Kingdom of France

## 987–present

Current extent of France as of 1775.

Kingdom of the Franks, 900's.

### Common Languages

Latin, French (official) Breton, Franco-Provençal, Occitan, Norman, Picard, Champenois, Angevin, Gallo, Burgundian, Poitevin, Basque, Alsatian

### Monarch

987–996 Hugh Capet (first)
1652—1715: Louis XIV
1715–1777: Louis XV
1777—present: Louis XVI

### Legislature

None (rule by decree)
(987–1302)
Estates General
(1302–present)

*For in depth detail redirect to the Kingdom of France.*

## Louis XV's reign

The late reign of Louis XV was characterized by a backtracking policy on previously absolutist tendencies. The gubernatorial triumvirate between the Chancellor, René de Maupeou, Controller-General of Finances, Terray and Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Duc d'Aiguillon, while focused on reform, became increasingly unpopular due to their suppression of the Parlements, failure at handling foreign affairs and much more.

## Louis XVI's reign

### 1777

The reign of Louis XVI was tumoltous from the beginning, the assasination of his predecessor at the hands of an assasin with intents to kill the Principal Minister d'État, the Duc de Rohan-Rohan, showed just the extent of how badly percieved the triumvirate was. Therefore, it was no surprise that Louis sought to undo this ministry and went on a round of mass dismissals and firings, starting with the Duc de Rohan-Rohan himself and taking several other ministers. Only Controller-General of Finances, Jacques Necker, and Lieutenant-Général de Police of the Paris Prefecture, Jean Charles Lenoir were spared at the pleads of the King's brother, Msgr. de Champagne.

Msgr. le Comte de Champagne was a vital and influential figure in Louis XVI's reign, in the will of his predecessor, Champagne was made 'Heir to all French realms, possessions and client states', effectively violating the centuries-old tradition of the Dauphin, by primogeniture, inheriting the Kingdom. For this reason, as Maupeou read out the will the King became livid and ordered Champagne confined to his quarters by the royal gendarmes and the revoking of all his roles. This, however, was not to last. The two made amends in the following days and Msgr. de Champagne was entrusted with a role to prove himself, or his punishment would be considerably worsened; the pacification of Grenoble.

Grenoble had risen out in revolt in the ocassion called 'The Day of the Tiles', where an assembly was called, dubbed the 'Assembly of Vizille' at the Chateau de Vizille where the defunct Estates-General of Dauphiné were summoned to lay out a list of demands to the Crown. This had to be put down expeditiously and Champagne was vested with judicial and police powers to effectively suppress the ocurrence. A stratagem was devised by Champagne and an army of 20,000 men was led by the Maréchal-Comte de Vaux that shutdown the convention, forced oaths of allegiances from deputies, sacked the Lieutenant-Général of the Province, the Duc de Clermont-Tonerre, and reinstated the Parlement de Grenoble under close supervision by the Crown. A precedent was set where the Parlements were at the mercy of the crown under Louis XVI's reign and not the other way around.

### 1778

#### American Conundrum

Entering the first year of his reign, Louis, did the unthinkable. Merely 5 days into his reign he declared the 'Treaty of the Three Crowns' null and void. A chain of events that followed it was a public statement from the Dutch Republic that asserted British infringement into free trade was outlawed and all nations of Europe directly afflicted by the 'board and search' policy of Britain would band in an economic alliance against them. The Dutch were true to their word, yet opted to flaunt some earlier treaties with the English about 'free shipping' and started trade with the French, supplying them with precious cargo for their naval efforts. The British Parliament was, understandingly, livid. At the end of the day, The First League of Armed Neutrality was formed with Russia being it's formal leader and protector, sending squadrons of ships to the Black Sea, Baltic Sea, Mediterranean Sea and North Sea.

Louis was steadfast to secure a treaty with the Americans and in January 1778, the 'Treaty of Alliance' signed by Benjamin Franklin on the part of the Americans and the Comte de Vergennes on the French end. The result resonated with the world at large, the American Revolutionary War was now an international conflict and no longer a mere dispute inside the British realm. French shipping sprung up between the United States and French ports with commerce agreements being signed in 1778. The situation saw itself reflected in a speech by the Earl of Chatham in the House of Lords in April 11th, 1778, where, his revolutionary-hating self declared that if Britain ever caved in to the revolutionaries the British Empire would follow. He had a seizure at the end of his speech and collapsed, dying 34 days later.

Ricocheting off every continent aswell, fighting enveloped from the English Channel, to the Caribbean, Gibraltar, North America, India, Africa and Asia. British isolation was fine during peacetime, but during wartime the British were at a severe disadvantange. Nonetheless, a new strategy was made in the south, in Georgia, where loyalty to the British crown was outstanding and George itself had not joined the 13 Colonies--making them the 12 rebelling colonies. This was countered by a French invasion of Dominica on September 7. The Tug of War was at it's strongest.

#### Germanic Squabbles

The situation in Germany was rapidly deteriorating with Joseph II as Holy Roman Emperor. It took one death of one Elector of Bavaria to break the camel's back. His successor, Charles Theodore, or Karl Theodore in German, had made some dealings with the Austrian Emperor regarding how the land in Bavaria would be dealt with following the death of the childless Maximilian III. Rumor had it that Karl was willing to exchange all of Bavaria in return for all of the Austrian Netherlands, something which didn't happen, yet forces of Austria invaded Bavaria and occupied large sections of the Electorate. Frederick the Great of Prussia would not stand idly by while Austria's whim dictated all in Germany and raised allies, like Electorate of Saxony's ruler, Frederick Augustus III who provided him 20,000 troops for an invasion of Bohemia. Saxo-Prussian armies together formed up 180,000 men and Austrian armies a formidable 200,000. France and Russia saw trouble jolt the Balance of Power and sought to isolate the conflict to stop it from becoming a fully-fledged European war like previous conflicts.

The Foreign Minister of France, the Comte de Vergennes, housed deep-seated anti-Austrian sentiment in his foreign policy and decreed that France would not help the Habsburg monarchy in their aggresive altercation. This move was much-needed since France could not and would not supply two ongoing wars at once, destroying British hopes for the contrary to happen. The war failed to escalate more than foraging and skirmishing, yet many believed it would devolve into chaos.

#### Situation at Home

The situation at home merited a complete overhaul of the cabinet of Louis XV. Louis XVI made the Conseil du Roi recieve a new set of names to populate it:

* Charles-Pierre-Claret de Fleurieu, distinguished seaman during the reign of Louis XV, sworn-in Secrétariat d'État de la Marine.
* Swiss national, Jacques Necker as Directeur-Général des Finances, steadfast financer of the American Revolutionary War.
* Claude-Louis de Saint-Germain, Two times Minister of War for Denmark, beginning his first term as the Secrétaire d'État à la Guerre, fierce and direct, able commander of French forces.
* Jean-Charles-Pierre Lenoir, as Lieutenant-Général of the Paris prefecture, serving for his second decade in the office and an administrative mastermind.
* Charles Gravier de Vergennes, Comte de Vergennes as Secrétaire d'État des Affaires étrangères, hardened veteran in oriental affairs, a staunch anti-Austrian and Anti-English diplomat. Masterminded the Treaty of Alliance (1778).
* René de Maupeou, Chancelier de France, time-and-time again detested minister. The asterisk that Chancellors cannot be removed assures his continued presence in the Conseil.
* Pierre de Beaumarchais, as Garde des sceaux de France, clever polymath, though some rumors say he was appointed due to his personal links to the royals.

* Louis de Bourbon-Condé, Monsieur le Duc, Principal Ministre d'État.

These men worked towards satisfying the ever-growing needs of Louis and his overseas ambitions, yet the situation at home remained precarious. The previous year's incident at Grenoble caused all Parliaments to grow distrust towards the Crown, ontop of their suppression by Chancellor Maupeou a year prior. To solve this issue, a peculiar person rose up for the job. Louis' younger brother, Msgr. de Champagne.

Msgr. de Champagne had been an unusual card in the Bourbon set. Dotted on by Louis' predecessor and grandfather, ultimately to the point where he was placed as successor of the realm instead of Louis, something that made him furious. The two, however, made amends and Champagne became a solid asset towards the Crown, being bestowed his previous positions and honours. Louis, in early September 1777, entrusted Champagne with the position of Governor of Brittany and Director of the Cabinet Noir to bring the notoriously rebellious Breton Parliament back into Parisian control.

The decision was nothing short of genius, dispatching Champagne to Rennes that very month resulted in a whirlwind of activity being performed by the blonde upstart. The Estates-General of Brittany was convinced with words, the Breton Parliament convinced with arms, and the people convinced with agricultural produce and investments into Breton—largely sidelined and left to decay—infrastructure. While Champagne took liberties in signing a decree where the Roman Catholic Church was given exemption from political affairs in exchange for church property and money in Brittany being funneled to the Crown, the move resulted in the First Estate following Champagne's—and by extension the Crown's—whim. The Third Estate was similarly convinced with Breton industries—owned and managed by Parisian nobles—being returned to Breton hands in an act of confiscation which was met with distaste by Parisian families but cries of joviality in Brittany who benefitted directly from the redirecting of funds. The noblesse de robe and d'épee in the Breton Parliament and Estates-General observed how bureaucracy amendments made their position neck-to-neck with that of the other two Crown-lenient Estates.

The government of Champagne culminated in the Estates-General of Brittany in Versailles and not Rennes for the first time in history, another first timer was the passing of a new set of taxes to apply in Brittany in the wake of the surge of citizen productivity—a series of agricultural reforms ocurred, raising Breton agricultural output to more acceptable levels, it previously was dissapointingly low—, with a clear majority emanating from the First and Third Estates, and a smaller group from the Second presided by Louis in person. The event marked that France had an iron-grip on their provinces if they put their minds to it and placed the right people to the job, as the previous governor had failed miserably to do so.