out of 17 French Ships in the Battle of the Nile. After this decisive loss in the Mediterranean Campaign, Napoleon travelled north to Damascus with 13,000 men, capturing the port towns of Gaza, Arish, Haifa and Jaffa. Most notably, Napoleon noticed that, when he attacked Jaffa, the defenders were largely made of Albanian prisoners of war on parole. As a result, when he conquered the town, he ordered the garrison to be executed by bayonet and drowning. Then, all the men, women and children were pillaged, murdered or raped for 2 days and nights.
Napoleon’s army eventually reached the city of Acre. Believing it to be an easy victory, Napoleon decided to only use infantry to attack the city, believing that they would capitulate easily. He believed it would only take two weeks to capture the city before he would then march on Jerusalem. However, after one and a half months, the city stood firm. Many believe this was in part due to the large Albanian population of the city, fearing that they may share the same fate as Jaffa if they fell. Not only that but the British came in to assist, supplying the city’s defences with fresh sailors and marines, and sunk multiple French siege artillery ships. Once the French forces had finally managed to make a break through the wall of the city they discovered that the defenders had built a much deeper wall within. A cold, hungry and plague ridden French Army eventually retreated on May 21st, 1799, after a two month long siege.
A painting of the Siege of Acre (March 20th – May 21st 1799)
Napoleon returned to Egypt, having lost over 5,000 men in the siege, 2,000 of whom had succumbed to the bubonic plague. After this humiliating defeat, Napoleon decided to return to France without his army, fearing that the French Republic may soon collapse. Or was it perhaps him taking advantage of an opportunity?
After the Siege of Toulon, and a subsequent crushing of a Parisian Royalist uprising, Napoleon had managed to land himself the rank of Major General, one of the highest ranks in the French Revolutionary Army. He was assigned his own army and decided that, in order to rise the social hierarchy, he needed a woman. Despite many women finding him creepy and disgusting, he managed to marry Josephine de Beauharnais, an older widow with two children and a rather promiscuous background, on March 9th, 1796. Only two days later, the French Government ordered an all out offensive against Austria. Napoleon was assigned to a southern campaign through Italy as more of a distraction away from Jean-Baptiste Jourdan and Jean Victor Marie Moreau. This would be his first major campaign, and it would be the first of many successes for Napoleon, at only 28-years-old.
You to whom nature has given spirit, sweetness, and beauty, you who alone can move and rule my heart, you who know all too well the absolute empire you exercise over it!
A letter Napoleon sent to Josephine in Februrary of 1797, during the Italian Campaign
The army assigned to him was demoralised, underpaid and in desperate need of equipment. However, Napoleon lifted their spirits with inspirational speeches, something that would become a staple of his career to come. Severely outnumbered, he would split his enemies into two and take them on separately, which would later become the iconic Napoleon strategy of dividing and conquering. Using this strategy, Sardinia was knocked out of the war and the Austrians were sent running. During the Austrian retreat, Napoleon was in the fray himself at the famous Battle of Lodi, aiming cannons and getting covered in mud, earning the respect of his men, to such an extent to the point where he ordered an almost suicidal charge over a river, they followed and succeeded.
A painting of the Battle of Lodi (May 10th, 1796)
Napoleon swept through Northern Italy, being welcomed in town after town with open arms, believing them to liberating the people from their Austrian oppressors. However, Napoleon would plunder towns and send riches back to France. It is estimated that Napoleon collected 45 million Francs in money, 12 million Francs worth of jewellery and precious metals, as well as an additional 300 art pieces, such as sculptures and paintings. He also used some of the money he plundered to pay his men, some of the first real money they had seen in ages.
During the campaign, Napoleon also became more influential in French politics. He created two newspapers, one for circulation amongst soldiers and the other for the French populous. Recognising his ambition, French Royalists warned that Napoleon may be on the path to becoming a dictator. In response, Napoleon sent General Charles-Pierre Augereau to Paris to support a coup that purged royalists from legislative councils. This meant that Paul Barras, one of the Directors of the Executive Branch of the French Government, had a firm grip on power but was now more dependent on Napoleon.
A drawing of Generals being rounded up during the coup
Whilst the northern front was at a stalemate, Napoleon began making a bee-line straight for Vienna. Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, had to withdraw forces to Vienna, despite gaining a successful victory against the northern forces, due to Napoleon’s assault. After losing to Napoleon at the Battle of Tarvis, the Austrian government sued for peace when they learnt that Napoleon had arrived at Leoben, a city just 100km (62 miles) away from Vienna. With Napoleon overseeing negotiations himself, Austria allowed France to take control of much of Northern Italy as well as the low countries. He managed the establishment of many Sister Republics for the French Republic, of which he wrote constitutions and organised governments. Napoleon’s first success had been a great one, and it was only the beginning of his military career.
From that moment, I foresaw what I might be. Already I felt the earth flee from beneath me, as if I were being carried into the sky.
Napoleon after his victory at the Battle of Lodi
Casualties
First French Republic – 45,000 killed, captured or wounded
Coalition Forces (Sardinia, Habsburg Empire, Papal States, Venice) – 27,000 killed, 160,000 captured
The year was 1793. Louis XVI, the 45th King of France, was dead, beheaded by his own people. Outside of Paris, Royalist sentiment was abundant and, in an attempt to unite France behind one cause, the Revolutionary government declared war on Austria-Hungary, who believed that France’s anti-monarchist sentiment would spread across the continent. Austria called upon its allies and France was no in all out war with most major powers, including the United Kingdom, Sardinia, Spain and Prussia.
Naturally, this did not help the French cause and violent uprisings began sparking up across France. One such place these uprisings was the port city of Toulon, a highly strategic naval base in the Mediterranean. This uprising was, unsurprisingly, backed by the British, who were welcomed into the port with open arms. France had now lost the naval power of the Mediterranean without a shot being fired. France needed this port back desperately and sent 19,000 troops down to deal with the uprising. One of these forces was commanded by a then relatively unknown artillery officer, by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte.
A painting of the young Napoleon
Napoleon was from the island of Corsica, which was purchased by France from Genoa not long before Napoleon was born. The island had widespread anti-French sentiment, which Napoleon agreed with. His father, on the other hand, gladly embraced the new French rulers, leading to father and son often butting heads. He was sent to military school in France, where he was heavily bullied due to his accent and his families lack of wealth. However, he held his ground and often stood up to bullies. When he wasn’t beating up the bullies, he would often be found alone reading about the conqueror’s of old, like Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great. He wondered if it was possible if he could be as great and powerful as them.
Once he graduated, he was made Second Lieutenant in an artillery regiment. But Napoleon was not content with this. He had ambition and wanted more power. However, in pre-revolutionary France, military ranks were most often gained by nobility and nepotism, not by actual talent. Luckily for Napoleon, the Revolution occurred and the people of France were now on a more equal playing field. Whilst Napoleon was not too big on the violence and mass beheadings, he believed that, in order to rise the ranks, he must become pro-revolutionary.
General Jean-François Carteaux, the leader of the forces at Toulon, was a court painter by trade with zero military training so was not highly skilled in leadership positions. Not only that but one of his only professional officers was seriously wounded in battle. Antoine Saliceti, a Corsican deputy of the National Convention, recommended Napoleon, who was travelling near Toulon on his way to the front lines. Despite Napoleon having almost no military experience yet, Saliceti appreciated his manner and political aspirations. Carteaux had almost no choice but to accept Napoleon to lead the Siege of Toulon.
A map of Toulon, with the Fort’s labelled
Napoleon’s plan was simple. They needed to build up significantly more guns and train the infantry to operate them. Then, they would capture the southern Fort L’Eguilette, allowing them to inflict heavy artillery casualties on the British ships, forcing them to leave, which was important as the ships were the key source of defence. The first part of this plan, however, involved the capture of Mount Caire, where British troops were stationed. After an unsuccessful assault, due to Carteaux being hesitant to send the 3,000 men required to accomplish the task, command of Toulon was handed over to General Dugommier. He stated that:
There is only one possible plan – Bonaparte’s
General Dugommier speaking on Toulon
In order to build up the fortifications of Toulon, the British built a new fort called Fort Mulgrave. The area was so fortified it was called “Little Gibraltar” by the French. An unsuccessful British counter attack followed and, in the early hours of the 18th of December, 1793, in the pouring rain and howling wind, Napoleon’s forces charged up the hill. The muskets were useless as guns due to the rain and could only be used as clubs and bayonets. The second charge came, with Napoleon in this wave. During this, his horse was killed and he was wounded in his thigh, mere inches away from a fatal stab. However, despite this, the British were driven off the Mountain after severe hand to hand combat, and French artillery now observed Toulon.
The British, not wanting to lose their ships, began evacuating the city. Citizens, who feared being executed as traitors to the Republic, attempted to board the ships. Some 14,000 were evacuated whilst the rest of the city either drowned in the chaos or were executed by firing squad in the morning. This was the first victory of Napoleon Bonaparte, a path that would lead Europe down a 21 year long path of near endless war. At the time, Napoleon was only 24 and was promoted to Brigadier General.
The French managed to push back the Austrians into the lowlands but more countries joined the coalition against France so they were pushed back out. Realising they were losing the war, the began mass conscription. Despite the revolution fever being high in Paris, outside the city, people were very fond of the clergy and nobility, as they had not been effected too badly by the economy compared to Paris. Now these people were being conscripted to fight for a Republic that they despised. Because of this, multiple counter-revolutionary uprisings occurred across the nation. One suppression of these counter revolutions ended in violent pacifism, where Jean Baptist Carrier tied thousands of priests and civilians, including women and children tied to ship which were then sunk. Carrier was found guilty of war crimes and executed.
Eventually the British ended up occupying the city of Toulon, an important Mediterranean naval port. To deal with the occupation, France sent down a relatively unknown captain at the time, by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte. Due to his successful capture of the city, Napoleon was promoted to Brigadier General.
Napoleon commanding the Siege at Toulon
At the time, the government was still a majority moderate government. With the uprisings, the war effort going badly and the economy returning to it’s awful state, people began to distrust the government. Marat blamed the moderates, saying that all moderates who remained should be executed, who in turn called for Marat’s arrest. The moderates in the radicals were in heated conflict, until the radical Jacobins stormed the National Convention, arresting the remaining moderates. Robespierre and the Radicals now controlled the government.
Now we meet a woman called Charlotte Corday, who lived in Caen. Like many outside of Paris, she was upset and angered by the violence from the radicals. The one man she blamed the most was Marat. She wanted peace in France, so travelled down to Paris, telling Marat he had a list that she wanted him to publish in his paper. She was invited into his bathroom, where she stabbed him fatally in the chest, piercing an artery near his heart. He died quickly and became a martyr for the cause. Symbols of Christ in Temples of Reason were changed to Marat. Corday was executed by guillotine
A painting of Morat’s body
Soon, Robespierre began to get paranoid, believing that there were people inside France wanting to upend the Republic. He set up a secret police and spies to watch his own citizens. He founded a new tribunal, which speed lined the process of trying traitors and having them executed. Anything that remotely criticised the Republic or praised the old monarchy would result in execution. During the Reign of Terror, commanded by Robespierre, over 40,000 people were executed by guillotine. The most famous victim of the Reign of Terror was Marie Antoinette.
She was finally put on trial after years in prison and sentenced to death via guillotine. She expected a royal carriage to bring her the gallows, like her husband. What she got was a wooden cart. Antoinette was pulled by horse through the streets of Paris in a white dress, maintaining composure despite the jeering of the crowd. He last words were her apologising for stepping on her executioner’s shoe. She was beheaded at 12:15 on October 16th, 1793. She was only 37.
A drawing of the execution of Marie Antoinette
Unfortunately, Robepierre’s strategy had worked and France was finally back on it’s feet. The food shortage was fixed and the French army had even made a successful push against the coalition. Georges Danton decided it was time to normalise the Republic, by proposing the deescalation of executions, the reestablishment of the church and suing for peace against the coalition. Because of his thoughts, Danton, one of Robespierre’s closest friends and allies who helped him found the Jacobin Club, was promptly executed. Many others who even slightly opposed Robespierre were also executed. He started another religion, in which he basically declared himself God. It’s a round this time, historians believe, that Robespierre had gone mad. Eventually, the legislative assembly had enough and, in a unanimous vote, had Robespierre put on trial. He was sentenced to death and was executed by guillotine, making him the last victim of the Reign of Terror that he started.
By 1756, France was considered to be one of the greatest countries on Earth. They had grand monuments, incredible military campaigns and a fantastic life. However, underneath the surface lurked a social hierarchy that threatened the stability of the nation. The nobility and the clergy were very well known for partying like there was no tomorrow, whilst the poor suffered and starved, hardly ever making enough money to buy a loaf of bread.
Meanwhile, the New World was being conquered and Britain and France were arguing over a strip of land that both of them claimed to own. Thus erupted the Seven Years War, and France lost hard. Due to the war reparations, France was in severe financial ruin. Despite this, the nobility continued to party, neglecting the people who had work their backs off to make the nobility’s life good. This was when France’s poor began to question the social hierarchy, beginning the Age of Enlightenment.
Great philosophical thinkers across the country began questioning if the greatest country on Earth was really all it was cracked up to be. During this time, Louis XVI was crowned the new King of France. Louis was notoriously weak, hardly competent enough to run a country, never mind one in severe financial debt that was questioning the establishment of the monarchy.
A painting of King Louis XVI
One of the first acts he did was to get revenge on the British by helping fund the American Revolution. Once the war was over with, America didn’t pay France back, meaning that France was now in even more debt than before. The poor envied the elite even more, because they were suffering with the effects of this financial ruin, whilst the nobility still acted like there was no problem. Most of their hate was targeted at Louis’ wife, former Archduchess of Austria, Marie Antoinette. Her high spending on her increasingly lavish lifestyle, fashion and beauty earned her the nickname “Madame Deficit”
A painting of Marie Antoinette
People began ridiculing the royals, over a scandal that Louis apparently took a very long time to consummate the marriage. Graphic artwork was drawn, depicting Antoinette as a whore and the King as a weakling who wouldn’t put out. As support for the monarchy was at an all time low, the King and his advisors decided that now would be a good time to tax the poor, for basically anything you can think of, with an especially ridiculous one being on salt. Some of these were collected by private companies, who walked around with armed thugs. Resistance against these taxes often ended in violence. Meanwhile, the clergy and nobility either had to pay little or no tax at all, which angered the peasants even more. France was now on the brink of revolution, and the push they needed was a bad harvest.
A series of harsh summers and winters came and went, killing the harvest for those years. They now had no food or money, whilst the cost of bread drastically went up. Naturally, the nobility had stocks of grain and wheat so, yet again, believed nothing was wrong. This was the final push that the poor needed to riot. Bakeries were raided for their bread, whilst some bakers who were suspected of hoarding were hanged in the streets.
The revolutionaries spread propaganda saying that Marie Antoinette had been informed that the rioters were starving and responded saying “Then let them eat cake” in an effort to make her seem out of touch. In actuality, Antoinette never said this. When dealing with a crisis, Louis did what he always did was run off, and get someone else to do the work for him. Specifically, he turned to the Estates General, which was an advisory body that was rarely ever summoned, where representatives from each of the three estates, that being the clergy, the nobility and everyone else, would gather to decide important issues.
A drawing of the Estates General of 1789
Louis decided that to come to any form of conclusion, he had to set up a voting system. However, each class only got one vote. Despite making up 98% of the population, the 3rd estate would often find their proposals, which often helped the poor which would destabilise the rich, outvoted by the clergy and the nobility. They instead decided to set up their own government, the National Assembly, where the third estate controlled. Louis attempted to stop the National Assembly by locking them out of their building but they very quickly found a solution by finding a different building that wasn’t locked, that being a tennis court down the street, where they all swore the Tennis Court Oath, where they pledged to continue to meet until the King gave into their demands for economic reform.
A drawing of the Tennis Court Oath
The National Assembly included many great thinkers. Two important ones we’ll mention were Maximilien Robespierre and Georges Danton. Other members of the first two estates joined, most importantly Marquis de Lafayette, a former military officer from the American Revolution. Some of these great thinkers, including Robespierre and Danton formed a political party called the Jacobin Club. Some radicals within the party did not just campaign for economic reform but the removal of the monarchy.
Fearing his stability, Louis ordered the army to convene around Paris. Hearing of this, the third estate feared that the King was going to arrest and execute them. During this, the King dismissed popular financial advisor Jacques Neckler, who had been trying to fix the economy on his own. The people of France, who had suffered, starved and been treated like gum on a shoe had enough and decided that they had to act now. They began to revolt.
Believing that the French Military would attack, the National Assembly formed the Bourgeois Militia or National Guard. Many French soldiers began to defect. On July 14th, 1789, the revolutionaries began storming the Hôtel les Invalides, a military hospital where they secured a large number of guns. However, these guns had no ammunition. Luckily, the Bastille was only 3 miles away, a large military fort. They demanded that Governor de Launay hand the fort and gunpowder over. De Launay refused and the revolutionaries violently stormed the Bastille, killing the French troops, cutting off De Launay’s head and parading it around Paris on a pike.
A painting of the Storming of the Bastille
The National Assembly fully endorsed the act. Many historians state that the endorsement of the Storming of the Bastille paved the way for the extreme violence that followed, which the French Revolution is known for. A lot of this violence was encouraged by Jean-Paul Marat, a violent radical with a skin condition that confined him to his bath tub. He wrote a newspaper called “The Friend of the People” in which he wrote ramblings about killing the nobility.
[The Friend of the People began] with a severe but honest tone, that of a man who wishes to tell the truth without breaking the conventions of society. I maintained that tone for two whole months. Disappointed in finding that it did not produce the entire effect that I had expected, and indignant that the boldness of the unfaithful representatives of the people and of the lying public officials was steadily increasing, I felt that it was necessary to renounce moderation[…]. Strongly convinced of the absolute perversity of the supporters of the old regime and the enemies of liberty, I felt that nothing could be obtained from them except by force. Revolted by their attempts, by their ever-recurrent plots, I realized that no end would be put to these except by exterminating the ones guilty of them.
Marat’s writing in The Friend of the People
It quickly became one of the popular publications in Paris at the time. By August, the National Assembly, with the help of Thomas Jefferson, had written up “The Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen” declaring equal rights for all men. Despite shortcomings in gender rights, it was considered a great document. However, the French People were still starving, and believed that the reason was because Louis didn’t see the problem himself, as he lived in Versailles, not Paris where most of the revolution and economic problems were occurring. The women of Paris decided to do something about it.
They marched on Versailles, gathering support along the way until a crowd in the tens of thousands had arrived at the Palace of Versailles, demanding to see the King. The rioters broke into the palace, intending to kill Antoinette, who had escaped through a secret passage. The rioters killed the royal guard, cut off their heads and stuck them on pikes.
A painting of the Women’s March on Versailles
The King eventually came out to the crowd, saying that he would accept working along side the revolutionary government. He moved pack to Paris with the revolutionaries along side the rest of his family. Once he moved, the government, piece by piece, began stripping his power. Fearing for his life, he had to become more friendly with the revolutionaries, even at one point wearing the revolutionary beret. Louis knew he had to get out of the country and fast. He hoped to seek sanctuary in Austria due to his wife’s ties to the Austrian Royal Family. However, they were stopped at Varennes, after postmaster Jean-Baptiste Drouet recognised him due to the stamp with his face on it on his assignat and was arrested.
An assignat with Louis’ face at the top
The façade of revolutionary support that Louis had been putting up suddenly crumbled in the blink of an eye. Many considered him a traitor who attempted to abandon his people. The New Constitution of 1791 made Louis nothing more than a figurehead for the country. Jacobin radicals were still furious that the King hadn’t been removed outright. They organised a large protest, at which the National Guard shot at the revolutionaries. This revealed the division between the two factions of the revolution, the moderates who wanted to keep the King as a figurehead and the radicals who wanted the King deposed and killed.
Whilst nobility were leaving the country, other European superpowers with monarchies feared that France’s revolutionary ideas might spread. Fearing an attack, the newly renamed Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria, beginning the War of the First Coalition. With an alliance being made with the Prussians, France hardly stood a chance. Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick sent a letter to the revolutionaries, warning that if any harm were to come to Louis, he would burn Paris to the ground. In a surprising turn of events, this invigorated the French people to do the exact opposite, as they were angered by the threat. The riots escalated and the Palace was eventually stormed, where fighting broke out between the revolutionaries and the King’s Guard. The King ran to the Legislative Assembly, where a vote was held. The monarchy was suspended almost unanimously. Louis, no longer King of France was put in prison along side Antoinette.
On September 22nd, 1792, the Legislative Assembly, now called the National Convention declared the French Republic, where ideas of democracy and equality were thrown around. But those ideas were drowned by their thirst for blood. In order to remove any artifact of their monarchist past, they began by deporting or arresting members of the clergy and replacing Catholicism with the state sponsored, Atheist religion called the Cult of Reason. Churches and cathedrals such as Notre Dame had their Catholic relics taken or destroyed and the buildings were turned into “Temples of Reason”. The Christian Calendar was gotten rid of, replacing it with the French Republican Calendar. The lengths of minutes, hours and days were changed with an entirely new set of months. The nobility were also arrested on mass along side the clergy.
Meanwhile the Austrian lines were advancing, and thousands of men were sent away from Paris to the frontlines. This was when paranoia began to set in. People began to believe that the clergy and nobility, all clustered together in prisons, were plotting their revenge, ideas that were pushed further by Marat. Fearing an uprising, revolutionaries broke into the prisons and killed everyone. The priests, the aristocrats and even the women and children. 1,600 people were tried and executed on the spot. A journalist for the London times wondered:
Are these “the Rights of Man”? Is this the liberty of Human Nature?
The London Times, Sept 10, 1792
Meanwhile, on the front lines, Prussia and Austria told France that if they won the war, they would reinstate Louis to the throne. In response to this, a trial was held for Louis for the crime of treason. While some recommended deportation, Robespierre insisted that Louis would be executed. The execution choice won out by only 1 vote. He was to be execute using the newly invented guillotine.
On the morning of January 21st 1793, Louis was woken at 5 in the morning. He ordered his royal seal be given to his son and his wedding ring to his wife. He was transported to the Place de la Revolution. He walked up the gallows, with snare drums rolling as he went up. He requested that the drummers stop so he could deliver some final words.
Frenchmen, I die guiltless of the crime imputed to me. I forgive the authors of my death and pray God my blood fall not on France.
Louis’ last words to the people of France
The snare drums started up again, drowning out his true final words. His hair was cut and his collar was opened. His neck laid on the block and the blade came down, slicing his head clean off. The cannons fired, signifying that he was dead.
