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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

Random thought: might it be interesting to have a competition of people doing future-looking UK PM lists right now, so we can look back in five or ten years and laugh at how wrong we all were?

It might be better if they were all sent in anonymously to one person and then posted so we can't influence each other?
 
Random thought: might it be interesting to have a competition of people doing future-looking UK PM lists right now, so we can look back in five or ten years and laugh at how wrong we all were?

It might be better if they were all sent in anonymously to one person and then posted so we can't influence each other?
Who should we send them to?
 
Mr. Lincoln's Army

4.1861-7.1861: Major General John E. Wool, USV (Soft---Scottite) [As Commander, Army of Northern Virginia]
7.1861-7.1862: Major General William S. Rosecrans, USA (Soft---Rosecranite)

11.1861-4.1862: Also Commanding General, US Army
6.1862-8.1862: Major General Nathaniel Lyon, USV (Hard) [As Commander, Army of the Rappahannock)
7.1862-8.1862: Major General Irvin McDowell, USA (Soft---Rosecranite) [As Commander, Department of The Potomac & Washington]
10.1862-1.1863: Major General Philip Kearny, Jr, USV (Hard)
1.1863: Major General Edwin V. Sumner, USV [Acting] (Soft---Rosecranite)
2.1863-6.1863: Major General Charles P. Stone, USV (Soft---Stoner)
6.1863-10.1863: Major General William S. Rosecrans, USA (Soft---Rosecranite) [As Commander, Military Division of the East]

6.1863-10.1863: Major General George B. McClellan, USV (Soft---Stoner) [As Commander, Army of the Potomac, Under Direct Command, Rosecrans]
10.1863-5.1864: Major General George B. McClellan, USA (Soft---Stoner)
5.1864-11.1864: Major General William T. Sherman, USV (Hard)
11.1864-8.1865: Lieutenant General William T. Sherman, USA (Hard)

11.1864-8.1865: Also Commanding General, US Army

Just a Little Something New I wanted to try out because my entire personality is now being subsumed by my passionate love of study for the Civil War. Its the Commanding Generals of the Union Armies in the East.

The write up of this is now going to be a TLIAW that'll start tonight with changes.
 
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Random thought: might it be interesting to have a competition of people doing future-looking UK PM lists right now, so we can look back in five or ten years and laugh at how wrong we all were?

It might be better if they were all sent in anonymously to one person and then posted so we can't influence each other?

Tempting, but I probably couldn't bring myself to accurately predict the next few years because of how crap they might be

Also I did this less than 3 months ago and was wrong three separate times.
 
The Hanged Man or The Slow Rise Of British Communism

1916-1922: David Lloyd George (National Liberal)
1918 (United Coalition with Conservatives and NDLP) def. Eamon de Valera (Sinn Fein), H.H. Asquith (Liberal), Arthur Henderson (Labour), John Dillon (Irish Parliamentary)
1922-1923: David Lloyd George (United Reform majority)
1923-1925: Austen Chamberlain (United Reform)
1923 (Majority) def. George Lansbury (Labour), H.H. Asquith (Liberal), Henry Page Croft (National)
1925-1935: Winston Churchill (United Reform)
1926 (Coalition with National-Liberal Alliance) def. George Lansbury (Labour), John Simon (National-Liberal Alliance), David Lloyd George (Radical)
1931 (Coalition with National-Liberal Alliance) def. Fenner Brockway (Labour), John Simon (National-Liberal Alliance), David Lloyd George (Radical)

1935-1943: Oswald Mosley (United Reform)
1936 (Coalition with National Liberals) def. Fenner Brockway (Labour), John Simon (National Liberal), David Lloyd George (Radical)
1940 (Unity Government with National Liberals and Radicals) def. James Maxton (Labour), Winston Churchill (Peoples')

1943-1955: Winston Churchill (Peoples')
1946 (Coalition with Labour and Centrists) def. Tom Wintringham (Labour), Leslie Hore-Belisha (Centre), Waldron Smithers (National)
1950 (Coalition with Centrists) def. Tom Wintringham (Labour), Leslie Hore-Belisha (Centre), Waldron Smithers (National)
1954 (Coalition with Centrists) def. Konni Zilliacus (Labour), Leslie Hore-Belisha (Centre), A.K. Chesterton (National), Honor Balfour (Action)

1955-1960: Anthony Eden (Peoples')
1956 (Coalition with Nationals and Centrists) def. Konni Zilliacus (Labour), Bernard Montgomery (National), Mark Bonham Carter (Centre), Honor Balfour (Action)
1960-1963: William Douglas-Home (Peoples')
1960 (Coalition with Action and Centrists) def. Konni Zilliacus (Labour), Bernard Montgomery (National), Honor Balfour (Action), Mark Bonham Carter (Centre)
1961
(Coalition with Action) def. Konni Zilliacus (Labour), Honor Balfour (Action), John Baker White (National), Mark Bonham Carter (Centre)
1963-1965: Selwyn Lloyd (Peoples')
1963 (Coalition with Nationals and Centrists) def. T. Dan Smith (Labour), Honor Balfour (Action), William Sidney (National), Peter Bessell (Centre)
1965-1970: Duncan Sandys (Peoples')
1968 (Coalition with Nationals) def. T. Dan Smith (Labour), William Sidney (National), John Baker (Action)
1970-1975: Reginald Maudling (Peoples')
1972 (Coalition with Labour and Action) def. T. Dan Smith (Labour), John Gouriet (National), John Baker (Action)
1975-1991: Cyril Smith (Peoples')
1975 (Coalition with Ratepayers') def. Denis Healey (Labour), Oliver Smedley (Ratepayers'), John Griffiths (Action), Oswald Mosley (New Movement)
1980 (Coalition with Ratepayers') def. Denis Healey (Labour), Margaret Roberts (Ratepayers'), John Griffiths (Action), Andrew Fountaine (New Movement)
1984 (Coalition with Ratepayers') def. Denis Healey (Labour), Margaret Roberts (Ratepayers'), Peter Hain (Action), Roy Painter (New Movement)
1988 (Coalition with New Movement and Ratepayers') def. Denis Healey (Labour), Peter Hain (Action), Patrick Moore (New Movement), Margaret Roberts (Ratepayers')

1991-1993: Rhodes Boyson (Peoples'-New Movement-Ratepayers' coalition)
1993-1998: Derek Simpson (Labour)
1993 (Coalition with Action) def. Patrick Moore (New Movement), Peter Hain (Action), Rhodes Boyson (Moralitarian), John Redwood (Neo-Liberal), Norman St John-Stevas (One Nation)

I

no

wait

@Mumby pls I need context pls
 
The Centre Could Not Hold:


David Lloyd George (Liberal, leading War Government with Conservatives and Coalition Labour, 1916-18)
David Lloyd George (Coalition Liberal, leading coalition with Conservatives and Coalition Labour, 1918-21)
1918 def. Bonar Law (Conservative - Coalition Coupon), Eamon de Valera (Sinn Fein - abstaining), Arthur Henderson (Labour), George Barnes (National Democratic and Labour - Coalition Coupon), Henry Page Croft (National);
Edward Grey, 1st Earl Grey (Liberal, leading Centre Coalition with Conservatives and Coalition Labour, 1921)
Edward Grey, 1st Earl Grey (Liberal, leading Centre Coalition with Labour and Independent Conservatives, 1921-2)
Walter Runciman (Liberal, leading Centre Coalition with Coalition Labour and Coalition Conservatives, 1922-4)
1922 def. Bonar Law (Conservative), Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil (Coalition Conservative - Coalition Coupon), Arthur Henderson (Coalition Labour - Coalition Coupon), Ramsay MacDonald (Labour), Christopher Addison (Independent Liberal), Henry Page Croft (National);
George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston (Conservative minority, then majority, 1924-9)
1924 def. Walter Runciman (Liberal), Winston Churchill ('Centre' Conservative), Arthur Henderson ('Centre' Labour), George Lansbury (Labour), Alfred Barnes (Co-Operative);
Walter Runciman (Centre minority with Co-Operative confidence and supply, 1929-32)
1929 def. George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon (Conservative), George Lansbury (Labour), Alfred Barnes (Co-Operative);
Douglas Hogg (Conservative, leading coalition with National Centre, 1932-8)
1932 def. Walter Runciman ('Official' Centre), Stafford Cripps ('Left' Centre), Philip Snowden (National Centre), Nye Bevan (Labour), Oswald Mosley (Co-Operative);
1936 def. Herbert Samuel (Centre), Oswald Mosley (Co-Operative), John Simon (National Centre), Nye Bevan (Popular Front - Labour/CPGB);

Philip Cunliffe-Lister (Conservative, leading coalition with National Centre, 1938-41)
Philip Cunliffe-Lister (Conservative majority, 1941-5)

1941 def. Oswald Mosley (Co-Operative), Godfrey Collins (Centre), John Simon (National Centre - defeated), Clement Attlee (Popular Front - Labour/CPGB);
Oswald Mosley (Co-Operative majority, 1945-52)
1945 def. Philip Cunliffe-Lister (Conservative), Ernest Brown (Centre), Clement Attlee (Popular Front - Labour/CPGB), Ernest Benn (Liberal);
1949 def. Oliver Stanley (Conservative), Ernest Bevin (Labour), Harold Laski (Workers'), Ernest Benn (Liberal);

Megan Lloyd George (Co-Operative majority, 1952-8)
1953 def. Oliver Stanley (Conservative), Leo Callaghan (Labour), Idris Cox (Workers'), S.W. Alexander (Liberal);


George V (Windsor, 1910-35)
George VI (Windsor, 1935-46)
Regency of Edward VIII under John, Duke of Sussex, 1946-000
 
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Oswald Mosely as the leader of the successful Co-Operative Party is something I both love and hate.

Mosley seemed the apt figure to close off the list, looking at the distopic feel from the British Left's perspective.

When I was researching Robert Cecil's plot to replace Lloyd George with Grey leading a pro-internationalist coalition of mostly Liberal/Labour and a few Conservatives grouping for "all men and all classes", it would not in all likelihood last long before collapsing over some issue (tariffs or recognising Soviet Russia, imo) and would never have taken off without the help of Labour moderates like Arthur Henderson.

Now, if this Centre grouping had endured long enough into the 1920s and blocked off Labour from the soft-left, this is where things get... interesting, and quite bleak. Hence, the first majority non-Conservative government since Asquith ends up the former Tory squire who's enough of a state interventionist and authoritarian to make it all work in quite a scary way.

But that's why we begin and end with a Lloyd George prime minister, difference being this time round their radicalism is unimpeded.
 
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This started as a weird list based off "Carter is possessed by the spirit of LBJ" in a Discord chat. I figure it's now more "Carter acts differently". I basically just go ahead with butterflies after that, I guess.

Gov. James E. 'Jimmy' Carter (D-GA)/Rep. Morris K. 'Mo' Udall (D-AZ) 1977-1981
1976: def. Pres. Gerald R. Ford (R-MI)/Sen. Robert J. 'Bob' Dole (R-KS)
Fmr. Gov. Ronald W. Reagan (R-CA)/Rep. George H. W. Bush (R-TX) 1981-1987
1980: def. Gov. James E. 'Jimmy' Carter (D-GA)/Vice Pres. Morris K. 'Mo' Udall (D-AZ)
1984: def. Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson III (D-IL)/Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI)

Vice Pres. George H. W. Bush (R-TX)/Rep. John T. Myers (R-IN) 1987-1989
Gov. Stanley N. 'Stan' Lundine (D-NY)/Sen. Edwin W. Edwards (D-LA) 1989-1991*
1988: def. Pres. George H. W. Bush (R-TX)/Vice Pres. John T. Myers (R-IN)
Vice Pres. Edwin W. Edwards (D-LA)/Vacant 1991-1993
Sen. Roberta F. 'Bobbi' Fiedler (R-CA)/Sen. John W. Warner (R-VA) 1993-
1992: def. Pres. Edwin W. Edwards (D-LA)/Sen. William B. 'Bill' Richardson (D-NM) & Fmr. Sen. Maurice R. 'Mike' Gravel (D-AK)/Rep. David B. 'Dave' Obey (D-WI)

As the scandal-ridden and hopelessly split Democrats go down to defeat yet another time, they retreat to lick their wounds. Meanwhile, the Republicans under their new president [who also broke two glass ceilings], seek to further the conservative revolution.
 
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I’ll see if I can get a quick and dirty write-up for this later. For now, hope the story comes through the list.

Selling Britain by the Euro
1997 - 2011:
Tony Blair (Labour)
defeated, 2003: Iain Duncan-Smith (Conservative), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrats)
2004 Euro Referendum: 52% YES - ADOPT EURO, 47% NO - STAY WITH POUND
defeated, 2008: Tim Collins (Conservative), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrats), Nigel Farage (Bring Back the Pound)

2011 - 2015: Hilary Benn (Labour)
defeated, 2011 (Minority with Liberal Democrat Confidence & Supply): Nigel Farage (Sterling), Tim Collins (Conservative), Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrats)
2015 - 2017: Nigel Farage (Sterling)
defeated, 2015 (Minority): Hilary Benn (Labour), David Prior (Conservative), Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrats)
2017 - 2022: Caroline Flint (Labour)
defeated, 2017 (Minority with Union Confidence & Supply): Nigel Farage (Sterling), Deborah Brewer/Chuka Umunna (Liberal-Ind. Labour Pact - For Euro!), Kit Malthouse (Conservative)
2018 Euro Referendum: 50% POUND, 49% EURO
defeated, 2018: Steve Baker (Sterling), Chuka Umunna (Ind. Labour-Liberal Pact), Kit Malthouse (Conservative)


The PoD is a bit flimsy, but it works for what I was going for - IDS, just like OTL, challenges the membership to bring him down but unlike OTL the opposition is too flustered to muster up the votes to finish the job. However this doesn't mean that the rebels are completely neutered, and continue to try and undermine and sabotage IDS from the inside; Blair, sensing an opportunity with the beginning of the Iraq War and the Tories still in complete disarray, calls a snap election and goes to the country seeking a mandate (apparently the mandate from 2001 wouldn't cut it) to stand with President Bush in the War on Terror and - most importantly - to bring the United Kingdom into the Eurozone. With the Tories left scrambling to unite around IDS and the Liberal Democrats being the only meaningful opposition, Labour gets another landslide and gains seats in comparison to 2001. Iraq follows the same path as OTL, but the EuroRef doesn't go as Tony planned it. While some moderate One Nation Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats back the Prime Minister's campaign, Blair underestimates how divisive entering the Eurozone is, thinking that a full-on media blitz and Labour's electoral success would be enough to placate any concerns. Not so - Labour rebels rage at this neoliberal referendum forced upon the British people, Nigel Farage becomes a political superstar overnight, and for the first time this decade, the Conservatives (now led by Tim Collins) take an edge in the polls over Labour.

Blair wins his referendum in brings Britain into the Eurozone completely by early 2006, but as the public begins to think of the Iraq War as a disaster and the Great Recession crashes the economy, the good feelings are at a low. The long-suffering Gordon Brown is agitating for Blair to resign, the Conservatives are neck-and-neck with Labour in the polls after having dramatically slashed their majority in the 2008 Election, and worst of all, an all-out humanitarian crisis was blooming in Italy, as underreporting of debt levels by Prime Minister Clemente Mastella led to a loss-of-confidence in the Italian economy. The ensuing right-wing surge in Italy was mirrored by the rise of the 'Bring Back the Pound Party,' as an international movement centered around breaking up the Eurozone blossom. A spent Tony Blair resigns in 2011, and Hilary Benn narrowly gets into Number 10 by beating out 'yesterday's man' in Gordon Brown. Farage (now leading the 'Sterling Party') is treated by Benn as the 'real' Opposition over the Conservatives, and after Benn introduces an austerity budget and proposals for a new business district South London, leads a coalition of Labour backbenchers, Conservatives and 'Faragites' in tabling a successful VONC against Benn. The resulting campaign sees Sterling leapfrog the Conservatives into becoming the official Opposition and Benn having to rely on the Labour-friendly Jenny Willott to keep his government alive. The early 2010's are a truly dour period, as increased devolution in Wales, Scotland and the Northeast are offset by the sale of Royal Mail. Farage wins a minority government of his own, putting the anemic Benn and the disastrous Conservatives (now led by the technocrat David Prior, who sees his proposal to float 25% of the NHS' shares onto the LSE go down like a lead balloon) out to farm on a message of "British" (i.e. English) nationalism and finally getting the UK out of the Eurozone. The first Sterling Government in British history is chaotic - the Cabinet is in a state of near-constant reshuffle, as everyone from Steve Baker to Ann Widdecombe went for the knives once Farage entered Number 10. While taxes are slashed and the City of London is allowed to dictate financial policy, the Sterling government can't even muster up the votes to get a Referendum on the Euro through the House of Commons. Utterly toothless after over a year in power, a rebellion from within the Cabinet and a decisive VONC forces Farage to go back to the country. "Labour for the Pound" chairwoman and Labour Leader Caroline Flint wins the largest number of seats on a message of finally remedying the mistake made 13 years ago, but at the cost of splitting the party and a "Referendum Deal" with Sterling. Farage and Flint reach an agreement to get EuroRef2 through the Commons, to campaign for leaving the Eurozone, and then to promptly fuck off and call another election. While Chuka Umunna's Labour-Liberal Pact provided the only major opposition to the Government, fury at Flint's deal with Farage and a true desire to stay in Europe lead to an extraordinarily close Referendum. Flint, validated albeit by a narrow victory, wins an actual majority government against Steve Baker and Sterling.

Farage's resignation as Leader, coming immediately after the "achievement of his life's goal" once the results came in, is typically cited as the beginning of Sterling's decline and the revival of the Conservative Party in the aftermath of EuroRef2.
 
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A COLDER NINETEENTH CENTURY, 1: THE DELAWARE CROSSES GEORGE WASHINGTON

Presidents of the United American Commonwealths

1776 - 1783: John Adams (1)

1783 - 1819: Thomas Jefferson (2)

1783- 1786, Government of Good Feeling w/ Charles Pinckney and John Jay

1819: James Madison

1819 - 1828: Aaron Burr (3)

1828 - 1840: James Wilkinson

1840 - 1842 : Nathan Hale

1842 - 1843: John Quincy Adams

1843 - 1849: Henry Clay (4)


Prime Ministers of the Empire of America

1849 - 1856: James Buchanan (5)

1856 - 1864: Abraham Lincoln

1864 - 1868 : Hannibal Hamlin

1868 - ????: Abraham Lincoln


(1)
Neither charismatic nor a visionary, John Adams nonetheless held the mid-Atlantic and New England colonies together following the desertion of the 'Southern Clique' after the Disaster on the Delaware. Adams was solid: not a rallying point, but a foundation for the near-shattered revolution. His carriage ride through British lines back to Boston is justly famous for reigniting the spark of radicalism in Massachusetts. Cantankerous and prideful, a legal scholar more than a leader, his drive and intellect made him the centre of the revolution. He was also wise enough to entrust military affairs to his able deputy Benedict Arnold, the architect of the 'Blue Army' that with French backing would eventually march south again. Both men have been questioned by history for their treatment of 'loyalists' as the revolution spread once more; it seems the mild mannered Adams was radicalised by the near disaster of 1776.

Though the Commonwealth would be made in the model of Adams' belief in a centralised republic, he would not live to see much of it. Stabbed in 1780 by Pennysylvania socialite Peggy Shippen, he never fully recovered and died of a fever shortly after the Treaty of Paris.

(2) Despite his later protestations, and that of his followers, Thomas Jefferson was not a significant leader in the revolution itself. The Virginian leaders generally retired to their plantations after George Washington fell off his boat. In the last years, however, he proved an able diplomat. Though Adams never fully trusted him, he appointed Jefferson Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1782. After Adams' death, Jefferson might have been sidelined as a Virginian with a history of advocating confederation rather than federalism; fortunately, all of Adams' cabinet agreed that the immediate challenge was to keep Benedict Arnold from getting anywhere near power.

John Jay and Charles Pinckney would have cause to regret that later, especially by the time they were confessing to plotting with the British crown to restore the monarchy.

Jefferson is the most controversial president in American history. The Jefferson government married his predecessor's centralised republic with its intolerance of sedition with Jefferson's own belief that rural land-owners were the highest form of citizen. An undoubtedly eloquent man, his famous description of his justice system as the 'watering of the Tree of Liberty' gave rise to his government's nickname of 'The Gallows Democracy.' His eventual solution to the problem of infrastructure development- clearly needed, but anathema to his principles- was brutal but effective. The farming out of vast contracts to private investors saw a boom in road and canal building, at the cost of thousands of slaves. Still, he kept winning elections- admittedly through a determined shrinking of the franchise and the exposure of his opponents as 'Arnoldite conspirators.' Though he drastically underestimated the aggression of King Earnest, his steely leadership against Britain and Spain didn't just see the country through, it left it in possession of vast amounts of territory as far as the Mississippi and the Gulf of St Lawrence.

Thomas Jefferson died of a stroke in 1819. He remains one of the country's most popular leaders.

(3) Look, the film exaggerated, okay? The succession battle took almost a year, Alexander Hamilton was hanged in a cellar, not shot in front of the assembled leadership of the Commonwealth, and Andrew Jackson did not dramatically enter rooms and shrug off his coat in slow motion.

(4) The great irony is that Henry Clay was neither an abolitionist nor a monarchist. But after thirty years of oligarchic gerontocracy it was clear that the right to property had become a cult that was poisoning the republic. There were fewer and fewer voters eligible at each election, and the great Jeffersonian infrastructure projects could not compete with the state-driven rail networks of Eastern Europe. Clay lost control of his cautious reforms, though.

In 1849, after the Commonwealth of Louisiana suspended restrictions on crossing the Mississippi, the balloon went up. With general order disintegrating in the wake of Clay's Emancipation Proclamation, and a putsch by John Calhoun only narrowly put down, Clay had no choice but to sign the order acknowledging the disintegration of the republic.

(5) Drunk, corrupt and incompetent, James Buchanan was the first prime minister of Emperor Maximilian and set a low bar. He supervised the brutal attempt to crush the Seminole Peoples that ended in bloody disaster, and became an international laughing stock after stumbling half-naked into a party at the British Embassy. Unquestionably his most significant act was to appoint an unknown Illinois hill lawyer as his successor.
 
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A COLDER NINETEENTH CENTURY, 2: LIBERALISM WITH FRENCH CHARACTERISTICS

Presidents of the French Republic

1792 - 1801: Emmanuel Sieyès (1)
1801: Jacques Brissot
1801 - 1840: Gilbert du Motier (2)



Chairmen of the Executive Council of France

1815 - 1835: Camille Desmoulins (3)
1835 - 1840: Bertrand Barère (1835-1840) (4)
1840 - 1845: Léger-Félicité Sonthonax (1840-1845) (4)
1845 - 1850: Alphonse Lamartine (1845-1850) (4)
1850 - 1855: Francois Raspail
1855 - 1860: Adolphe Thiers
1860 - ????: Louis Blanqui (5.)



(1.) As the ancien regime tore itself apart in a mess of bankruptcy and dynastic decay, dissidents and utopian thinkers dreamed of what would come after. Sieyès was not a republican at the outset, and in fact envisioned himself as the first minister to the new king. But after the Comte d'Artois dissolved the regency and attempted to replace his nephew as King, the monarchy itself quickly crumbled. Within six months there were at least five different claimants to the throne. After briefly flirting with the Duc d'Orleans, Sieyès decided that a constitutional monarchy could only follow the establishment of the constitution itself. Establishing a model government at Marseilles, the Abbé eventually embraced republicanism after the attempted betrayal of the city by its supposed Orleanist allies. Though Sieyès would beg for help from overseas, none was forthcoming. Somewhat ironically, he would die in London 1801, never noticing that the supposed liberal government he was soliciting funds from was itself calcifying into something altogether crueler.

(2.) Unfairly known to history as 'The Man Who Lost France,' it is important to remember that when the British invaded in 1809 du Motier had largely unified the country. Outside the Breton Club's redoubt in the northwest, even the most independent minded provinces pledged nominal allegiance to the new government in Paris. Alas, between one war to unify the nation and then the desperate defence against invaders, du Motier never did carry out the reforms that the French people had clamored for for so long. His victory over the British and the Bourbon Spanish was the greatest achievement of his life, and he later said that he would rather have died at the peace table than gone on to lead his government to Corsica less than two years later.

(3.) A poet and an idealist, Desmoulins began in the shadow of stronger and more decisive friends. But it was Camille who survived the ride to Brittany, and Camille who would write the pamphlets that kept the revolutionary cause alive in the 'war of the night' against the British and Spanish occupiers. It was Camille who would re enter Paris, and proclaim the Constitution of 1815.

Perhaps the necessary paranoia of the early years could not be unlearned. The Guillotine never really went away, but the Terror of 1820 and the Long Terror of 1829-1835 are forever stamped in the memories of most French people. It was undoubtedly the greatest transformation in French cultural history: though his brilliant foreign minister Talleyrand would preserve the greatest treasures- the windows of Sainte Chapelle, the spires of Notre Dame- he would later be accused of having saved more statues than people.

(4.) The reader with even the faintest knowledge of French history will have noticed an omission. It is not a mistake: Saint-Just never formally led the Executive Council. Shifting from one ministry to another, Desmoulin's true successor had the impeccable credentials of the true Jacobin- he was, after all, the Angel of Death- and the pragmatism to carry out needed reforms. It was Saint-Just who supervised the first free elections in French history. Admittedly, he did not need to run in them. But the public did pick the Executive council.

(5.) The most hardline Chairman since Desmoulins, it remains to be seen what Blanquist Thought On The French Dream will actually mean in practice.
 
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