Heroes of the Vendée
Many people will have heard of the French Resistance, the name given to the various underground organizations that fought against the Nazis during the German occupation of France in World War II. Few, however, will be aware of another “French Resistance,” a century and a half earlier, in which around 170,000 people died. This was the Vendée Uprising of 1793.
The rising of the peasants and people of the Vendée region in the west of France came amid the Reign of Terror which followed the proto-communist and anti-Christian French Revolution of 1789. The tyranny instituted by the revolutionaries had intensified with the September Massacres in 1792, a slaughter of the innocents instigated by Georges Danton, the Revolution’s Minister of Justice. In a speech, Danton sentenced all enemies of the Revolution to death: “We ask that anyone refusing to give personal service [to the Revolution] or to furnish arms shall be punished with death.”
Within a couple of hours of Danton’s speech, the massacres began. Within two days, more than a thousand people were killed. Several hundred more would die in the following two days. The victims included women and children and around 250 priests. Such was the “justice” ministered by the Revolution’s Minister of Justice. Such was the madness of Paris. Three hundred miles to the west, the Catholic people of the Vendée, aware of the horrors being unleashed by the stormtroopers of the Revolution, prepared to respond courageously to the threat to their Faith and their way of life.
One example of the fidelity of these country folk was given in The Guillotine
Article from LewRockwell
LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
