Editing Louis XVI (section)

===Flight to Varennes (1791)===
{{main|Flight to Varennes}}
[[File:Déclaration autographe de Louis XVI adressée aux Français à sa sortie de Paris le 20 juin 1791. 1 sur 27 - Archives Nationales - AE-II-1218.jpg|thumb|Declaration to the French People (June 1791)]]
[[File:Duplessi-Bertaux - Arrivee de Louis Seize a Paris.png|thumb|The return of the royal family to Paris on 25 June 1791, coloured copperplate after a drawing of Jean-Louis Prieur]]
On 21 June 1791, Louis XVI attempted to flee secretly with his family from Paris to the royalist fortress town of [[Montmédy]] on the northeastern border of France, where he would join the ''[[French emigration (1789–1815)|émigrés]]'' and be protected by Austria. The voyage was planned by the Swedish nobleman, and often assumed secret lover of Queen Marie Antoinette, [[Axel von Fersen the Younger|Axel von Fersen]].<ref>Swedish historian [[Herman Lindqvist (journalist)|Herman Lindqvist]] in the Swedish tabloid ''[[Aftonbladet]]'', found at [http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/kolumnister/hermanlindqvist/article11667372.ab] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112204655/http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/kolumnister/hermanlindqvist/article11667372.ab|date=12 November 2016}} In Swedish, not far from the top "''Ändå är det historiskt dokumenterat att Marie-Antoinette + Axel von Fersen = sant.''" which in English becomes "Still is it historically documented that Marie-Antoinetter + Axel von Fersen = true."</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Barrington|first=Michael|title=The Reminiscences of Sir Barrington Beaumont, Bart|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WPAtMCWLDz4C&pg=PR3|year=1902|publisher=C. Richards|page=44}}</ref>

While the National Assembly worked painstakingly towards a [[French Constitution of 1791|constitution]], Louis and Marie-Antoinette were involved in plans of their own. Louis had appointed [[Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil]] to act as plenipotentiary, dealing with other foreign heads of state in an attempt to bring about a counter-revolution. Louis himself held reservations against depending on foreign assistance. Like his mother and father, he thought that the Austrians were treacherous and the [[Prussia]]ns were overly ambitious.<ref>Hardman, John, ''Louis XVI, The Silent King'', New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 127</ref> As tensions in Paris rose and he was pressured to accept measures from the Assembly against his will, Louis XVI and the Queen plotted to secretly escape from France. Beyond escape, they hoped to raise an "armed congress" with the help of the ''émigrés'', as well as assistance from other nations with which they could return and, in essence, recapture France. This degree of planning reveals Louis's political determination, but it was for this determined plot that he was eventually convicted of high treason.<ref>Price, Munro, ''Louis XVI and Gustavus III: Secret Diplomacy and Counter-Revolution, 1791–1792'', The Historical Journal, Vol. 42, No. 2 (June 1999), p. 441.</ref> He left behind (on his bed) a 16-page written manifesto, [https://www.bahrnoproducts.com/PDF/Declaration%20to%20the%20French%20People%20by%20Louis%20XVI.pdf ''Déclaration du roi, adressée à tous les François, à sa sortie de Paris''],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H8g_AAAAcAAJ |title=Déclaration du roi [Louis XVI] adressée à tous les Français, à sa sortie de ...|last1=France)|first1=Louis X.V.I. (roi de|year=1791}}</ref> traditionally known as the ''Testament politique de Louis XVI'' ("Political Testament of Louis XVI"), explaining his rejection of the constitutional system as illegitimate.

The National Assembly was quick to decide to publish the theory that the King had been kidnapped, thus avoiding any challenge to the Constitution, which was then nearing completion, while at the same time ordering that the carriage be placed under arrest. It was a deliberately deceptive choice, since Louis XVI had left a manifesto in plain view, assuming and justifying the escape. [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|La Fayette]] decided to censor the text. Letters were sent throughout the country to stop the royal carriage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Coquard |first=Olivier |date=21 June 2018 |title=Varennes, une cavale lourde de conséquences |url=https://www.historia.fr/eph%C3%A9m%C3%A9ride/varennes-une-cavale-lourde-de-cons%C3%A9quences |access-date=26 November 2023 |website=Historia.fr}}</ref>

Louis's indecision, many delays, and misunderstanding of France were responsible for the failure of the escape. Within 24 hours, the royal family was arrested at [[Varennes-en-Argonne]] shortly after [[Jean-Baptiste Drouet (French revolutionary)|Jean-Baptiste Drouet]], who recognised the king from his profile on a 50 livres ''[[assignat]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://assignat.fr/1-assignat/ass-04a|title=Assignat de 50 livres – Catalogue général des assignats français|website=assignat.fr}}</ref> (paper money), had given the alert. Louis XVI and his family were taken back to Paris where they arrived on 25 June. Viewed suspiciously as traitors, they were placed under tight [[house arrest]] upon their return to the Tuileries.<ref>{{cite book|last=Guttner|first=Darius von|title=The French Revolution|year=2015|publisher=Nelson Cengage|pages=132–133}}</ref>

At the individual level, the failure of the escape plans was due to a series of misadventures, delays, misinterpretations, and poor judgments.<ref>J. M. Thompson, ''The French Revolution'' (1943) identifies a series of major and minor mistakes and mishaps, pp. 224–227</ref> In a wider perspective, the failure was attributable to the king's indecision—he repeatedly postponed the schedule, allowing for smaller problems to become severe. Furthermore, he totally misunderstood the political situation. He thought only a small number of radicals in Paris were promoting a revolution that the people as a whole rejected. He thought, mistakenly, that he was beloved by his subjects.<ref>Timothy Tackett, ''When the King Took Flight'' (2003) ch. 3</ref> The King's flight in the short term was traumatic for France, inciting a wave of emotions that ranged from anxiety to violence to panic.  The realization that the King had repudiated the Revolution was a shock for people who until then had seen him as a good king who governed as a manifestation of God's will. Many suspected the King of collaborating with the Austrians, due to Marie Antoinette's family ties and the fact that the monarchs had clearly been heading for the [[Austrian Netherlands|Austrian border]]. War now seemed imminent, and the King seemed to have been politically involved with France's traditional enemies, who were still widely hated despite recent cooperation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tackett |first=Timothy |date=2003 |title=The Flight to Varennes and the Coming of the Terror |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41299285 |journal=Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=473 |jstor=41299285 }}</ref> Many citizens felt betrayed, and as a result, [[Republicanism]] now burst out of the coffee houses and became a dominating philosophy of the rapidly radicalized French Revolution.<ref>Timothy Tackett, ''When the King Took Flight'' (2003), p. 222</ref>