Battle of 13 Vendémiaire (Napoléon 2002) скачать в хорошем качестве

Battle of 13 Vendémiaire (Napoléon 2002)

The new constitution that the Convention was considering in the summer of 1795 promised to satisfy almost all of the expectations of the constitutional monarchists, the Monarchiens. However, a majority of the Convention did not want to see the monarchy restored. The regicides, in particular, were fearful of this possibility. On 4 Fructidor Year III, the Convention ratified a decree stating that two-thirds of any future deputies should be former members of the Convention. This decree, as well as the new Constitution, was put to an electorate vote. The decree was adopted despite the advice from the Monarchiens to reject it. Convinced that the vote had been rigged, the Monarchiens decided to attempt to overturn the decision by force. While the royalist sections , headed by the Le Peletier group, met on 11 Vendémiaire without much enthusiasm, the Convention responded energetically by declaring itself to be permanent and by establishing an extraordinary commission of five members including Paul Barras. It also began recruiting unemployed officers to defend its members making sure to choose those officers who were known for their republican (even extremist) convictions. On 12 Vendémiaire, the special commission ordered General Jacques de Menou de Boussay to confront the royalist groups. His weak response earned him immediate dismissal and the commission turned to another unemployed general who had been known to Barras since the Siege of Toulon: Napoleon Bonaparte. During the night of 12-13 Vendémiaire, the royalists groups became armed and radical. Now, their leaders were royalists in favour of an absolute monarchy. A coup d'état was planned for the next day. With 25,000 men at their command, the royalists vastly outnumbered Bonaparte who had between 5,000 and 6,000 soldiers at his disposal. However, his preparations were already in place. He was aided by Joachim Murat who he had sent to retrieve the canons from the Sablons camp. Now, all the roads leading to the Convention were in their line of fire. At 5 am, a probing attack by the royalist forces was repulsed. Five hours later, the major Royalist assault began. The Republican forces were outnumbered 6 to 1, but they held their perimeter all the same, the cannons firing grapeshot into the massed royalist forces. The 'patriot battalions' supporting the artillery also cut down the advancing Royalist ranks. Bonaparte commanded throughout the two-hour engagement, and survived unscathed despite having his horse shot from under him. The effect of the grapeshot and the volleys from the patriot forces caused the Royalist attack to waver. Bonaparte ordered a counterattack led by Murat's squadron of Chasseurs. At the close of the battle, around three hundred royalists lay dead on the streets of Paris.