Bread
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia, I think this fanfic is a pretty good explaination of why I should never get my hands on it. I also don't own any countries or historical figures.
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Everyday, Francais ate the finest delicacies at Versailles and yet he always found himself hungry for bread. Everyday, he longed to leave the palace and feed his starving citizens, the all too frequent visitors in his sleep, but one could never leave Versailles. It was a quandary that had first shown its face during Louis XIV's reign, but the hunger could be hidden by the Enlightenment. As for the shame of loosing, it was hidden by helping Arthur's former colony gain freedom. But the hunger was getting harder and harder to ignore just as it seemed like the nobles were ignoring him, their own country, more frequently. There was one benefit about that, however, as it enabled Francais to read and reread the works of the Enlightenment and Alfred's Declaration of Independence. As he examined them, an idea crossed his mind and soon completely dominated his thoughts. There would be justice, freedom, happiness, and food for all; not just the first and second estates, who were crushing the third with their extravagant ways of living.
The political discussions could have been humorous if Francais didn't know that they were completely serious. He wanted to scream at them, anything to place the notion that they couldn't keep dodging around things affecting their quality of life. Not like it mattered, they fired the advisors that suggested taxes for nobility; and while Francais doubted that one could fire one's own nation, it felt as if they already had. He was beginning to doubt that anyone in Versailles would listen to a voice of reason and any amount of patience that he once had for them was gone.
Yet, he still had some degree of hope for his boss when the Estates-General met for the first time since 1614. Apparently, too much hope as they seemed to spend more time debating on how the votes would be counted then the matters that they were supposed to be working on. Irritated with the whole mess, Francais followed some members of the Third Estate into their own meeting called "The National Assembly". Not too long after, the doors to the room where the National Assembly met were locked and guarded. It seemed certain that the king was coming to break the group up so they quickly met in a nearby tennis court and pledged to meet wherever until a constitution was drawn up. Despite the fear, which would soon become a constant in his life, Francais felt immense pride for his citizens. Even if he couldn't count on his boss to do anything, at least the people could be counted on to step forward and take care of some of the many issues plaguing him.
Yet things only seemed to get worse with the gradual decent into madness. By the fourteenth of July, it was hard to tell fact from fiction. Forergin soldiers didn't help any. He already had an Austrian queen on the throne, were the new troops necessary? However, there was something glorious in the tearing apart of the Bastille. The beauty in how the Parisians tore apart the fortress in the same way that those before had built it. It was a symbol of the death of the hated old ideas and the birth of something new. The birth of a better France where people were actually listened to and bread didn't cost an arm and a leg. Yes, this was a revolution and the nobles could no longer hide from it now.
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-Notes That Hopefully Explain Somthing About This Mess
*First off, I tried to cram as much of the French Revolution in a fanfic before Bastille Day....Obviously, much would be skipped and nothing would be brought full justice. I merely attempted to write this because there is a whole boat load of fanfics over both the American and Russian revolutions out there and the characters are presented in a very serious manner. However, there is a void of French Revolution fanfics –at least to my knowledge- which is surprising considering that it was probably one of the more serious moments in Francais' life. I will admit that there are many references to it in fics, but there was a void of fics about it last Bastile Day...Now there is a whole bunch but my friends forced me to upload this anyways, so if you die, blame them. My defense for not mentioning any of the other numerous revolutions that never get enough justice in the community is that the American, French, Industrial (Industrial!England, pwease?) , and Russian revolutions are the main ones talked about at my American high school. Said American high school is also my defense for the historical inaccuracies. Wikipedia is also to blame for the rest of the inaccuracies.
*On another note....I know that many characters are way less represented.....But I repeat...This is something that I like to pretend to think I know a little about....
*If you caught the brief mention of Marie Antoinette, I will try to explain myself. The majority of the French weren't exactly estatic about her at the time, thus the tone.
*Blarg...Toward the end this became slightly more like reading a history textbook...I just wasn't sure exactly how to put things...And I still wanted to finish this....
*If people want more....I'll write the rest (maybe). I'm slightly saddened that I didn't get to the Great Fear as that would have been easier to write. But I procrastinated and thus am lucky that I got to the storming of the Bastille on Bastille day. Please no going and guillotining the author...I like my head and am rather attached to it.