Flight to Varennes

The Flight to Varennes (French: fuite de Varennes) during the night of 20–21 June 1791 was a significant event in the French Revolution in which the French royal family—comprising Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, the Dauphin Louis Charles, Marie-Thérèse, Madame Royale, and Madame Élisabeth—unsuccessfully attempted to leave Paris for Montmédy, along with loyal members of their retinue. The King hoped to regain his freedom there, with the protection of royalist troops, as the Revolution was intensifying and the threat to the royal family's safety grew. They reached the small town of Varennes-en-Argonne, where they were stopped and arrested after being recognised at their earlier stop in Sainte-Menehould.

This incident was a turning point after which Parisian hostility towards the monarchy, as well as towards the King and Queen as individuals, became much more pronounced. The King's attempted flight provoked charges of treason that ultimately led to his death in 1793. The flight failed due to a series of misadventures, delays, misinterpretations, and poor judgments.^[1] The King's decisions on a number of matters, including the means and timing of the journey, allowed seemingly small matters to escalate.

The King's flight was traumatic for Paris, inciting reactions ranging from anxiety to violence and panic. Everyone was aware that foreign intervention was imminent. The realisation that the King had effectually repudiated the Revolutionary reforms made up to that point came as a shock to people who had seen him as genuinely supporting the Revolution. Republicanism quickly evolved from being merely a subject of coffee-house debate to the dominant ideal of Revolutionary leaders.^[2]

The King's brother, the comte de Provence, also fled on the same night, by a different route. He successfully escaped, and spent the French Revolution in exile, later returning as King Louis XVIII.