Revelation of John Part 39

Part 39

French Revolution

Ten Toes

Represents the beginning of the final kingdom

Beast Rise Up Out Of The Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Trajan

Trajan became the emperor of Rome in 98 A.D. and expanded the Roman empire through military victories in central Europe and Mesopotamia.

Roman Empire

In terms of the vastness of territory, Rome reached its zenith under the rule of Trajan. Trajan, an Antonine ruler, conquered Dacia (part of modern-day Romania and Hungary) and Arabia, and won several important victories in Parthia (Iran).

Byzantine Empire

East Rome

Charlemagne

The 1st Reich

In 800 A.D. Charlemagne, King of the Franks, was crowned both King Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

Holy Roman Empire 800 A.D.

The grey portion of the map represents the conquests of Charles the Great

Holy Roman Empire 962-973 A.D.

(The 1st Reich ???)

Otto I, also known as Otto the Great, was king of Germany from 936 to 973 and the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 962 to 973.

The term Holy Roman Empire was first used in 962 A.D.

Basil II 1014 A.D. considered to be the greatest Macedonian Emperor

Holy Roman Empire 1250 A.D.

France has now seperated from the Holy Roman Empire

The Seljuks, a Turkish dynasty, ruled Jerusalem harshly in the 11th century and continued to expand, especially toward Europe.

(Seljuk Turks dominated Eastern Rome)

During the 11th century Asia Minor was invaded by the Seljuk Turks, and the eastern part of the region became predominantly Turkish in character.

Charles V 1519-1558 A.D.

King of Spain and Emperor of The Holy Roman Empire

How did the King of Spain become the King of the Holy Roman Empire ?

After a series of continuing conflicts with the papacy over the choice of emperor, the imperial electors decided in 1338 that henceforth the candidate receiving the majority of votes would be king of the Germans. The king would also automatically become the Holy Roman emperor without being crowned by the pope.

Charles V was the son of Philip I and brother of Ferdinand I, both previous emperors of the Holy Roman Empire.

Holy Roman Empire 1530 A.D.

The grey shows the conquests of Charles V

The German emperor ruled over Spain, parts of Eastern Europe, and a vast number of colonies in North and South America, as well as the Holy Roman Empire which also included Holland, Switzerland, most of Germany, and Italy.

Note how North and South America becomes a part of the Roman Empire by the colinization efforts of Spain, France, and England.

Remember what else we said was going on at this time ...

The Ottoman (Turkish) Empire was actually a help to the Protestant Reformation. Moslem armies under the direct control of Suleiman the Magnificient (1520-1566) frequently came to the aid of both France and the Catholic Pope in their warring efforts against the emperor of Germany. The Pope at that time was at odds with the German emperor because in 1527 his troops had attacked Rome and hauled the Pope off to prison.

In 1529, the very year that the word Protestant was actually used to describe the new religious movement, the emperor Charles V launched a campaign against all heretics, which is to say protestants. This ended swiftly as Suleiman the Magnificient suddenly sent his Molsem forces to attack the Catholic city of Vienna. Charles V could not fight the Protestants and Moslems at the same time so instead he sought the aid of the Protestants by dropping his religious differences.

It is quite interesting that one of the fundamental principals of the Ottoman policy was to be a support and encouragement for the Protestants and Calvanists during the 16th and 17th centuries. There is absolutely no doubt that God used the Moslem forces to come to the aid or assistance of the Christian church. The Ottoman empire continued as an aggressive power around 1699, just long enough for the protestant church to be firmly rooted in the ground.

Point to remember, the ruler of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire is elected !

Frankish king Charlemagne he was crowned king and Emperor of the Romans 800 A.D.

Charlemagne

The 1st Reich

The Roman head is the German head of the beast

He has Satan's power, seat, and authority.

Being crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman empire by the pope forever shifted power, seat, and authority of the Roman Emperor to the Germans.

But we saw how the emperor also came out of Spain which suggets that when we speak about the Holy Roman Empire we must keep in mind the whole area of the ancient Roman empire. We must never forget that the Roman Empire actually consists of the territory which made up both the Western Kingdom and the Eastern Kingdom.

Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

Western Rome

800 A.D.

The grey portion of the map represents the conquests of Charles the Great

His empire was laster divided becomming France and Germany.

Holy Roman Empire 1250 A.D.

France has now seperate from the Holy Roman Empire

The title of the emperor of the Romans or the Holy Roman Empire however actually remains the right of Germany or more accurately the Emperor of the German Empire alias the Holy Roman Empire.

Western Europe

Beast Rise Up Out Of The Sea

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard,

and his feet were as the feet of a bear,

and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. -- Dan 7:1 (KJV)

Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. -- Dan 7:2 (KJV)

And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. -- Rev 7:1 (KJV)

And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, -- Rev 7:2 (KJV)

Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. -- Rev 7:3 (KJV)

And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. -- Dan 7:3 (KJV)

The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. -- Dan 7:4 (KJV)

And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. -- Dan 7:5 (KJV)

After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. -- Dan 7:6 (KJV)

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. -- Dan 7:7 (KJV)

I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. -- Dan 7:8 (KJV)

...

These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. -- Dan 7:17 (KJV)

But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. -- Dan 7:18 (KJV)

Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; -- Dan 7:19 (KJV)

And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. -- Dan 7:20 (KJV)

I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; -- Dan 7:21 (KJV)

Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. -- Dan 7:22 (KJV)

Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. -- Dan 7:23 (KJV)

And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. -- Dan 7:24 (KJV)

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. -- Dan 7:25 (KJV)

William I

1066 - 1087

Lion with eagles wings

The ecclesiastical and secular courts were separated, and the power of the papacy in English affairs was greatly curtailed.

Richard I of England

(Richard The Lion Hearted)

Emblem of the Crusaders

British Headquarters in Jerusalem displays

the emblem of the lion standing upon his feet

Remember the Prophecy of The Lion That Roared

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: -- Rev 10:1 (KJV)

And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, -- Rev 10:2 (KJV)

And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. -- Rev 10:3 (KJV)

Wycliff translates the bible into English.

And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. -- Rev 10:11 (KJV)

The first English translation actually was a translation of the Latin into English by Wycliff. The growth of national spirit in England prepared the way for John Wycliffe. For almost 65+ years, the english kings, parliments and bishops had been resisting papal control attempting to throw the harlot woman off of their backs so to speak, as they deliberately refused papal control over church affairs throughout england.

England

What about the Wings ?

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Revolutions were beginning to occur all over Europe:

Holland, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, ...

and of course in America.

The Second Continental Congress, made up of about 50 delegates from the American colonies, convened on May 10, 1775, amid calls for a revolutionary war with Great Britain. On July 2, 1776, the Congress voted for national independence and on July 4 it adopted the Declaration of Independence. During this session the Congress also declared itself the supreme government of the colonies, commissioned George Washington to raise a continental army, issued paper money, and established local governments.

The Wings of England MUST represent

The United States of America

The bald eagle was designated as the national bird of the United States in 1782. It reigns as the second-largest bird of prey in North America, after the California condor.

The United States of America

Remember the recent new release that we read a couple of weeks ago ?

U.S. WAR COLLEGE REPORT RECOMMENDS `NAFTA' FOR

MILITARY JOINT COMMAND WITH CANADA AND MEXICO

July 8, 1999

Remember we showed how North and South America becomes a part of the Roman Empire through the colinization efforts of Spain, France, and England.

The Presidential Seal

We have a two party government system

Republican and Democrat

Right Wing (conservative)

Left Wing (liberal)

Who is the Bear?

And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. -- Dan 7:5 (KJV)

The Russian revolution began in 1917

The emblem of the Russian revolution of 1917 was the Bear risimg up on one side

What about the 3 Ribs ?

And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. -- Dan 7:5 (KJV)

Who were the three main philosophers of Communism ?

1. Marx

2. Lenin

3. Engels

And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. -- Dan 7:5 (KJV)

Fact #1

Communism has murdered over 120 million people

Fact #2

The Russian Bear arose into a great significant power beginning in 1917

and practically ruled the entire eastern world after World War II

Who is the Leopard?

After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. -- Dan 7:6 (KJV)

dragon gave him his power

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. -- Rev 13:2 (KJV)

Roman Standard

This ensign of the dragon only came into use at the close of the second century of the Christian era and became commonly used in Rome during the third century. Prior to that, which is diuring the time of the republic and earlier, Rome's standard was that of the eagle.

Charlemagne

Pope Adrian I crowned Frankish king Charlemagne in 800 the king and Emperor of the Romans.

Charlemagne

The 1st Reich

The Roman head gave his authority to the German head of the beast

He has Satan's power, seat, and authority.

and dominion was given to it. -- Dan 7:6 (KJV)

Leopards 4 heads

Leopards 4 wings

and it had ten horns. -- Dan 7:7 (KJV)

Ten Toes

Represents the beginning of the final kingdom

Beast Rise Up Out Of The Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Revolutions were occuring in Holland, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and America.

Holland (Netherlands) (1)

Belgium (2)

Switzerland (3)

Italy (4)

Soon a similar agitation for revolution began throughout Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Greece. They no longer wanted the Church of Rome or Rome's influence over them, especially when it came to the heavy taxation which they sought to be freed from.

Germany (Prussia) (5)

Hungary (6)

Greece (7)

Austria (8)

Spain (9)

England (10)

Just around the late 1700s and beginning of the 1800s, the Western World was desperatly desiring to be free from excessive taxation of the monarchs, the church, and all those who oppressed and ruled over them, especially Roman Catholicism.

Roman Catholicism

Ten Kingdoms Turn Against Roman Catholicism

And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. -- Rev 17:16 (KJV)

For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. -- Rev 17:17 (KJV)

France (11)

If these ten nations might be described as the ten horns rising up from out of the ancient empire, France defintely would appear to answer to the eleventh one.

October 18, 1685, life in France became almost intolerable for protestants. Under the ensuing persecutions and evaporation of religious liberty, hundreds of thousands of Huguenots fled to England, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the English colonies in North America, including Massachusetts, New York, and South Carolina. The total emigration is believed to have been from 400,000 to 1 million, with about 1 million Protestants remaining in France.

The 1700s were an age that could encompass all of human iknowledge in 28 encyclopedia volumes (with of course the 7 volume index). People seemed to be almpost intoxicated with the discovery that the universe operates in harmony with physical laws. In such an age, God seemed increasingly unimportant. Deism became popular, portraying God as a super clocksmith who made the universe much like a watch, wound it up, and left it running on its own. Human reason appeared increasingly respectable, inasmuch as it was able to figure all of this out. Christian doctrine on the other hand gradually came to be despised, with its miracles of the virgin birth, the ressurrection, and not to mention a belief that God somehow would personnally answer our prayers.

Before the French Revoloution began, almopst all of France's bishops had been members of the nobility, closely leagued with the other nobles and with the king. This being the case, the bishops refrained from rebuking the king and nobles for their oppressive rule or extravagant luxuries. It 5really should not be to surprising that when the Frenc people rose up to throw out their old monarchy, their ild nobility, and their old oppressive tax system, they should also throw out their old religion as well.

The French Revoloutionaries proposed and adopted and brand new calendar so that they might no longer recognize or celebrate the birth of Jesus. The new year would now begin with the first year of their own Revoloution. The new week would now contain 10 days, each 10th day would be called the "Decade Day" and would be considered as a holy day to celebrate the new Republic and its new pagan religion. Even the names of the seasons were changed to "Snowy, Rainy, Windy, Foggy, Harvest, Hot, and so on".

The first celebration of the Revoloutionary religion harmonized with the new emphasis upon nature. On August 10, 1973, a large image representing the Go9ddess Nature was set up in a prominient place. As the people of Paris crowded in front of it, water squirted from its breasts into an ornamental pool. An actor would solemnly address it with blasphemous prayers saying, "Soveriegn of Nations, savage or civilized! Oh, Nature, this great people is worthy of Thee".

Never did the Revoloution ever official abolish Christianity. In fact, it proclaimed freedom of worship for all religions. But at the same time, it absolutely forbade the long time custom of enthusiastic street processions which wre characteristic of Catholicism at that time. It also persuaded the bishop of Paris and his associates to abdicate their vocations and renounce their ministries. Upon the news of hearing this, it is documented that 48 sections of Paris went wild with delight.

The people in one section of Paris sparked a celebration by lighting a bonfire and burning confessionals and other religious books used in the churches. Other sections of Paris spread the word that they were renouncing Christianity. Throughout the land, the busts of martyered Revoloutionaries and of Liberty and Equality replaced the familiar images of saints in the Catholic churches, while ancient Gothic arches echoed to the alleluias of the Revoloutionary religion.

Soon all churches throughout Paris were officially closed, in spite of the proclammation about religious freedom and freedom to worship. People flaunted shirts made from choirboy surplices. Reports told of naked dancers in the churches and out among the gravestones. Second hand shops displayed priestly gowns and altar cloths next to other common clothing and lavatory seats.

This de-Christianization was in now way confined to Paris. In fact, other cities did the same or worse even before the Paris beginnings. In some cities many of the churches were ravished by mobs. Offensive symbols were removed, pipe organs were dismantled, Crucifixes, images, expensive communion plates and chalices, and other church parafanalia were stolen and destroyed. Much of the gold and silver was confiscated by the French government to be used to pay for the new national army.

As shipments of church treasures began to arrive at the capital, "the rabble" indulged their taste for the burlesque and these ceremonies of religion were now performed in the most ludicrous manner. French historians write how the people took as much pleasure in the new burlesque and commical ceremonies as they had in the actual religious ones.

One the second Decade day in the Foggy month (Nov 10), a young woman was chosen in stead of a statue to represent the Goddess Reason. Draped in whiite with a mantle of blue, her flowing hair crowned woth the red cap of the Revoloution, she was worshipped in France's most prestigious cathedral, where for centuries prayers had once ascened up to "Our lady (Notre Dame)", the Mother of Jesus.

Cheers echoed and rechoed as an orator on behalf of everyone present embraced the woman. Throughout France in many cities and villages a local woman would be chosen to play the part of the Goddess Reason.

In one important and ancient city of Lyon, when the mayor died, his bust was carried in the procession to an outdoor altar. In the procession plodded a donley having a crucfix and a copy of the gospel tied to its tail. After the ceremony, the donkey was given a drink from the communion chalice. The crucifix and the gospel was then untied from his tail and both were thrown into a blazing fire.

In Paris alone, a population of 700,000 people, at least 100,000 were aressted for one reason or another, many likely for standing against the revoloution and blaspemous crimes against the church.

France was the first nation to permqantly accept the Catholic Christianity as a national religion (496). Because of their great devotion to the catholic church, the Moslems had actually called all christians "Franks" It is also the first christian nation in europe to deliberately opose and renounce christianity. France is therefore the first nation of europe who willingly turned officialy against the religion of Jesus. This term is literally "antichrist".

Over the centuries,through their loyal devotion to Roman christianity, the french had learned all to well how to fine, punis, torture, execute and exile their herertics. The church had taught them so well. But now the tide was turning. The people throughout France now recognized that churchmen themselves were the ones who had been in error. They were now considered to be the new heretics. During the revoloution they executed approximately 5000 priests. In one day, at one place the shot 83 of them.

One favorite french punishment for heretics was consignment to the slave galleys, to row until they rotted at the handles of the great oars. The enraged people of France , in their hatred of the only kind of christianity they really ever new or had been permitted to know, sent 850 priests to the slave galleys.

At least 20,000 priests who chose to stay in France had abdicated their vocation and resigned from the priesthood following the example of their bishop.

The roman church had taught the king to send the protestants into exile. Now the french would turn upon the roman church by sending upwards to 40,000 of them into exile. Many fled to Spain, Italy, and England to save their lives.

French Revolution, major transformation of the society and political system of France, lasting from 1789 to 1799. During the course of the Revolution, France was temporarily transformed from an absolute monarchy, where the king monopolized power, to a republic of theoretically free and equal citizens. The effects of the French Revolution were widespread, both inside and outside of France, and the Revolution ranks as one of the most important events in the history of Europe.

The French Revolution was outstanding for its hatred of Christianity and for its violence. During its Bloody Reign of Terror, day after day for months dozens of men and women, sometimes daily fifty or sixty men and women, shopkeepers, craftsman, day laborers, nobles, roaylty, politicians, etc., were decapitated by a falling knife device recommended by Dr. J. I. Guillotine and so named after him.

No one was safe as everyone had their one idea about what the revolution was about and how far it should go. Anyone at anytime might be accussed of disloyalty to the revolution for one reason or another. There was no legal defense, sometimes scarcely even a mock trial.

When the paris mob attacked the palace to take away the king, over 1000 people were trampled to death under the feat of the mob alone. Guillotines were erected throught the cities but this wasn't enough for some. Many people were herded into groups to be destroyed by canon fire. The disposal of bodies became such a problem that many were put upon boats and then they boats were sank.

Political and social restructuring on this scale raised complicated issues regarding the Catholic Church. The clergy had enjoyed extensive property rights and special privileges under the Old Regime and had long been a target of criticism. The National Assembly incorporated the church within the state, stripping clerics of their property and special rights. In return, the state assumed the large debts of the church and paid the clergy a salary. Dioceses were redrawn to correspond to departments. A presiding bishop would administer each diocese, with local priests beneath him. Since active citizens would elect the bishops and the priests, a Protestant, Jew, or atheist might be chosen to fill these positions. Finally, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of 1790 required all priests and bishops to swear an oath of loyalty to the new order or face dismissal.

Almost half the parish priests and bishops (called the refractory clergy) refused to take the oath. This marked an important turn of events. Before the Civil Constitution, opposition to the Revolution had remained a scattered affair. It had been led by an ineffective group of high nobles called the émigrés, who had fled the country beginning in July 1789 and had been conspiring from abroad ever since. More than anything else, the Civil Constitution and the oath solidified resistance to the Revolution by giving the resistance a religious justification and publicly designating a group of influential individuals—the refractory clergy—as enemies of the new state.

Although there were many reasons for the Civil Constitution, financial considerations were some of the most important. The government’s fiscal problems continued well past 1789. The assembly had assumed the Old Regime’s debts, but tax collections had been interrupted by administrative disorders and simple refusals to pay. To cover expenditures, the assembly issued bonds, called assignats; then to repay the assignats, it confiscated and sold the church’s considerable property holdings. The government justified this practice by saying that church property belonged to the nation.

On September 5 it approved the Reign of Terror, a policy through which the state used violence to crush resistance to the government.

On September 9 the convention established sans-culotte paramilitary forces, the so-called revolutionary armies, to force farmers to surrender grain demanded by the government.

On September 17 the Law of Suspects was passed, which authorized the charging of counter-revolutionaries with vaguely defined "crimes against liberty."

On September 29 the convention extended price-fixing from grain and bread to other essential goods and fixed wages.

On December 4 the national government resumed oversight of local administration.

The repressive policies of the Reign of Terror enabled the government to form and equip its large army at the expense of many French citizens’ security:

about 250,000 people were arrested;

17,000 were tried and guillotined, many with little if any means to defend themselves;

another 12,000 were executed without trial;

and thousands more died in jail.

Clergy and nobles composed only 15 percent of the Reign of Terror’s approximately 40,000 victims. The rest were peasants and bourgeois who had fought against the Revolution or had said or done something to offend the new order.

The Reign of Terror executed not only figures from the Old Regime, like the former queen Marie Antoinette, but also many revolutionary leaders. Some victims of the Reign of Terror, like Georges Danton, seemed too moderate, while others seemed too extreme.

The end came in 1799. Military reverses, a domestic political crisis, and the ambitions of a military hero, Napoleon Bonaparte, combined to give rise to the Revolution’s last major coup and the creation of a dictatorship.

The military reverses occurred after French armies had enjoyed five years of considerable success.

Finally, Austria and Prussia united by declaring war against France for the purpose of stopping the Revolution. The cry of democracy went out throughout France calling for ever able man to fight in this war against democracy and freedom. Their motto "We cannot stop until all Europe is ablaze."

After driving back their invaders, the French armies did not stop. Now they sought to impose their revolution on everyone. France was soon at war with all of Europe. The war lasted for 23 years.

Following the victories of the Reign of Terror, the first coalition of European powers fighting revolutionary France crumbled in 1795 and 1796.

Prussia, Spain, the Dutch Netherlands, and Tuscany (Toscana) signed peace treaties with France, leaving England and Austria to fight alone.

In October 1795 France annexed the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium). The Dutch Netherlands became the first of many so-called French sister republics. France fitted it with a new, relatively democratic constitution closely patterned on the Directory. France also forced the Dutch Netherlands to pay it a large indemnity.

In 1796 and 1797 French armies swept into Italy and western Germany.

Perceiving in the French position both weakness and a continuing threat, England, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and Austria formed a new anti-French coalition. By the spring of 1799 the armies of this second coalition forced France to retreat on all fronts, most dramatically in Italy where they dislodged the French altogether and dismantled the sister republics. Although the coalition was pushed back in September and began to disintegrate, the French military position remained uncertain.

As the military situation darkened and Austria threatened France, newly elected deputies in France took radical measures to advance the war effort. They imposed forced loans on the wealthy and persecuted the relatives of émigrés, recalling the Reign of Terror.

Under Bonaparte, the Revolution, if it could be said to have remained alive at all, did so in the form of a military dictatorship that had far more power than any French king had ever possessed.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon was France's leader throughout most of these years and undeniably Europe's most hated individual. After he conquered, he imposed his will upon the conquered. Eventually he even turned against his ally Russia. He set out to conquer Moscow in 1812 with 510,000 men but was unable to continue on due to much disease which his men had become affllicted with. Fewer then half his men actually reached their destination. Upon reaching Moscow, they discovered that the entire city had been evacuated. The wooden city was destroyed with fire. Retreating through terrible winter weather and great lacks in food and shelter, and harrassed by the Cossacks, the armies of Napolean continued to diminish.