The Vendee Counterrevolution is an episode of history that has been neglected to such a degree as to be downright criminal. In this region of western France we saw the true nature of the French Revolution, the true character of the Jacobin leaders and the most plain example of the methods used by liberal revolutionaries around the world. There was no liberte, egalite, or fraternite in the Vendee. However, we also, more importantly, see the true nature of the loyalist people of France. Not every French man or woman was an aetheist rioter, attacking clergymen and glorying in the murder of the innocent. Here we see what could be called "the silent majority" of France, the best example of what it means to be French, people who were simple, hard working, loyal, and devoutly faithful.
Most of the people of the Vendee region were farmers, the very peasants who the revolutionary leaders claimed to be speaking for and favoring. The people, like most people in France, wished for government reform and less taxes. However, they were steadfastly loyal to their King, both on earth and in Heaven, to their traditional royal government and to Mother Holy Church. When the revolution erupted in all of its horror, the people of the Vendee stood up and determined to resist. When they were ultimately worn down by the revolutionary forces, there were numerous massacres, some even calling it a campaign of genocide against the Christian royalists. Some 1500 prisoners were executed by drowning. When the guillotines could not work fast enough the remaining prisoners were bound aboard barges and sunk in the river. Even though the odds against them were great, their principles of faith and loyalty were more dear to them than their life. With no military training or experience, these farmers and assorted loyalists, both men and women, nobles and commoners, laity and clergy, organized themselves for battle, recruited famous royalists to lead them and set out to resist the massive forces of the republican revolution and the Reign of Terror. These are some of them: |
