Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm & Mild from Erin Manky,

listener discretion advised.

It looked like they would be facing another winter with too little bread and not enough

firewood.

For French peasants in October 1795, it turned out that the recent revolution hadn't

actually changed all that much.

Those who starved under King Louis XVI were starving still, and the government that

had replaced the royal family was by turns corrupt, unstable, and impotent.

Pro-royalists wanted a constitutional monarchy, and when the governing body at the time passed

an extremely unpopular law limiting the pro-royalist party's power, the French did what

they do best.

Riot.

Tens of thousands of pro-royalists marched on Paris.

They gathered in front of the Toulary Palace where the representatives of the National Convention

government sat.

The rioters didn't have much by way of artillery, but they outnumbered the National Guard 4-1.

The National Guard was led by a general who wasn't savvy enough for the job.

When he met with the rebel leaders, they promised that they would disarm, and he happily

retreated, believing them.

But the rebels did not disarm, and the general was replaced.

The new general would need to be someone ruthless.

The thermidorian leader on the ground remembered a brilliant young officer who might just be

...