#fersen

Literally will endure anything.

Except for sincerely embracing equality, accepting reasonable baby steps toward progress, and allowing the representatives of the people to build a constitutional monarchy.

This book is so frustrating because I feel genuinely bad for them, but then at every single turn, they choose to undermine reform; every single time they face the choice to sincerely embrace change (or even just getting out of the way!) they choose to be duplicitous.

The quote is from the same memorandum to Gustavus III (of Sweden) where Fersen describes the secret meeting in which he asked the king to choose, essentially, between negotiation & war, and Louis unambiguously chose the latter.

"...Fersen's first option mirrored Mirabeau's earlier scheme: the king would leave Paris but use his freedom not to renounce the constitution but to renegotiate it. Ferson's second option, however, exactly echoed Breteuil's plan for the flight to Varennes. The king would gain his freedom not through an agreed process, but through subterfuge and military force. Once at liberty, he would not proceed on the basis of the constitution, but cast it aside. Instead, backed by loyal troops and the armies of the Powers, he would impose a settlement on his own authority — 'dictate laws to his people.'

"Through the expedient of the congress, Fersen was thus asking Louis XVI to make a final decision between constitutional monarchy and, if not absolute monarchy, then something very close to it..."

Literally will endure anything.

Except compromise.

↳ ayakaze sakina & asami jun & yumeshiro aya in snow troupe's the rose of versailles: fersen, graph 9.2024 ☆

Thanks to people who promoted them on tt as otp now I ship them hhhh

Hans Axel Von Fersen, the first of the RoV MC art series I drew! I find it hilarious that it was Fersen of all people who kicked off this little series because he’s my least favourite RoV protagonist overall (he’s fine I just don’t have much to say about him) but this image popped into my head and I just had to.