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Fernanda Mazzanti Pepe
In this article, Fernanda Mazzanti Pepe examines the long process leading to the declaration of war on ‘the king of Bohemia and Hungary’. This resolution was taken by the Legislative Assembly on 20 April 1792, with near unanimity, following a constitutional procedure, aimed at fostering collaboration between the executive and the legislative bodies, which had been devised by the Constitutional Convention to ensure peace as much as possible. The Legislative Assembly was not completely convinced of the necessity of war, but was dragged into this tragic adventure due to the pressures exerted by a strong party favourable to war led by Brissot-the Girondins' leader. To this effect, he not only availed himself of the debates in the Assembly, but also mounted a campaign through the pages of his newspaper, the Patriote françois, and utilized the tribune of the Société des Jacobins, achieving wider consensus than his opponent Robespierre. The article examines, from a novel perspective, which brings together the approaches of the history of political thinking and those of constitutional history, the real motivations of the war party and the institutional reasons which favoured its success.
