War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

The fighting in Paris was bloody and brutal, and most of the barricades were destroyed in the first round of attacks.

At this time, the French military urgently needed a victory to prove their worth, and for this reason, they could be said to have tried their best.

Not only did they use the most elite troops, but they also used a large number of new weapons that had not yet been put on the battlefield.

However, all this was just the beginning. Bilford resigned and went into exile in England. The government of the Second French Republic was in chaos.

Ledru-Lorain felt that his time had come. He publicly stated that he was the best candidate to take over as interim president. He mobilized members of the Mountain Party to take over the government.

This naturally aroused opposition from other parties, and an all-out show of force was once again staged in the halls of Congress.

At this time of internal and external troubles, Cavaignac's subordinates could not sit still. They all urged the "hero" who had just suppressed the Paris uprising to become the "Lord Protector".

In fact, the military has long been dissatisfied with those politicians. They feel that France's predicament at this time is entirely caused by the politicians' random command.

In addition, the status of military personnel has been in decline after the Napoleonic Wars. They also want to change this status quo, so establishing a military government will undoubtedly be the best choice.

Cavaignac had neither a glorious resume nor enough prestige to intimidate the army, and he even lacked talent for commanding operations.

It is not a wise move to choose to divide the troops for combat and advance lightly at the first time.

But Cavaignac was a staunch republican. He did not accept becoming Lord Protector, nor did he allow Ledru Rollin to usurp the interim president's position.

Cavaignac led the troops to stop the farce of the Montagnards. Most people in the Parliament had long been waiting for a strongman to appear and lead France out of the predicament.

The appearance of Cavaignac gave these people hope. Someone found Lamartine and hoped that he could persuade Cavaignac.

However, it was firmly opposed by Lamartine.

"You shameless people, you are destroying the Republic! I will never let anyone destroy the Republic! Never!"

But the development of things soon exceeded Lamartine's control. First, some members proposed to declare martial law, enter a moment of emergency, and grant all parliamentary powers to General Cavaignac.

Although many Republican leaders expressed clear opposition, the final voting results were shocking. In the nearly 600-person parliament, less than 60 votes were against.

Cavaignac had actually obtained the power equivalent to the Lord Protector at this time. He immediately mobilized all the troops around Paris to carry out a general cleaning of Paris.

Paris, Place de la Concorde.

The sky was covered with dark clouds, and the drizzle of rain made people feel chilly.

Soldiers stood neatly in the square, waiting for instructions from the supreme commander of the army of the Second French Republic.

The square was very quiet, because these soldiers from the provinces knew that France had reached a moment of crisis.

Continuous defeats have allowed foreign enemies to reach France's doorstep, and at this time Paris is actually in chaos again. This is a disaster for France.

Cavaignac walked up to the high platform in silence, and amid the patter of rain, he could only hear the sound of heavy breathing and the sound of leather boots hitting the ground.

The soldiers raised their heads and stared at the high platform in front of them, and Cavaignac took a deep breath.

"France has reached its most critical moment! No need for me to say more, you all should understand what this means.

What I am saying now is that without pain and sacrifice, nothing can be consolidated. Those cowards and worms hiding behind the barricades are no longer our people! "

Cavaignac raised his left hand and shouted loudly.

"They are the enemies of the Second French Republic! They betrayed our motherland! They only put our great motherland in danger for their own selfish interests. We must completely eliminate them!"

"Long live the Second French Republic!"

"Long live!"

"Long live Liberty, Equality and Fraternity!"

"Long live!"

Cavaignac aroused the emotions of the soldiers to the peak, and thunderous applause and shouts broke out in the square.

"Cavaignac!"

"Cavaignac!"

"Cavaignac!"

The soldiers chanted his name, vowing in their hearts to fight for the Second French Republic.

These soldiers from other provinces firmly believe in Cavaignac's words. They firmly believe that the rebels in Paris at this time are the source of France's decline. As long as they are eliminated, good times will return.

Nearly 8,000 of the nearly 50,000 rebels were killed on the spot. Most of the rest were sentenced to exile in the colonies, and some of the leaders were sentenced to hanging.

However, in order to solve the rebellion problem once and for all, Cavaignac ordered a city-wide search and banned civilians, especially workers, from hiding guns in their homes.

Within a week, 100,000 rifles and 3.7 million rounds of ammunition were confiscated, saving a large amount of military expenses.

The Einsatzgruppe of the French Second Republic government arrested 25,000 suspects, executed 2,100 without trial, 12,000 were exiled, and the rest were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to twenty years.

Although Cavaignac solved the workers' uprising in Paris with thunderous force, unlike the same period in history, the Second French Republic did not have a peaceful external environment.

Henry Arsène of the North led the French Army of the North to escape back to France after the first direct confrontation with Archduke Charles' main force.

But the battle to regain Belgium was not as easy as imagined. The Belgian Republic supported by the French fought with the main force of Archduke Karl until the last moment.

Both Franz and Archduke Charles hoped to use Leopold I's reputation to capture Brussels without a fight.

After all, in the stereotype, Leopold I enjoyed a high reputation in Belgium and it should not be difficult to do this. However, the reality was that the puppet government supported by the French refused to negotiate.

What's even more terrible is that one of Leopold I's guards killed the envoy sent by the puppet government for peace talks on the spot in anger.

Franz had no way of knowing the identity of the guard, but then more than 300,000 German allied troops had to leave tens of thousands of corpses in this city with a population of less than 80,000.

Archduke Karl himself finally understood the cruelty of urban street fighting, and he finally understood why Franz attached so much importance to street fighting.

If every city in France was like Brussels, then even the German Allied Forces with two million troops would not be able to conquer France.

After the liberation of Belgium, Archduke Karl did not continue to attack the French mainland as planned. Henry Arsène led the army back to Lille safely, but he was not happy at all.

Henry Arsène began to conceive of a defense line stretching from the Pas de Calais in the west to the Ardennes in the east to resist possible attacks by the German Allied Forces.

At the same time, the situation on the Italian battlefield also began to reverse. The Austrian Empire, which had control of the sea, directly cut off the French army's supplies.