r, who had succeeded his father, Leopold II, on March 1, 1792. The two sovereigns openly supported the activities of the migrs and sustained the opposition of the feudal landlords in Alsace to the revolutionary legislation. Sentiment for war spread rapidly among the monarchists, who hoped for defeat of the revolutionary government and the restoration of the Old Regime, and among the Girondists, who wanted a final triumph over reaction at home and abroad. On April 20, 1792, the Legislative Assembly declared war on the Austrian part of the Holy Roman Empire, beginning the series of conflicts known as the French revolutionary wars. The Struggle For Freedom Aided by treasonable errors of omission and commission among the French high command, mostly monarchists, the armies of Austria won several victories in the Austrian Netherlands. The subsequent invasion of France produced major repercussions in the national capital. The Roland ministry fell on June 13, and mass unrest erupted, one week later, into an attack on the Tuileries, the residence of the royal family. On July 11, after Sardinia and Prussia joined the war against France, the Legislative Assembly declared a national emergency. Reserves were dispatched to the hard-pressed armies, and volunteers were summoned to Paris from all parts of the country. When the contingent from Marseille arrived, it was singing the patriotic hymn thenceforth known as the “Marseillaise.” Popular dissatisfaction with the Girondists, who had rallied to support of the monarchy and had dismissed charges of desertion against Lafayette, increased the agitation. On August 10 the discontent, combined with the threat contained in the manifesto of the allied commander, Charles William Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, to destroy the capital city if the royal family were mistreated, precipitated a Parisian insurrection. The insurgents, led by radical elements of the capital and national volunteers en route to...
