TRADITIONS # 23

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In France of 1823, the internal situation is particularly tense and a generalized climate of suspicion limits the individual initiative. In the Chamber of Deputies, intolerance is maximum and common insults. It is in this high-voltage atmosphere that the government, trapped by its refusal to allow the passage of foreign armies, is forced to lift an observation body of 100,000 men to come to the aid of Ferdinand VII, hostage of the constitutionals. The decision goes horribly wrong in the assembly and even comes to the expulsion Manu Militari from Jacques-Antoine Manuel, Liberal member of the Vendee, on 3 March.

The situation is fortunately more serene on the ground where the French troops, led by the Duke of Angouleme assisted by the experienced general Armand Charles Guilleminot, bring together elders from the first Empire and new recruits. Ten years after the defeat of Vitoria, the French enjoyed their revenge after a quick campaign, all astonished that the population favored them. Thirty years earlier, in 1793, they were two less fortunate armies fighting violently around Cholet. The Republican troops led by General Kleber clashed with the Catholic and Royal army of Vendee led by Maurice d'elbee. Winners in the first clashes, the Vendeens end up being defeated in one of the bloodiest battles of the revolution.