Why did the National Assembly declare war on Austria in April 1792?
1 Answer
The National Assembly declared war preemptively, because:
a) Felt threatened by the foreign monarchs. The foreing monarch were threatening to interfere on the behalf of King Louis XVI. Especially Leopold II, brother to Marie Antoinette.
b) The Girodins wanted war as way of spreading the revolution throughout Europe
c) To lesser influence King Louis also wanted the war hoping to change the dynamics of the French revolution in his favor
Explanation:
The politics of the period inevitably drove France towards war with Austria and its allies. The King, many of the Feuillants, and the Girondins specifically wanted to wage war.
- The King was hoping war would increase his personal popularity and make him stronger.
- The Girondins wanted to export the Revolution throughout Europe and, by extension, to defend the Revolution within France.
- Other Monarchs from Prussia, Austria were threatening of invading France on the behalf of the French Monarchy. Moreover, the king was unhappy to sharing power and not wanting to accept the limitation on his power as result he agitating with the foreign monarchs
- People like Barnave and Robespierre in France opposed the war, and in Austria the emperor Leopold II, brother of Marie Antoinette, may have wished to avoid war, but unfortunately he died on 1 March 1792.
Thus France under this circumstance it preemptively declared war on Austria (20 April 1792). Prussia joined the Austrian side a few weeks later. And the wars that will catapult Napoleon into notoriety was on.
