As you may or may not be aware, Ubisoft anounced two new Assassin's Creed projects, Unity and Comet. While details surrounding Comet are still mostly unknown, it's been confirmed that Unity takes place in Paris around the time of the French Revolution.
This being Assassin's Creed, we've been turning through the pages of history to look at likely events, locations and people that stand a good chance at being a part of this game. We started out Part One with the storming of the Bastille, which you can check out here.
With the Revolution officially underway, news of the violence was quick to spread. When various members of the French nobility began to hear of what happened at the Bastille, they were quick to leave the country in droves. Some took to encouraging foreign rulers to fund a counter revolution, prompting commoners in rural areas to arm themselves against an invasion from outside forces. Further paranoia saw panic seize the countryside and some peasants took to attacking capitol houses in "The Great Fear," sending France into further calamity.
As it turns out, the peasants had reason to fear, because monarchs in neighboring countries were indeed watching France's Revolution unfold, unsure of what to do. At this point in Europe, monarchs from country to country was very incestuous. Marriages between countries' rulers was often meant to be mutually beneficial and served as a means of ensuring political stability.
Case in point, the brother of Marie Antoinette, the then-current queen of France, was the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. While pondering his options, the Revolution continued on in the next few months with the Women's March on Versailles, and the establishment of a new constitution built on "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen." Important historically, but this only serves to set the stage for events that would and should be included in a Creed game.
With a new constitution, the French royalty was now forced to share power with an elected Legislative Assembly, hampered by the fact that the assembly itself was fractured -- one group felt the Revolution had accomplished its intended goals, and another group who felt more drastic measures had to be taken. Obviously, the groups and the King seldom agreed, and The Constitutional Crisis would unfold the following year, marked by 10 August.
Leading up to the events of 10 August was Leopold II, along with Prussia's King Frederick William II, threatening of the French revolutionaries with consequences should anything happen to the remaining French royalty, but the threat was ambiguous. Angered, France declared war on Austria (part of the Holy Roman Empire) a month after Leopold died. The cause of death was unknown, but it was thought he was murdered or possibly poisoned, which could make for an excellent mission in-game. Austria and Prussia would begin its invasion of France in April of 1792.
With the Austrian and Prussian armies beginning their march towards France, Geroges Danton siezed on the sentiments of fear the populace felt. The invading forces had no qualms with the monarchy, it was the revolutionaries they were after. Regular citizens were armed and placed in active service with the French National Guard to defend the country's new constitution. An insurrection was planned to occur on the 10th of August using a number of National Guard volunteers, or, fédérés. Early that morning, almost 20,000 marched on Tuileries Palace, guarded by a mere 1200, including 950 members of the Swiss Guard. In the end, about 600 of the Guard were killed during fighting, and another 200 that were captured were later executed, died in prison from their wounds, or were beaten to death by the crowds.
King Louis XVI and wife Marie were arrested, and imprisoned in the Marais Temple, leaving the monarchy utterly abolished. Their eventual execution and the deaths of thousand of others a little over a year later would go on to cement the guillotine as the symbol of the French Revolution, something we're sure to see in Unity, as evident by the announcement trailer.
