Her family interests were in measure at stake. In
the Austrian dominions, the visionary and unpractical Joseph II had
died in 1790 and had been succeeded by another brother of Marie
Antoinette, the gifted though unemotional Emperor Leopold II. Leopold
skillfully extricated himself from the embarrassments at home and
abroad bequeathed him by his predecessor and then turned his attention
to French affairs. He was in receipt of constant and now frantic
appeals from his sister to aid Louis XVI against the revolutionaries.
He knew that the Austrian Netherlands, whose rebellion he had
suppressed with difficulty, were saturated with the doctrines of the
Revolution and that many of their inhabitants would welcome annexation
to France. As chief of the Holy Roman Empire, he must keep
revolutionary agitation out of the Germanies and protect the border
provinces against French aggression. All these factors served to make
the Emperor Leopold the foremost champion of the "old regime" in Europe
and incidentally of the royal cause in France.
Pages:
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058